The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-02-15

fortable seat and see an inferior play. Does Providence ever drop into our
 midst an eloquent divine, a gifted
 scholar, a great elocutionist, a genius
 in music, literature or art, we stint our
 praise, we grudge our support, we feel
 that it is superiority to withhold honor
 from our prophet in his own country,
 and name constantly those greater gen
 fuses whom we go far out of our way to
 support and applaud, and soon Chicago
 or Philadelphia or San Francisco reach-
 es out her long arms ana gathers him
 to her own bosom and lavishes caresses upon him and loads him with honors
 and holds him up to the view of the
 whole country and the veil being torn
 from our eyes we sit down glowering at
 the vacancy in our midst, bewail our
 folly, and then-go and repeat the same
 act ad infinitum.
 | We are always quoted as city or high cultivation, yet we scratch or neg lect our jewels, Instead of setting them
 high in our municipal tiara and calling l attention to their beauty. Would pr. Dwight have ever become the perform er-composer supreme critic and musl- cal oracle that he was, if the lines had fallen to him in New Haven instead of another city of New England? Would
 the Christ church choir under their la-
 mented organist, Henry Wilson, ever
 have achieved such great fame, or would their music ever have rung so far and wide if their organ loft had stood in some church on New Haven green instead of thirty miles beyond?
 But though their fame was nobly won, venture to assert that we have in our midst church choir of finer ma- terial, with an organist of greater abil- ity, and with greater future possible to them, if they had only been dropped into as nourishing a soil. The commit tee of the "Church of the Redeemer" generally offer free seats to all who will worship there on Sunday evenings, and the services are beautiful throughout. Even the undevotional should enjoy the musical service, for it is an educa- ton to the student and treat to the musician. Mr. Shepard, widely known for his superiority as organist, conduc- tor and composer, is at the helm, and his chorus show his wonderful drilling and reflect his musical enthusiasm. The quartette is rare, in that each voice is genuine. The alto is not low mezzo soprano, but a rich full oontralto. The tenor is not high baritone but pure tenor that never shrinks from high notes, and each note in a great range is of exquisite sweetness. The basso is of genuine quality, resonant and of | great power. The soprano-Well! we | all know what Mrs. Thompson's voice l is, and how often our pride has swelled | our hearts when she has sung with | artists from abroad, and we saw little | New Haven stand with Boston and | New York and London, and no need to | cast down her head or even take a sec ond place Reams of music are | skinned weekly to furnish the cream of their varied and classic programs.
 How frequently our citizens pay a dollar for Sunday evening con- certs in other cities, and do not realize that from this choir at home they can have the best musical compositions of the day Qncluding works rarely offered to the public) given in exquisite fashion without money and without price.
 Oh, Bones go home and encourage your own musicians and suggest to your fellow citizens that they wal5en to little pride and pleasure in the choir of the "Ghurch of the Redeemer" gre death or distance mar its perfect work. MUSIC-LOVER.