New-York tribune., 1920-01-18
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Schola Cantorum to Give
Unfamiliar Choral Classics

Inn hss Msd' h. on c.a. Thr:sdsy ~ Ncvsmbss wen
performed a new ode with two con-
certos for several instruments, which
will be preceded by 'Alexander's Feast
and a concerto on the organ," etc.
The ingenious mapner in which Han
del resorted all through the ode to
little artifices to give musical delinea-
tion to the pictures and sentiments Of
the poets lines is calculated to cause
an amused smile, despite the fact that
strumental: music resort to initiative
effects. When the ode was performed
in Brooklyn, reporter for 1.-The
devices, somewhat irreverently com
pared the ode to the dialect exercise
song Of school children called "Johnny
Schmoker." Little wonder. Through
all the compass Of the>notes it ran,"
reads one line Of the poem, and Handel
makes his chorus sing the notes Of
the scale both up and down. "The
trumpet's loud clangour," sings the
tenor; and the cloud clangour" comes
from the orchestra's trumpeter as
promptly as the tympani give
"The double, double, double beat
OF the laundering drum"
as soon as this instrumental effect
10 suggested. So 1t goes on with
"The soft complaining flute
In dying notesn-
and
HSharp violins complain
Their Jealous pangs and despsrations, I"
all sketched in the score in q manner
which might have occurred to any tyro
IN composition. Effects like these were
favorite devices Of even the greatest
composers. Handel makes his orches-
forth frogs" Gin "Israel in Egypt")
with jumping accompaniment, his
vioAns buzz like swarm Of gnats
when the chorus sings "And there came
all manner OF flies," and even Beethoven
In his great mass In D illustrates "He
ascended into heaven" and "Descended
into hell" by making the voices go
through the motions Of ascent and
descent and intensifies the prayer for
peace by trumpet and drum calls which
suggest the nearness Of war.
How Mozart Composed the "Requiemn
The story Of Mozart's REQUIEM" 1.
one OF the most familiar to readers Of
musical biography. All its elements
the mystery surrounding the bringing
OF the commission to the composer the
strangely oppressive influence of the
work upon Mozart, the premonition of
his own death, which was so mourn
fully realized before the completion
OF the mass, the reticence and appear
ance OF the messenger who came with
the commission and again for the score
all these elements formed fascinating
material for the story-teller, and he
has Impressed them strongly on the
worlds mind. They do not compass
all the facts Of the tale, however, nor.
though the most romantic. are thew thu
most interesting.
1t required q fierce controversy Of
ntteen years duration to determine the
principal circumstances connected with
the composition and publication Of the
work and to fix with moderate de-
gree OF certainty the extent to which
| another hand than Mozarts was en-
ployed on the swan song which he left
unfinished, and during the eighty years
which have elapsed since the close of
tnat controversy many new facts have
Deen added to the strange history of
the musical creation which old Cantor
KILLER, OF Leipsic, designated as "the
greatest OF all works by the greatest of
all masters"
A Ghostly Messenger
The mysterious commission came
from certain Count Won Welsers. Who
lived at Stuppach, q village in lower
Austria, on the highway between Wen
na and Trieste. The Countess Won
Welsegg had died early In 179l and the
count, who was an amateur musician
OF small talents but great ambition. de-
cided TO secure honor for the living
whtie doing honor to the dead by the
performance OF grand requiem"
which should 70 to the world a. hIs
own. though he could not create any
thing. The plan was similar to Others
Of smaller kind which he had carried
out before. He was in the habit of