New-York tribune., 1901-04-28

Berlin Baehs works gneudtng the M 4 ern at
the tine as anS Py the the VIDE social Circles
which they moved. 1t may be that BacR Satharn
germany, m saxony and Thuringia excepted as he
also was in silesia bpt II anyD0uy ynspred by his
teacher Fasch, became Intimately iv ae i'
hases s4se collection MectS aof of Bachs works ali kinds ne
certainly owned over tnsraphs1 U and studied
them himself but also gave them hearinE lar Erda ne
had them Pe.forpssia1 eksry Mse with choir Of
from twenty thirty singers ana an e
several wind Instruments aute 36oes horns horns eth;
In the very regularly present these per
formances. generally for the purPosa q5 biayl1SS ms
others. or standing at the violin or viola desks
At these meetings besides many othGr & wpFKs nrso 9
from the Passion According to 81 NANCY @
there was suddenly great deal of talk of com
pete performance of the work This feel z11 SIRE
and Felix's father Zelters aim being not only to
perhaps principally. to Introduce his gifted and
favored pupil young Mendelssohn, as conductor
the Singakademie-that IS that it was planned pgg
its 9esrs herefSre feel feel nsa G6gsd TO %en ou ro
Zelter. The chorus rehearsals when MehaeiS9o % Tt
ngs of the singakademe, but on special days oin IN
the Caciliensaal of the Singahademe ,nowiedse
of the work in question and TREMENDOUS leaoIS @ 3
At the to FIRST 6e had mfetg having
bring it along from home this did not prevent
Knew the Whole all the parts IS BY BY; heart is
In the home of his parents Gfeh ] of Bach % with
out the IT, therefore II Is enuTely oaue pas
sion in the Sngakademe contributed muGn F 10 20
Mendelssohns we'll deserved honor ans i:. the lew
had Zeiter and the singakademe been mentioned
This is an extremely interesting letter. but con-
tains a wholly unnecessary mysuncauoh ot a,v
matter of Mendessohns religion. Like so many
people Grel looked upon the question as "hoiS
one or religion and not at all Of race. Men
dessohn was baptized-therefore he was chris
tian and the only question in Grelis Hlillu was
whether or not he may have not been a Je" LOT
q few years In his childhood. The facts IN the case
are that in the matter of religion Felix's father
stood midway between his father and his son. IN
this as other things. he exempified the truth OF
his amused complaint that when ne was
young he only the son of MendelSsohh' anu
when he was old only the father of Mendelssohn
He and his wife both brought up as Jews
but he not orthodox in his beliefs nor pune
tiious In his observances. Neither was he a beiev-
ing Christian. His attitude in the matter is set
forth forcibly and clearly in a letter which he
wrote to his eldest child Fanny, on the occasion of
her confirmation in the Protestant Reformed
Church IN 1s20-that is. when she was fifteen years
old and her brother Felix eleven:
The outward form of the religion which your
teacher has given is historical and changeahle:
like all human ordinances Some thousands of
then the heather form and now it is the Christian
We. your mother and l. were born and brought up
by our parents Jews, and without being obliged
to change the form Of our religion have been able
to follow the divine instinct in us and in our con-
sister the Christian faith, because it is the
ing that lead you away from what is good.
ance and resignation even if it offered nothing but
the example of its founder, understood by so few
BY pronouncing your profession of faith you have
fulfilled claims Of society you. and obtained
he Of a
human being demands of you-true faithful,
mother. and l may also say your father. unre-
mittngly attentive to the voice of your conscience
which may be suppressed, but never sienced and
you will gain the highest happiness that Is to be
found on earth, harmony and contentedness with
yourself.
| How completely the musical community at Beth
lehem. Penn. is given to preparations for the
| Bach festival to be held month may be fan
cied from the fact that rehearsals are holding
every night of the week except Sundays. The choir
meets Mondays. Thursdays and Saturdays. and the
| orchestra (strings, mostly amateUr) Tuesdays
| Wednesdays and Fridays. The wind instrument
| players will be drawn from New-York and Pha-
dephia The statement which is going the rounds
| OF the newspapers to the effect that the choir
would sing the Mass in B minor from memory is
without authority. There many singers in the
choir who could accomplish the feat amazing as
It sounds. but Mr.. Wolfe would not risk foolish
| experiment.
The last or the three extra SUBSCRIPTION concerts
| OF chamber music by the Dannreuther Quartet in
| the hall of the Architectural League will take
place this afternoon. Mrs. Dannreuther will assist
| the quartet, and the programme will consist OF
Grieg's sonata in minor. for pianoforte and vio-
| Ioncello; two movements of Schumann's string
quartet In A major, op. A. and Dvorak's panoforte
| quintet in A major, op. ST.
The French horn players belonging to the Mutual
Musical Protective Union who have organized an
I tbah
| their sick fund at the clubhouse of the Aschen-
| brodel Nos IA and 14s East Eighty-sixth-st this