New-York tribune., 1900-05-11
MUSIC.
THIRD DAY OF The CiNClNNATl
FESTIVAL.

ftroin,ot, Nav fO-Nafure smiled the third
day of the Festival. The weather was perfect
hrsgbt skias floods OF SUNSHINE. and yet FUSE
epousb Of n chill i'm the atmosphere 70 make the
temperature of the audience room enduraole Two
concerts were given-one In the afternoon OF mis-
cellaueous character designed 70 ey ploit the merits
OF the orchestra and two OF the solo singers and
one in the evening. in which masterpieces IN The
line of oratorio and symphony were produced. with
two brilliant bits of ornament between IN the shape
of a performance OF "Casta Diva by Nine Sem
brich and the prelude 10 "Ioaensrin ny the or
chestra In the afternoon Mime. Schumann- -Heink.
who has taken the Festival public completely cap
tive sang Louis V. Saars "Ganymed. which she
sang the first time at one OF the philharmonic
concerts in New-York in the season just ended.
and Schubert's "AIImacht." with the same Mr.
Saor's orcbestratiol Mr. Ben Davies who has
not sung so brilliantly for years az he IS singing
nov gave Love In Her Eyes from Handlers
"Acis and Gaatea.' and "Ouaway, Awake from
Coeridge TayIors 'fiiawatha's wedding Feast
Festival matinees are planned for the deleetation
of those to whom oratOriOs and works of like mag
nitude are heavy fare. and naturally to-days az
ternoon scheme highly enjoyable. Neither the
matinee nor the evening concert brought out
large an audience as that of Wednesday. for rea-
sons hnted at Yesterday The festal folk love
the solo singers quite dearly as do the patrons
of the Metropolitan Opera House The great quar-
! had very little TO do Wednesday evening.
but it all cast" nevertheless, and the
thousands came to worship.
There will be more sensational goings o tO-nor-
evening, when the choral forces. augmented by
three hundred school children. the big orchestra
and the huge organ. the heights Of BerIioz's
"Te Deum,' but from purely musical point Of
view to-day's two concerts must be set down
the climax of the festival Two extremely inter
esting symphonies and symphonic poem were
given, which. though not utterly foreign to New
York schemes. have yet been treated with strange
neglect. and the evening giorihed by per-
formance of Brahms's German Requiem" That
two headed Sir Oracle of London, Runctman-Black-
burn, having recently stripped every on my
critical back because of my hardihOOd IN agreeing
with the Yale professor Of music that Brahms's
masterpiece great music, notwithstanding that
the critic OF The Pail Mall Gazette said thai
it had "'cowardice for its psychological basis
fancy that silence would be becoming
than speech on this occasion. But really the
German Requiem IS beautiful and awe inspiring.
so beautiful and awe inspiring. indeed, that even
the great men of The Saturday Review and
The Pail Malr' might learn TO love ii. If they
put their minds the task and spare il a
little of the time which they spend in loving
themselves inOrinately Mr.. Runciman has
proclaimed that interna t!onaI complications
result from the difference of opinion this ques
tion and /. too. a OF peace. Let IL be
known. therefore, that The Tribune is not envious.
but rejoices that Of Pail MalT' is consciously
proud of thar certain knack OF writing which
he possesses and Is glad that when recently he OF
the Review Brussels no even tried
shoot him wherein was more fortunate than
the Prince of Wales This agreed upon. il is open
even 70 glory in d work which Mr.. Thomas
and his singers love and which holds fellowship
wOrthily with the proudest works which the Gin
cinnati festival schemes have show-the r minor
mass and 81. Matthew Passion Of Bach, ths
Requiem of Mozart. Handlers Israel in Egypt and
the solemn in of Beethoven
New-York has done duty by the COM
position. though it has heard more performances OF
4. than any other city in the country The first
American performance OF II was given there by the
Oretorio Society under DR.. DamrOsch. long
the first three movements had received their very
first performance in Vienna and nine years after
the first complete production (barring the soprano
solo ard chores composed later. in Bremen. The
first New-York performance in English, bur
subsequently the German L.iederkranz gave the
work in German. Mr. Thomas then produced Il in
English with the New-York Chorus Society. in
February. 1884. and the OratOriO Society under
Walter Damrosch. repeated the work in 1891 This
does not look like very bad record U can count
up only five performances in Hamburg-the birth
place of the cOmpOseT) buJ the fact remains
theiess that the German Requiem Is known
rs il deserves to be in New-York or anywhere
else in the United States The Cincinnati Festival
Chorus sang it in 1854 and nine years later re-
vamped it for Exposition concert in Chicago
To-day's repetition wins for the choir the palm
for devotion to the noble composition. When IL is
remembered that Brahms planned the German
Requiem a tribute TO the memory of a mother
10 whom he peculiarly devoted in love. that
il was for him a personal function and he.
Protestant. could not 20 the Catholic ritual
either for his moods OF his memorial
service. il is not surprising that burden of
row, Unrelieved by dramatic piCturesqueness rests
upon much of the work-that is always with
the first contemplation of death-yet comfort comes
like a benediction with each promise OF a
OF grief and when the climax Is reached in the
closing proclamation. must repeat what I have
said before in answer TO the critics who would
have believe that this music is whine
whimper. that here the voice Of Brahms is
NV XyniPn Of rruia and
the voice OF many waters and the voice OF
many thunderings, saying: Aleluia, for the Lord
God OmnipOtent reigneth,
The performance of the Requiem worthy
of place alongside of that given TO st Paul. on
Tuesday evening There moments when tho
attacks were less precise and the intonation was
bit uncertain. but this but natural. considering
the greater difficulty of the work Brahms is at
times suave Mendessohn in his themes Tin
the chorus How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place"
for instance). but he is never obvious in his
harmonic progressions for any length of time: he
mounts TO the rugged expressiveness of Bach and
ruts a corresponding task upon his singers. New
ertheless, the choir did it's duty admirably. and
many a lover of true musical beauty must have
wished tonight that to-mOrrow's audience would
but recall the inherent grandeur Of the Requiem
while listening the tonal garishness of Berlioz's
"Te Deum." Mime. Sembrich's singing OF the sub
lime solo, ''Ye Now Are Sorrowful." a reve-
laton of the loftest clements In singing From
beginning TO end il maintained ecstatic
plane. Here, again. were compelled To realize
how much good singing is helped by good musi-
cianship.
The symphonic works which were heard to-
day and have been neglected in New-York
Tschaikowsky's Manfred. Cesar Franck's - in d
minor and Professor MacDowers "Lancelot and
Elaine can recall no performance OF the first
ThOura purht = fortv v,-1 ~nY1-