The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-04
A GREAT FESTIVAL SALE
APPLICATIONS FOR SEASON TICKETS
INDICATE A HEAVY PATRONAGE.
The Rehearsal of the Adult and Chill
dren's ChOruses Under Director Van
der Stueken Yesterday.

The directors of the May music festival
believe that it will have a greater pa
tronage this year than ever in it's history.
The preliminary talk about IL has all been
favorable. and yesterday, when the sub
scriptions for season tickets began, they
came in so fast as to assure an enormously
large sale when it begins at the Big -Four
ticket office. next Thursday morning. The
circulars asking for subscriptions We're
sent out only last Saturday, and the re-
sponses have been much more immediate
and plentiful than anticipated. AS fast as
they were received yesterday numbers cor
responding to them were sent to the sub
scribers emitting them to precedence in the
selection of seats al the sale, and this kept
Director f. L. Mayer busy all day. 1t is
expected that the subscriptions from out
of town will begin to come in this morning,
and they will, in all probability, be very
numerous.
From the demand for season tickets it is
evident that those who have expected to at
tend but one concert of the festival Will
have to get season tickets 10 insure seats
for that night. This is particularly true of
the CalVe concert, Tor wnich there is reason
TO believe every seat in Tomlinson Hall will
be sold far in advance.
LAST NIGHTS REHEARSAL.
When the public hears the cantata "Th
Swan and the Skylark" there will be u
general liking for the beautiful COMPOSE
ton. 1t is beginning to sound at the re-
hearsal as it will at the festival, and last
night it went through with but very few in
t%erruptions from the director, Mr.. Van der
Stucken, and these We're for a clearer
enunciation or some more delicate finish to
a phrase or a turn. Tine words are eX-
quisite in their poetical sentiment and the
music is meIodious and as pure in its con-
cept1on as the words. The Flight into
Egypt" went smoothly and the Com
panions, Come" both of which are COM
paratively short, were we'll done and the
"~1annnauser March had the true march
swing to it. The last was more or less fa-t
miliar to the members of the chorus, even
before the regular study OF 1t was begun,
and the chorus brings out a fuller tone in
it than in anything else, The work that
has been so tedious for the past weeks is
beginning TO be realized and the progress
and Improvement from one rehearsal to the
next is marked. Whatever is the result at
the festival 1t has to grow by hard work,
and this is not one of the agreeable things
to think about in connection with a grand
concert such as this will be. When one
hears a great cantatrice the perfection OF
the finished performance gives no clew to
the uninitiated as to what has been the
same with the festival chorus. When the
event takes place amid crowds, orchestra,
lights, flowers, dress suits and gay gowns
these weeks of labor will be forgotten. The
tone qualities. the phrastng, the shading
and all the little details which make the
volume of sound as from one great voice,
are being perfected and when the master
pieces OF composition which have been
chosen to make up the programme are pre-
scented in their entirety, with the proper
soloists, the festival will reach heights even
greater than in former years.
AS the chorus of adults progresses so
does that of the children. The latter met
yesterday for the first time in Tomlinson
Hall and occupied the. front rows of seats
in the auditorium, while the director and
~accompanist were the only ones on the
stage. The parts which have been studied
separately are being put together beauti-
fully by the children. There is a fresh
ness in the tones that belongs to such a
composition as Into Life" which de-
scribes the bursting of bud and flower and
all else that lives, in words that are simple
and true, While the cantata for the chill
dren is not elaborate. it has enough of the
difficulties Of composition to make it of
more than common interest, The changes in
time, key and tone quality are taken by
the young singers in a way that delights
the hearer who naturally expects less than
is given by them. The Saturday matinee,
when the children will sing, will be one of
the most attractive features of the festival:
A thousand young voices can make a deal
of sound and melody.