Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-03-12
THE CRITIC TALKS
TO MUSIC LOVERS
NOTHING has more amply vlndicated

assoclstlon III raising ts enoowHen'
| fund while the getting" was not only
good but possible than the position IN
which some OF the unendowed orchestras
OF the country now f,nd themselves The
forced amalgamation of the National
Symphony (Bodansky) Orchestra with
tho philharmonic In New York is a
case In point, while from both Seattle
and 81. Louis come tales OF such hnan
clal distress as make subsequent sea.
| sons uncertain
When II was proposed In Philadelphia
to raise the endowment fund SO soon
after the war and at a time when
! drives" and campaigns" we're as plen-
tiful as berries In July. there was con
siderable doubt, both silent and ex-
| pressed, In many quarters as to whether
II would not be better to walt n while
until things became more settled. II Is
fortunate for the fund that this view
| did not prevail.
But whoever Il was decided to hold
| the endowment fund drive while the
people through several years of con-
| stant practice had become proficient In
the. art of digging down into their
pockets and coming across with almost
| the whole contents thereof, acted wisely
or fortunately. as the case may be, be-
| cause II is practically certain that II
the fund would not hav" been raised
without far greater effort
TN THE case of the amalgamation
OF the National and Philharmonic
Orchestras both the management OF the
former and the musicians themselves
were the cause. In its eagerness TO &C.
| quire fine organization Immediately
the National whooped salaries up to a
point where huge deficit was certain
single rehearsal Not that n fine
musician is not worth all that can be
reasonably paid him, for the orchestra
player has only about thirty weeks out
| of tho nftV.tNyn ~ which ~
but the salary limit after all must be
| judged by the ability of the organisation
to keep within reasonable deficit.
The bait was most tempting. and
| many fine orchestral players swallowed
II eagerly, among them several from the
Philadelphia Orchestra. What will be.
come OF these players under the amab
gamation is not yet known. but II the
to be retained It Is safe to- say that
most OF the ex.Philadelphia Orchestra
men will be among them.
In any case. with the formation of
that one OF the permanent New York
| orchestras must go under. Including
the eight concerts OF the PhiladeIphia
Orchestra, the Boston Orchestra series,
SSsSsona' SieSsiona Cs,nS concerts by the Detroit.
organizations. New York had an aver
age OF about one orchestra concert n
DAY. including Sundays. during the en-.
~ SeaeoiL %nlch was manifeStly more
than the traffic would bear. The ANAL
gamation was probably the best soiu-
ton; certainly the best as far as the
philharmonic ic was concerned. as Il gives
mat organization an exceptional oppor-
personnel for next season.
| pHlLADELPHIA has some UNIQUE
musical ORGANIZATIONS, but few of
mm,rn s'nnd practically alone In the
Pales,rina Choir. which Is under the
directorship OF Nicola a. Montani I'm
Ike the Musical Art Society of New
York, for instance, which was a profes-
sional chorus, in the sense that It's
singers received compensation. the
Palestrina Choir Is the only community
chorus in America which dcvotes itself
70 the study and per 'ormance OF the
highest type of unaccompanied church
music. such as the works OF Palestrina,
Nittorla, di Lasso and others.
Of the Palestrina Choir. which was
formed by the present conductor, have
trailthtulIy attended rehearsals in all
| tracted thereto solely by the power OF
| this. one OF the purest styles Of vocal
| music. Entirely apart from the artistic
aims OF the Palestrlna Choir, one OF the
| objects OF the members and the conduc-
tor Is TO give Philadelphia an organza-
ton as distinctive and as unique as that
which Bethlehem possesses in It's famous
| Bach Choir.
As in the case OF the Bach Choir. the
conductor of the Palestrina Choir has
made lifelong study OF his subject
and today Mr.. Montani stands as q
recognized authority In the field of Cath.
Ole sacred music. especially that OF the
earliest composers, which for popular
| purposes has now largely gone out OF
style
NEVERTHELESS. this ancient music,
much OF II composed In a day when
a display OF contrapuntal skill was one
| OF the first requirements OF composition.
still has enormous vitality and power II
rendered correctly. Like the music OF
Bach, and for that matter all sacred
music o. the highest type. II does not
accommodate itself readily to the atmos-
phere OF the concert hall It requires
| the physical surroundings OF the church.
| as we'll as an attitude OF devotion on the
part of both the members OF the choir
and the conductor. AS general rule
the sacred music which sounds we'll In
the concert hall loses. or at least does
not gain In power. when sung In a
church.
This ancient music goes almost to the
| very beginnings OF composition. a DAY
when music was tho handmaiden of the
| church and the greatest composers wrOle
| almost exclusively In the sacred forms
Yet, notwithstanding It's severity OF out
| line and the strictness of the counter
| point, there Is still considerable emo
| tional feeling in 1t. although in that
| day emotionalism was not considered
a necessary part of either church or
| secular music.
Tho Palestrina Choir does not devote
Itself exclusively to church music and
on every program appear some OF the
| secular mOtets OF the old church COM
posers, which, however, are in the same
general style as the sacred music While
| - -,
emotion to which we have become
accustomed In music makes some OF II
sound "old fashioned" the dignity OF
tn" compositions makes them we'll worth
reviving and hearing.
| THE composition OF great religious
l. works seems 10 have become lost
art" among the best composers OF later
| years Formerly all composers wrote
| voluminously for the church. the Prot
| eBtantS composing oratorios and the
| Catholics writing masses or other forms
| OF their own church service. But this
seems to have changed, and of the COM
| DoSers born during the last seventy
five years u 10 difficult to find many
really fine religious works.
Probably the attitude OF the public
ia more largely responsible for this than
| the feelings Of the composers. With IN,
| demand for shorter, lighter and more
| emotional church music, the writing OF
works in the larger forms has natural,
become less. and tho oratorio has been
| succeeded largely by the religious can.
! tata, not. however, the cantata In tn,
| manner OF Bach
Modern inslstence upon exactitude OF
| performance may also have had some
| thing TO do with the lessened number
| OF great religious works With the pass
ing OF the a cappella form of religion,
| music, and beginning about the time
OF Bach, the orchestra was used In vir.
| tually all the larger compositions This