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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
by Mr. Augustus H. Tiemann of Brooklyn
and Dr. L. Weyland of New York City,
the Chairmen of the local and National
Music Committee.
The names of the
judges will be made public simultaneously
GEO. T. M. GIBSON,
President Baltimore Oratorio Society.
with the announcement of the victorious
composer.
Mr. Arthur Claassen, under whose baton
the concerts will be held, will soon start
upon his tour through the Northeast, where
he will conduct preparatory rehearsals in
all the cities whose organizations have been
booked for the National event. He will
make V e circuit in the following order;
April i, Baltimore; 2, Washington; 7,
Wilkesbarre; 8, Philadelphia; 15, Newark;
22, New York; May 6, Hudson County;
13, Long Island City; 19, Wilkesbarre;
20, Philadelphia; 28, Baltimore; 28, Wash-
ington; June 3, Newark, and June 10,
New York.
A N organization which has given a dis-
^*- tinct impetus to musical taste and ap-
preciation in Baltimore, Md., is the Orato-
rio Society of that city. It was in 1880
that a number of gentlemen having the
progress and welfare of the "Monumental
City" at heart, met to consider the best
possible means of advancing its musical
interests. As the result of this exchange
of views a choral organization was formed
under the patronage and active interest of
a number of prominent people, for the pur-
pose of producing in an effective manner
the masterpieces of all the great compos-
ers chiefly of oratorio, but also of other
large choral works. The Baltimore Ora-
torio Society, as the new organization was
called, started out under the directorship
of Mr. Fritz Finke and excellent progress
was made from its inception, as may be
judged from the fact that only a few
months had passed when the chorus con-
sisted of about 750 enthusiastic members.
The first production, " The Messiah," took
place in May, 1881. From that time the
Society continued to develop both in num-
bers and in perfection of artistic results.
It can boast that almost every work of
importance in the oratorio field has been
given, as well as important choral works
and selections from operas by Wagner and
other noted composers. Musical festivals
have been held under the patronage of this
organization in which leading orchestras
and artists have participated.
Six years ago, upon the departure of
Mr. Finke for Europe, he was succeeded
as musical director by Mr. Joseph Pache,
and under his efficient management the
Oratorio Society took on a "new life" and
has been growing and flourishing until it
may be safely asserted that it occupies a
position in the musical field of America
second to none. Two concerts a year are
given at which prominent singers of inter-
national fame make their appearance.
To-day the Oratorio Society is more
potential from every point of view than
ever before in its existence. The officers
of the society include such prominent gen-
tlemen as Geo. T. M. Gibson, president;
Wm. Knabe, vice-president; Henry S.
Penniman, treasurer; Chas. H. Hatter,
Jr., secretary; T. Buckler Ghequier, li-
brarian. The board of directors is com-
posed of Messrs. Charles E. Dohme, Theo-
dore F. Wilcox A. W. Schofield, Thos.
H. Disney, J. E. Diffenderfer, Hugh Jen-
kins, Ernest J. Knabe, W. Hall Harris,
Tunstall Smith, Edward H. Gray, Charles
WILLIAM KNABE,
Vice-President Baltimore Oratorio Society.
Morton, Charles Weber, J. Bannister Hall,
Jr., and B. N. Baker.
With this active working force, and
under the patronage of the leading men in
all walks of life, the Baltimore Oratorio
Society is moving ahead to still greater
accomplishments as an influence toward a
higher development of music in that city.
In the orchestral field, in church music, in
the home, and in the high standard of mu-
sical appreciation generally, its influence
is apparent. It is only by comparing mu-
sical conditions in Baltimore twenty years
ago with those of to-day that the won-
derful advance can be properly estimated.
Baltimore to-day gives generous support
to all the noted organizations, as well as
grand opera, and she has attracted within
her gates resident musicians of high rank
from all over the world.
A CCORDING to John F. Rounciman,
**• England has four composers. First,
there is Marshall-Hall, who by birth, blood
and breeding is an Englishman. He has
buried himself for a paltry couple of thou-
sand pounds per annum in Australia.
Seeing that all the academies combined to
prevent him earning two thousand pence
per annum in England, his acceptance of
the post of professor of music in the Uni-
versity of Melbourne was perhaps natural.
Some day he will return ; meantime pieces
of his are given from time to time with
ever-increasing success.
Delius, if not
altogether English by blood, is English
by birth and instinct, and although he
endured his musical training at Leipsic, his
music is peculiarly English, inasmuch as
it is peculiarly his own, wholly an expres-
sion of his own feelings, which are wholly
English. MacCunn is, of course, a Scotch-
man, who, after a brilliant beginning, has
come under the influence of German aristo-
cratic friends, and gets members of the
royal family to put together librettos for
him. Still, I have hopes for him. Some
day, I fervently pray, his royal friends will
chuck him; and then he will recommence
writing real music. My fourth man, Elgar,
is the composer in whom the critics in
whom I have any faith at all most place
their trust. The little of his nmsic which
I have been able to hear shows that he is a
genuine artist, trying honestly to utter
what he has in him.
r^ ONCERT managers are already making
^~ > preparations for next season. Henry
Wolfssohn who returned last week from a
European trip arranged while in London
with Lillian Blauvelt, the Henschells, Clara
Butt, Augusta Cotlow and Maud Powell
for American tours next season.
While
in Berlin he arranged for Sousa's tour in
Germany and for the appearance here
next season of Hugo Becker, the German
'cellist, who will be here November, De-
cember and January, and will make his
first appearance in Boston or New York.
At the same time Fritz Keisler, the Aus-
trian violinist, will be here. He is said
to rank next to Ysaye and leads the
younger violinists. Blauvelt will come
Oct. 1, for three months, for concerts and
festivals.
Many engagements have al-
ready been made. She creates the soprano
JOSEPH PACHE,
Musical Director Baltimore Oratorio Society.
role this spring in Taylor's "Hiawatha's
Farewell" and at the Queen's Hall Annual
Musical Festival in May and in the Hitndel