New-York tribune., 1922-11-27
Failure to- Preserve Sacred
Motif Ina Former Mars
Effect of Presentation
BY II. E. Krehh;el

Friends Of Music in Town Hall In the
afternoon and we heard two church
eansatas and violin concerto By
Johann Sebastian, father, and IL had
been reported to us that all had gone
veil at Aeolian Hall with q concerto
! 1grosso.. we suppose} Of Carl Philip
Emanuel, son, at a concert of the
| Symphony Orchestra.
Though this Bach was nearer to our
! generation, in manner, than his father,
and 1t is likely that his music was
made 30 sound still more contempora-
neous by the transcription Of IL which
was played by Mr.. Damrosch and his
orchestra, il must still have beer.
| archaic enough to convince the audi
ence that there was large infusion of
! educational purpose in two Of the sig.
nifcant concerts Of the day. This be-
| ing 80. we pcndered bit on the ques-
ton whether the iaudable purpose
might not have been better served at
! Town Hall II the vocal music had been
Of kind intelligible TO the listeners.
10 all OF them we mean, those familiar
with the German language as we'll as
to those TO whom German is an m
known tongue. Why should the can
| tatas have been sung in German? To
the choir English is native tongue.
/ The hymns which it sang offer no OBJ.
/ stacles to effective tranalation. Some
| of them, we believe, have found their
| way into English hymnals. So Tar as
The singing OF the choir and two Of the
Iodr solo singers are concerned the
sounds which they uttered might as
we'll have been Choctaw as German.
Only Mr.. Meader, an American, and Mr.
! Bender, German, uttered words which
were intelliglble TO anybody.
Opera and Concert Confused
Perhaps there were reasons for
metropolitan Opera Company. IL 40.
they had no artistic validity. No ar
tistic end is achieved by transferring
the principle alleged to be dominant at
the opera to che concert room. As d
matter Of fact, the rule Of preserving
the original language of the opera in
the metropolitan is not strictly obeyed.
Russian operas are sung in Itaiian; so
are some French. Some, Ike "Boris
rodounoff" are simultaneously sung in
both. The public Is indifferent In the
matter, because the public doesn't care
gos' the words Of the opera, but only
for Its music and its outward inteau-
ment.
4 IT. IS different in the concert-room
and in music like that sung yesterday,
the cantatas were portions Of church
sery1ces-the first, "Der Friede sci NIT
pie" for the least OF the purifcation;
Il the . second, ""Christen, atzel -diese,l
Tag" for the Feast of the Nativity, for
Christmas. Bach wrote scores OF these
services for the Sundays and HOLIDAYS
OF the Church. year. They are gener-
ally short, made up OF recitatives, cho-
fsis Il. e., hymns), and moro or less
elaborate choruses. How beautiful
many of them are every cultured
music lover knows. But except for the
hymns the texts are as rule little
better than doggerel. Bach was not
greatly concerned beyond seeing that
day and afforded stalking horses FOR
ms music. Occasionally he INDUCED
] IN delineative effects. but when he did
/ SO he put no Snsuperable rock in the
way Of translation.
Value Chiefly Educational
u IS only for musical folk of studioug
mlno that the cantacas are good concert
material and they are likely to accent
them for what they sre-churcb
services. Now d query: Would not the
isudabie purpose which underlav yes
teraay's concert have been better
achieved ii the text had been intelli-
gible and the performance more like
Ihat which prevailed In Bach's time !?
suppose the choir had been like that OF
the Church of st. Thomas in Leiusic
one Of men and noys-and as > conces-
sion to the occasion land the mugics
| both. choir and orchestra had becn
nearly double in number those that
bach controlled, say, twenty singers or
twenty to thirty instrumentaiists SIN
pose tnat the concert had been given
IN hall Cor better, church,. with An
! organ ana that the figured bass had
eeen worked out by an accomplished
musician, SO as to be something more
shah support for the voices In
chordai harmony. Would the audience
which was fine one ard one ~ sar;'
GUS mood and inclination, not have en-.
loyed an artistic sensation very di9.
iefsnt from that afforded by yester-
days concert admirable as Il was J.,
the main? We think so; but some NAV
think we are disposed to think too
curiously about these concerts.
All the above is Sunday meditatio,,
IN which and in The pleasure wbicb
tne concert gave we could not hava
shIouised had it not been for the 9aet
Ihat the Friends of Music gave Bach
eohsert' 10 II Mz. Bender gave dis
t,nction by his singing Of the solo in
the cantata first mentioned end ID M ~
huperman by, his playing of the con.
cerso, and also the obblgato which
accompanies the solo voice, which ;s
tne chief factor in the service eor
the Feast of Purification. the chorus
haVlng little to do In the composition
IN the second cantata there Was =
quartet OF solo yoices-Mmes. peralts
ana Teiva and Messrs. Meader and
Bender. The contribution which tbe
ladies made TO the pleasure of tbs
occasion was rather negative than
otherwise. Bach's music must be sung
with q steady outflow OF tone-iike
that of Mr.. Hubernan's violin in
on6hgato and eoncerto--as far as DOS
siole away from the style supposed tn
be dramatic at the Opera House Mn
sical passages, like the words. must he
lucid. Concert singers trained in the
English school of oratorio should be-
employed Ia such work
Tie concert began with san orehea-
tral transcription by Mr.. BedanzLy of
bach's organ choral prelude ON GAus
tiefer moth sehrei ich zu Dir Mr
fownsend's chorus sang with precision
good balance Of Gone and good axpras-
sion. 1t may have hRd more vitaIitv
OF effect for the listeners in the hal
cony than for those on the main aoor.
Aeoustical conditions are also impor-
tant in concerts of such unusual char
acter.
AT the Symphony Orchestra's concert. |