The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-04-24
MFR. NoRMINGToN, who has

r. NORMINGTON, who has
been appointed musical direc-
- tor of the St. Paul Choral
club for another year, is now in Win
nipeg, and until he returns and
meeting has been held the club will not
be able to announce its programme for
another year. 1t is very probable that
Saint Saens' Samson and DeliIah"
will be given and THE Messiah will
Of course, be sung Christmas eve, but
beyond that there is nothing definite
to be announced. A st. Paul business
man has notified the club that he is
willing to give $100 toward a guarantee
fund and the officers are in hopes that
others will follow his example and that
such fund can be raised If $4,000
could be secured the interest on this
would provide for any deficit at the
end of the year so that it would not
be necessary to touch upon the prin-
clpaL It is absolutely necessary that
the club shall receive larger returns
than it has been receiving from it's
concerts. One plan that has been sug-
gested to gain this is to raise the price
Of 200 of the membership tickets, re-
serving the holders the best 200 seats
80 liz l. ~CEIAC Gl1OiCD L lie nlSnSSI-
priced associate membership tickets
now sell 70 S. If 200 Of these were
raised to $3.50 the amount gained
would cover such deficits as the club
has heretofore had to meet itself.
1t is useless to talk of increasing
the number of active members of the
Choral club" said Mr.. Helm, the newly
elected president, yesterday until we
nave larger auditorium. At the last
concert We had to ask some of the
active members to occupy seats in the
audience for there was not room for
them on the stage. The PEOPLES
church auditorium is the onIv one
available and we are not permitted
TO enlarge the platform Of that any
more than we have enlarged it for
concerts already given. Moreover we
could only do so by taking out seats
In front which would lessen the seat
Ing capacity Of the hall.
In regard to the choral works which
the club will produce next winter I
can only say that we will try to consult
the wishes of the public in the future
as we have in the past The active
members naturally prefer new works.
that IS compositions they have not
sung, but in the past the officers have
had to take into consideration the fact
that the more familiar oratorios have
attracted the largest audiences With
the single exception of the Verdi
requiem the new works undertaken
by the club have not drawn well. Now
the st. Paul Choral club must rely en-
trely upon the public for support and
all its plans must be made with the
thought of attracting a large audience
always uppermost With a larger au-
ditorium and good sized guarantee
fund, the number Of active members
of the, club could, of course, be greatly
increased, and comparatively unfamil-
lar choral works could be produced
with little or no financial risk, but as
yet we possess neither, and until we
do possess them we are somewhat
handicapped
Fortunately, the Choral club has
won the confidence of the public, and
this confidence assures the clubs
growth. Each season makes it's ex-
istence less of an experiment and per-
mits it to be more independent in max
Ing its plans. The growth of such
musical organization as the Choral
club is necessarily slow, but | think
1T is all the stronger for taking root SO
slowly"