The age-herald., 1899-05-14
ABOUT PROGRAMMES AND
 SYMPHONY YORCHESTRAS 5

week has passed since the Boston Fes- tival Orchestra was here, but the rich har- monies that it gave forth will finger long as delightful memories in the souls of those who attended the festival I have not met any one who did not enjoy the music. but a number of persons have suggested that at the next festival it might be we'll 60 make the programmes a little less se- we're; to tighten them by giving what is called popular music a prominent place. But for a festival to be worthy of the rame only the best class of music should Joe offered. These tone banquets have two objects in view. They are to delight the ear of the audiences and at the same time elevate the listeners-educate them. The three programmes presented May and 6 were intended to meet both requirements to he both pleasing and educational
 Thirty years ago programmes con- ta'ning an oratorio by Haydn, Il symphony by Beethoven and over lures like Wagner's would have been very heavy for Birmingham. As for that matter. they would have been over the heads of a New York audience. But the conditions are entirely different now. A large percentage of the people who at tended the festival were familiar with the music of Haydn. Beethoven and Wagner from having heard it in New York Gin cinnati and Chicago. And a still large" percentage of the festival audiences were familiar with fine music from having heard 1t at home or in the church choir. Thirty years has made wonderful change in this respect. So that today such programmes should not be regarded as heavy anywhere ia the south. especially in Birmingham All though the programmes gave us, for the most part, either classic music or romantic music of the highest order, there were very few numbers that the least educated anna teur could not follow with genuine pleas ure, A muse lover who has not had an opportunity of studying the science of mu- sic cannot, of course. appreciate fully at first hearing the fugued choruses of an or atorio. or the profound ''worling out" of a classic overture or symphony. But that te just where the educational feature of a programme comes in. By frequent hearing, even those who lack a knowledge of the science of harmony come, by and by. to love the works of the great composers and to form correct musical judgment. And the great advantage of the best music over light, common music Is just the same as tine advantage of the highest class of po- etry over trashy verse. Music affects the imagination in the same way that litera- ture does. The good, the noble, lifts and reffnes the soul the poor, the trivial, tends to vit'a ate 1t.
 As the first festival under the auspices of the Birmingham Musical Festival Assecia- tion was success financially as we'll as artistically, it is more than likely that a three days affair will be announced for Eext spring-three night concerts and one matinee. The cost of four performances would be very little more than the cost of three. Having a fine symphonic band like the Boston Festival Orchestra to play in Birmingham has awakened in our musical circles a lively interest in orchestral work fin violins violas. violoncellos double passes, flutes, clarionets, oboes. bassoons French horns, trumpets, trombones and Kettle drums. The orchestra was an impor- tant institution in Haydn's day, but its i'm portance is much greater now. For in cho- ral works by Wagner Berlioz, Grieg ant other modern composers, the orchestra ha: