Evening journal., 1911-08-03
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Voice That Sang Above
Ten Thousand
BY Holland.

Yesterday, ! told in the words Of
the late Patrick Sarsheld Gilmore the
greatest bandmaster this country has
ever produced, the story Of the roman
tic courtship OF great prima donna
of the sixties and the early seventies,
Parepa-Rosa. and Carl Rosa, who, at
the height of Parepas fame as a grand
opera singer. was looked upon as one
of Europes great Wolinists. Today 1
tell In Mr.. Gilmores own words the
story Of the manner in which he Sc
cured Parepa-Rosa as the soloist for
his National Peace Jubilee of 1863,
which was held in Boston, and which
was one Of the great musical festivals
that won for Gilmore international
fame as a bandmaster.
Il began to lay plans for the peace
jubilee a year or two after the close
of the Civil War" said Mr., Gilmore,
whose band, during the war, was the
most famous of all the musical organ
izations on the Union side. AT first
! had just vague idea of celebra-
ton in song and music of the restora-
tion of peace in the United States. But
the more / thought of the idea, the
iAOAt IL fANdiuiuf uNiN at AaAA htNf AAts
In the meantime received every en-
couragement from my Boston friends
and obtained financial guarantees
against loss from some Of the mer-
chants OF that city decided to get
together an orchestra of one thousand
pieces and a chorus of ten thousand
voices ] soon found that all of the
musical societies of the United States,
at least of the larger cities. were only
too glad TO cooperate with me. Then,
10 give the jubilee a decided novelty,
worked out a plan for using artillery
as a part Of the orchestral accompani-
ment, the cannon to be placed outside
Of the Coliseum and to be discharged
by electricity exactly as an organist
would touch a particular note upon
the organs keyboard when he wanted
a special effect
well, do you know that all the
while / was planning for these large
effects H. never occurred to me that /
had forgotten that ! ought to have a
soloist. But one evening as ] sat listen
enough to be heard above the salvos
of the cannon, the organ. the great or
chestra and the great chorus. When
did think Of it my plans were far ad-
vanced and / was In grave anxiety
least l should be unable to secure a
soloist. But one evenin, as l sat listen
ing to Parepa-Rosa singing an aria
from Meyerbeer's opera of Robert the
Devil the thought suddenly came to
me: There's your soloist. That woman
has a voice that would soar above any
combination of voices and instruments,
no matter how many.
$50 l sought out Parepa-Rosa and
told her what my plans were-that
they called for great dramatic so
prano whose voice would soar above a
chorus of ten thousand and an orches-
ira of one thousand. She replied that
she had never yet had an opportunity
TO let her voice out to its full capacity,
that she believed a chorus of even ten
thousand voices could not drown her
own.
" But said I, 1 am 10 have twenty
cannon placed and discharged by cleo
tricity ae an accompaniment TO the
orchestra
% Oh she said, delighted, that
would be like singing on a battlefield.
And she added Mr. Gilmore, l will
sing for you as your soloist if you will
promise me one thing-your musicians
must discharge the cannon on the beat
of time. If they will do that I will make
my voice heard above the cannon. But
If they come in out of time then all is
ruined
II was bold enough to make the
promise; and at the first days per
formance / escorted Parepa to the cen
ter of the stage. There we're thirt,
thousand people there. She stood be
fore them smiling, awaiting the intro
duction by the orchestra and then thl
chorus. At the exact moment she be
gan. Her voice was like a melody from
the heavens, Her song rose pure, clea
and exquisite above all that vast com
bination of sounds. No other thing di
the vast audience pay heed to-it wa
the song Of that woman. triumphan
over that vast combination of instru
ments and voices and cannon, tina
taught them what the human voice
capable of. And when Il was all owe
and Parepa had retired to tumultuou
applause she told me that for the frs
time in her entire life had she eve
really sung"
Copyright. 1911, by e. ]. Edwards. A
rights reserved.)
Tomorrow Mr.. Edwards will tell (
"The Frame Full of Scrip That Mad