The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-10-18
THE GREAT MAINE FESTIVAL.
The Hosts Are Gathering for the Great
Event.


and Towns That VIII Have Place in the
Chorus.
Portland Is on the eve of the great
Maine Musical Festival. The singers Of
worldwide fame, flushed with their tri-
umph in our sister city of Bangor, appro-
priately named the Queen City, have
arrived in ''the city by the sea, and are
resting preparatory to the labors OF the
next few days. Nine. Nordica, that
Queen of Song, is stopping at the Con-
gress square hotel. where Mr.. W. X.
Chapman, the magician, whose wand
rules the festival, and Mr.. Homer N.
Chase, his efficient business manager,
are also ouartered. AT the Falmouth
hotel are, among others. Dr. Carl Il.
Duff, Evan Williams, John NJ. Fulton,
Heinrich Meyn, H. B. Drake, Miss Lillian
Carllsmith, and the members Of the Seidl
orchestra, all musicians Of eminenoe. 1t
may not be generally known that there
is a contingent of leading musicians from
Maine and New Hampshire that add
their forces to the 30 pieces of the Seldl
orchestra. They are, from Maine, Oscar
E. Wasgatt, Bangor; Frank Welsh, Port
land; Horace E. Pullen, Bangor, first
violins; Frank Burnham, James Thomp-
son, w. L. Cousins, Portland second
violins; Roland Sawyer, Bangor, Max
Schlegel, Lewiston, violas; F. g. Payne,
Lewiston, clarinet; r. B. Hall, Water
vile, cornet; H. A. Gillespie, Calais, B.
A. Roundy, Belfast, French horns. From
Portsmouth, N. H., came Geo. II. Miller,
Chauncey B. Hoyt, violins; F.W. Behold,
viola; q. B. Whitman, cello; Carl T.
Yenke double bass G. T. Eastman,
flute and piccolo; J. e. st. Clair, clari-
net; John H. Parlin, cornet. These gen.
tlemen from Maine and New Hampshire
are at Swett's hotel
The various societies that form the gen.
eral chorus, with the exception OF our
own Haydns, will arrive on the early
trains today in time for rehearsal. The
great horus of about 1000 voices will be
composed of Portland, Lewiston, Au-
burn, Bath, Norway, Rockland, Bethel,
Mechanic Falls, Buckfeld, Turner and
Brunswick societies.
The great auditorium is in readiness
for the festival. It has been appropriately
decorated with bunting and Illuminated
by hundreds of electric lights. The great
stage will easily accommodate the mann
moth chorus, while auditorium and gal
lery will seat the great audiences. The
demand for tickets, especially the last
few days, has been great But 1876 seats
Saturday were left unsold for Tuesday
night and by noon today every one of
these will be gone. There has been an
extraordinary sale tor tonight, and also
for Wednesday. For the afternoon per-
formances the demand has been large 1t
is safe to say that those who hesitate
about buying seats until the last moment
will not hear the performances at all
Therefore application should be made at
Cressey, Jones Il Aliens at once. The
for tonight will be as fol.
lows:
Coronation March, Meyerbeer
Hallelujah Chorus-Messiah, Handel
Why do the Nations Rage, Messiah
Carl Il. Duff.
Thanks be to God-Elijah, Men1elssohn
If with AL Your Hearts-Elijah,
Mendelssohn
Evan Williams.
Hear Ye Israel Elijah
Nine. Nordica.
Be Not Afraid, Elijah
Selections from Stabat Mater, Rossini
Mime. Lillian Nordica, Miss Grace G.
Couch, Evan Williams, Carl e. Duff.
Chorus and Orchestra.
Nine. Nordica is SO well known that
it is unnecessary to more than refer to
the fact that as Lillian Norton she was
born at Pennington in this state, and
at two years of age moved to Boston with
her parents. After studying Music as a
girl at home she went to Italy, and there
her teacher San Giovanni of Milan, gave
her the stage name of 'tGiglia Nordica ;"
or northern lily She made her debut
ct Brescia as Violetta in Traviata, and
thereon her career was one of triumph,
st. Petersburg, Paris, Berlin, New York,
all surrendered to her gifts. But her
crowning glory was her selection by
Nine. Cosinio Wagner to create the role
of Elsa in Lohengrin at Bayreuth.
Miss Grace G. Couch, who will tako
the contralto part in Stabat Mater, is a
Wisconsin girl, and is the solo contralto
of St. Bartholomew s church, New York.
DIR. Duff is pupil of the best New
York teachers, and OF Fred Walker and
Edwin Holland Of London. He has sung
in all the great oratorios at all the larger
musical festivals, and is solo bass at
Marble Collegiate church, with Evan
Williams as tenor.
Evan Williams was born of Welsh
parentage at Mineral Ridge, Ohio, Sep
TENDER z, 1867. He studied with Mime.
Louise Won Feilitzsch and Mr.. James Saw
age, and is now tenor of Marble Col
legiate church at $4,000 yearly salary. He
his hearers at Bangor.
Mime. Blauvelt will be heard here on
Wednesday and will arrive at the Con-
gress S,uare hotel today. Mime. Blauvelt