Connecticut western news., 1916-06-08
NORFOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL
New Works and Old FavorItes Enjoyed
 at Music Shed.

The June festival of the Litchfeld County Choral Union opened ill the Music Shed on Tuesday evening under suspicious skies, and art and nature combined to entrance the scene. A unique feature was the presence of MT. Paine as a listener, and not as con ductor, and the ovation accorded him as he entered the building showed plainly the esteem in winch he is held by all who are ill any way familiar with his work, either as musician or nearer His chorus was a credit t0 him and his long and conscientious training showed in the manner in which the singers responded to the able conducting of Dr. Mees, who is untiring in his zeal. and busy every moment during the rendition of a work.
 The quality of the voices spoke vol. umes for MT. Paine. One who has been absent for several years expressed him. self as astonished at the improvement in that direction, especially in the sopranos, where harshness is so obtru- sive.
 The program opened, as usual, with the singing of the majestic chorale, Sweet is Thy Work,'' composed by Robbins Battell, in which all present most impressively and reverently par ticipated, as fitting tribute to the be. loved musician and philanthropist, in honor of whose memory the Choral Union was founded and so nobly ex. banded by MT. and Mrs. Carl Stoeckel.
 The second number, "The Mystic Hour," symphony in one movement, conducted by the composer, Charles Martin Loeffler, is a work of great originality. The composer does with tones what the sculptor does with marble, or the poet with words, and he who has great soul and an expansive nature, is destined, through his art, to deliver wonderful message. the beauties and meaning of which, are more distinct and significant to those who have real soul perception. The Loeffler works are esteemed in the musical world; the Mystic Hour" however, led one into mazes from which, at times, it seemed there would be no escape. It should be heard re peatedly and the artistic effects care fully studied, to be appreciated.
 The feature of the evening was the chorus work in the rendering of Brahms Requiem. The world owes a debt of gratitude to such men as Richmond P. Paine and Dr.. Arthur Mees, for their ip terpre tation of the great masters. But for men like these, the manuscripts of great compositions would have been shelved. The musician's material is such, that, however permanent may be the written record of his work, it depends upon the spirit of other men whether 1t shall live in the minds of future generations. After hearing the Requi- em, one readily appreciates Schumann's famous description of the meeting with Brahms, when the latter played his own works. "There were sonatas, or rather yelled symphonies. says the critic, "songs whose poetry might be under. stood without words; piano pieces, both of passionate nature and most grace. full form, each so unlike the other, that they seem to flow from many different springs" Won Bulow speaks of the three great B's ln music, as Bach, Beet. hoven and Brahms.
 The soloists, Florence Hinkle, so. prano, and Oscar Seagle, barytone, were artistic in the extreme. MT. Soeagle, new to Norfolk audiences. has a well controlled and resonant voice.
 The program closed with Grieg's concerto, played by Miss Guiomar Novaes, a young Brazilian pianist. It cannot be expected that girl so young should deliver the selection with all of the sophistication and emotional re. source of artists twice her age, but when her playing is filled out with the feeling that comes of mature soulful, ness, her work promises to take rank with that of the recognized masters.
 Last night while this paper was going to press, Haydn's "Creation" was be. ing sung with Florence Hinkle, Paul Althouse and Herbert Witherspoon as sOloists, pr. Mees conducting.
 On the program also was Fritz Kreisler, the eminent Austrian violinist, whose recent war experience shows in his artistic work, and he plays with in- Who, that heard his rendering of DVOrdk f1umOroSQuo at HIS uTSC dp- pearance iii the Music Shed, can ever forget the effect it produced on the audience. It may not be generally known that this composition lay fallow for years until an arrangement for the violin was played by Kreisler, and took the public by storm. The Leonora Overture was also one of the numbers.
 The program for this evening includes two Tchaikovsky numbers, the Fifth Symphony in E minor and the "Con. certO for the Pianoforte."
 The Fifth Symphony was written in 1887 and reflects one of the sad moods which were of frequent occurrence with the composer. The introduction is based upon somber theme which is felt during the entire work. One Russian writer says of the composition: "The entire symphony seems to set forth some dark spiritual experience. Only at the close the clouds lift, the sky Il Al. II II.