The St. Louis Republic., 1900-12-23

Director Richard Ste!apfs leading Of The
horus WIS the distinctive feature of the
I.iederkrdHz concert at the Li.derkranz
Club last Saturday evening. His figure and
the vivid menSur scar on his cheek alon"
are always striking, but when he brings
the music ont .t the chorus. which he Is
conducting. by jerks and spasms OF eXer-
tion. he lccOn'cs the dominant figure. Mr..
Siempf ia 50 thoroughly IN earnest that h"
forccts that there are almost thousand
persons l"okin" tt him. lie hoverS over his
iroOd of singers like an anxious teacher.
But his wand seems to Rave tn" proper
magic power of drawing from them their
hest tones. for their work "A chorus Of
amateurs is technically almost tautirss.
cid members of the Licderkranz chorus say
that in ali the years Cf its exis;.nc" nr
,oader has brought it to sach perfection as
ii is to-day.
Singing seems To lie one of III. passions
Gf the Germ2n male. For example. III this
I.ederkrlrz chorus there are 1T least fifty
German business rieh, who work hard all
day and find considerable pleasure at nisnt
ly ~eliSiously renearsinE songs in chorus.
Age docs not Gampen their cnthusia sm
Last Saturday night. one sGw Gustav Cr;,-
mer Cn The stage. and not far from him
there We're Louis Hilfer and Paul TheeGar-
ten. IL is ecsSSa:y to hear the kiru 1f
songs thev sing to appreciate the work
they do. The first chorus song WAS of the
dreaming sea. IL WAS somewhat intricate
and thryItcned the disloCati"n - director
St"mpfS arms. and on. was apt To think
tka, The sea was s'lperlativeiy urowsy nu
TIE day the action of this son" was sup
Iossd TO take place. but the tenor voices
md the basscs and the barytCneS swunG in
always at the proper tine. IL all showed
earnest cndeavor and good training. but
one had the impression that the spirit waS
very mechanical.
But i was In the next sons; that the
voices rang out trUe and sure IL was i
SuabGn fpik scnc. very simple and pretty.
with lots cf sentiment and ringil. chu-
ruses The members OF the chorus wer.
least confident of The success of tine last
song. entitled Forest Harps," a German
classic. But IL was really the dainticst lit
uf the entire concert. not excepting ever.
tho solo Of the profe -sionais. TES u-Iy
thing that spoiled 1t was the long siniiart
hiss which tne director employs Wnsn re
is busy with his haris mat they ear
not serve the purpose. And some unsuulful
erson persisted III closing :, door with :,
tCrturing screech. This would not be re-
marked # there werc rot ALWAYS some sucn
ursoulful person who spoIis pretty effects
at other l.Iedcrkranz concerts.
Tenor Charles Heckel sang the solo par;
in Forest Harps." and If those VINO heard
him were perfectly frank. they would con-
l'SS 'istN tH'H thJcNfb IiibfSti bi sbhH,
better tnan the warDilnSs OF the two pro-
icssionals. he has strong voice OF pure
tImpre, and his range Is very nign.
The professional artists were Max Helm
rich and his daughter. Miss Julia Heinrich.
of Chicago. The Heinricns would not con
sider IL injustice to be cailed the MN
nesingers of to-day, for they sing almost
exclusively folk songs. II Is "a very pretty
iGea. 1t is not in this province to say any
thing about the doings of professionals but
if II We're, II would be pointed out that
while Miss Heinrich may be trained as d
soprano to a superlative degree she does
not feel what she sings. she has a fine