New-York tribune., 1903-07-26
MUSIC IN TRINITY CHURCH.
FIRST ORGANS IN AAERICA-HOW THE PRINCE or
RAhH0 HhAfhD TO INTRODUCE SURPLICES-
THE ORG4NIST OF THE PRESENT

| n hOy
Inoilsters worthy Of the name is a choir school
In lS4S at mis- instance doubtless measures were
e"hsh by the Vestry OF Trinity Parish to establish
snch school The Charity School had changed its
name ana was now the New-York Protestant Epis-
copal Public School and as such y evis+s 20 a.,
or It's scholars the vestry founded sixteen r1,sI-
cal scholarships. with stpends of from 500 to $40
.He hoiaers TO receive general education with
instruction two days every week in music In a
century and half the mode of service at Trinity
mao got out of the parochial into the mixed stage
II was now 10 be directed toward the cathedral
me ne" eolnce was consecrated at the Feast of
the Ascension, 1876. Uuhappily the new organ
this time again one of American manufacture was
incomplete. and the music was not all that had
oeen hoped for The foundation the choir school
Aau not produced a choir Of boys: the choir was a
mixed one Of twenty-six men. women and boys
Inc trenies were women: the altos one woman one
boy and TWO men; tenors and bass men Of course
There were also -four small boys" whose share in
the music Is not specified. The TIE Deurn" Ben
edlc Anlrna,' responses at the Decalogue Gloria
Patri," and opening anthem The Lord Is in His
ROY ienple' were all new compositions by Dr.
Hodges. the "Sanctus' and Gloria in ExceIsis"
olo ones Boyces anthem. 7 Have Surely Built
Ihee an House" also sung. Hodges notes
concerning the musical doings in the parish during
the next dozen years, as reviewed by Dr. Messiter
record the beginning OF the struggle for complete
service which he did not live finished Relics
OF centuries of tradition renvgorated by the spirit
OF antagonisr to rttualism stirred up by the Ok
1oro movement put clog upon his efforts which
he could not shake off. When he attempted to
eInbellish the musical portion of the service there
were parishioners ready to rise up with their com
plants OF too much music and too much science.
In 1851 DR.. Hodges founded the Church Choral So
ciety, with Trinity choir nucleus. On April 13
le52. this society experiment sang the first
choral service in Trinity Church. 1t lived two
years. After the fourth service of the society
woTshipper wrote a letter to the Courier" news
paper that it was his daily practice 20 go to the
church to say his prayers, but on this day. March
J., 1873. he could not say them account Of
the musical innovations. In 1857. while the organ
repairing, a harmonium was placed In the
chancel and nothing sung for six weeks but metri-
cal psalms. "One of the clergy was heard to re-
mark that it the best music he ever heard in
Trinity Parish - Dr.. Hodges was working val
iantly. bur the odds were against him. In 1s47 a
proposition was made to the vestry put the boys
Of the choir in the chancel, but 1t promptly
vetoed. In that direction lay Popery. Women
still strongly iutrenched in the choir At
Bishop Wainwrght's funeral 1854 the trebles and
altos equally divided between women and
hovs; the choir which sang at the dedication Of
Trinity Chapel in 1855 contained four adults in
voice and nine boys.
DR.. Hodges became disabled by paralysis in Sep
tember 1885, and the vestry gave him leave Of
absence for six months and appointed Henry Ste
phen Cutler TO perform his duties At the end of
the period the leave was extended a year and he
went visit to his English home. He oame
back to New-York in May 1860 but was unable to
resume his duties. and. though he remained nomi-
nalIy organist of Trinity Church till 1863 when he
resigned and went back to his native Bristol. Cut
Ter responsible for the music of the church
from October, 1858, DR.. Hodges died in 1867. He
OF the original members of the New-York
Philharmonic Society and OF excellent ar
tistic parts and strong character. He had worked
for twenty years to attain three things-a boy
choir, choral mode of service and the Of the
Anglican chant in the Psalms; and he had to re-
tire without seeing the full consummaton OF any
one of these strtvings. but he had prepared the
ground for his successor, who unexpectedly and
fortutousIy found his most potent ally in the pres
ent occupant Of the throne OF Great Britain.
Henry Stephen Cutler. who succeeded DR.. Hodges
organist Of Trinity. born in Boston in 1925
He was a pupil of A. L. Hayter in his native city
but In 1874 went TO Germany. where he studied at
Frankfort, and afterward England, where he
became interested in cathedral music On his re-
turn TO Boston he became organist Of Grace Church
and in 1852 Of the Church of the Advent where he
organized choir OF boys and men and carried out
his notions of a choral service Called TO Trinity
Church to relieve DR.. Hodges. he Immediately set
the springs in motion which the rtUalistic party
in the church had carefully prepared and kept
oiled for action. The choir. which still
sat in the organ gallery. consisted Of two
women, ten boys and seven men. The women
Miss Eager and Mrs Hutchings. were the last
of their TO sing in Trinity choir. There now
began a systematic and strategic movement hav-
ing for its aim all things for which Dr. Hodges
had been striving, and a little more The Tribune
has printed the story before, but Dr. Messiters
manuscript based on the notes of DIR. Cutler pro-
vides a few dates and establishes a sequence of
incidents which previous recitals have lacked.
The first step to get the choir into the
chanceI One Sunday afternoon in March 1859. the
two solo boys. Henry Eyre Browne and W. J Rob
John Cboth of whom became prominent church
musicians in later life, the latter under the name
of Caryl FIorio) sang two duets after the regular
service in front of the chancel Thirty or forty
worshippers who it is fair TO presume were in the
secret, remained 10 hear On the next Sunday
after service the entire choir left the organ gal
lerv and grouped in front of the chancel sang an
anthem There they occupied places at the Ash
Wednesday service but on the following Sunday
discreetIy fell back to the organ gallery. On the
afternoon of that Sunday, however, DR.. Cutler took
the choir into the chancel for rehearsal after the
service On the next Wednesday the service music
was sung in the chancel the first time, and the
nosltion was continued the weekday services till
Easter Sunday, when the attacking party fortified
now by choir seats and desks made the occupa-
ton of the chancel permanent For a while
the men singers were discreety placed in front of
the boys but after few weeks the regular posi-
tfons were established. = few words on the musi-
cal mart of the service, which from artistic |
ooint of view must have suffered from the change
in the location of the choir ana shai Teach Ine
sllrpIice question. which now assumed an i'm
orance which il never had seemed TO have before
tboueh never quite out Of the minds OF the High |
Cl,7rcb Marty On Easter Day. 1883. the choir |
eusconced in the chancel after its weeks OF Ianoe
wiring chanted the psalms for the first tine Then |
the ministers gradually took TO fntonins care1uAy
adhering 10 low tones as not unduly TO startie
The conservatives in the congregation This was |
Looked upon as gain for the rituaists, naturally
1T the music as such soon began to fall into |
what must have been woful state Ihe organ, !
ss,srated by the length OF the large church from |
~ choir co,1Id furnish no adequate support to |
the voices and the deviatons from pitch on The |
-. or the singers were dlstressfu- But the eyes |