The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-04-06
GOOD MUSIC N TRL0lY
ARTHUR @. KOERNER's SACRED
COMPOSITION is FULL OF
PROMISE
LOCAL COMPOSERS GOOD WORK
Phrasing Is Grave and Fine, and
Character of Music Is in
Keeping With
Theme.

Despite the disagreeable weather,
large number of people attended the pas
sion service at the First Baptist church
last evening. The principal part of the
service was the presentation, for the first
time in public. OF parts l. and IL of Ar
thus C. Koerner's Passion Trilogy,"
comprising the Crucifixion and the burial
of Christ. A short service preIuded the
passion A quartette, consisting Of Mrs.
Katherine Gray, soprano; Mrs. Frank
O'Meara, contralto; e. Mccartney, tenor.
and Frank Ayres, baSso. sang abide
With Me- DR.. A. B. Medium, of the
Central Presbyterian church, read the
narrative from the gospel of St. Mark
and offered the prayer. Following the
offerings, during which the theme from
Chopin's funeral march was played, 1.-THE
Crucifxion of Christ the first part of
the trilogy was given Mr.. Koerner pre-
siding at the organ. Miss Helen Grace
Danz, who was to have sung the voice
parts, was not able to attend, so for a
substitute Arthur Bergh played the voice
parts on the violin, and Mr. Fairchild
read the text.
It is unfortunate that Mi Koerner con-
sidered it necessary to surround his pres
entation with so much of the spectacular
for undoubtedly this detracted from the
dignity of his work One could forgive
the cross, electric lighted though it was
but the darkening of the church and the
ostentatious trappings of woe were too
! theatrical. Too little was left to the inn
agitation of the hearers, and instead of
being aided by these outward symbols
their attention was distracted A church
with vaulted roof and an organ are all
that it necessary to interpret the Hottest
compositions that have ever been written
by man. Then, too the voice of the read
er was not at all suited to the text and
1t was entirely ineffective against the
volume of the organ.
Mr.. Koerner's work was worthy of
greater simplicity The two parts,
though uneven, have an impressive dig
nifty, and occasionally a grandeur that
promise future for. the composer. The
enthusiasm of a young musician Is OBJ
servabIe throughout. This enthusiasm
has led him to make some mistakes oc-
castonally he is theatrical as in the nail
ing to the cross, for instance, but on
the whole his music is good music. Nee
essarily the crucif1xion is the more dra-
matte Of the two parts. It embraces the
scenes from the installation of the Lord s
supper UP to the time when the centurion
announces Truly this man was the Son
of God" Mr.. Koerner has written his
best music about the scene in the Garden
OF Gethsemane. The phrasing Is grave
and fine and dramatic without being
theatrical. There is little to relieve the
somberness of the burial and for this
reason it is slightly monotonous A sue
cession Of minor motifs. somewhat
shadowy in their outlines, tell the story.
The composers lack of experience Is
shown in his manner Of working Up to
dramatic climax The approach is i'm
pressive, but the climax itself is in
variably disappointing In spite of it's
defects, however, Mr.. Koerner's compost
tion deserves to be taken seriously, for it
is an ambitious effort