Evening star., 1918-08-04

The annual upheaval ID choir cir
cles, always a matter of great inter-
est at the close of. the choir year at
the end of July. Is gradually assum-
ing proportions this season decidedly
disconcerting to the choir director
and music committee ambitious to
keep the musical end of the church
services up to the proper standard,
and it Is we'll within the range OF
probabilities that the present call OF
military service upon the man singers
of, the city will ring the death knell
Of the male choir for the period OF
nently. The difficulty of keeping a
male choir up to a high, state OF eftl-
cheney is always relatively much more
troublesome than with an adult mixed
choir. because Of the fact that the di-
rector is working always with raw
material in the shape of the boy
voice, which has only a limited period
of usefulness after training. before 1t
reaches the stage of mutation. NOW
that another obstacle appears in the
keeping up of the personnel because
of the many men who are in training
or overseas, some of the choir mas
ters are discussing the advisabillty OF
having only boys or of returning 70
the mixed choir, and 1t would be nat
ural solution in some cases to have
only. a soloist or possibly quartet
of women's voices. A deterring fea-
ture of the latter solution would be
the dearth of material in the way OF
sacred music written for women's
voices alone, even the convent libra
ries showing only limited collection
of any musical value.
1 War demands have made serious
inroads also in the organ forces OF
f'the District, both men and women.
Announcement was made fortnight
ago of the resignation of Mrs. VIII
liam Hamilton Bayly as organist and
choir director of st. PauPs Lutheran
Church. Mrs, Bayly is president OF
the Y. w. C. A. whose activities
make increasing demands on her
time. Mrs. George Ross, formerly
position at the new st. Andrews
Episcopal Church to go with her hus-
band, George Ross, one of Washing
tons talented young teners, who was
transferred with the forces OF the
shipping board to Philadelphia.
Methodist Church, has been for some
time in the service; Claude Robson
of the Mount Pleasant Congrega-
tional Church is in training at Camp
Meade, R. Mills Si1by, chofrmaster OF
the sanctuary choir of ST. Patrick's
of the British registration law, Of
fered his services to- the British
authorities and is now only awaiting
his call to a training camp in Can
ada; Edward Donovan, orSanist OF st.
Mary's Catholic Church, who was
married, two weeks ago to Miss
Bertha Betz, contralto, went into
training at Camp Meade Thursday.
and the new British draft is likely
to deprive the profession of many
more. !,f
The younger tenor section is we'll
represented in it's response to the call
of the colors. some of its members
being Paul Hines. who is now in the
Naval Paymaster's School at Annapo.
lis; H. Tudor Morsell Of the choir OF
the Episcopal Cathedral, Walter Sor-
rell of ST. Margaret's oheir. Louis
Thompson and James X. Young, all
now at Camp Meade. and the twin
brothers, D. Austin Howard and S.
Theodore Howard. who have sus-
tanned the tenor and bass parts. re-
spectively, in the quartet of the West
Street Presbyterian Church. for many
years, have each volunteered. Austin
in the Corps of Sanitary Engineers
and Theodore in the Pay Corps OF the
Naval Reserves; Robert Burns Boyd
counter. tenor of old st. Johns Epis-
COpdl SuuTCu Ids JolHcu slAc 4ucoiC<3A
Corps OF the Army, Frank w. Haneke
has been detailed to the navy yard at
Norfolk and Waiter H. Wooden. both
of the same choir. has heen ordered
:byss the Federal, Trade Commission TO.
chicago for special dutHc. Hardly e
section intact, and it remains for the
ingenuity of the renaining choir diS
rectors to find way out of the di-
lemma. )
Announcement is made this week of
the resignation of Harry Hail. or
ganist and director of the male choir
of ST Paurs Catholic Church. to take
effect September /. Mr.. Hail has
served there for the past three years
with much success, especially during
the season just closed when he was
fortunate in having unusually good
material in the boys soprano section,
Previous to coming to St Paurs
Church, Mr.. Hall was assistant choir
master for four years at ST. Mat
thew's Catholic Church. o., ~ 4
William Hulme Taylor, organist of
st. Paurs Episcopal Church Crock
Creek -parish). will substitute at the
organ Of St. Johns Church. Lafayette
SQUARE, during August, for'H. H. Free
man. who will be absent op bis xaca-
ton
Milton Boyce, organist of st. Mat
thaw's Catholic Church, gave a recital
recently, in the chapel Of Caldwell
Hall for the sisters of the summer
school of the Catholic University. MI.
Boyce gave in excellent style a pros
gram of exacring numbers by Bach
and Handel. - d
/, Mrs. Elmer Curry. secretary o. the
Rubinstein Club, and her daughter.