Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-10-18
THE CRITIC TALKS
TO MUSIC LOVERS
Weekly Comment on Things
Musiculin Discriminating
Philadelphia

class. While it is true that Il good bit
OF modern sacred music is excellent, it
is equally true that an equal if not
greater amount of it is not well adapted
TO the uses for which it was composed.
4 Compared with the older music, or such
Of Il as has survived. the modern seems
to lack dignity and, to certain extent,
religious feeling.
There might well be a revival in some
CT our larger churches, with choirs
2 capable of singing it and willing IN
(. devote the necessary time to rehearsals,
Of some of this older music.
Polyphonic music is unqucstiouably
the real music of the church. 1t Al
\ ways has dignity, often grandeur, and
\ while capable of expressing the deepest
religious feeling, does not lend itself
TO those elements which began TO creep
into church music with the rise Of the
opera, especially in Italy, and which
probably eliminated in the 'Stabat
Mater of Rossini which, musicaIly
considered, can scarcely bc called sacred.
TTTIE Vatican Choirs sang without ac-
a compartment and showed by prac-
Z tical demonstration what we have al
ways known. that church music and
in fact, all concerted vocal music gains
4 greatly by being sung n cappcila. This,
bers and not to elaborate works such
as an oratorio or mass. for chorus and
4 orchestra.
e Any accompaniment 10 q concerted
vocal number. no matter how discreet,
tends to obscure the beauty of the voices
and to conceal the part writing in COM
positions in the polyphonic style. Even
conceding the organ t. be the finest Of
all instruments, it must be admitted
~ .
K most churches which are able TO main
tain large choir, the instrument is
:, apt to overpower the voices, at least TO
the extent of making the several parts
Exceedingly difficult to follow. To many
members of the average church choir.
however. which usually holds only one
(. rehearsal before the public service, the
sustaining voice Of the organ is fire.
queDtly "a very present help in time
Of trouble A cappella singing is in
.isHd the test, not only of the music,
buNcf, the singers as well.
AN : INTERESTING comparison
\ m might be made of the Vatican
Ehoirs and the choir ot the Russian
0Cathedral in New York, which sang
here n couple Of years ago, but which
is now, unfortunately, temporarily
abandoned These two organizations
gave about the finest examples of
eappella singing thar has ever been
heard in Philadelphia, but their styles
were totally different. The outstanding
feature of the Vatican Choirs was their
well nigh perfect ensemble, while that
Of the Russians was their marvellous
beauty of tone, especially in the lower
voices.
In the soprano section, the voices of
the boys of both chOirS was little short
saf wonderful, the Italians being "a little
3thicker in quality, probably on account
of having three OF four adult male So
pranos ifalsetto singers, while the
Russians depended entirely upon the
boys voices. While it is true that boys
! voices have the delightful freshness of
youth it cannot be denied that the tone
quality, even of the best of them. is a
little strident and lacking in the
hquidity and heXibility of the female
soprano voice. Translated into or
chestral idiom. the female voice is like
the tone of the flute and the boys
voice like that of the oboe. The com
bination of both voices, as was heard
IN the Episcopal diocesan victory festi
val last spring, was to many more
satisfactory soprano than either alone,
YTtHE revival of Palestrina, even in
'
Choirs sang so delightfully."-. showed
clearly that he is indeed the father of
religious music. He weeded out the
banalities of the three Flemish schools
Of Okenheim, JoSquin des Pres, Com
bert, Willaert and others to whom
counterpoint had become an end and
not means, and in fifty years set
& Italian sacred music upon plane to
which 1t has never since risen. And in
this connection it should not be for
gotten that he lived almost "A century
and half before Sebastian Bach.
1t is true that Palpstrina never
reached the heights Of Bach in his re
iigious music, but then, for that matter,
neither has any one else. There is in
Palestrina no such thrilling effects as
IN the beginning of the Kyrie of the +
minor mass, the sorrowful tenderness
OF the closing chorus Of the st. John
Passion, or the supreme beauty of the
st. Matthew Passion or the Christmas
Oratorio, but the religious feeling and
the solemnity is present in as great a
degree as in the music of the Leipsic
master.
Palestrina is more formal in his music
than Bach. He was not able to break
entirely the shackles of counterpoint
which the Flemish composers had riyeted
upon the musical world. in favor of a
treer expression of his ideas. ms Bach
did, though perhaps the musical restric =
tions of his church had something to
do with this.
TNHE influence of Palestrina, even
upon latter day religious music. was
shown in the music which the Russian
choir sang, although il was all Russian
largely TschaikOwsky and Rachmanioff
The Tschaikowsky of the Russian church
is, however, not the Tschaikowsky OF
the Sixth (Pathetique) Symphony. nor
is the Rachmaninolf the Rachmaninoff
Of the "Isle of the Dead" or of the c
minor piano concerto. When they
wrote for the church they took their
models from the masters of ancient
& Catholic Church music, and this in the
end means PaleStrina.
Palestrina wrote usually in five parts,
Bach generally in four, though some
times in five, and the Russians in any
where from four to eight. This was
the usual procedure, though there were
many cases where this number has been
greatly exceeded, running. in the case
OF the Italians, as high as forty, and
in the cases of certain ambitious Eng
lish and Flemish composers far beyond
this. Palestrina nearly always wrote
the fifth part in the higher voices, rarely