The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-01-23
THE ORATORIO COURSE.
Second of Mr.. Buffers certs viii ee
Given Tomorrow Evening.

The next concert in ]. Vernon But
lers oratorio course will take place
Tuesday evening in Pilgrim Church.
and. as before, $50 seats will be reserved
at the nominal price of 25 cents each
while about 800 seats will be free to
the public. Beethoven's Ruins OF
Athens" and Brahms Song of desti-
ny, the two works to be presented, are
notably lighter and less severe than
some of the works previously given.
The performers will be Mrs. Caroline
J t. Shepard, soprano; James A. Sake,
/ baritone; Joseph Rogers, Violinist; Irv-
! ing Swan Brown, 'celnst; Charles H
| Grout, organist; Miss Ruth Z. Nelson,
pianist; and chorus of 125 voices. A
short miscellaneous program, consist
ing of organ and violin solos and solos
by Mrs. Shepard and Mr.. SAKE, will
precede the rendering of the two longer
works.
| Beethoven's ruins of Athens" con-
tains much interesting music, the most
famous of which is the Turkish march.
| The overture, which embodies yet an
other march, is also well known ana
but for the old arrangement of chorus
| es, the vocal music might have been
more in vogue. AS compiled in can
tata style for the English edition, the
| choruSeS and solos are decidedly worth
singing and hearing. The music is in
| Beethoven's characteristic sonorous
style. and both melody and harmony
are impressive.
The music was composed for a dra-
matte piece written by the German
Kotzebue, and was first performed at
Buda-Pesth. in 1872. 1t was not pub
lished, however, till 1876, and was first
performed in England in 1S4S. 1t was
first sung in it's present form by the
Royal Choral Society in London. March
16 1898. Probably Mr.. Butler is the
first conductor to bring out this YER
sion in the United States, and he de-
serves credit for the enterprise.
The picturesque and suggestive
"Schicksalslied," or Song of destiny -
is famous specimen Of Brahms skill
in choral writing, which in its moderate
extent and real effectiveness seems to
have set the pattern for those shorter
choral works in which some Of the
best of the living English composers
have expressed themselves most sue
cessfully. In the poetic depth of emo
ton, in the contrast between it's two
sections and in the hopeful teaching of
the music, as against the fatalistic
Pun poil VI the WOFuS, the auJnOr has
entered into the very soul of his sub
ject, and is no mere machine for set
ting words to suitable music.
The opening section describes the
state of Olympian calm in which the
pagan deities may be supposed to pass
an eternity of unruffled happiness. The
pure beauty of the music in this part
is greatly enhanced by the fine orches-
tration and the movement gives place
all too soon to a rapid and restless sec
| ton in triple time, in which the harsh
destiny of the human race is consi-
dered. AS in the second number of the
Requiem, the choral parts sweep to
and fro as though driven before a re-
sistless tempest. Hoelderlin's line
Like water from cliff unto cliff ever
dropping" is set to a most graphic
passage of staccato notes in cross
. rhymth. and the final words of the
poem ''At last do we pass away
suggest a headlong falling into non.
existence, illustrated in the gradua
dying away of the voices in their low.
J est registers.
Here is where the composer asserts
his own individuality, for the work
does not end at this point; in an in.
! strumental epilogue, built on the theme
, Of the quiet opening, he seems to show
us that there IS a hope beyond the
poets ken, that the pessimistic view OF
life may not perhaps be the true one
after all. The power of instrumental
music to suggest definite non-musica
ideas-that power generally denied BY
the partisans of what is called cab.
solute" music, among whom Brahms
is usually counted-was never better
i1lustrn fed