New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-10
MUSIC.
CONCERT OF THE oRAToR1O SOCIETY.
Beethoven.s solemn Mass in D.

has put notable things to its credit but nothing
more notable. more prsiseworthy, moro Indicative
/ Of its high aims than it did last night, when it
performed for the first time in its history Beetho-
VEINS Solemn Mass In D. To most OF those who
heard It the work good as new. In 1872 the
Church Music Society had attempted It. and
so won the credit OF being the first singing society
in America to give to the work hearing; but the
history OF that society well as the records Of
the time forbid to think that anything like ade-
quacy marked that performance. The Church Music
Society had a fine social standing and attempted
fine things, but Beethovens Solemn Mass is some
thing than a fine thing, and society that
soon after drfted into performances of acts from
i English operas cannot have had a full apprecia-
ton OF what such a work meant then-stil less Of
what it would mean a generation later. Ten years
afterward there another performance at the
festival in the 7th Regiment Armory given under
the direction of Mr. Theodore Thomas. which
nearer the real thing but that is also in the dim
past.
The absence Of such work from the lists Of the
Oratorio Society till is deplorable, but not
strange. 1t is Beethoven's choral masterpiece yet
1t waited forty years for recognition even in the
land OF Its creator, and last night the society had
to perform an act Of selfsacrice in order to make
its beauties known. The financial record will, in
all probability, be entered up chiefly on the debit
SIDE OF the societys accounts, and the Christ
mastide Messiah" will have to do its usual
work Happy ghost Of Handel to be able stin
to work to such admirable artistic ends! The
the performances which the mass has had in Amer
lea. and has been obliged to put his Impressions
record; he has heard it also In London, with the
Leeds choir under Hans Richter. Never has the
work seemed more deeply felt by the performer
or more effectively performed than last night.
Beethoven never gave himself COM
pletely to his artistic Gins nreasoning, shall
call them, selfish, nconsiderate of the
singers upon whom after all he had to depend?-
than in this work Let then torture our
selves further in the name of God" remarked one
Of the solo singers at the first performance of the
Ninth Symphony when Beethoven refused to con-
slider the limitations Of the human voice in song:
but more than the composer asked then Of his
solo performers he asked of his choir in this mass
and last night all his demands were met in a man
'ner that must still be contemplated with amaze
ment- What the sopranos accomplished all even
ing-but especially in the finale of the Gloria
ought TO be set down for all time memora-
bic. And so. too, the beautifully artistic rev.
erential and effective singing Of the numbers
OF the solo quartet-Niss Ada Chambers, Miss
Janet Spencer, Ellison Van Hose and Frank
Croxton. There was an inspiration back of their
singing. there back Of the conducting of
Mr.. Frank Damrosch and the quirng of the
chorus Something more might have been ex-
pected of the orchestra but the present is time
for cavillng. but for grateful rejoicing. It would
be 6 lovely contamination II. at the Cincinnati
festival OF 1880. the popular demand for a repeti-
ton of the work should make itself felt and be
acceded to- But, then, there would probably have
to be extra Messiah" performance to make
good the deficit.
Yesterday was too full of music to allow time for
reflection upon it ALL much less for comment
Even the record must be fragmentary. One
thought, however, and some others that flow out
OF 1T in natural sequence, may have expression.
Music like that of Beethovens "AIssa Sosemnis''
is relegated to the concert room, not only by the
difficulties which its performance present in the
choir loft. but also because of its Indifference to
the requirements OF the liturgy to which large i'm
portance is attaching just
Efforts the part of the authorities of the
Roman Church to put aside all artistic music
which does not conform with the rubrfcs and re-
turn to the plain chant and the old a capella
style of composition Of regular occurrence and
seldom accomplish anything. Out of the agitation
begun by Plus TX grew the Cecilian movement,
which promised great things and came to next to
nothing The successor Of Plus advocated the
form with equal zeal, and his successor is only
following the old example. 1t is not likely that
a permanent change will be effected While
the present attitude is maintained, however,
Beethoven's great mass under the
ban-a fact which invites attention to
of the features which put it there The crcum-
stances that it originally planned for the in
stallation Of prince Of the Church is OF no Sig
nifcance in this question. Had the been ready
when Prince Rudolph installed Archbishop of
Olmitz 1t would not have been rejected because of
violations of the rubrics; it was careless age
which accepted the light hearted music Of Haydn
as proper to the holy office What is largely sig
nifcant however is the proclamation which the
mass in D makes of Beethoven's religion. Tradi-
tonally he was a Roman Catholic. He came from
a Roman Catholic country; he was reared in the
faith and he confored to 1t on his deathbed by con-
senting to receive extreme JUNCTION. The effort has
been made to create the impression that by his
dying remark "Plaudite, amic. comoedia fntta
est" he intended to make light OF the solemn func-
ton; but there is reason to suppose TINS to De
the case Nothing could have been more character
Lie oopfI 1a ogCfo Tnf1rg Ga
with which old plays were wont to conclude. II
he had any afectation it a literary one
Though he had to rely on TRANSACTIONS. Homer
Plato Aristotle, Plutarch, Pny. Eurtptdes, Horace
and other ancient writers fairly familiar to
him He loved to quote them, and their volumes
used to be In the little old bookcase now in the
possession OF Alexander w. Thayers niece in Cam
bridge Mass. He in deep sense thoroughly
religious. but at time in his mature lie a
churchman He believed in the existence OF
God with all his heart and soul IF order
and beauty are reflected in the constitution of the
universe then there is a Cod" he wrote in his
diary in 1916 Constantly IN his writing desk there
stood the framed transcript which he himself had
made IF an inscription f.-1I an Egyptian temple
which he had found in Champollions books:
at am that which is I all that was, that is.
and that shall be. No mortal man has ever lifted
the veil of He is solely y himself and to this
Only One all things owe their existence AS was
said nv this writer long ago elsewhere, Beethoven
buiIt M his creed from communings with nature |
and his own soul. In its essence it was sturdy
unouestioning theism all can read in his let
ters and journal entries. In sketch book used by
him IN 1873 there is an affecting testimony |
that during many moments of deep emo |
ton, melancholy and affection his thoughts |
often turned to communings and prayers |
to the Deity whose highest Inscriptions Of glory and
praise resound from the mass in d, which was be-
q,,n IN that year In this book there is fragment
of a hymn God Alone Is Our Lord" which Bee |
tboven records as written while walking. in the |