The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-02-13
STEPHENS NEW SINGERS.
An INTERESTING TALK WITH THE
CHOIR LEADER.
He Discourses on the New Voices
He is About to Bring Out-The
Coming Sweet Singers of Zion.

be said to have brought to the from
four-fifths of our leading young vocal
lists, is much gratifed over the pros
pect of the successful appearance d
ten more of his proteges at the taber
nacle concert tomorrow night. In con
versation yesterday he said:
ITO me, the coming concert is much
the most interesting. of the series. Mo-
| that / anticipate every number will be
given with an equal finish with thai
| of the more experienced who appeared
at our last effort and who viii appear
| in the March concert, but the new
ness of the singers and the real eX'
! cellence of their voices too, raises the
efforts maiden efforts though they
be-of these debutantes on the whole
even above the level of the old estab-
lished favorites.
We often look for q perfection in
their renditions which we do not al
ways get, while in the young singers
! anticipate the public will find many
! points of excellence for which they dc
! not look. In the strict sense of the
! word have no pupils and yet l think
L can truly say they are my young
/ singers in a broader sense. Most of
| them have grown up in my classes for
/ young people, and they are a portion
| class work; they have in addition,
been under some special care for over
year, my work having been mostly
in guiding the growth of their voices
and their tone productions. They have
had no regular lessons since early last
spring but an occasional hearing and
advice"
OF the individual debutantes, MIR.
Stephens says: Miss Alice Bowring,
Ill D.,
pranos, the first two high sopranos
and the latter a mezzo; Miss Bowring
has a voice of great carrying power,
very rich and warm, a COMPASS of
about two octaves and three notes.
extending from A below to high c.
above the staff, with stately, mag
nlficent presence; her possibilities are
simply immense Miss Penrose. with a
similar compass, with slightly less
power, though not by any means lack
ing strength; indeed one wonders,
when she is reused up. where all that
body Of tone comes from, as they look
at the petite figure before them. She
is the most sympathetic of the So
pranos, but also the most nervous, as
IS often the case with sympathetic ma
lures. This OVercame her to such an
extent before the judges of the Els
teddfod as to keep her out of the con-
test, and robbed Eisteddfoders of the
pleasure of hearing an Interpretation
of The Separation equal if not su-
perior to anything given. Miss Musser
has voice of fuller quality than either
of the sopranos She was selected as
one of the contraltos at the Eisteddfod
though in truth her voice is distinctly
a mezzo soprano, extending from G.
below to B fat above She. too. shows
much feeling, and splendid promise
with future study. The four contral-
tos are Miss Mabel Cooper, Ida Pratt,
Hernia Tyler and Edna Dwyer; Miss
Cooper was heard at the Eisteddfod.
winning the prize for contraItos. She
has high range fora contralto. reach
ing high fat with ease, and were
1T not for the quality of her tones,
might be taken Tor mezzo soprano.
She has that confidence which aids
her IN careful Interpretation
Of her numbers and places her
at once equal with any home
contralto; the upper two-thirds of
her register is of a fine dramatic quail
ty. unsurpassed by any Salt Lake
singers. Miss Ida Pratt. daughter of
Professor Orson Pratt, has a magnifi-
cent full contralto voice, extending
from z fat below to F above. It has
more OF the genuine contralto quality
in 1t than even that of her cousin. Miss
Viola Pratt. She is also blessed with
Keen musical feeling and intelligence
and is certainly one of my favorites. -
Miss Hernia Tyler possesses one of the
most sympathetic voices [ have ever
had anything to do with Her tones
nave often been by me held UP as ex-
amples to the rest of my singers. es-
pecially contraltos. Being of a some
what nervous disposition too, she does
not always do herself justice, and was
another example OF the unreliability of
E1steddfodic contests, when nervous ar
tlStlc temperamentS are in question:
she was completely unnerved and the
sweetest voice of all was thereby dis
carded. Here she will easily convince
her hearers of her ability. Miss Edna
DWyer is another deep contralto, who
will yet convince the public of her su
perlorlty; with a compass from low 2
TO nigh g. She possesses great power
and dramatic ability. Indeed, though
Salt Lake has been hitherto Justly
proud of her wealth of cOntralt0s she
will find that her wealth is as yet al
most uneXplored when she hears these
magnificent voices; and if she can take
my word for it; ! have as many more
now ready to be heard, not whit be-
hind these.
Now the boys. q am accused of be-
ing partial to the boys by those who
do not know me) New tenors are
scarce. as the recent Eisteddfod seemed
10 indicate, though even in that the
contest was not a true criterion; those
VINO appeared seemed under a bIightineI
spell, Tor ] want to say right here that
have heard Mr.. Ashworth sing at
times for me as no other tenor has
done, but l admit he has been more
partal to me than TO his public as vet:
but they will hear him for what he is
worth some day. Mr.. Winters voice
is not a powerful one, and he is tinid
sun that delightful sympathetic ten
derness df his now reminds one of
Easton. now of Piper, and all told. he
is decided acquisition to our small
nst OF tenors. And though my little
duet BY the Brooklet' has been IDEAL
lzed by Easton and Mrs Allison. Mr.
winters and Miss Tyler's rendition of
1t has Of late added to my pleasure for
having written it. We are short of
bassos, especially soloists, all of our
low voiced soloists being baritones, but
here have two who will lower the
record; each OF them can make a good
low b fat, and eXcels in the lower
register rather in the upper. !
Mr. Peterson has a rich. broad. smooth !
voice, that fills the tabernacle as no |
other voice to which / have listened |
Of late can dc. with the same ease.
Gounod's Nazareth" fits him like |
glove. Mr. Christopherson' low notes |
are rich and wonderfully developed for