The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-30
Two Large Crowds Hear Nota-
 ble Performances At the Hippodrome
TODAY IS EXPECTED TO
 EXCEED FORMER RECORDS
Varied Programme By Damrosch Or chestra With SoIoists and Local Festival Chorus Are Sure to
 Prove Great Attractions.

Yesterday was the second day of the musical festival, which is a brilliant sue cess artstioaly, and which1s proving suc- cessful, too, from a box office point of view. An immense audience assembled in the Hippodrome for the afternoon per formance, and another large crowd was present last night. It was generally re- marked that no such audience was ever seen at matinee in Birmingham as that which gathered to hear the Mendelssohn programme. The orchestra under Wal ter Damrosch's leadership played the overture, the scherzo, the nocturne, the wedding march and some of the incidental music written for "A Midsummer Nights Dream" and Mrs. Isabel Garghill Beech CT of this city read selections from Shake speares charming comedy The acous- tics of the Hippodrome are good for music but not for Reclamation. But Mrs. Beecher is gifted with a voice of exceptional strength and resonance and after she had recited few lines her words rang out and could be heard quite distinctly in nearly every part of the house. This accomplished woman has a -~~1-%N SNS-cO the audience who complained of the acoustics declared that it was treat to watch the expression of the readers face even if they could not catch all of the words.
 The night programme was as follows:
 Overture, "CarnevaT (Dvorak).
 Tannhauser March CWagner).
 Euterpean club, orchestral accom- paniment.
 Aria from "Sappo" (Gounod), Miss Nevada Van der Veer.
 Andante Cantabile, from Symphony No. (Tschaikowsky).
 Blue Danube Waltz (Strauss).
 Euterpean club, orchestral accom- paniment.
 Siegmund's Liebeslied from Wal kure" (Wagner), Reed Miller.
 ta) Adagio from Ries suite played by Mir Saslavsky.
 (b) Perpetuum Mobile from Ries suite. played by all the first yiolins.
 Spanish Rhapsody (Chabrier).
 The orch estra which has been a popular feature of the festival, seems to grow better, and better with each performance. It was above criticism Wednesday night. and at yesterdays concerts it simply surpassed itself. In
 
 there was such marked virtuosity that musicians in the audience broke out in wild applause. Nothing on the strings has been heard here that was anything like so fine as the "Perpetuum Mobile"
 The Euterpean club, composed of High school pupils trained by Miss Leila Kits, acquitted itself with remarkable credit. The Tannhauser march almost sings itself, but the Euterpeans gave 1t with a spirit end a volume of sound that could not well have been excelled by an opera chorus.
 The Blue Danube" waltz was not so easy as the march number, for so much depends not only upon rhythm and phras- ing but upon the languorous tempos. The chorus was in keen touch with MT. Dam- rosch and responded readily to his baton As a result the Blue Danube was one of the most delightful numbers of the evening.
 Miss Van Der Veer and MT Miller In their solos achieved each a great tri- umph. Miss Van Der Veer has tempera- ment and wonderfully sweet voice. She had the little contralto part in the Blessed Damozel' Wednesday night, but 1t gave her small opportunity for reveal ing her art. Last night she sang not the aria printed on the programme but one that was quite as beautiful and her fnevocalization and her quiet dignity added to her natural qualities, won all hearts. For an encore she sang "Let Night Speak of Me- by Chadwick.
 MT. Miller made his first appearance in the festival last night and was accorded an ovation He has a tenor voice of ab- solute purity and as for temperament no artist could be expected to have more. Mr Miller has dramatic fire and perfect style and with his superb voice 1t is easy to understand how 1t comes that he has attained top rank among Americas s notable singers
 Manager Hon said last night that