The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-04-26

and talked about the glorious Mormon
choir and the house was sold out be-
fore dark. Apostle Grants sermon,
too, which created a sort of sensation,
was a great help to the concert. He is
always a magnetic talker, but on this
occasion he outdid himself. 1t was
when he spoke of the government S
calling on Brigham Young for 500 men
to aid in the Mexican war, after they
had been driven out of Nauyoo, and
how the Mormons loved the country
and upheld its institutions, that the
big burst of applause went up, which
for a moment paralyzed the speaker
and astonished the singers. sound
of applause in the midst of
tabernacle sermon would be
about the rarest and most un-loohed-
for event that could transpire
and the faces of the Mormon singers
| must have been a study at the sound
of that outburst.
At midnight Sunday the train left
for Monterey and the famous hotel Del
| Monte, in which enchanted spots the
choir woke up on Monday morning and
! passed the greater part of the day. Up
to this time the weather on the whole
tour had been windy, rainy and cold.
At Del Monte a perfect tropical day
dawned, and nothing could exceed the
enjoyment the singers got out of it.
grounds Both here and in
San Jose it was hard to
| imagine ones self ON United States
soil. The great overhanging palms
that line the sidewalks, the strange
looking plants and shrubs of all sorts
that adorn the lawns, the wealth of
flowers, the aromatic perfumes that
came to the nostrils on every breeze
all suggested life in the tropical re-
loo.
was all in all, a closer glimpse Of fairy
land than the party of singers ever
dexpected to enjoy. At San Jose Mon
day night, a big concernt was given
in the auditorium, a great barnlike
structure with low ceiling and no
acoustics except bad ones. But the
audience enjoyed itself immensely, en-
/ cores were numerous and Stephens and
Easton were loaded down with flowers
by admirers at the train next morning.
/ On Tuesday at 10 o'clock a. m. the
train run to Sacramento, where din
ner was spread, the usual rehearsal
/ held and a fine concert given in the
evening How the Sacramento people
enjoyed it is best told in the admirable
notice from last Wednesdays Record
Union, which is given below. The
! start home was made at midnight
| Tuesday and the final arrival made at
noon Thursday, April %. Thus the ten
DAYS tour was completed without
break or an accident or the missing of
a date and it is doubtful if ever ten
days in the lives of the eXcursionists
not excepting those at the Worlds
! fair-had more genuine enjoyment
crowded into them.
The one mistake made was in the
! local manager not charging popular
prices at first. Even he conceded this
later, but his idea was that dollar
and half being the standard theatre
! cl price at the Baldwin theatre, the
public might rank anything which did
! not charge the same. as a second-class
attraction. The whole tendency in San
! Francisco, as elsewhere, is in the de-
votion to cheap amusements. Had the
! choir been able to accept the offer
/ madet by Gottlab & Frienlander, man.
ayers of the Columbia Auditorium, they
could doubtless have crowded the lat
ter (Which was opened by Sousa) at the
prices charged Sunday night.
Under all the circumstances the
writer regards the tour as a triumph
! Financially, the choir made up its 81
/ 600 deficiency, and comes out with a
small balance-a very small one, it is
! true, on the right side. Artistically
! the result is immense and the general
verdict of the coast press and people
! on the choir's work will still further
| heighten this city's reputation as the
undoubted musical center of the inter
/ mountain region. The soloists have no
reason to feel discouraged that they
were at first raped somewhat severely
! by several critics. The fact that they
were placed in comparison with the
worlds greatest artists, whom San
| Francisco is constantly hearing, is in
itself a compliment even though they
must inevitably suffer by the COM
parison They should find comfort in
the fact that they were all workers IN
the chorus which scored such an I'M
doubted impression, and in the further
fact that in cities of our own class,
such as Sacramento and San jose,
they received plaudits more enthusi-
astic even than they are accustomed
TO receive at home. Then, too, it must
be remembered that the first pro-
gramme was a popular programme
and as such was naturally made up for
public taste rather than for critical
classic musicians, and as stephens
SAYS 1.-The public enjoyed their fare"
The most intricate things attempted
were as perfectly done as the simplest,
and that was more than conceded by
the most critical. Each night the peo-
pie simply declined to leave their seats
at the close of the programme, and
Utah. We Love Thee" and THE
Star Spangled Banner" were each
given impromptu, sometimes both had
to be rendered before the people were
satisfied.
If any one is entitled to the name of
star after the choir it is the boy
Charley Pike, who never failed to
make a sensation.
Mr.. Stephens took a most sensible
view of the criticisms. He called the
singers together. said there was much
truth in what had been said, asked
them to profit by the notices as he
should, and congratulated them on the
good impressions made. He is not at
al +hin-slxinned. and he views all the
criticisms. harshly even as that IN the
Examiner was expressed enough II
should be said that the Examiner critic
was as warm as ony ane in his praises
before the season was oVer) with sdtls,
faction. for in an indirect way ana
wholly unknown to the writers, they
have all tended to recognize his talents
and labors. In the unbounded praise
for the choir he finds the fruit OF ms
patient. persistent toll for years with
the children and young people; unat
humble. toilsome labor with the masses
has resulted in making a group OF
singers whose work ranked even the
soloists (the possessors OF the hnest
voices) far below them in artistic re-
suits. The reason is that they have
not individually labored as persistent
ly to become artists, as Stephens has
done to make the choir artistic. The
high standard of the choir work made
the Individual work, good as it was,
seem tame in comparison. 1t took
stran gers to realize this; at home the
soloists are always the recipients OF
hN