Evening star., 1959-12-11

The oratorio "Hora Novis-
sima." given last night at the
Washington Cathedral by a
large body Of performers un-
der the direction of Paul Gala
way. is the most famous work
Of one of Americas most
famous 18th century COM
posers.
While it may be true that our
composers Of three quarters of
a century ago form a club as
exclusive as that of minor
Southern poets. Parker was a
thorough musician, a teacher
who lived happily In the MEM
ory of many at Yale when l
was there 25 years ago, and a
man who had considerable in
1uence in the development of
Americas musical life.
1t is easy to point out the
weaknesses Of "Hora Novissi-
ma; the ambitiousness of the
work, its somewhat faded gram
deur. its peculiar honest no.
bihty, and the picture of a
musical outlook now obsolete
combine to make a perform
ance OF 1t an interesting en-
deavor.
Parker was astute enough to
find himself an excellent text
for a big sacred choral work.
The lines from the 18th century
Bernard de Cluny. with the
swing Of their medieval Latin
and their vivid imagery, would
mstill life into the music of
even a lesser artist than Parker.
Then the composer, having
chosen a broad and colorful
canvas, was able to carry out
his plan for an hour and a
half without an eventual col
lapse in interest-the fate of
many grandioSe plans of the
romantics. Furthermore. some
movements of "Hora Novissimi'
the a cappella chorus and
the "Stant Syon Atria," for
example-have touches of un-
usually deep musical cummu-
nication.
The great fault of the ora
torio, one that becomes almost
comic with the procession of
the movements, is the lack of
rhythmic vitality and the
complete monotony of the
shape of each phrase. Each bit
OF melody starts with a long
note and usually ends with a
dotted flip. On the other
hand, the orchestration is as
lush as Tchaikovsky or Franck,
the writing for chorus is capa-
BILE, even brilliant, and the solo
vocal writing is a proleptic
imitation of the best Of Puc-
cini.
The Cathedral Choral So
ciety, augmented by the school
-glee clubs of the Cathedral
Close, sang better than I can
remember of hearing it in the
last IL years. Full in body.
thrilling in timbre, and un-
usually accurate, it was ex-
actly wha. was needed to make
the expansive and luxurious
music come off. Even though
the National Symphony under
the direction of Mr.. Galloway
was magnificent, the finest
muSic-making of the evening. I
in my opinion, was the re-
strained and harmonically
sensitive cappella fugue
"UrbS Syon Unica."
The music calls for a vocal .
quartet the voices of which sing /
sometimes alone and sometimes (
with the chorus. What quartet .
could be more dazzling than .
one made up of Lois Marshall. \
soprano; Regina Sarfaty, alto; .
Frank torretta, ano John Rear "
don, baritone? All were very
good and if the cathedral is
not the ideal place to hear solo |
voices lifted up in song, the
infectious excitement of the
gala mood of the evening was
enhanced by each of the four
in turn.
Mr.. Galloway is an eclectic
church musician who takes sat-
isfaction in bringing the ca
thedraPs devoteeS all sorts of
scores dedicated to Gods glory.
I doubt that he will consider |
"Hora Novissima" something to
be considered a staple of his
repertoire, but it is an honest
craftSmanlike, unusual work,
typical of the aspirations of our
musical forefathers.
FRAGER SHOWS