The age-herald., 1902-01-27
GROWING INTEREST
 IN FESTIVAL CHORUS
5oston's Pronunciation of Familiar Words in the Mass-Mrs. 5eaeh's
 Sonata for Plano and Violin.

As the time for the music festival ap- < breaches the m embers of the chorus are manifesting great interest in the rehear- sals and MT. Guckenberger expects very large turnout tomorrow night. The part rehearsal for women conducted last Saturday was well attended and among those present were several new faces The three chorus works to be rendered at the festival are: Foote's Skeleton in Armour Parker's Flora Novissima, and Elsenheimer's "Consecration of the Art"
 Mrs. Guckenberger writes to her hus- band that she attended high mass in Boston and heard the choir sing "Kyrie E-lay-ee-son" and Gloria to Ec-chelsis. " Mir. Guckenberger says that majority of the first class composers have written for the "E-lay-ee-son pronunciation and not for "E-lei-son." Gounod's phrasing, for example, calls for "E-lay-ee-son. !" But MT Guckenberger says he will never agree to change "Excelsis'' to "Ec- chelsis.''
 When Cardinal Gibbons pontificated at St. Patricks church in Washington last Sunday week the choir sang Haydris Im- perial mass. which Is the work that St. Pauls choir of Birmingham is rehearsing for next Easter. It is festival music of the highest class and compares well with 'sThe Creation" Haydns orchestration for this mass is peculiar along side of modern orchestration. Here it is The usual string choir one flute. two oboes, two bassoons. three trumpets and a set of drums; no clarinets, no French horns and no trombones.
 Few musical entertainments this sea- son have been more thoroughly enjoyed than the recital by MT. Guckenberger. piano, and Mir. Caiman, violin, at the Conservatory last Saturday. The pro- gramme consisted of Mozart's E flat ma jor sonata for piano and violin; a seren- ade for piano and violin by Xaver Schar- wenka: a polonaise for piano and violin by Philipp Scharwenka and Mrs. II. H. A. Beach's minor sonata for piano and violin. The contrast between the simple, old time classis music of Mozart and the romantico-classic work of the worlds greatest woman composer, was extremel,
 
 interesting.
 The Beach sonata opens with poetic allegro moderate which is as beautiful as 1t is original. The second movement is a scherzo full of playful humor and tricksy phrases. A strikingly original feature of this scherzo is the pedal point on the G string of the violin. It continues for eighteen measures, and is then trans ferred to the piano.
 The third movement Is an adagio dolore and it Is here that the composer reveals her metaphysical turn of mind. It is mys- terious and deep. and the treatment is singularly subtle.
 The sonata concludes with an allegro confuoco. and this brings out the vir- tuosity of the performers It was bril- liantly played and the fine bravura style of Mir. Guckenberger was especially re- marked.
 Mrs Beach has written a number of large works, but in none of them has she shown more musicianship than Is found In this sonata. It Is stamped with genius from the beginning to the close
 Berlin has taken to the sonata this sea- son and the musicians are exceptionally fond of 1t. But 1t is safe to say that 1t will not have a more sympathetic or scholarly reading than it had here in Birmingham on Saturday.