New-York tribune., 1902-05-17
MUSIC.
BACH'S MINOR MASS AT THE GIN
CINNATI FESTIVAL
[BY TELEGRAPH T. THE rR1BuNE.I


Cincinnati. May 1s
For the visitors from the East the chief interest
in the festival lay in to-nights performance Of the
mass in minor by Bach; not in the mere fast
OF the production. but in Mr.. ThOmas's experiment
in the manner of the performance. To the indus
| trious observer of choral affairs there is nothing
new or startling in the production of the master
piece There have been six performances of the
work within the last two years in Eastern cities
two in New-York. one in Philadelphia, in Bos-
ton and two in that delightful centre of the Bach
cult Bethlehem. Penn All these performances
were notable affairs. and four of them were ex-
tensively chronicIed in Tie Tribune the time OF
their occurrence. Outside of these six there are
only two performances in the American record.
At the Cincinnati festival of 1856 Mr.. Thomas pro-
duced the eleven numbers which make up the first
two grand subdivisions of the work. the ''Hyrie''
and Gloria" This aroused ambitious spirit N
the Handel and Haydn Society OF Boston which
performed twelve numbers selected from all parts
of the mass in February 1887. The first perform
ance by the Bach Choir OF Bethlehem followed on
March 27 1900 and nine days later April .. 1900,
the Oratorio Society OF New-York gave it's first
performance, which repeated November II
of the same year Last May the Bethlehem
thusiasts repeated the mass the closing number
OF three days Bach festival. which the Pas
sion According to St Matthew and the Christ
mas Oratorio" were also performed all three works
being given absolutely in their integrity. Mr.. Wolfe
not sparing his singers and listeners a single note
or even Da Capo. The choir, told. is pre-
pairing for another festival next year. at which, in
all likelihood, it will accomplish the tour de force
of singing the entire without books. If the
| achievement will be without parallel in the
history of music, but which, inclined
! think, will he extraordinary than praise
| worthy. since cannot conceive adequate
tistic recompense in the performance for the vast
! labor which the feat will entail The Boston
| CaPcila Society produced the mass under the di-
rectOn Of Mr. b. J. Lang in the season just ended.
! and the Choral Society Of Philadelphia under Mr.
| Henry Gordon Thunder. on April 16, 1902 At the
| fnCt Dafh hInha DI,-I. On,
| formances use was made of two oboi d'amore
| which Mr.. Frank Damrosch had had made in Ber
| lin for the performances by the Oratoro Society,
and this brings me to discussion of the character
| iStic feature of uO-nightS production.
| When Mr.. Thomas gave the "Kyrie'' and Gloria
| in 1885 he made effort to supply the lacune
! which musical scholarship has long recognized
| existing in the it has come down
! from Bachs day. He used the edition of the Bach
| gesellschaft and substituted modern instruments
for the archaic instruments called for by the
| He did not utilize the organ fill the har
monic gaps. for the Music Hall instrument for
| some reason could not be brought into pitch with
| the orchestra. Tonight he made the bravest at
| tempt that has yet been made In America on a
| large scale to reproduce what scholars pretty gen
! orally agree the intentions OF the composer
| How he did this and how far he succeeded
best be described after brief presentation OF the
| historical problem.
This problem may be said to have three divisions
The first relates to the numerical relationship be-
|
! instrumentalists: the second the orchestral in
! struments for which Bach wrote but which are
now obsolete: the third to the filling of the gaps
which Bach. like his contemporaries, left in his
| scores, indicating his wishes far the har-
mony concerned by that musical shorthand
| called figured bass. and represented in the old
| scores by a part called continue"
| Modern performances of the old choral works
convey idea at all OF the performances Of their
own works to which Handel and Bach listened 1t
was before the days OF amateur choirs and IN the
| infancy OF an independent instrumental art Han
| del never heard a chorus larger than OF our
| modest country church choirs. Once he gathered
twenty-three singers together, and to support
| them he had thirty-three instrumentaists When
| choir OF 275 singers gathered in Westmin-
ster Abbey twenty-five years after his death to
| do honor to his memory IL cOnsOrted with a
| band numbering $50. When the function was re-
peated in 1921 there choir OF 800 and a band
OF 375. Yet this slight approximation toward the
relations of to-day far in advance OF the rule
! in Germany. In 1870 Bach petitioned the au-
| thorities of Lepsic for a reorganization of the
| choir OF st. Thomass Church. He wanted twelve
| singers and orchestra OF eighteen. F1fty-sx
| years later his successor. Johann Adam Hitler
| gave "Massenaunuhrung of THE Messiah" In
| Berlin. at which he employed IFS singers and lS6
| instrumentalists. At this performance Hitler who
\ was In touch with the old regime. used ten bas-
/ soons twelve Oboes. twelve flutes. eight horns six
| trumpets. two trombones. organ and a harpsi-
chord. In addition TO the strings and drums. Here
| were many Instruments for which Handel had
made no provision in his score yet il does not ap-
pear that Hitler offended the taste of his time by
| doubling the vocal parts or even the instrumental
/ (when they Independently with such multi
| pcity of Instruments The evidence OF the score
/ OF The Messiah is that Handel was satisfied
originally with the strings plus trumpets in three
| numbers. plus trumpets and drums in two others
| and plus that unknown. but surely significant.
| quantity himself at the organ or harpsichord I'm
| all the pieces But have evidence also that he
| and those who knew him and carried his work
| after him were willing to all the instruments
that to their hands. In the orchestra brought
together for the last performance OF The Messiah
which Handel was advertised to conduct Che died
before the concert day came) there two horns
in orchestra of thirty-three pieces What parts
did these horns play. since they provided
for in the score? No knows. At the first
Handel COmme mOration in Westminster Abbey con-
Quoted by Joah Bates (whO could testify from per-
sonal observation how Handel had been wont TO
play his accOmpaniments) there were six flutes
twelve horns and six trombones in the orchestra
few years later at a repetition OF the CommemO-
ration the historic abbey echoed the toOtIIng Of
forty oboes and flutes. the haring OF nine from
bones. the mellow song OF twelve horns and the
abysmal groans of a serpent.
The Handel cult never reached higher plane
than 1t occupied few decades after his DEATH yet
we do not hear that the critics OF that day con-
demned this extraordinary apparatus subversive
Of Handlers intention, many critics did Franz's
additional accompanments to the works of Handel
and Bach when they first offered to the world
Handel was pre-eminently choral writer; he
conceived effects immea surably vaster than he
privileged to hear because OF the small choirs
of his day and he employed the Instruments chiefly
to give weight to his voices The style Of his
choral accomplishments is such that their spirit
is not hurt in the least by the employment OF a
sonorous instrumental mass.
| have never able persuade myself that