OCR Text |
Show 'GREAT C0MP OSITSON AROUSESJTHOUSANDS Presentation of "The Messiah" Mes-siah" Enthuses Big Audience Audi-ence at Tabernacle. CHORUS IS SPLENDID Soloists and Orchestra Do Excellent Work ; Applause Ap-plause Frequent. Concrete, conclusive proof that the interest in-terest of Salt lake as a community in the presentation of the master works of sacred music was furnished yesterday afternoon wlien an audience of about iK'Ofl persons, representative of every walk of life, even' class condition, assembled as-sembled in the Salt La.ke tabernacle and acclaimed the rendition of Handel's great oratorio, "The Messiah." by the Salt Lake Oratorio society, a sympnony orchestra or-chestra and fotir artistic soloists. Before malting mention In detail of the various phases of the presentation it is only just to Etate that, taken as a whole, the production In point of artistry overtopped over-topped any previous production given by the society, although It lias never, since its organization, given a production that was crude or unattractive. Three dls.lnctivo features to linger long in the memory of thoso who heard the oratorio given yesterday are to be found in the spleuaidly trained chorus or more tlian 200 voices, the high-class work done by the four soloists and the general excellence ex-cellence of the orchestral accompaniment. To make it plain, t here was a genuine balance, there being no opportunity for the lover of oratorio to go from the building build-ing with high praise for one phase of the rendition and liarsh criticism for another. Soprano Is Splendid. At the hour set for the opening of the programme the big taoernacle was almost al-most filled to capacity. Mayor TV. Mont Ferry, as the representative of the city, in a brief and incisive address expressed his gratification for the community interest in-terest arousea, his thanks to the members mem-bers of the committees that have done so much to arouse that interest, likewise his gratitude to .Squire Coop, musical director di-rector of the oratorio society, who also drilled both crcliestra and soloists. Mayor Ferry said that he trusted this demonstration demon-stration or' community interest in the grea t works of sacred music would be maintained and that the presentation of '"The Messiah" and other oratorios would become an annual community affair. Mrs. Marjorie Dodge Warner, soprano, of Chicago, an oratorio and concert singer sing-er of fame in eastern cities, but who has decided to make Salt Lake her home, was an artistic delight from her first solo to the lasL She possesses a voice of remarkable re-markable beauty and purity, is evidently a thorough student of her work, and has a self-possession and personal charm that attract, even before she begins to sing. In her first air, "Rejoice Greatly," she proved her great ability and from then 011 was received with hearty applause each time she rose to her feet. t Contralto Is Favorite. Miss Florence Jcppcrsun, contralto, a fa', orite n Utah music circles, disappointed disap-pointed none in the audience, but gained new laurels by the general excellence of her work. Miss Jepperson's magnificent J contralto is peculiarly suited to oratorio sinking, her tone coloring being of a nature na-ture that tends to arouse the religious emotions, while site interprets with a wealth of phrasing that evidences her feeling of the thought in the text and the music. Her rendition of "He Was Despised" was a wonderful conception of one of the greatest solos in the great work. W. F Worley, tenor, and Ray Russell, basso, lormerly of Denver, have not hitherto hith-erto been heard in oratorio in Salt Lake, yet both proved much ability, natural gift of good voice and knowledge of the work they had undertaken. Dr. Worley .ings with ease and good expression. He was warmly applauded for "Every Valley Shall Be Exalted" and "Behold and See." Sing Without Pay. Mr. Russell has a deep and rich voice, a pleasing stage presence and a knowledge knowl-edge of his rait. He was well received throughout, although his best number was the famous air, "Why Do the Nations Na-tions So Furiously Rage?" Every member of the Salt Lake Ora-, torio society sings without pay, for love of the work and the benefits thereby derived. de-rived. And never before, in the few vears that have passed since the organization organ-ization of the society, has the work of the chorus, more than iM'iu strong, been up to as high a standard as was heard and appreciated yesterday. In manifestation manifes-tation of sympathy, accurate knowledge and ensemble the chorus numbers were something of a revelation to several thousand persons who had not before heard the organization under the baton of the director. So appealing was the chorus to the great audience that "For Unto Us a Child Is Born" had to be repeated, re-peated, the insistent applause continuing for five minutes after the first rendition. Veteran CaJIed Upon. When the "Hallelujah Chorus" was reached Director Squire Coop asked if Professor Evan Stephens was in the audience, au-dience, and, upon learning that lie was. Mr. Coop called to the platform the veteran vet-eran musician who for more than a quarter quar-ter of a century led the tabernacle choir and requested that he direct this chorus. The multitude broke into a storm of applause. ap-plause. Professor Stephens, deeply affected, af-fected, accepted the honor and handled the chorus with his well-known musicianship. musician-ship. With Arthur Freber as concert melster, an orchestra of forty men played Lhe mightv and inspiring music which Handel Han-del wrote for the set tins: of the story of the Christ, handling the great work in admirable form. The directing of Mr. Coop was ever of the type that has endeared en-deared him to the hearts of both singers and instrumentalists. Asked for an expression after the performance. per-formance. Director Coop said : "I am deeply gTateful to the committees and to the public for this manifestation or community com-munity interest and unity of support. 1 would" merely ask the public to think about 'The Messiah,' its beauties, its lessons, les-sons, not about rne. I hope that the interest in-terest will be maintained and increased and that we may ha e at least two oratorios ora-torios every year." Mr. Coop detained the members of the society for a few minutes after tiie oratorio ora-torio had been given, placed before them a suggestion that "The Creation" I Haydn ) be given in the spring on the state capKol grounds. The idea was received re-ceived with unanimous and enthusiastic approval and plans for the details of this production will be worked out at an earlv date. |