Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1913-03-07
C0UN0D'S M0TET GALLIA.
Repeated at 81. Anne's Last Night
We'll Sung Under Direction Of
Cbsirmasler c. A. R. Wilkin-
zou
(Contributedl

Contributed
Gounod's motet Gallia" was re
peated last night ct st. Anne's under
the direction of Mr. Charles a r.
Wilkinson A large part Of the add.
/ ence was absent. a circum stance not
I remarkable when anything genuinely
musical takes place in our fair city.
i tGallia' is a composition pecu-
/ larry fitted TO the purpose which
Gounod had il mind when he wrote it.
I At that time, it will doubtless be re-
membered, he was an exile ia Lon
don. having fed srom the red terror of
| the Commune. His fame as the
| composer of Faust" had preceded
him. and he was asked TO compose a
.antata for the opening Of the i'm
/ mense but beautiful Royal Albert
/ Hall, erected by the Queen in bonor
/ Of the Consort.
Geunod selected as his motive The
ruin and desolation of his native coun-
try, France, and compared her afflic-
tions to the Affections of Jerusalem.
! Zoe words, taken from the first verses
of Jeremiah's Lamentations, are
admirably suited to the theme. Paris
tands for Jerusalem. Fom the first
note stuck by the pedal beginning the
verse Solitary lieth the city, she
that was full Of people" TO the final
movement. the striking appeal, "Je-
rusalem, turn thee to the Lord Thy
God. the work is pervaded by a
feeling Of solemnity and grandeur
which never fails.
That ia, provided the work is well
done. 1t will admit no inadequate
treatment. There must be capable,
well trained choir, and an organist
ho. despite the intensely emotional
character of scme of the numbers.
particularly the last, must not odly
play without flaw, a rather difficult
accompaniment, but must also keep
his choir well in hand It is high
praise for st. Anne's organist and
choirmaster and for her choir, TO say
chat these difficulties we're overcome
so that to the hearer there seemed no
difficulties at all The mo ct last
night was sung smoothly. with good
balance, excellent tone and was per-
fectly accompanied.
The congregation of St. Anne's
have long been acquainted with the
good quality of their men choir.
Few GOWNS of the size of Annapolis
can hoast-of better voices, in tenor
and bass. We have often heard them
pra sed Yet this praise, though we'll
deserved. seems to leave out Of &C.
count the admirable training that has
been given to the boys. 1t is in sthis
respect, we believe, { hat MIR. Will
Einson has been particularly success
ful
THE average boS's voice is no
voice al all, mU9cally. considered.
The or binary lad, when asked to sing
on certain key, will promptly tight
en- his vocal chords and emit sound
that has nc musical character what
ever. 1t is a wheeze, a cry of the
last crow. Ask him to sing louder.
This, to his fac Interpretation. is
an imitation to yowl, to shatter the
fair vaults of heaven. to bring tears
to the eyes and an acute, If not
chronic, agony to the tender ear.
Hsrk TO the school boys on their way
to shcool! List to the newspaper boy
calling an unlikely customer at a dis
tance of two miles Then YOU will
near boys voice in the average
stage Of action.
When Mr.. Wilkinson came here he
encounter@i g raw boy choir. You
may apply the raw" to the boy or
the choir as you will. He was re-
auired to metamorphose those wells
and shrieks 20 genuine, pure voices.
lt is a tremendous task; one VINO has
never tried can ever know its diff
Guilty. The boy must first be taught
to loosen his vocal organs organs
which he never knew he possessed, and
produce the tone from the back of
the throat instead Of from the dia-
phragm. he must produce, as the
musicians term it, a head tone.
which results IN sexless, pure $50
prano. In other words, it is the
duty OF the choirmaster to change the
boys $ voice from a reed instrument
io flute. 1t is true that reed IN
struments have their uses-such for
example, the oboe-but they are
m1loyed for particular purposes or
for contrasts or TO carry a theme. 1t
would not be wise TO make all the
FIRST violins oboes.
This task of producing a purehead
tone in this boy choir, Mr.. Wilkinson
has performed. For this he deserves
the greatest credit. Without a pure
tons in his soprano, he knew that he
could do nothing. Having succeeded
in providing this tone it was compar-
atively easy to build up real choir
on the good material already at hand
The solo work last night was
given to Master George Sullivan. de
sang with taste, judgment and an
unusually good voice. especially in
the final number
G. p COLEMAN