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Show N : By HAROLD LUNDSTROM Deseret News Music Editor i h ' Noted Operatic Soprano Sang First Public Concert In 1884. From the top of the rise where we can a century of cultural history in the Tabernacle or look ahead to the potential performing arts horizon, the views are excitingly impressive. But it wasnt always so. There were those pioneers who originally held that the Tabernacle was built to be used only as a house of religious worship. This conviction is delightfully described in a recently published autobiography. V The noted British operatic impresario, Colonel J. H. Mapleson, wrote bf a transcontinental tour that he directed in 1884: "When the performance was over (in Cheyenne, Wyoming), we all returned to the train, and started for Salt Lake City. On our arrival there Madame Etelka Ger-stdrove to the theatre. "Madame Adelina Patti and Madame visAgnes Nlcolini amused themselves by iting the great Tabernacle, I accompanybuilding them. On entering this superb ing, excellent in an acoustic point of view, and capable of seating 12,000 persons, the Idea Immediately crossed my mind of giving, if possible, a concert there on our return from San Francisco; but I was unsudcessful in my endeavors to obtain the use of It "I thereupon resolved that Madame Patti should invite the Mormon Prophet himself, together with as many of the Twelve Apostles as we could obtain, to visit her private car, then outside the station; and a splendid dejeuner was prepared by the cooks. "The next morning Prophet (John) Taylor came, accompanied by several of his Apostles. Madame Patti took, great care to praise the magnificent building she had visited the day previously, expressing a strong desire that she might be allowed to try her voice there, which led on to my observing that a regular concert would be more desirable. "To this a strong objection was made by several Apostles, who stated that the building was not intended for any such purpose, but was simply a place of wor-shilook back to : : : i building.' ; i i , - p. "Madame Patti, however, launched Into. enthusiastic praise of the Mormon doctrines, and, in fact, expressed a strong wish to join the Mormon Church. After hearing, her sing two or three of her dainty little songs, the Prophet was so that he actually consented to a concert being given in the Tabernacle the following month. "On my suggesting three dollars for the best seats, an objection was instantly made by one of the Apostles, who, having five wives, thought it would be rather a heavy call upon his purse. "It- - was ultimately settled that the prices should be only two dollars and one dollar. "We performed all the opera of Lucia (hat evening in the Salt Lake Theatre in the presence of all the prominent inhabitants of the lovely city, the receipts reaching some 750 pounds. The Prophet attended. " . . We left San Francisco late that evening, being accompanied by Mr. de Jong, the proprietor of the leading newspaper, and his charming wife, and we arrived in Salt Lake City on Tuesday evening, where Madame Patti dressed in her own. railway car, which afterwards conveyed her to the concert. "At the end of the concert she returned to the car, where a magnificent supper had been prepared for her, and the train then started for the East "Meanwhile the Mormons had been enthusiastic at the idea of their magnificent .Tabernacle echoing with the tones of ina Patti. President Taylor, the Prophet of :' . : k : ; v . L . i i the Mormon Church, assisted in the preparation made to receive the great songstress. "A special line of railway had been-laidown and on it the special train van without a hitch up to the very door of the building. "Upwards of 14,000 people were present, the event being considered one of extraordinary importance throughout the whole of Utah Territory; and the proceeds amounted to nearly 5,000 pounds. Interesting as the laying of the special track to the Tabernacle was, Adelina Pattis concert had far more significant aspects: It apparently marked the occasion of the first concert ever presented in the Tabernacle. The concert was also the first time that the Tabernacle was ever used at night. Small gas lamps were hung around the balcony wall, and one can imagine that even at best, it was not overly bright. Furthermore, this concert is believed to be the first time that the Tabernacle was ever used during the winter months. Two or more huge stoves were placed in the middle of the hall, and the stove pipes must have been long to reach outside the building. About tills historic concert, the late Daniel McQuarry and the late Thomas J. d I WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER