The sun., 1903-05-13
BACH FESTIVALS DEFECTS.
SPIRIT or TWO YEARS AGO SEEMS
TO ne LACKING.
Music Pilgrims Disappointed Over the
Results Thus Far-Faults Of the Or
ci,estra and ChOrus DELIGHTFUL Sur.
rOlIndings for the Performances

rOtnuin8s TOT thc FaioTH"hcrs
BRTHLEHBM. Pa, May l?.--"It is no tim'
for mirtb and laughter, the cold gray dawr
Of the morning after" So sings Franz
Moulan in music which Is as far removed
from Bach as the fuit hes; star that points
the very rim Of space IL from the bosE!
shade of Bethlchom's Moravian cemetery
The dawn to-day was not cold, but it was
gray, and gray were the spirits of those
who met TO discuss the first concert Of the
third Bach festival.
1t was Joy unconfined to hear the com.
ments of the profess sional musicians whc
had travelled many weary miles under the
impression that pure technical excellence
was the feature of the concerts
Their grief was indeed ptiable, for the
railway fare that Is ground out under the
iron wheels and the ticket that has been
given up at the gate can never come back
again. Yet IL must be confessed that
their criticisms were just, II one is 10
look the Bach festival squarely in the face
now that 1t has grown to h something
more than a curiosity. grave questionngs
must arise.
For example, what results can b- ex-
pected of a chorus, which has, no matter
how, reached the conclusion that what
is demanded of 1t Is volume of tone? Last
night the quality of tone forced AZ it was
in the vain struggle for power. was often
undeniably bad The tenors, in particular,
sang open tones so high in their scale that
they produced a decidedly vulgar quality,
while the BASES at times growled like
beasts.
The sopranos were fairly good and the
contraltcs acceptable, but they, together
with the men. sang altogether too raggedy.
The soloists were roundy berated this
morning for singing grace notes wrong,
executing turns in opposite directions
and for other errors of style.
As for the orche stra that has been placed
under the han of artistic accommodation,
not only by visitors. but even by some of
it's own members. For one of the latter
an apology is certainly due Mr.. Doucet
is an excellent oboe player but the oboe
d'anore which he has To operate is out OF
tune with itself and the technique OF perform
Qnce does not provide method of over
coming that kind of difficulty,
But the most serious criticism Of last
nights concert was that which pointed
to its lack of the devotional spirit, That
this spirit was absent must have been felt
by every person in the church.
In its stead there was restless eagerness,
a cert ain anxiety to accomplish things. The
feeling was strictly that of people giving
a performance before an audience in the
hope of earning praise, not that of choir
leading a congregation in the functions OF
worship.
IF this state of feeling is to become charac-
teristic of the Bethlehem Bach festivals,
the outcome of the future will be foreseen
easily Farewell to the humble and contrite
hearts, the pure in spirit, the meek and lowly
followers of the immortal cantor of Leipsic,
and hail to the pomp and pride and circum-
stance of glorious performance rewardee
hyy Y,,,b blis apnIa,lsa md Upn1 ppticaS N tn
papers. On the other hand, those musiciant
who come here eSalting technical meri
above the devotional atmosphere deserve
to be disappointed.
They are no more in sympathy with what
ought to be the mood OF these concerts
than those well-meaning persons who
went to the church last night in evening
dress.
One thing remains to comfort the pilgrims
to what has been called the sacred Bayreuth.
The pictorial aspects of the affair have
lost none Of their beauty and charm. The
rounded dome of the belfry with it's gilded
ball and weather vane above, and its severe
white columns below. limns itself clear and
its arches the red glare Of ftful torches
illumines the music OF the trombone
players. Their solemn utterance of the
old ohorales, imperfect technically, as are
other things in the festival. floats out
among the fresh foliage Of the trees, over
the graves of the forefathers of the Moravian
sect, over the quaint old communal house,
over the old seminary, across the olive
waters Of the Lehigh and into the crannies
of the neighboring hills.
The people cluster in the street below
and listen with varying emotions. while
the white robed girls Of the chorus fit
along the gloom Of the walks leading to the
church.
1t is all 50 simple, so pretty and so utterly
perhaps in some small German city, but
here within a stones throw of railways
which are necessarily fastening men into
a west where untold material wealth is to
be found it seems passing strange.
Remember, II you please, that Sebastian
Bach was the most profound musician that
ever lived: that at his feet have sat all the
great masters from Beethoven to Brahms,
from Verdi to Gounod, from Chopin to
their model and their despair; that in
every dozen measures he displays an alb
Rolute command of the entire echnical
resources of his art; that he never
does the expected. that he keeps the
hearer lost in amazement at the exhaustless
fecundity of his invention, and that above
all things he seems every day to come
more and more into the foreground of
modernity, and you will join in the general
wonder that out here. in this little town,
performed nine times in week in church
with the only appropriate surroundings.
Nothing impresses thoughtful hearers
more than this modernity of Bach He
looms over the periods of musical history,
which intervene between him and us, like
a mighty mountain, which, as the traveller
moves further and further away from il,
does not seem to grow more distant, but
actually to come forward over the foothills
and plains which shrink into confusion in
the shadows around its base.
Well did Beethoven say his name ought
not TO have been Bach Brook, but ocean
The second day of the festival was de-
voted to the singing OF the Christmas Ora
torio. The first three parts were given at
the afternoon concert, beginning at 1
o'clock, and the other three in the even
ing The facts connected with the COM
position may he recited briefly. 1t was
composed in 1894 and is in six parts, each
part resembling one of the cantos Of which
Bach wrote 30 many. One part was used
on each OF the six Christmastide holidays
In Leipsic. These were the Christmas
festivals proper, which took place on Dec.
IS, 20 and 27. the Feast OF the Circumcision
on New Years Day. the Sunday after New
Years. and the Epiphany.
Through these six parts the story Of the
oratorio is told in recitative, interspersed
with reflective solos. choruses and chorales
This musical presentation of the story
Of the Nativity was, OF course, a survival
OF the older pictorial and dramatic repre-
sentations Much of the music il trans
ferred from older works by Bach but the
graftings are made with the unerring musi-
cal skill Of the master. No other compost
81 No vt<,,,s - 81 ,, 4