The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-02-04
VERDI REQUIEM
 IS SUNG BEFORE
 GREAT AUDIENCE
Armory Filled at Splendid Rendition of Italian Mas
 ter's Composition
FOUR SoLOIsTs ARE
 RENDERED OVATION
Chorus of Over 300 Voices Blends in Effective Unison
 With Big Orchestra

D1OACso HI Ell COUASO - AAAeS A@
 With Big Orchestra
 With chorus of some 300 prorii-
 nent Brid exporters, led by four we'll known soloists, am orchestra Of 4o
 musicians, and an audience of some 1,5o0 people, verdi's Requiem Mass
 that rnasterpiece of sacred music. was
 produced last evening in the Armory
 by the Oratorio Society
 Dr. Mees, the able Boston director
 who has had charge of this work Tor
 several months past, has the praise
 and honor of all Bridgeport for this
 most splendid musical production
 which has ever been held in this city. Last nights interpretation was ainguIarly impressive holding the audi
 tor in a powerful grip from beginning to end and leaving them feeling that they had never before heard so won
 der-ful musical work.
 The four soIoists, who were out-of- town talent, had been chosen for their singular fitness for this particular them again and again after each solo. They were Mime. Caroline Hudson Alexander, whose soprano voice is Of exquisite quality; Mime. Florence Mlaa- ford-Hunt, who possesses rich con tralto voice: William Wheeler, whose SBi6nQ1d and Clifford Cairns whose deep toned bass. had very fit dramatic quality.
 One thing particularly noticeable, was the spirit with which all sang their parts. Three hundred people
 singing with such earnestness a work written in this minor key could not help but make a deep impression
 Proceeding the Requiern. the orcnes- tra played the prelude to Die Mels- j ter-singers von Nurnberg in very credible manner.
 The Oratorio society Is composed of practically all musical Bridgeport and numbered among it's members ara many prominent business and pro fessionaI men and women of the city They spend months of each year in preparing under the capable director ship of some widely known musical leader, a famous work Of some mas ter. This is then given to the public at a concert, the object Of which IS not financial gain but merely to realize enough money to meet expenses.
 Associates of Giuseppe Verdi main tain that the wonderful solemnity of his Reuuiem Mass for the poet Man zoni is the reflection. of the great grief that visited the Italian composers own life Verdi's wife and two beau tiful children were sna.tcned from him, by death, all within a. very few weeks Verdi,s devotion to his wife was houndless Her death was a shock so great that for a. tirne-sfriends deared for his nfe.e1 It=was many months af- ter this triple bereave ement that the musician renewed his activities.
 The Manzoni requiem was the re- suit of the failure of a composite re- quzem int tended for hoasini- Follow ing the death of Rossini at the sug- gestion of Verdi. the Italian musi- ciars set themselves to the task of a requiem. The mass Tor the dead embraces many different parts To Verdi was assigned an op- tionaI responsoriqm. the Lfbera Me The merit of the work of the contrib uting composers showed such a wide range that the Rossinfn requiem was 8 failure.
 The very apparent merit of yerofs share of the requiem led his asso- :iates to urge him to compose an en- ire mass. This idea gained ground when in 1873 A1essandro Manzoni, a aoet and novelist and Intimate of Ver-el Ii, died. The Manzonf requiem was hen written around the ..Libera Me which Verdi had composed for the un- Iuccessful Rossfnf requiem.
 Conspicuous among the sections of he mass is the tone picture of the judgment day, in the Dies Irae. This affords the orchestra as well as the .forus an opportunity for exceptional ,GS SuiCS. 10 Iit0 =CE0dll o1 4IE. nuSCo md his artists it must be said that he Bridgeport Oratorio society gave splendid rendition of this most ex- acting portion of the requiem
 The participants in the oratorio were.
 Miss Clara Aiken, Miss Susan An irews, Miss Anna D.. Anderson, Mrs. H. R. Arms. Miss Elsie Atwater. Miss Isabelle Baker, Miss Matilda Ball, Miss Eva l.. Barnes. Miss Helen A. Bassett, Miss Frances A. Bauman, Mrs. Margaret Beardsley, Mrs. Glad len B. Beers, Miss Esther Berg, Miss Auralia L. Berger. Miss Sophie A. Bernhard, Miss Mabel E. Bfltz. Mrs. Florence Klein Bishop, Miss Mary Bo- and, Mrs A. c. Bradley, Miss Bessie Bradley, Miss Carolyn Broad, Miss Ve- "a Broad Mrs. John Richard Brown. Mrs. Robert w. Brown. Miss Msuue Burgess, Miss Ruth Burgess, Mrs. Frank " Burton, Miss Grace Garfield. Miss Mary E. CasserIy, Mrs. Clifford E. Castle, pr. E. F. Claf1in, Miss Leo nilda Corcoran Mrs. Grace Curtis, | Miss Martha Lesterhoft, Miss Nellie I Fox, Mrs. Juvia Freeman, Miss Li1- ian French, Miss Lillian GledhiI1, Miss Maude B. Gooda1e, Miss Alice Goodel1, Miss Dorothy L. Goodrich, Mrs. Fred 7rick B. Granniss. Mrs Frank J. Green, Mrs. G. A. Gregory, Miss Isa- Mrs. Alfred W. GrisWo1d, Miss Anne L.. Hartigan, Mrs. c. N. Haskell, Miss B. M. Hinckley, Mrs. H. w. Hincks, Miss Ida G. Ho1royd, Miss Marion Hopking, Miss Violet Howe, Miss Rena Miss Margaret Hughes, Miss Elma James. Miss Mabel Jenks, Miss B. Johnson,4 Mrs. c. l.. Judd, Miss Olga Keller, Miss May Kenney, Mrs. H. Knowles, Miss c. M Kuster- er, Miss Lolo L. Kusterer, Miss Judith Landberg, Mrs. J. A Lang, Miss Bes- sic Libby, Miss Helene Libby Miss Florence R. Higgins. Miss Alice H.