New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-16
CHRISTMAS MUSIC
MIXED WITHLENTEN
Interesting Novelties at the
Concert of the Musical
Art Society.
By II. Z. KREHBIEL.
By II. Z. KREHBIEL.

There was more of the glad spirit
Of the Christmastide in the last par
Of the concert given by the Musica
Art Society in Carnegie Hall last nigh
than in the preceding parts; more IT
the mood of the music and much more
in its performance. As usual. DR.
Frank Damrosch prefaced the set pro
gramme with the lovely little German
Christmas song, "Stille Nacht," which
beautifully sung as il always has
been), yet failed to put the audience
splendid in number and character, intC
the mood of quick receptivity as it useC
TO do. Pedestrians "Salve Regina" fol
lowed as the beginning of the regular
order. Il has been sung before by his
society and sung better, but never
under such good conditions, for DR.
Damrosch separated the first and sec
ond choirs by the width of the plat
form. and ranged the third along
its back. Much depends upor
the antiphonal effect of much Of this
old ecclesiastical music, and this effect
has often been lost at the concerts OF
the society, nor will they ever be
heard in their tull potency until one OF
our cathedrals opens its doors TO the
OlKdllLdLleu 70 WHICH We 1--WE al INA
we have learned in twenty years about
the music of the Roman Church in It's
golden age. The fine climax achieved
By last nights arrangement atoned for
the defects in the performance. The
choir, however, It SCENE (slnce Ma
minis "Hodie Christus natus est" did
not 90 much bett9rl had devoted most
of It's .udy 20 the secular pieces of the
last part, though the marvellously
gracious beauty of Calvisius's Joseph,
lieber JOSEF. meln,' was well brought
out. Still the audience was unmoved,
and until the third part Of the pro-
gramme was reached was warmed into
an expression of enthusiasm only by
Cornelin's Alteration of the Magi" ar
ranged BY Walter Damrosch for solo
and chorus from the original setting
for solo and pianoforte). In this piece
the melodic and harmonic substratum
consists of one of the loyeiest chOrales
in the German hymnbook ("Wie schOn
leuchtet der Morgenstern"), the story
of the three kings being told in a
beautifully expressive counterpart
melody sung above the chorale by a
solo voice.
There was some spirit, but less
volume than might have been put into
il had the organ been judiciously
used. in SchGtz's "Sing 70 the Lord,
which is one of the finest compositions
that DR.. Damrosch has introduced 10
US. but little in Bach's "Actus
tragicus," which belongs TO the Lenten
rather than the Christmas time.
Nonotony Of color and Of performance
pervaded this piece. for reasons which
II yvoult consume too much time and
space 70 discuss After il came the
secular portion. with the only novel
ties of the evening-two madrigels by
Nonteyerde, and a new Serenade by IL
gar, the last a setting OF Russian poem
translated by Mrs. Newmarch. In them
but especially in BrahmS's Festival
and Commemorative Sentences, IN
which the composer showed that he was
a true son of Bach as well as the great
classic romanticists, Beethoven and
Schumann. the glory Of the choir shone
at its brightest. The Monteverde madri-
gals proved TO be delightful 70 the ear
and less archaic in feeling than any OF
the ecclesiastical music Of the hrst
part. Il was particularly interesting 70
rote the outcroppings in them Of the
feeling for modern Italian melody, as
well as the dramatic expressiveness
which students of music may remember
as marking the composers opera
"Orfeo" when it was given IN concert
form on q Sunday night at the Metro
politan Opera House two or three
wears ago. Dr.. LeOrold Damrosch's set
ting of Tennyson's Ring Out, Wild
Bells" brought the concert TO spir-
tied close