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Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
APOLLO AND THE CLERGY.
EMINENT PREACHERS WHO REST AND REFRESH THEIR
MENTAL NATURES BY THE AID OF MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS.
M
ANY of our most illustrious pastors are alive to
the restorative properties of music.
Dn Swing, the accomplished Chicago divine,
who is noted for his eloquence and the originality of his
themes, says:
" I attempt to keep my mind fresh in many ways, and
to restore its tone, if it is fatigued, just as I or any one
attempts to restore the elasticity of the body if it is
weary from exercise or work, and of several means that
I have tried, none have proved more satisfactory, with
me, at least, than the cultivation of music and a pure
musical taste. I go to the opera, and I come away
thoroughly invigorated. If I offend the taste of those
of my brothers who walk by a stricter method on the
road toward Heaven, it is to be deprecated; but the
cause of offence to them is of too great benefit to me to
forego. At home I have my organ, and I can in a
moment, with the few chords which comprise my musi-
cal repertory, smoothe away from the page of my mind
all of those ripples which disturb the balance and make
us weak, fretful and inert."
Clergymen, generally, are fond of music; if they are
highly educated they are almost certainly able to play
upon some instrument. Like Dr. Swing, they know the
value of all those pleasanter influences which can effect
an immediate reaction when they have been surcharged
with the incubus of the universal misery and unhappi-
ness with which their daily life is darkened.
The Rev. Arthur C. Kimber, of St. Augustine's Chapel,
in East Houston street, New York, some time ago ex-
pressed himself as follows upon this subject:—"I have
always felt that we should never, as people, reach the
true height of cultivation, that gentleness and purity of
the mind which belong only to a few women, until we
have learned to love and appreciate music—not for the
associations it brings to our sluggish minds, not with
the semblance of appreciation because it is fashionable,
as the phrase is—but with undivided, intelligent under-
standing." Mr. Kimber was a hospital steward in the
war of the Rebellion, attached to the medical staff of
the One Hundred and Sixty-fifth New York Volun-
teer Regiment, and there, as he says, he first thoroughly
comprehended the power of music, and what it could
do for himself. He would not claim any title to fame
as a musician, but he plays with taste and feeling on
the piano and one or two other instruments.
Rev. T. De Witt Talmage never neglects any form of
culture or accomplishment which can preserve his men-
tal equlibrium, or aid him in the illustration of his
original theses. As his taste causes him to work by
means peculiar to himself, he chooses also in his musi-
cal relaxation an instrument regarded as without the
ordinary range, namely the banjo, and he plays this
instrument well. As he says himself, some of the most
extraordinary illustrations of his sermons are suggested
by the strange and unexplainable, yet striking tone
qualities of his particular instrument.
The Rev. Wilton Merle Smith, the present pastor of
the Central Presbyterian Church, not long ago celebrated
as a baseball player, was well known in his native town
in Western New York as a tenor singer of no mean form.
His chosen instrument is the piano.
The Rev. George J. Mingins, another preacher of
singular genius, loves to play upon the organ.
The house of Dr. C. A. Macarthur, of the Fifth ave-
nue Baptist Church, is full of musical instruments, and
he himself plays upon several, including the piano.
The Rev. Phillips Brooks, of Boston, is noted for his
taste in music. He plays both the piano and the organ,
and enjoys the beauties of one of Gounod's masses or
the grandeur of an oratorio with the utmost apprecia-
tive taste.
Dr. Henry G. Satterlee, of the Calvary Episcopal
Church, on Fourth avenue, on many occasions when he
was the rector of the little church at Highland Falls,
near West Point, played the organ for his Sunday-
school services, and he has not yet lost his skill.
The Reverend Father Grafton, who was lately offered
the diocese of Fond du Lac, in Wisconsin, aptly illustrates
the beauty and gracious sweetness of his own nature
by the skill with which he performs the most difficult
score on the piano.
The Rev. Father Maturin, the great high priest of
ritualism in this country, brought with him from his
native country, Ireland, an inborn longing for music,
and ability to express it in many ways, on the piano, the
violin, the organ, or the flute. In appearance he is like
a Trappist monk of the strictest Carthusian type, and,
as he sits at the keys of an organ in his rapt, uncon-
scious abstraction, he is the counterpart of the priest-
musician of Andrea del Sarto.
The Rev. Father Brown, of the Church of St. Mary
the Virgin, in Forty-fourth street, has an infinite taste
in music, and renders the intricate counterpart of an
elaborate mass on the organ with more genius than
many professional musicians.
The Rev. R. Heber Newton, of All Souls' Church,
plays both the piano and the organ. He understands
music thoroughly and the excellence of it as an agent for
the elevation of the people, when its better and profound-
er elements are taught.
