The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-07-05
EMPEROR ON FOLK SONGS.

EMPEROR ON FOLK SONGS.
The conclusion of the German choir
competition at Frankfort yesterday was
! signalized by a long and remarkable
| speech from Emperor William. who had
| come, with the empress and the young
| Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, TO be
! present at the performances and to dis
tribute the prizes, including one given by
! himself. The whole festival had some
thing of a medieval character, the idea
! of choral competition had apparently
been suggested by the memory OF the ia
nous singer Wettkrieg, at the Wartburg,
''Tannhauser." Perhaps it was the MEM
DRY of this historical event that induced
! the emperor to seize the occasion for
| showing that he not only took an interest
! in the proceedings as a sovereign, but was
| inspired by the historic "reminiscences at
| tschfng to the day. The conductors OF
| ,-.e choirs from various German towns
who had been summoned to his majesty's
presence at the end of the performances,
were not a i-,tle surprised when the en-
peror addressed them in a speech in which
he criticised somewhat severely the quail
ity of the music TO which the choirs had
devoted themselves, and gave them direc-
tons as to how they might better accom-
pIiSh their tas4, in future. The emperor
spoke as follows:
Gentlemen, / have called you together
first of all to express my qualification that
so many choirs accepted the invitation TO
compete. This fact proves the interest
that is taken IN Germany in singing. 1
must, however, draw your attention to
mn only nv rnxyGelf
but by almost the whole audience The
principal object of your choirs should be
to cultivate the 'Volkslied Now the
compositions presented by you have had
very little to do with the 'Volkslied' so
deeply rooted in our nation. Your choirs
approached rather colossal tasks, which,
I admit have in part been accomplished
quite adnira bly,; for we have all been
astonished to see how so many hundreds
of hard working men have succeeded by
means of unselfish devotion in overcom-
ing such difficulties as must have present
ed themselves in learning the pieces per-
formed here.
Il must urgently warn you not to go on
trying, as you do, to emulate the philhar-
monic choirs.. Your male voice societies,
as 1 have already remarked. should have
another object in view; namely, the cult
va ton of the 'Volkslied. OF real 'Volk-
slieder' you have given us very little
Why did you not let us hear those dear
old songs. Who Built Thee Up, oh Beau |
tiful Forest?' or 1 Had a Comrade Once.
or Three Lads Wandered over the
Rhine which all of US would have been !
delighted to listen to?
But it was not only the musical part OF |
your songs which failed TO satisfy me;
the text of your words, also. was unsatis- |
factory. through being too long. 1t is all |
very well that you should as you do. take |
your text from the old Kaiser Sagas and |
similar themes; but the music and the !
words must harmonic together. Do not |
attempt tone coloring' or to initiate or |
chestral Instrumentation. on the other |
hand you must not be too lyrical. The |
Germans soul is sentimental, but when |
your songs deal with manly deeds, senti |
mentaiism is out of place. Yon will have .
remarked that when your songs grew ,
more energetic and manly you Instantly |
received great applause. You will be in
terested 10 hear from the judges Of the .
competition that almost two-thirds of /
your choirs started their songs too high, (
and ended them fiat, by as much as a
tone and quarter. It was quite pleas /
ure now and again to hear choir start
ing so low as to produce the impression
that there was an adequate reserve OF
voice.
We'll, 1 shall try my best in future to
improve all this by having careful seec-
ton made of all German national songs
written in Germany, Austria, and Swift
erland, no matter whether by known or
unknown composers. l shall have this
collection catalogued and sold TO your
choirs at a cheap price, so that you will
be able to make good selection of songs.
We are on the Rhine and not a single
choir has given US typical Rhenish songs.
Drei Burschen.' Joachim Hans Won
Zeiten, or 'Fredericus Rex We have
composers of songs like Mendelssohn,
Beethoven and Abt; yet no composition
of theirs has been heard. Here we are at
Frankfort and yet the famous national
song composed by Kalliwodia. that son
of Frankfort, 1 mean 'Das Deutsche Lied
has been passed over.
II have also deliberated on the subject
with the adjudicators, and the chief of
my civil cabinet will presently read out
the conclusions at which they have ar
rived. and they coincide wit. mine. Cen
tlemen, 1 expect you to follow my advice.
1 have gone through the lists of the men,
beers of the various choirs. and rejoice TO
find so many real workers among them.
But it must cost them sleepless nights to
study al these difficult songs and to per-
form them SO admirably. No doubt a
high musical talent attaches to our peo-
pie; but be sure that you will yourselves
have much greater pleasure in singing ii
you adhere to the 'Volkslied' proper
After the emperor's speech the empress
proceeded to distribute the prizes. the
emperors prize being awarded to the
Berlin Teachers Choir.-Berlin Cores
pondence London Standard.
LATE PROF.. MoRERLY.