The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-06-28
BIG SAENGERFEST
 \ GRAND SUCCESS
President Lesser of Turn Vereln
 Makes Glowing Report
THOUSANDS OF SINGERS
Orchestra Was Made Up of Musicians of Thomas Orchestra, Boston Or chestra and clncInnatI-5eau-
 tIfuI German Folk Music.

The saengerfest of the North American saengerbund, recently held in St. Louis' and in which the Birmingham Turn verein took part. was the greatest both in point of numbers and artistic excel lence, ever held. The first or these Saen- gerfests was held in Cincinnati, in 1S4S, at which there were 11s singers. Two years ago, at Buffalo. during the Pan- American Exposition, there were 2.soO singers, while at the fest just closed there were nearly 5,ooo.
 The next saeugerfest will be held in Indianapolis, in 1907.
 The following report of the Saenger fest Is made by President D. Lesser or the Turn verein, who was in attendance at the fest"
 Gigantic Festival.
 The Thirty-frst Singing Festival or, as it is called in the language of the F9th- erand, the Saengerfest Is now thing of the past. It took place in the city or St. Louis, on June IT. It proved to De by far the most gigantic musical festival ever attempted in this country, and tt IS matter of question whether a festival of such proportion and magnitude has ever DeeH nelu any WnSiC Vf9O- fA~ s'-'% in which it was celebrated, is the Liberal Arts Building of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
 .Tbe great dimensions of that building were reduced by interior partitions, reaching from the gallery to the main floor, which left @ hall 3onx55o feet in size At the south end was space re- served for the stage, which was pnllt with rising tiers of seats adordnR f noo d4o onr rTFT CT was 150x300 In this building, on April 30, the dedication ceremonies of the great exposition were held, and because the acoustic quality of the building was bad nearly twelve thousand dollars has since been expended in order to improve the same. and, it must be said with much success.
 "The hall itself was subd'vIded into sections and had over fifteen thousand chairs placed In 1t. This enormous cs- pacity was taxed to its full limit, 90 that the sale of tickets had to be discontinued. As the programme shows the festival consisted of four concerts, of which two were real Saengerfest that Is the con certs in which the male chorus of the "North American Singers Uuion' ap- peared That chorus numbered over $500 out-of-town singers. to which must be added about 15OO members residing in OL. LOUIS, SD lIldl lLE AHdiulnNth tCAaftHo numbered about 5000 voices.
 .One would think that the manage ment of such choir. drilled under so many different conductors, would offer unsurmountable difficulties, but. while this proved true in the more artistic and heavier selections. in rendering of tho melodious short and simple songs of the people, the effect was beautiful and the applause of the audience deatenipg. One .1o..u ova1 xxyI,x hA indt peoples song) has such deep and at- fectlonate hold on the German people.
 Greatest Success.
 I" But not only as far as singing Is concerned, but also as musical festival the Saengerfest was the greatest success ever achieved. Perhaps never before, was there such an orchestra The bast three orchestras of America were united in one The Theodore Thomas Chicago orchestra, the Boston Festival orchestra and the Cincinnati Symphony orchestra were there in full. under the direction of Conductor Ernst of St. Louis, 1S0 ar lists.
 Who ever saw or heard anything like 1t before? And this army of Americas best musicians played Wagners grand concert pieces. The technical perfection and the artistic shading were SO fine that have no words to describe the per- formance, nor the enthusiasm with which 1t was received byNthe many thousand attentive listeners.
 .The custom of singing for prizes has long been abandoned by the North Amer ican Singers Union. The singers attend the festivals at their own expense. not in hope of gaining prizes ,, but simply for the love of these songs.
 ''The Birmingham delegation with twenty singers, made good showing. Only three other, southern cities were represented: New Orleans. Memphis and Chattanooga, with thirtyTour, twenty two and ten singers. respectively. The festival wound up with a great volksfest (picnic, in which, perhaps. 50o0O people participated Here the Birmingham singers were the recipients, of ssrenade rendered them by number of St. Louis singers in recognition of B;rming gham having proposed the resolution. which was unanimously adopted. by which the Singers Union expressed it's thanks to the citizens of St. Louis. to the St. Louis singers and to the Press of the city for the cordial welcome and the hospitaole entertainment furnished by them during and in connection with the Saengerfest. The Thirty-second Saengerfest will be held in 1907 in the city of Indianapolis"