New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-06-25

MUSICAL MATTERS.
HALF CENTURY OF GERMAN SONG IN
AMERICA THE GOLDEN JUBILEE
sAENGERFEsT TO BE HELD IN
CINCINNATI-STORv OF THE
ORIGIN OF THE FEsTI-
Walls A FIRST
CRITICISM.
IN "Wednesday Thursday and Friday Of this week
the hftieth anniversary OF the establishment Oh 'e
North American sangerbund. and. coincidehty' vi
the holding OF the first Sangerfest heio III Ane
tea will be celebrated by one OF those cha'ac'e
,s,,callv German festivals The meetings OIL Tue
n,nw,h ,r,or,can sangerbund used 10 be annual az
,a,,s ord enjoy the participation OF German singers
from all parts Of the United States out our'"s ''e
hast decade two they have faieh NOR VI 80
into a decadence and several times IL mas seei"e"
as II their end at hand AS they nave peer
carried on they have been costly anars' anu yea
.rer year there has been a decrease In the num-
her OF men who have been willing to see compe'
saton m their social features for deterioration VI
the artistic Nevertheless. they have played an I'M
nortsn, mart I'm the development OF choral music III
he ".
,,,.ros,,ng and profitable The circumstance that
,h. ,ubee 1. TO be celebrated in the city In whc"
the first festival was held has aroused some % Wv
old enthusiasm and the prospect ~ tha' linen
natl will witness a notable gathering TINS "eeh ~
any rate the announcement is made that chorus
=, ro,rlv four thousand voices will sing In the
three evening concerts supported by oano COM
nosed OF the Cincinnati and Chicago symphon! OF
cbestras A hall with seating capacity OF e'e",
teen thousand has been built for the OCCASION anu
a mixed chorus OF eighteen hundred VIII 'aAe pa.
IN the reception concert, at which cantata win
Ne no,forrned which was composed by DR.. N j.
Flsrnheiner and took a prize of 1900 offered oy
the local committee. The solo singers engaged are
with scarcely exception known IN New ioiA'
They are Miss Sara Anderson Mrs. Cornne Moore
Lawson Miss Charlotte Maconda Mrs Marshaii
pease George Hamln. Oscar Ehrgott and Joseph
c Raernstein Louis Ehrgott. conductor OF the
largest Of Cincinnatrs male singing societies VIII
be the festival drec' or.
Co much for the announcement Considering the
superory in musical culture OF the large cities OF
the East over tn" towns Of the West half
century ago It Is than singular that the Ger
man singing festivals should have originated In
Cincinnati but II ought 10 be remembered thar
even I'm Germany the festival idea was young when
The North American Sangerbund was founded
PHILADELPHIA had had its Mannerchor (stil In vgor-
Gus existence) ten years before the first Sangerfest
meeting place was WHrzburg Cincinnati was only
four years behind the Fatherland. Perhaps the
need OF social intercourse and OF the maintenance
Of national institutions felt more keenly by
the Germans in the West than here: perhaps, aso
there was encouragement in the more tolerant
spirit Of the communities In which the German I'M
migrants took ND their abode Aside from this
however. musical culture had remarkably early
beginning in Cincinnati The first white settlement
an tho territory northwest of the Ohio River was
fIodN fori in
than a generation later. in 1915. an enterprsing
C,ncnpatian was already offering In the public
newspaper TO publish singing book by subscrip
ton IL was 10 be called The Western Harmon
tst" and its aim TO be TO furnish the different
societes' OF the town with suitable tunes and an
thems Perhaps the different societies were only
church choirs. but II so they were all banded to-
gether under the name OF Haydn Society In 1873 ana
a concert was given. which differed but little In
programme from the concerts given In the same
year in Boston. The fact speaks loudly Of the
character OF the people who built up Cincinnati
Twentv wears before members of the First Presby-
terfan Church were still subject by the rules OF the
society. to a fine II they came to meeting without
their rifles.
The Philadelphia Mannerchor enjoys the dis
tinction of being the first German singing society
organized in the United States. 1t was founded
On December Is 1885. No one has risen TO ques
ton the right Of the Philadelphia society TO the
distinction but careful search Of the records In
Newly and elsewhere would probably disclose
the fact that 1t had not merely one but several
predecessors All Of our musical history has been
carelessly written The Moravians have always
been noted for their devotion music. and the
Moravian colonsts who settled In Pennsylvania
more than seventy-hve years before the date
given were the less Germans because their
thoughts religion and education instead
of beer and Gemdthlichkeit. How musical they
Nae in Of Tribune
last March. which brought out the fact that a
band of flutes oboes horns and trumpets accom-
panied the organ in the church at Bethlehem in
1876 as reported by Benjamin Franklin in a letter
10 his wife. A philharmonic society was organized
in Bethlehem In 1920, which had already been
preceded by Colegum Museum. the date OF
whose organization does not to have been
preserved. Moreover. and this would be
conclusive. part Of Haydns Creation per-
formed in 1871, and the parts show that the work
sung in German. For that matter the Mo-
ravian part of the Bethlehem community is still
10 all intents and purposes German, though the
historians Of German culture (which TO Judge
by those who talk about It most. means unre-
striced beer. especially on Sunday seem 10 have
neglected their share In the work Of civilization
and refinement which has been done in the United
States However. the people who established the
first school for girls in the New World and con-
Quoted their missions among the Indians, as did
the followers Of the Hussites and Count Zinzen.
dorf In Pennsylvania. are probably not concerned
about the amount OF credit given 10 them by pro-
fessional German agitators. Their pride has q
better basis.
But II the Philadelphia Mannerchor was the nrs,
German singing society organized in the United
States CincinnaUs record is all the more brin.
liant. for the Western city is only three year,
behind Philadelphia. In 1898 party OF youns
Cincinnati Germans introduced the four-part sone
for mems voices. meeting every Thursday evening
for that purpose among them being Friedrich
Gerstacker. the German traveller and author
who was for some years a resident OF the town
Another society organized in 1893; a third IN,
"Deutscher Liedertafel,' In 1870; a fourth In 1876
and many others atterward whose history II 4.