Evening star., 1898-04-16
a1HE spEcrRE,s BR1DE.v
The Tragic 0antala to De Sung by
the OuaorSn Society.

Next Tuesday kvenfhg. at the Congrsga-
tional Church. tie CAoral Society will pre-
sent Dvorak's b9autfful dramatic cantata,
THE Spectre's Brfdep with full orchestra,
fine soloists ana wkll-drilled chorus. all
under the direction Of Mr.. Josef Kaspar.
Ihe orchestra fs al fine one, numbering
forty-five playess, and has been in con-
tinuous existence M Boston for many
years. making dospeclal feature of accom-
panyfns large ehorlses in concerts and
festivals 1t has been often heard at the
Worcester and Springfield festivals, at the
Boston Handel and Haydn concerts ara
at the Petersburg festivals, and were heard
here In concert last year, assisted by Calve,
Campanart and others. 1t plays delightful
accomplishments, and the friends of the
Choral Society will thereby be rewarded
Tor their strong support at the two pre-
vious concerts this season, when the ac-
compartments were with organ and piano
only.
or the soloists. Mr.. Rieger, the tenor,
VINO takes the part of the Spectre, is well.
known here. and wherever oratorio and
cantata have home The work of the
TENOR In 'sThe Spectre's Bride is entirely
IN duets with the soprano-the Maiden.
as together they traverse, between mid
night and morning. the thirty miles from
ner nome 20 the church and burial ground,
AiSf ucSCTlDeS 10 n0T AS MS CdBtte
Old and garden fair. The lyrical char
acter of this part of the work will well
suit Mr. Rieger's voice and style.
me ether two sofoists are new to Wash
lnston. MRS. Wood is the soprano of the
quartet Of the First Unitarian Church in
Boston, and a member Of the Choral So
ciety VINO recently had an opportunity to
Lear 1t describes it as the best-balanced
quartet he ever heard, and its work as
more finished and artistic than that of the
ee.eorated Arlington Street Church quar-
tet, which he heard the same day, and
winch every one had stated to be the best
quartet In Boston. Mrs. Wood has q beau
ti1ul voice and fine stage presence and
snouid well carry the trying part of the
ing SOLO, when She prays that her lost lover
may come back or else she be taken away
70 MN, ana again in the terrible scene in
the dead house, near the close, when she
De rescued from her terrible spectre-lover,
VINO: In loud tones, at the door, is calling
On tne DEAD man lying on the plank to rise
ana open tie door to him. the soprano has
great opportunities for dramatic as well
as Voca! work, which, together with her
uuets with the Spectre, she is hurried
over the thirty miles, the last part of the
way with bleeding feet, make her role one
OF intense interest throughout
10 the baritone solOist and the chorus
are assigned the narrator parts of the
story, and much Of it is extremely dramatic
and thrilling. The baritone, Mr.. Howland,
is unknown here, but he is vouched for by
the manager of the Boston Festival Or
chestra as eminently capable of filling the
oimcult role completely. The structure of
the cantata Is peculiar in this respect, that,
with the exception of the opening chorus
every one Is accompanied by baritone OBJ
igato solo, Some of them are extremely
beautiful, especially the corpse e-candie"
cnorus, In which, as we'll as In several other
places in the cantata, three distinct sets of
words are Icing sung simultaneously by
the baritone and the chorus. While this
would seem to lead to utter confusion in
the hands Of many composers, Dvorak has
SO sk1llfully assigned a distinctive rhythm
10 each set Of words that the voices carry
Ing 1t can be followed easily throughout
ana the effects In many places are beauti-
ful IN the extremeI In order to aid the
audience in this,4 the libretto has been so
printed that, wherever two or three sets of
words are running simultaneously they are
printed in parallel columns and generally
all drop down a line at the same time
The seeming incongruity of terribly
tragic story linked to beautiful music can
not be better expressed than in the words
of an eminent critic,i who says that in this
work Dvorak has succeeded in rendering
horror beautiful" Yet there is nothing
frivolous about the music, but it fits the
words throughout. The libretto itself is a
fine piece of English verse in spite of the
fact that it has suffered two translations
from Bohemian into German and thence
into English. Perhaps the most remark
able feature is that. under these circum-
stances, the words fand music should
suit each other: The two former concerts
of the Choral Society have been given this
season to standing room only" and this
one, with its beautiful orchestral accom-
paniment, should certainly test the stand
ing room well as the seating capacity
of the Congregational Church next Tues
day evening. On an occasion of this kind
the lack of a sufficiently large music hall
in this city Is most forcibly presented. The
seats that are left are going rapidly at
Ellis & Co.'S.