I i i In his monumental history of the Tabernacle Choir, "A" Century of Singing, J. Spencer Cornwall notes: "Rehearsals for this concert were evidently held in the daytime to utilize the light of day. To compare these early day conditions with the' illumination of the present time is to to note a change from bright daylight. This factor alone heightens the success of any rehearsal. The Tabernacle organ has been a major source of recitals during the past century. The first .Tabernacle organ was the second to- be built by Joseph H. Ridges for use on Temple Square (the first was installed in the "first Tabernacle). "It contained something like 2,000 pipes . . . The instrument when completed was 20 by 30 feet and 40 feet high. This organ was replaced in 1900 by the W. W. Kimball Company of Chicago. Fifteen years later, the organ was thoroughly overhauled by the Austin Organ Company of Hartford, Connecticut. At this time the wings were also installed, making the organ much wider. And then in 1948, the eminent organ builder, G. Donald Harrison, was engaged to rebuild the organ. The gigantic task was completed January 19, 1949, with the installation of 188 sets of pipes that total 11,588 individual pipes. Thousands of recitals have entertained and inspired millions of listeners down the years. The Tabernacle has also been the home for the past 55 annual Christmas season performances of Handels great oratorio, The Messiah, by the Salt Lake Oratorio Society. And the guest conductors of these concerts have included many of the worlds most noted musicians: Squire Coop, Charles Shepherd, J. Spencer Cornwall, B. Cecil Gates, Albert J. Southwick, Dr. Otto Klemperer, Alfred Greenfield, Dr. Thompson Stone, Dr. Thor Johnson, and Walter Susskind. In addition to the concerts by the Tabernacle Choir, the Tabernacle and guest organists, and many vocal and instrumental soloists, the Tabernacle has been almost constantly used for orchestral . " semi-darkne- er i . The Tabernacle Choir gave Its first eon- .cert July 4, 1873r The Deseret News report ed. of this event that has since mush roomed into many triumphs; "On July 4, 1873, the first public appearance in concert of the Tabernacle Choir, outside of church services, was held in the new Tabernacle at 4:30 in the afternoon as there was no lighting the 30, 1967 d Tates told me during the late 1940s, when they were both in their 80s and were doorkeepers in the Tabernacle, that there had been a Scandinavian whq had preceded them. And they reported that his favor-jt- e story was of the Patti concert which marked The first time the Tabernacle was ever let or het. Only 11 years after Adelina Patti, singer of the 19th Century, initiated concerts in the Tabernacle, Ignace Jan Paderewski, the most celebrated pianist of his generation, also performed in the Tabernacle. Whether or not he played there during his first American tour, I do not know, but of his second tour in 1895, he wrote this choice paragraph: "During that season, I had in my audience in Los Angeles people who came even from Phoenix, Arizona, and at Salt Lake City a train full of music lovers, y young students from Montana, came to the concert in the Tabernacle. There was a trememdous blizzard that day, and I had to wait for the arrival of their train. It was delayed many hours. At the last moment they telegraphed my manager that they could only get there at 9 oclock in the evening and would Mr. Paderewski please hold the concert and wait for them? Of course, I waited for them, gladly. far-awa- concerts. In 1888 or 1690 (he did not remember which year for sure), Dr. A. B. Foote, editor of the "Home Encyclopedia," recount- ed: I attended a concert at the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City (seating 12,000 people, and it was crowded to the doors). Pat Gilmore with his band of 100 musicians had made a combine with A Mormon Choir composed of 500 trained voices. . , The now long association of the Tabernacle Choir with the celebrated Philadelphia Orchestra began May 5, 1936, when Leopold Stokowski invited the singers to join in one of their concert numbers. The "Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah proved to be, in the review of Deseret News music critic, Gail Martin, "the loftiest peak of inspiration of this notable first concert. Since then the Philadelphia Orchestra and the present music director and conduc-to- r, Eugene Ormandy, who is now beginning his 30th season with the Philadelphia, have presented many concerts In the Tabernacle, and made many recordings together, and have included some of the world's greatest singers as their guest soloists. Many of the worlds other great orches- ' . |