Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-11
BACH SINGERS WIN
LARGE AUDIENCE
Opening of TWcnty-ThTd
Festival at Bethlehem At
tended by 80 From Here.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

d special DlSpatcn TO The star.
BETHLEHEM, Pa, May 1.-THE
Bach Choir of Bethlehem, undoubtedly
the most famous choral organization in
the United States, opened the twenty
third Bach festival in Packer Memorial
Church on the campus of Lehlgh
University yesterday afternoon before
an audience which packed the church
to its capacity of 1920 seats and stand
ing room limits, while many were turned
away who sought seats weeks IN advance
This was a doubly momentous occa-
sion. It is seven years since the
remarkable score, The Passion Accord
ing to ST. Matthew has been given IN
a Bach festival This year is the 2O0th
anniversary of its initial production III
st. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Ger.
many, where it was given on Gooo
Friday. April Is. 1929. Because OF TINS
second centenary of its first perform
ance, Leipzig is holding Bach festival
of its own on very pretentlous hles,
June 8 to 10, this year. The other
outstanding feature of the preSentatlon
of the passion music this year is the
initial use of the entire bass section OF
the Bach Choir for the singing OF the
passages ascribed to Jesus" instead oil
the solo voice.
Gives Dignity to Words.
DR.. ]. Fred Wolfe, director Of the
choir. and one of the worlds authorities
on tie works of Bach, has stated TINS
, method gives more dignity and WelghI
of volume to the words of the Saviour,
and takes away the personality OF a
single singer AS heard yesterday, TINS
proved a decidedly admirable IeatuIs
and seemed to win the approoatlcn on
the entire audience. 1t was most
impressive.
. The whole of the two sessions yes
terday were devoted to the passion
music. Beginning at o'clock, Eastern
standard time, and with an tntermlSslon
from till for dinner and rest; tnen:
resun1ing at the latter hour, 1t contlnueo
till 10 pm. A feature was the memorial
chorale from Easter music of Bach,
hummed at the beginning OF the second
half. A.,
Today. as has become the custom, the
most marvellous of all Johann Sebastian
Bpch's works-the Mass in B Minor,
which has been conceded by many mu-
sic authorities to be the greatest music
written to date, will be given lts annudi
presentation. It has become traoltloHal
to give the mass on Saturday at eacn
festival. VARYING the music scores to be
presented on Friday performances, al
though. of coruse. all works given are
written by the great master-Bach.
Festival Spirit Provided
washington has been one of the few
places outside Bethlehem privileged 10
hear the Bach Choir. However, once
one is actually on the territory to which
the choir is indigenous 1t Is easy 70
realize why DR.. Wolfe heSitateS to take
it elsewhere. In the delightful atmoS-
phere of Bethlehem, in spite OF It's pow
erful smokekstacks and steel works, the
1Syrsk aS
abroad, may be achieved. 1t is peace
full setting, far from rush and modern
day civilizations noisy confusion. The
Packer Memorial Church Is only
short walk from the quaint old build
ings that form the nucleus OF the
Moravian settlement with their tndi-
Ndual customs and quiet dignity bred
of carefully balanced convictions. The
Packer Church itself Is clothed in
lovely ivy and its arched lowered belfry
where the trombone choir plays the
century, inspiration has charm. 1t is
the custom for the festival pilgrims to
gather slowly and gradually and stand
or sit about the beautiful billy lawns OF
the campus surrounding the church
grounds to listen to the trombone choir
half an hour before the actual perform
ance of the larger work Is to begin.
Gentle Movement Of Crowd.
Then, as the last notes Of the last
chorale are dying on the air-marvelous,
balmy, sunny air-yesterday the crowd
gently Sits into the cool semi-darkness
of the church's interior, where the sun
shine follows, subdued and rainbow
tinted, through the stained glass win
dows. The central panel of a trypitch
of windows behind the choir Of 300
voices bears picture of the ascending
Christ as viSioned to his apostles. Slim,
magnetic, DR.. Wolfe appears before his
choir, divided into sopranos on the left,
tenors, baritonesand BASES in the center
section and altos on the right. The
women all wear white, which is very
effective. The members of the Phila-
delphia Symphony Orchestra group are
on either side of DR.. Wolfe and above
the audience. The choir, too, is raised
on graduated platform. The organist