New-York tribune., 1917-07-01

,r,r.stion which materialized in the
,,ssdstion OF the society.
=, was IN the spring Of 1873. DR..
r.opold Damrosch had come to New
y.,t two years before TO direct the
v;,,srsesangyerein Arion. He came
.,,m Breslau. where for fourteen years
,.h,d conducted choral and orchestral
,rrspizations, and his hopes were set
s.lsrger and more fruitful field OF
,,t..e activity than that offered by 6
,rripr society Of men. There were
,rn societies in New York at the time
,sieb were. in a manner, performing
a. work which the Oratorio Society
"a. psrtorned since 1875. They were
u. Church Music Association, which
lad dbsen orranized through the instru-
mentality Of Mr. George 7. Strong
FATHER Of the composer, Templeton
s,ro-r) in 1865. and the Harmonic So
,ie,v. which dated its origin back TO
1880. There had been many choral So
es.iss before these two-too many 70
t.uthe story Of now, although it would
hspleasure 90 do so i for no other
reason than to confound those pre-
sgnvaous persons who are forever pro-
esininr that there was no musical
culture in America before their advent.
Bless Their conceited and mistaken
souls. the cultivation Of oratorios and
symphonies in New York began long
before the end ot the eighteenth CEN
t1ry. The Germans did not bring this
Kpl'ur 70 America, although they
think they did HandeTs messiah"
vas heard ir New York Though with
ugan accom~animent only 147 years
~. The oldest choral society in Ger
rl,y IS the Singakademie, Of Berlin,
vt.eh was founded in 1871, five years
t.,sr the organization Of the Stoughton
Musical Society, still alive in Slough
.sr, Mass. Bat We must not be led too
hr sield in this historical promenade.
When Dr. Damrosch came 20 New York
,ts Church Music Association was suf-
t:s;ilg in it's excessive respectability,
nd The Harmonic Society was in a sad
state Of somnoleney, from which It
l'ssed !tse1 annually a. Christmas TO
i;,ggsr through a performance Of "The
Esssiah," IS it had been doing for
'E.n.y years. Dr.. Damrosch had can
ussed the choral situation and found 1t
tseorraR.ny, when Nrs. Reno, who had
Mn an enthusiastic ehorister at
eslogns in ,-e society conducted by
ferdinand i er, called on him in the
rnng Of 1870, reawakenod his hopes
I'D inspired him with confident zeal
Anteting was held two weeks later in
d. Damrcsct's home, and IL was de-
sr-insd 90 maze a beginning. DR..
V1, rector o. Trinity Church, gave the
us Of Trinity Chapel for the first re-
t'.i,al 4. .he suggestion Of q COM
si::se on organization the name which
re e'ioeie.y s,l bears was adopted and
E' first Oilers were elected. They
'rs 7. A. p. Barnard, president Of
~1snsia College. president; DR.. julius
sa'i', sscre'ary; Morris Reno, treas
HT; Dr. Leopold Damrosch, musical
si'e'or. Af.er four or five meetings
A4nn!.y Chapel the summer vacation
" u, and when rehearsals were re-
"a'd In tho fall Trinity Chapel was
" Nnger available, for reasons which
"ihsll not look into. Knabe's piano
'''s "srerooms, in Fifth Avenue, were
'-asse a. the deposition Of the infant
N'siy ard there, on December 3, 1873,
- htt co1cer. of the Oratorio So
~ TOOK place before company Of
'''''ofa who had gathered on invita-
''a q TIE singers.
= was chamber concert Of the type
80 which music lovers Of the
r'ssrta century were more familiar
'a hoss Of tas nineteenth, or Of TO-
:" Ias chorus numbering Gfty, sang
o''a.s b. Bach, Mozart's ave
WIN a. "ALgrarua te" by paleg-