The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-03-26

Musical Gossip.
eNMMMMSeS

tonian. The words are from the pen
of Arthur Weld. a prominent critic
Last evening had the sincere pleas
ure of seeing the Pabst theater packed
practically to its capacity for a musi-
cal event. Every box was taken, every
seat in parquette, dress circle and bal
cony, and moro than three-quarters of
the seats in the upper gallery. This is
no exaggeration, but exactly true. In
nearly eight years experience of this
city, and particularly from its musical
side, | have never seen such a thing
before and it is certainly highly en-
cOuraging that it should have occurred.
The event was the second concert this
season of the Lyric Glee club, one of
the most excellent local musical organ
izations, and one of which Milwaukee
is surely entitled to boast. on pre-
vious occasion | have pointed out that
this club had advantages not custom
airy in organizations of this descrip-
tion; to begin with the material is care
fully selected, and the numerical limi-
tations of the club make 1t possible to
exercise the greatest care and selection
| in adding new members. There are ten
first tenors. and nine each of the second
tenorS and first and second basses.
| This makes a chorus quite large enough
for all purposes likely to arise in the
| career of such an institution, and yet
| makes it easily possible. as is the case
here, to select nothing but the very
| best voices. Therefore the material at
| the hands of the musical conductor, Mr..
| Daniel Protheroe. is Of the highest
| class. And with this material he has
| accomplished a great deal. AS I have
cs,iJ a LafA t1,n Of &c Ilxy
| beautiful the precision extraordinary
and the certainty of pitch remarkable,
and with three such characteristics, the
| foundation of the very best possible
chorus work is laid immoveably. More
over, the club is ambitious as to the
quality of the work 1t does, as we'll as
, the quality of the manner in which it
is done. Hitherto have criticized Mr.
| Protheroe freely for the strong leaning
| towards English composers in making
his programme, but last night he gave
a programme in which he considered
Rheinberger, Raft, Abt, Wagner. Hora-
ton Parker, Neidlinger and Mozart as
far as the clubs work was concerned
Lloyd and Broome, one English and
the other Welsh, being the only insular
representatives. And in consequence
there was an immense improvement
| noted from the start. 1t was pleasing
to note in addition to all the points
| mentioned above that the club has
| gained in virility of tone Mr.. Proth.
eroe leaned formerly toward too much
| sweetness. and that he has largely
eliminated with striking advantage tC
the general effect There is still littl,
too much falsetto tone in the first ten
ors, but Rome was not built in a day
and in view of the fact that today the
club is singing undeniably better thar
any male chorus Milwaukee has evel
possessed one should not he hyper
critical. Mr.. Protheroe personally alst
did the best work of his career in thi!
city as a conductor (ahd the fact tina
the club sang so well proved that III
had done his best work as a trainer
aso)-anl he showed greater steadi
ness, ease and certainty at his desl
| than heretofore. He should, however
abandon the persistent use of the lef
hand, which is a grievous mistake, anC
| also give up the rather amateurisl
habit Of beating out phrase with a bea
to each note. a chorus should not b.
| accustomed to such fictitious means o
acquiring precision as this. But other
wise, Mr.. Protheroe deserves heart!
praise for his own work and that of hi
chorus.
| The same writer in another article
speaks most disparagingly of the worl
of Mr.. Tomlins, who. it will be remem
bered. figured extensively as leader o
the Arion club at the Worlds Fair
and has long attempted to be riva
of Mr.. Protheroe. The criticism is o
Mr. Tomlin's i'll success in the pre-
sentation of Sampson and Delilah. IL
this he says: Mr. Tomlins did no
know the score, which caused variou
troubles. including two breakdowns
The chorus was deplorably weak ant
the work was incorrect, ragged, un
finished and unsteady, despite the fac
that there is hardly any chorus worl
in the opera, and that is extremel!
easy, and the club has had two full
months for preparation. If this cal
be taken as a criterion which to judg
the approaching April concert, th'
outlook is certainly not encouraging
AS to the question of whose shoulder
should bear the responsibility, it ma,
be briefly said that the singers ar
surely not to blame in view of tn
questionably one of the best in tn
United States, has repeatedly givel
works much longer and more difficult
on shorter notice, and given them eX
tremely WELL Even Mr. Tomlins' mos
ardent admirers as chorus drill mas
ter and conductor of oratoro. will
hardly claim that as a conductor o
modern French opera and orchestra
tGin hn DO ut ic hn h
makes it particularly easy for the or
chestral musicians. The two break
downs were solely the fault of the di
rector"
An announcement which will de
light the music lovers of this regiol
will soon be made regarding a serie
of subscription artist recitals to b
given here early in the autum tn
chief interest Of which will centre Il
the one which will bring to this cit,
the great Boston symphony society
That this series will be held unde
the direction of Mr.. J. Alfred Pen
nington, of the Conservatory of Music
is enough to guarantee the quality Q
music that will be produced.
To entertain his friends at an "A
Home" Mr.. Vanderbilt engaged tn
Philharmonic orchestra, under Her
Seidl's direction. The great violi
virtuoso, Ysaye, and the eminent bar
itone, Signor Campanani
4 Il
Mr.. David Bispham, Americas ia
.. vorite baritone. gives his London con
cert at st. James hall June IL.
II i Il
Mr.. Lnhn Z, Watkins and Miss Cor