Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-05-21
THE CRITIC TALKS
TO MUSIC LOVERS
| cAppELLA singing, that IS. with

4 a out accompaniment, naturally tne
first. form of coherent music. as vocal
music antedates instrumental by very
considerable period, Is again coming into
its own. And in the movement, which
is general at least throughout this coun-
try, Philadelphia is taking an impor-
tant part.
The first authentic music of any kind
of which there Is any definite record
was singing in. church. or, rather, "
religious exercises. or course, this was
done without accompaniment,1 and At Is
interesting to note that in the seeming
revival of a cappella singing church
music takes a prominent place. Ihis
applies not, only to the Catholic service,
in which cappella singing has always
held a position of prominence, but TO
certain Protestant denominations as
well.
There can be no. doubt that singing
without accompaniment is the finest OF
all singing, and at the same time 1t calls
for higher degree of skill and musi-
cianship on the part of the singers than
when the voices are supported by IN
struments. The quality Of the voices Is
shown to far better advantage cap,
pella, the dyhamics are more beautitul
and the whole effect of the performance
is infinitely more impressive.
THIS classification, Of course, ex-
L clydes the mighty choral works with
solo, voices and orchestral accompani-
ment, the form of music in which the
greatest tone masters have expressed
their most exalted thoughts. But In
this case the end Is usually sublimity as
expressed by the massed voices and In
struments and not sheer tonal beauty, as
in the case Of the smaller cappella
works.
And yet, some Of the finest compo-
sitions of those masters before Sebas-
tian Bach were written for voices
without accompaniment and no one may
rightly say that certain Of the works
of Palestrina and other OF the early
Church composers lack In grandeur,
either Of musical thought or OF expires.
sion. But. taken as whole, the finest
Of the Acapella compositions have not
the thrilling power Of, say, the Bach
b minor Mass, the st. Matthew Pas
sion, the Ninth Symphony or the
Requiem of Brahms.
But the main point Of the revival OF
q cappella singing, especially in its reia-
ton to Church services. Is that It is
within the reach of almost any con.
gregation, whereas the performance OF
huge works with solo voices, chorus ana
orchestra must be very occasional
thing and then confined to the largest
and the richest of the churches, to say
nothing of the immense amount OF time
demanded in rehearsal and preparation
for the production Of these great ana
enormously difficult works.
1t is also true that many of the finest
of these great compositions for chorus,
solo and orchestra are religious and
therefore are much better adapted; 70
the atmosphere of a church than that
of a concert hall. A striking illustra-
ton of the difference which this at
mosphere makes was given when the
Philadelphia Orchestra and the Orches-
ira Chorus gave the Bach st. Matthew
Passion at the Academy of Music a
few years ago, difference which was
all the more apparent to those of the
audience who had heard the same work
at the Bethlehem Bach Festival. The
difference lay more in the atmosphere
in the auditorium than in the singing
or the Interpretation.
TN THE revival of cappella singing,
i Philadelphia, as has been said, is
taking a leading part. The Palestrina
choir, under Nicola A. Montani, is
doing a work which is probably not
being undertaken by any other vocal
organization in the country, and Is
doing it most effectively. There may
be a difference of opinion, and indeed
there is, among perfectly competent
musicians as to the musical beauty of
the compositions of Palestrina, Vittoria
and other composers of the strict poly
phonic school, when viewed from the
more emotional standpoint of modern
music, but there can be no difference
of opinion as to the worth of keeping
the public at least moderately familiar
with the compositions upon which, after
all, the whole structure of mHsic rests.
Sebastian Bach reconstructed the whole
fabric Of music, but he worked on many
of the sound principles laid down by
Palestrina and certain other of the
earlier composers, rejecting only those
which his genius knew to be unsound.
The music of Palestrina and his con-
temporaries will never be popular, for
it is too severe in conception and in
,contrapuntal execution and too devoid
of the emotionalism which latter day
sine qua non of musical expression.
But, for that matter, the same argu-
ment applies to the music of Sebastian
Bach as well. 1t will never be popu-
lar except among the musical elect, al
though it Is just as skillful in execution
as that Of his great predecessors, and
yet contains an, infinitely greater