The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-01-10
Music

ii. The Teachers club has received from
Maurice Grau the date Of the song re-
cital to be given in It's course by David
Blspham. This will be April Is and the
popular barytone is already assured Of a
more than commonly warm welcome. n
since owing to illness he was unable last
year to make a Minneapolis date. %
The musical event of next week will
be the concert which Miss Francesca
Bendeke. violnist. assisted by Miss [
Esther Eugena Osborn, soprano, and
Miss Constance Osborn, pianist will give
in Plymouth church., Friday evening. All
three young women are talented must
clans. This will be Miss Bendeke's first +
appearance in Minneapolis after five |
years absence spent in study in Ger
many. The list of patronesses includes |
Mines. w. y. Washburn, d. p. Jones, c.
j. Martin, Ebert l.. Carpenter, T. 6.
Winter 4. B. jackson, A. II. Bright,
III. r. Welles, A. LELAND, J.. B. Gifillan.
D. F. Simpson, John Lind, Emmanuel
Cohen and Miss Adele Evers.
The program is one of unusual inter- |
| est and will show the versatility and skill
Of the young violinist. The numbers in
| full are as follows: ~
| (al Nachtstuck ..................R Schumann
| - Constance Osborn. =
l. Esther Osborn.
e0"sst'0 'n francesca Bendeke SAM sa'n'
| Aria OF FreischutZ 49,. ............... Weber
Esther Osborn.
francesca Beideke and Constance Osborne
WIS Esther Osborn.
Francesca Bendeke. -
/ The paper read by Alfred r. Wiley Of
Minneapolis before the Minnesota Educa-
tional association last week is not to pass
without comment and r lie ourna
has received the following communica
ton: .. e..
II respectfully ask for little space in
your valuable paper to express my dis
approval OF the statement made at the re-
cent meeting of the Minnesota, Educa-
tional association in st. Paul by Alfred r.
Wiley, choirmaster Of Gethsemane
church, who read a paper on the Voice
of the Child In which he said The boy
choir is an engine that destroys most Of
the voices that go into it,. -.
Having sung choir boy from the
age of 7 under such eminent chormasters
as Sir Arthur Sullivan, Sir John Stainer,
Sir George c. Martin, and others and been
constantly connected with boy choir train
ing up to the present time feel I would
not be true to my past training were>I to
allow such a wrong impression of boy
choir work to get into the minds Of peo-
|
with good voices) without a strong pro-
test. Had Mr.. Wiley said there are some
choirs which are engines that Destroy
/ would have heartily agreed with him.
The trouble is, we do not have enough
chormasters who know just what to do
with the young voices under their care.
THE choirmaster who is fit for this
very important work will have good re-
suits and not.a single voice can deterior-
I ate or be destroyed. but on the contrary
u
: served.
If "Since writing the/ above. have had
a sent to me a copy of last Saturdays st.
e Paul Dispatch in which find G. II. Fair
= clough's views the same question. and
= as they entirely coincide with my own.
,e beg of YOU to print what he says. Mr..
= Fairclough is choirmaster Of the Church
ID of ST. John the Evangelist, and replied to
an enquiry from the Dispatch upon this
t. question as follows:
lel The statement of Mr.. Wiley that the
= boy choir sis an engine that destroys most
Of the voices that go into it''Gis misleading
- and untrue. If he had said some clloirs
i'll there might have been a little truth IL,
81 the assertion. The choirmaster - 'Whu
T knows what to do as he puts 1T, and who
is all enthusiast in his work, handles the
! voices of the boys entrusted to him very
carefully. They are taught to sing with
a the head tone almost entirely, the re-
t. suit aimed at being clear, fute-like
al quality of voice and not that raspy, chest
l. quality, one hears from most school Choir
: uses. A boy, before entering a choir
: especially if he has reached the age Of T.
or or 13, nearly always sings with the chest
al voice, trying to force the thick register
l. upwards for the high notes. Taken in
r hand by a choirmaster who "knows what
IS to do" he soon learns to produce a soft
: head tone. which surprises even the boy
S. himself, who has been "singing' Justify
/ in the school room any old way. Contrary
to Mr. Wiley's statement. the voices OF
boys in good boy choir are in much less
danger from destruction than those out
side Of choir, because choir boys learn
how to breathe, are practiced in that i'm
=. portant feature, are taught how to pro
= duce the right quality of tone. and any
attempt at forced or harsh singing or
their part is instantly checked H.
| "(Signed) C. H. Normington
= "Organist and Choirmaster of St. Paul:
- Episcopal Church."
st "-.-ss ,
or J. Victor Bergqu,st Of the faculty Of thu
Johnson School Of Music has returned
after a stay of two years and half II
= Germany and France. where he studied