The Rev. Mr. Noyes, a brother-in-law of Jay Gould,
and the Rev. J. Bloomfield Wetherill, whose wife, a niece
of the late Mrs. Stewart, was one of the contestants of
her will, are both fine organists.
Dr. Huntington, the rector of Grace Church, soothes
his waiting hours with soft cadences taken from Mozart,
Rossini and Gounod.
Dr. John R. Paxton, whose mental force and power
are well nigh universal, is an excellent musician. His
skill in musical expression is chiefly displayed on the
piano, but he also performs exceedingly well on the
organ.
The Rev. Dr. Rainsford, the great rector of St.
George's Church on Rutherford square, is a violinist
and a pianist, as is also his chief assistant, Dr. Wilson,
who has won the attention and the hearts of many by
the expressive grace of his music, where his words would
certainly have failed.
" If I could follow the example of the composer Gluck,"
said Bishop Cleveland Cox once, "and everyday go out
into a pleasant green meadow and there, with a piano
and a beautiful score, soothe and elevate the thoughts
of my heart, I believe I should never feel the cares of life."
UNIFORM EQUITABLE BANKRUPT LAW.
A
DISPATCH from Washington, D. C, dated
Nov. 18th, states that President Harrison was
visited on that day by a committee of the
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Modern Styles.
Latest Designs.
National Convention of Commercial Bodies, headed by
Col. James O. Broadhead, of Missouri, as Chairman,
and accompanied by Col. Jay L. Torrey, author of the
Torrey Bankrupt bill. The committee laid before the
President a copy of the proceedings of the National
Convention of the Representatives of Commercial
Bodies, embodying the Torrey Bankrupt bill, and urged
him to recommend in his forthcoming message to Con-
gress the enactment by that body of a uniform equita-
ble Bankrupt law in the form submitted. Delegates
representing Boards of Trade in many cities through-
out the country were present and made addresses.
The addresses were followed by a general discussion,
in the course of which the President said that he had
always thought that there ought to be permanent legis-
lation upon the subjeet of bankruptcy instead of a tem-
porary law to simply relieve certain unfortunates who
had been affected by a panic. He promised the Com-
mittee that he would consider the question of recom-
mending legislation upon the subject to Congress in his
message.
STRAUCH BROS.' EMPLOYEES.
THEIR ANNUAL BALL.
T
HE annual ball of the employees of Strauch Bros.
N. Y., the celebrated piano-forte action manufac-
turers, took place on Monday last, the 18th inst.,
at Wendel's spacious assembly rooms, West Forty-
fourth street, this city. A brilliant company assembled
early in the evening, and by ten o'clock some five hun-
dred employees and guests were ardently engaged in
Terpsichorean devotions.
The entertainment was carried out under the able
management of the following officers : William F.
Strauch, President; George J. Thierbach, Vice-Presi-
dent; Henry Mayer, Financial Secretary ; Charles F.
Braun, Treasurer ; Louis Krebs, Corresponding Secre-
tary, and William Bothner, Sergeant at Arms. Choice
music was furnished by Professor Lauerman's orchei-
tra. The music trade of New York was well repre-
sented, and the occasion was remarkably successful,
both in regard to numbers and enthusiasm. Not until
long after the departure of the " wee, sma' hours " did
the host of merry-makers disperse. When the parting
moment came, regrets at the expiration of the festivi-
ties were mingled with mutual congratulations upon
the success of the event, and with hopes for many a
similar re-union.
THE fall trade of Decker & Son, N. Y., is more exten-
sive than for some years past. They are finding it any-
thing but an easy matter to fill agents' orders,
FREEBORN G. SMITH, Brooklyn, N. Y., is continuing
his conquest of the present administration. Secretary
Rusk is the most recent member of the cabinet to yield
to the charms of the " Bradbury," having purchased one
of those renowned instruments from Mr. W. R. Van
Wickle, the Washington agent.
C. H. O. HOUGHTON, No. i West Fourteenth street,
N. Y., manufacturer of figured mahogany, walnut and
and all cabinet woods, and sole agent for Romaine Bros.
& Mannie of Petersburg, Va., makers of dimension cut
veneers for under veneer or crossbanding, (cut to any
sizes to order) has returned from a very successful busi-
ness trip in the North and East.
Catalogue—Free.
Perfection in Tone and Workmanship.
Story & Clark Organ Co.,
CHICAGO, ILL., XT. S. A..
Best Facilities for Manufacturing.
Close Inspection and Criticism Invited.
Agents Wanted at Home and Abroad—Liberal Terms.