The Hawaiian gazette., 1911-05-30
SHEFFIELD CHOIR
IS MAGNIFICENT
WOULD BE rBRrBOT ~ TINE
sngoBRs KNEW now
TO pRnsa

rrom Raturday's AdveFtlsef.l
Musical Honolulu experienced two
sensations yesterdayi Il listened to the
sheffield Choir Of England, pronounced
by the leading critics Of Europe as the
greatest choir in the world, and Il heard
"Aloha oe" sung in English for the
first time.
The choir is magnificent, whether in
the swelling volume Of the Alleluiah
chorus from Handel's Messiah, the
beautiful diminuendo in "'Tho Bells Of
st. Michael's Tower" or the staceato
lines descriptive Of the dog Bingo, and
the soloists arc finished artists. There
was wealth of music and a splendid
exhibition of training, but it remained
for the simple "Coming Thro' the
Rye" to score the success of the CON
cert last night. The throng that crowd
ed the operahouse was generous in its
applause, but it was not wildly enthu-
siastic until after it heard Miss Jennie
Taggart in the simple old Scotch bal
lad, sung as Honolulu has never heard
it sung before.
The Sheffield Choir has been trained
, in singing to the last attainable degree.
The articulation is perfect, in marked
contrast to what is usually the case.
But why doesn u some one teach the
choristers to dressi The women prob
ably had their stage gowns in their
trunks in the steamer g hold, but that
was no reason why they should each
lug handbag as big as suitcase onto
the stage with them, nor wear white
stockings and walking boots. The men
wore everything, from a fuIl-dress suit
down to colored shirt sleeves. The solo
lists were the exceptions. The ladies'
gowns were modish and becoming; the
male soloists wore evening clothes as
if used to it.
But they could all sing, and their
singing made up for the fact that the
majority appeared as if just returned
from picnic on Tantalus.
Matinee Concert.
Enough s as good as feast' in
most things, but too much was not
enough for yesterday afternoon s festi-
i, val. A concert lasting over an hour
and half without even eight bars
rest - for interval is tax on any audi
enee.
The more musically inclined the
listener may be the more exhausting
the strain of absorbing the surfeit of
symphony and song that filed the Ha-
waiian Operahouse at the first concert
glen by the world-famed Sheffield
Choir of England in Honolulu, on its
festival of the Empire tour.
The ladies of the choir-if not the
Ina CHI Il i
fatigue towards the end of yesterday
afternoon feast of song, but not so
the audience. No greater tribute could
be paid Doctor Coward and his choir
than to record the fact that the great
fatigue that crept into the choir Is
voices towards the close.
Yesterday afternoon s concert was a
red letter event in the musical annals
of Honolulu, as the tour of the Shelf
field Choir-under the direction of
Doctor Hariss of Ottawa, must become
memorable in the musical history Of
the Empire.
To say that the singing was worthy
the occasion is to pay at once the great
est compliment possible to the artists
concerned, and the least enconium that
is due to so talented choir as that
which has appropriately ''coom fra
Sheffield.
The Sheffield Choir, under the master
hand of Doctor Coward, has produced a
choir that is the pride of the Empire,
as it may well be the envy of the
world. Two hundred male and female
voices are blended in perfect tone and
harmony and have learned to sing to-
| oat NTH praoicinn 4baA ,,,o,,15 I,o
remarkable in any individual artist.
To attempt to criticize in detail the
features of so we'll known and cele.
brated conductor as DR.. Henry Cow.
) ard would be a hard task. Rather
) might one question the complete wis
dom and truth of his dictum that, "Nc
singing can be too loud if the voices
Q be under CONTROL In more than one
item the tornado of tonality threatened
to get out of hand, and if no such out
e break assumed noteworthy proportions
;. it was due rather to the complete dom
: ination of the conductor than to thu
2 self-control of the choir.
{ One is constrained to utter one wore
t of criticism of concert that can other
Q wise call for little but unqualified
o praise. That word is rather compli
s ment in the composition, that th
9 execution of the first performance pre-
sented. 1t is that the soloists are mad
f to play only "second fiddle" to tn
h choir.
Last nights program was coneate
d nation of choruses, with few after
I thoughts of the "Now let's have
}, solo'' type. Even with inferior al
d fists this lack of variety would hav
/. been ill.advised, but with such wealt
i. of well known soloists as Doctor Cow
t ard has with his choir, to give onl
e one in three items solos is inexeasablt
r, and surely an unfair tax on the choi
IS itself.
n Everyone, of course, came in the frs
d place to hear again the Sheffield ChOii
e but a musical feast of seventee
courses requires more than FIVE solo
by way of "savories with singers o
such quality as Miss Taggart, Henr