New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-05-07
Applause GreetS Rendition
of Bach's Mass in
T Minor.
H. E. KREHBIEL TELLS
OF GREAT OVATION
Cincinnati Audience Hears Best
Offering of Present
Season.
BY II. r.. KREHBIEL.

BY II. y. kREHBIEL.
Cincinnati, May st is doubtful IL the
waves OF popular enthusiasm will run
higher at any time during the music festi-
val now holding in Springer Hall than
they did tonight, when the second con-
cert was given.
Dame Nature who has been alternately
smiling and frownng since Sunday. as
sumed benefcent aspect this afternoon
and looked upon the gathering with an
suspicious eye. So did Apollo and the
MUSES.. The audience gathered in gala
mood as well as gala dress. and would
probably have exhibited AT least modified
rapture no matter how matters went on
the platform. They went marvellously
well. and IL was the happiness Of a vet
eran reviewer 10 see an audience stirred
into almost frenetic applause by per-
Torrance OF Bach's mass in minor. II
was a circumstance to be remembered. for
the enthusiasm was genuine. Bach Is
ordinarily caviare to the general. IL IS
the proper thing TO praise him. but 1t Is
not often that he is sincerely admired.
Something like this was said, believe, by
Heine about Klopstock's great epic.
Festivals Are Justified.
The splendid success Of the mass. how
ever. coupled with the fact that it was
its fourth performance at these festivals
and that there have been three per-
formances of the st Matthew Passion"
and one each Of the Christmas oratorio.
the magnificent in ID and two of the
church cantatas, may fairly be looked
upon as evidence that the festivals are
consistently maintaining the lofty aim
which inspired their establishment and
that the community is ripe for Bacn
cult. Four performances of the mass in
b minor and half dozen or more 81
other choral works do not make much Of
a showing compared with that of any one
OF q half dozen German cities in which
the mass. or the st Matthew Passion
is an annual occurrence. but it is almost
unique in America.
know of only one institution which
has done as well-the Bach choir. or
bethlehem, Penn. But the Bethlehem
choir has made fetch of Bach. 1t
sings 10 IluStt Luk MS anu heiS
the educational influence which IL might
have had by setting up its own standard
as one unattainable by any other or
ganization. and claiming for even It's
amateurish experiments virtues beyond
the domain of even the most Kindly
criticism. A few years ago 1t Wanted itselr
itself greatly because 1t could sing works
like the b minor mass and the st.
Matthews Passion without the help or
the printed page. a feat well deserving
of admiration. This year it's boast was
that ali solos in the mass would be
sung by the choral voices in unison.
proceeding which showed little respect
for the great German master.
The preceding three performances here
were given under the direction of Theo-
dore Thomas. They were far from fault
less. largely because Mr. Thomas was not
always of a consistent mind in the matter
of tempt and seldom adhered TO those
with which the choirmaster who had
performed the onerous labor Of training
the singers had made them familiar. To
the memory fingers of how closely the
Gloria" approached 10 a rout I'm 1886
when only the first two grand divisions
Of the work were performed. Matters
were better in 1892 and 1904. when the con-
ductor made a peculiarly panstaking
study of the composition and tried to set
an enduring standard for the treatment
of both its vocal and Instrumental parts.
He not only revised the orchestration TO
fill the hlatuses left by the disuse of
orchaic instruments, and the decay in the
art of playing others. but also tried TO
establish something approaching the old
relative proposition of voices and instru-
ments OF course. with a chorus OF more
than three hundred voices this was inn
possible for in Bachs day the instru-
mentalists always outnumbered the sing
ers. The experiment was extremely in
teresting. however. and the performance
of 1902 probably the most memorable that
the mass has yet received in America, not
excepting that of tonight IL was per-
haps superior 10 the latter because OF the
greater feeling of repOse which perVaded
II and it's closer approach TO the style or
the % riod in which Bach wrote. II Is in
this that the test Of performances OF the
works of Bach and Handel Is TO be sought
II has often been said in various ways
that the essence of modern music is all 10
be found in Bach, but this fact does no
more Justify modern conductors in treat
ing the old contrapuntal music to obtain
vivid efforts than the dramatic that the
genius Of Richard Strauss Is an evolution
from Beethoven justifes the sins which
are so frequently committed against the
latter as well as the spirit Of the master
symphonst's works.
The festival show is thoroughly ground
ed in the Bach mass: technically the
music has no terrors for them. II is also
a seIf-relant body and with a sure bea;
10 guide IL can sing every one of the
stupen6ous choruses OF the work with
precision an equabe flow OF tone anc
all needtul expression.
At the rehearsal / deplored the absence
Of this decisive beat and the consequent
absence of that supreme element II
beauty repose. which Ruskin held 10 he
It's first law Tonight DR.. kunwald ir-
duleed in fewer gestlculations designed To
illustrate the music and express his own
emotions and the result was A vast i'm
proVement IN tne elhblAs vi INC INV 20
and the playing OF the orchestra.
There we're thrilling moments IN the
brilliant climaxes, moments which lifted
the listeners into feeling OF rapture.
moments IN which 1t was possible to SIT
in serene contemplation Of the mysteries
OF loneliness which Bach has revealed 10
the world in this marvellous work, and
-, ,,,onnants in which they could soar