Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-05-08
MUSIC HATH CHARMS.


Tho musical festival that begins on!
the 10th inst under the auspices Of
the Ia bernacle choir is an event IN the
4 local musical world. The full pros
oran1 is given elsewhere in today's
OF ews...' Read it. 1t is a wonderful
IN ine ram. And when you had looked
F,e the array OF talent engaged and
OF tlnusical menu prepared, you will
ot want to miss the exceptional OPP
! ec.unity offered in this festival,
There Is, perhaps no place on earth
where music Is more generally cult
waited and appreciated, than here In
4 Utah. Salt: Lake City has had to con-
tend with obstacles unknown to other
American communities, but its sweet
singers and musicians have made 1t
4 famous with their music and song at
3 home and abroad. Our organ recitals,
our Tabernacle choir. our singers in
foreign lands, all have done their part
Z to give our City and State fair name
1 ana fame, aud to silence slander and
defamation.
From the very beginning OF history
music appears as an important factor
In civilization. Jubal. "the father Of all
such as handle the harp and the Or
gan, is mentioned in Gen. 4: q. in a
class with the inventors OF stock rails
ing and the discoyerer of the usefulness
OF metals, showing the imense impor-
lance attached to music as the hand
maid OF civilization.
M One of the early Greek writer's,
Polybius, expresses the view that the
Cynnetheans were distinguished from
the other Arcadians by savage man
ners, wIckedness and cruelty, because
of their neglect of music, The Area
dams generally he says, were rigid and
alistere, but they made it or the great
est Importance to incorporate the art OF
music into the very essence of their
government. In Arcadia the children
were taught very early to sing hymns
and songs composed in honor Of the
gods and heroes. They We're taught to
dance 'to the sound of flutes" and to
! ..act in games adopted to their tender
years. In their private fe$lsts each
participant was expected To sing for
entertainment They We're also
taught all the military steps ana mo-
lions to the sounds of Instruments"
.''To me-" the writer quoted says, "itis
4 evident, that these soleInnities were in
troduced. not for idle pleasure. but to
soften the rough and stubborn tenn
per of the Arcadians, occasioned by the
GOODNESS of the high country. But The
Cynaetheans, neglecting these arts.
have become SO fierce and savage. that
there is not another city in Greece so
remarkable for frequent and great
enorlnities. This consideration ought to
engage the Arcadians never to relax
in any degree. their musical discipline
This is how the divine art was re-
garded by Greek writer TIA time
when the Greeks were the leaders in
civilization. Shakespeare had the same
view when ne said;
"trile man that hath not music IN him
self,
And is not mop'd With concord OF sweet
sounds.
Is fit for treason. stratagems and
spoils--
let no man trust him.
afs & 5 . g.
Music is indeed q divine art. And
those who have the gift, and devote
themselves to its cultivation are indeed
performing a great service. And are
! they not. in their inspiring melodies.
conveying to us an echo of the meio-
dious harrponies from the eternal man
sions? They say that when two
stringed instruments are .attuned to the
Same key and placed near each other
II one of them is sounded the other
responds. May not the spirit of some
( of our great composers have been so
!. attuned to the key of those who com
pose the choir beye nd, that their songs
: are. as it were. the vibrations from
the celestial music? AT all events:
There is in souls a sympathy with
sounds,
4 And as the mind is pitched. the ear is
n pleased