Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-06-03
BARE OLD HALL ROCKS
WITH VAST ENTHUSIASM
Songs OF Dixie Sung by Southern
Threats to Audience Of
Southerners.
MERCER DIRECTS GREAT CHOIR
veterans, Sponsors, Maids Of Honor
and Distinguished Guests Crowd
Auditorium to Its Capacity-Old
Darkey Melodies Sung.

to Heaven" said :, gray and bent, but
radiant old veteran last night. as he
STOOD on the rear platform of street
car on his way from the City Audi
torium. Il heard tunes and songs to-
hieht hadn't heard for forty years,
or maybe more, an | heard 'em sung
petter'n they ever were sung in tho
world before. We used to have Il boy
IN our company durin' The war that
had mighty pretty tenor voice. an
sometimes when VIC were ridin' along
at night. everybody mighty tired and
KIND o blue. that boy used to pipe
up all by himself and sing Lorena'
re knew lot of others, too. but he
ilked 'Lorena' better'n any of 'em and
so did we. An when he'd sing it in 4
klnd O pleadin', plaintive way. some
times In the moonlight and sometimes
IN the pitch black dark, l ulster think
IL was the pretties' music anybody
could ever make. But when all those
noSs and men and ladies turned them
selves loose on 1t tonight. knew
hadn't ever really heard II before, and
certny do wish that boy could ha'
heard 1t. too. No, sir, he amt dead; he
was killed in charge, and never
nave thought about him as bein' really
dead"
VAST OLD HALL ROCKS
WITH ENTHUSIASM
And everybody else in that vast au-
dicnce last night. with bit of senti-
ment In his makeup. or with the min
utest capacity to appreciate beautiful
sound. was just as radiant as the old
man who had heard "Lorena'' so often
as ne rone along the roads OF his war
wracked land. For the old barn Of
nail rocked to such enthusiasm as had
never been displayed within il before,
ana rang and sang 10 such a volume OF
heartfelt and heart-cXpressing music
as few walls of brick and roofs of
country.
Under the able direction of Walter
=. Mercer, more than 500 Of the best
voices In Richmond, accompanied by an
orchestra OF some sixty pieces, poured
all their strength and beauty, their
soitness and their exaltation. into the
singing of songs, old and new, of a
Glory in the Highest" of an exhorta-
ton to the people to turn them to the
LORD their God-in striking commence
ration of wasted and dcsolatc land
or the greatest "Hallclujah" chorus
that man has ever written. With all
that was in them they sang, inspired
and attuncd to lofty thoughts and n
loftier expression by an appreciation of
the audience that sat and listened, and
thereby honored them.
SONS OF OLD VETERANS
SING TO THOSE THEY HONOR
For they sang TO the United Con-
federate Veterans. to the Sons OF Con
federate Veterans, to the United Daugh-
tors OF the Confederacy. to the spon-
sors maids of honor and other distin-
guished guests, whom the city, the
State and the whole South delight to
honor. Themselves sons and daughters
of the men whose comrades in arms sat
before them. they sang AS they had
never sung before. Men and women
forgot to save their voices forgot their
paid positions. forgot that they we're
on ordinary occasions-soloists and
joined in the mighty choruses with all
the power of their capacious lungs and
with all the strength of their schooled
throats.
They sang bits from operas OF Verdi
Donizett. and OTenbach-the most
tuneful bits: they sang the Gloria in
ENcclsis" from Mozarrs Twelfth Mass:
they sang the wondrous Jerusalem
chorus and ohligato from Councils
Galiia,' and they closed the tremend-
Gus concert with the ftiingly tremend-
Gus musical declaration Of Handel, in
the Messiah" that the Lord God om-
nipotent reigneth and He shall reign
for ever and ever"
SONGS OF CONFEDERACY
BETWEEN OTHER NUMBERS
And between the opera numbers, the
oratorio choruses, the waltz arrange
ments and the splendor of the Glorias
and Hallelujahs. they turned them 10
the songs of the Confederacy. Where
upon. many of the men and women
who suffered for the Confederacy. and
many more Of those that glory because
their mothers and fathers suffered for
II, rose at them. The customary ayes
and storms of handclapping and pound
ing. though multiplied a hundred times
beyond the ordinary. did not satisfy the
desire of the auience to express its
gladness. it's qualification, it's enthusi-
Il
cheers of the younger men burst out:
and time and again the wild, high, yip-
yip yell of the old lighting men shrilled
out and thrilled the younger ones who
had heard Of il. who recognized it. and
who uuivered and tingled again in SYM
pathy with it,
The huge chorus sang wonderfully
all the numbers that Mr.. Mercer had
laid out for it. 1t is to be hoped that
he Will be able to retain his organiZa-
ton long enough to enable the lovers
of music in Richmond to hear it's
superb singing. But last night was
Confederate night. and II was the Con-
federatc songs. the Southern songs, the
darkey songs. that made the house
wild. Nor is il to he wondered at that
n certain madness seemed TO descend
upon the audience. for those who sat in
accomplished things which, it may we'll
be doubted. no other chorus in the
world could do: certainly not without
long and patient schooling.
When the people Of Mr.. Mcrccr's
chorus sang Southern songs. darkey
melodies to darkcy words, they sang
them as they were meant to be sung
When they sang "Massa's in dc Cole.
Cole Groun." they did not sound a
final ID: the the" sound in the" was
non-cxistent: when they sanE--to the
unutterahle JOY of the vast audience
ole Black joe" they said I'm comm" /:
no airy final "g" assaulted the ears OF
the men and women who had heard
"our people" talk and sing fr M the
lays OF their infancy, and when they
sang Use Gwine Back to Dixie" the
words that represent II am and
going" were given their full. soft and
natural value.
This chorus sang a lullaby to
Dvorak's "11umoresque. tossing the
melody from one choir to another, I'm
manner that made uS wonder hnu,