St. Paul daily globe., 1892-12-30
A MUSICAL TREAT.
Splendid Presentation Of the Mes
siUh by the Choral
Club.
Musical Work All Around That
Deserved High
Praise.

Christmas week without perform
ance OF Handel's Messiah" would not
be Christmas. The custom has been
general in England for years, and it is
lust becoming established in this cOun-
trv, The Peoples church was crowded
last evening with a large audience to
listen to the presentation of this ora
torio, and the ST. Paul Choral as
socIation, with that of Minneapolis.
scored the greatest triumph of its
four seasons. It's work was magnificent
i'll some places. The attack. the approach
and sustaining of climaXeS, the modu
latiOn OF power was wonderful. In the
fugued chorus, For Unto Us Child
Is Born" the perfect balance OF the
voices showed itand confirmed The report
which has been spread abroad that
the association is growing in breadth
vocalIy and in fine work. The ladies'
voices are especially fresh and clear
and sustaining. In the finale of the
chorus, "All We Like Sheep" the ten
OrS and altos scored great success.
That most magnificent Christmas carol,
the Hallelujah chorus, has been sung
with the audience standing ever since
King George and his court
stood with barred heads at Its
first performance in London over
century ago. The ensemble of the
chorus Was superb i'll this. and the
tugued chorus of ''Amen" again showed
tie fair choral parts to advantage, but
especially the tenori and baSsi. The
aIti were perhaps not as strong as usual,
but their work was very fine. st. Paul
is certainly to be congratulated on pos
sessing such a conductor as Mir. Bald
win, and it is to be regretted that he is
SO soon to take his departure from
among us.
Mr. Baldwin is to be congratulated Oh
his conducting of last evening. 1t was
worthy to be heard by the kings and
potentates of the muSic-wOrld. His
ability and fine Judgment were apparent
at every turn and the fine shading pro-
duced by the waving Of his baton, per-
fectiOn.
The soprano soloist of the evening
was Mrs. Theodore Bollman. She has
perfect method of the German type, and
her higher notes possess a brilliancy
which is at times electrifying. The
ariaS Come Unto Me' and Il Know
That My Redeemer Liveth," especially
revealed this. The middle register is
very pleasing. The faults of Mrs.
Bollman's singing are due not to meth
cd, for her voice shows perfect training,
but rather they are due to her
nationality. Lack of familiarity with
the English language as singing
tongue may be counted as the greatest.
There is peculiar accent which would
be charming i'll anything but sacred mu-
sic and is not offensive in this. But it
detractS from the perfect art of the rem
dition. One wishes to hear Mrs. Boil
man in her native leiders, for she would
certainly be captivating. In the aria
"RejOice Greatly" she sang with a
grace and delicacy which was charming.
VIM. II, Rieger, of New York,
sang the tenor role. His voice
is perfectly suited to oratorio. being be-
tween the dramatic which Mr.. Knorr
has given us and the lyric OF Mr Lay
i'll, last year. Mr. Rieger's voice is a
smooth one and his singing of occasional
dramatic climax. In the recitatiYes and
ariaS of the second part, there was a
penetrating pathOS of great tineness.
and the recitative He That Dwelleth in
the Heaven" revealed the fervor of his
voice in effects. Mr.. Rieger's intona-
ton and management Of respiration are
very good.
George Ellsworth Holmes. of Chicago,
sustained the bass solos. His voice is
| particularly pleasing III runs. There is
a smoothness and tleXlbility unusual in
bassos. The first recitative displayed
the possibilities of his voice, and was
the best The aria which is so greatly a
test of this register. why Do the Ma
tions So Furously Rage?" was we'll
sung, smoothly, with good expression,
but not with the breadth and the depth
of which it is capable.
The remaining member of the quar-
tette was a home singer, Mrs. {. B.
| Yale. She naturally showed some
nervousness in singing before such an
audience, but this wore off, and in "Re
Shall Feed His Flock there was moth
ing to be desired. 1t was sung with
great delicacy and depth of expression.
There was a lack Of empressement in
other solos, of dramatic intensity, but
withal the alto was very sweetIy rem
dered.
AS Quartette the singers were well
balanced. One did not detect that pre-
| dominance OF one voice winch is usually
fault in part third.
a. ID. Laird as trumpeter and j. War
rem Andrews at the organ did fine work.
a string orchestra from DanZ and Sci
bert formed part or, the music which
is seldom so good success outside OF
Chicago.