The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-24
MUSICAL sFEsTryALsc BEC0MiNS
 POPULAR AMONG OUR CITIES.
vorcester,s Annual Festival the Ear iiest of its Kind in This Country' Graduates of American schoois
 Get Chance to Appear.

1 Get Chance to Appear.
 Boston. Sept. 2s.-The musical fes- ltival" is certainly growing in popu- liaritv among American cities. It orig i,rated tn England where a number or iratheJral towns. such as worcester, tIereford and Gloucester, have for lnearlv two centuries maintained festi- lyaIs of song and instrumental music which bring to provincial communities famous performers and world-famous Iproductions. lthe American annual musical festivals, as far as the institution has been es- tabIished on this side of the water, Is the one which recurs the last week in September in the city of Worcester, this State; though of course similar af- fairs take place In a number or other cities, and the number, of them Is con- l stantly growing. Particularly where large German population has made pos sibie the formation of Maennerchore, musical events occur which crowd the worcester festivities fiard in artistic I interest The May Festival in Cfncin- natl, for example, has become re- nowned under the direction of Franz van der Stucken, and will next spring gain. even greater prestige from the presence of Sir Edward Elgar, com
 
 Still, Worcester has at least the ad- vantage over every other American city in the antiquity of it's festivals which were the first of their kind in this country, and, taking into account the average quality from year to year, 1t naturally occupies high place in the regard of professional musicians
 The annual song fest at the Massachu- setts inland town has become, in fact, the real opening of the American musi- cal season. It brings together man. axers and musicians from New York. Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago, and oftentimes distinguished artists from
 abroad who make the trip to Worcester and back without being heard any where else.
 In particular, 1t affords a trying -out place for musicians who have already acquired some standing and who are likely to so further. Many Of the younger performers, graduates perhaps Of the musical schools whose instruc- tors believe them to be competent to make a strong showing, get their fn- itial chance at Worcester. The festival In recent years has been in charge of directors from the New England Con- servatory of Music, several of the most promising alumni of which have made their debut at Worcester. This off, fering of new talent adds greatly to the importance of the affair. Each year New York managers are seen haunting the precincts of the Mechan- ics' Institute, where the festival Is held. on the lookout for brilliant and unexpected successes, for the. cempeti- tion to secure musicians of originality and strength ts as strenuous as 1t is among the publishing houses to get powerful books by new authors.
 The musical festival as exemplifed in Worcester and several other eastern cities had no immediate iTeutonic ori- gin. It Is said to be an outgrowth of the old New England singing societies which used to meet largely for study of church music. The annual affair | at Worcester was the first to receive the name of festival-no doubt fin imi- 1 tation of the similar festivity at the original home ofSWorcestershire sauce. 1 The American festival, though not un- der that name dates back to the last week of September. 1858. when Edward Hamilton, a local amateur. and Benja- min F. Baker. a Boston professional musician, who had already had charge of several singing societies. arranged meeting for rendering some church cantAtas and other music. The under taking proved a financial success the
 first year, and indeed during the sub sequent years. Back in the sixties, in fact, these festivals made more money than of late years, for singers and players did not then exact the prices which they now get as a matter of course.
 The title of the Worcester County
 Musical Association was early adopted, ast explained by Walter M. Lancaster who has written entertainlngly of the
 history of the organization, and about
 1870 the word "festival' was adopted.
 The society for many years has been a
 close corporation, composed of about
 thirty-1ve members. not necessarily professional musicians though origi-
 nally ability to sing 1nteligently or
 dinary church music" was one of the qualircations. The association now
 has library of more than 3O,O00 vol
 umes and other equipment. :"
 The great local feature of the wor-
 cester festival, and the one which
 has had perhaps most distinct educa- tional value in the community, is the chorus. This was originally built up by Carl Zerrahn, the distinRuisheri Ger man composer and conductor, who has had so powerful an influence in mak- ing American musical history, Tn the early days 1t consisted of about 800 members of whom perhaps half lived outside of Worcester and who, before the advent of the omnipresent trolley car, used with great difficulty to get to the rehearsals in buggies, hay carts and busses. At present the chorus consists of about 400 members and | indicative of the downward tendency of the population in Massachusetts most of them live In the city The | opportunity to be trained for a series | of public performances under the guidance of such men as George w. | Chadwick, director of the New Eng land Conservatory or Wallace Good | rich of the same institution has proved to be of incalculabIe value to 1 local amateurs.
 The improvement in American | music since the beginning Of the l Worcester festivals has been 'prodi- | gious. At the outset the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston was the on- ly permanent musical organization in the country, for 1t was not until 1884 that Theodore Thomas began trying to induce New Workers to like sym phony concerts little later there came a period when big, banging ef- fects of concerted noise were popu- lar. This was the day of the two fam ous Peace Jubilees in Boston, at the latter of which 10000 voices accom- panied an orchestra of 1000 pieces in swelling. if not highly artistic. ac- cord. The Worcester festivals par took for a time of the same charac- ter. They improved steadily. however, and associated with them have been 1 the names of men powerful in pro noting the cause of music in this | country: amongst others of George F. |