Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-04
NJ u S l c.
BY HELEN FETTER.

! lnStlRaCeQ an earnest QrlVe 1Or
Improvement in church music and
the discarding of some of the less
worthy tunes, and especially
lyrics, that were in use in many
congregations.
Today, what with the Bach
| Choir in Bethlehem, the West
minister Choir, now with head
quarters at Ithaca, N. Y, and
many other less widely heard or
CARNATIONS, presenting the finest
church music in constantly i'm
proved fashion, the United States
seems in fair way to carry on the
tradition started here by that first
American composer. It is GER
tainly fitting that the National
Capital should build chorus that
aims to present the best of sacred
music with thorough preparation.
THE middle of this month DR.. J.
Fred Wolfe and the famous
Bach Choir will present the TWEEN
ty-fourth festival Of music by that
genius, Johann Sebastian Bach, in
Bethlehem. For the first time
anywhere in the United States 10
chorale-cantatas of Bach's will be
presented on Friday, May 16, in
two sessions, one in the afternoon
and the other in the evening. The
following day the great Mass in
B Minor" will be given in its COM
plete form by the Bach Choir for
the twenty-third time.
The great humanesS Of Bach Is
shown so significantly in the very
titles of his chorale-cantataS,
Great Strife" Lord, MY weeping,
Tears and Signing" 20 Lord. Re-
lent, I Pray Thee" Come, Thine
Hour, Kind Death, Is Striking"
20 Praise Jehovah, Who Reigneth
on Earth and in Heaven" "Then
Our Mouth Filled With Laughter"
Lord Christ Of Old to Jordan
Came" who Believeth and Obey |
eth," "Ah! How Weary, ALL How
Fleeing" and Praise Thou the
Lord, o My Spirit"
washington supplies one Of the |
four SoloiStS for the mass and also |
for these works in Charles Trow-
bridge Tittman, who has been as
ISOLATED with the choir as solo,
list on many previous occasions.
Other soloiSts will include Ernes-
tine Eberhard and Esther Dale,
sopranos; Mabel Beddoe, alto;
Athur Kraft, tenor, and Robert |
Crawford, bass. T. Edgar Shields
will play the organ, and the or
chestra Of 80 pieces will be COM
posed of men from the Philadel-
phia Symphony Orchestra. The
famous Moravian Trombone Choir
will, as usual, play chorales for
half an hour in the steeple Of the
Packer Memorial Church, where
the performances are given, pre-
ceding each session Of the festi-
val.
Each year it grows more diff
cult for the many new would.be
pilgrims to this festival to secure
tickets. This year a very small |
portion Of the total number was
available to the general public. |
The list of guarantorS who have |
carried interest in this choir to |
their homes all over this country |
reserve the majority Of the tick
cts. Even so, indications are that |
more Washingtonians than usual
are going to attend the festival
two weeks from now. AS not
few unsuccessful bidders for tick
cts have suggested plaintively, it
really begins to look as though |
the only thing for the choir au-
thorities to do to help solve the
problem would be to have two per-
formances, q week apart, one to
catch the patrons before they gol
mentioning and the other for the
school teachers and others who |
would like to attend but are not |
on the original list.
The Bach Choir undoubtedly Is
one Of the finest, most firmly es-
tablished musical organizations in
the country. When one recalls |
the fact that at first the choir re-
fused to devote its entire efforts
to the works Of Bach alone and
wanted to sing some of the easier,
Shower compositions of Others
and that DR.. Wolle's faith in his |
own conviction that only the great
music of Bach was for them, final
ly won him his way, one realizes
that here is q very definite lesson
both in faith and in specialization. |
This choir has become world ia
nous because they do one thing
superbly well. They sing the
works Of Bach as they cannot be
heard elsewhere. What an in
spiration such we'll drilled, thor
ough effort along one line offers |
to those who attend the festivals,
no matter what their own inter-
ests in life. From early october
till the eve Of the festival the
chorus rehearses continually and
comparatively.