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Show OGDEN TABERNACLE TABER-NACLE CHOIR (BY AL.ONZO WEST.) "Germany boasts of her canaries, Utah of nor nightingales, und Utah will not romovo her hat." The truth of the above quotation, taken from tho Portland, Ore,, Journal, aftur tho first appearance of the Og-dor. Og-dor. labernucle choir lu that city, during tho Lowls and Clark exposition, was most convincingly borno out by the splendid work of tho superb choral organization, or-ganization, of which tho people of Og-cien Og-cien and Utah aro so Justifiably proud. Tho present organisation of tlo Ogrton Og-rton tabernacle choir dates back to September, Sep-tember, 1HU, with Lewis W Shurtlltf as prcsldont, Charles J. ltoss vice president presi-dent and manager, and Joseph liallun-tjne liallun-tjne conductor. About six jeura ago Sam F Whltukcr was engaged as organist or-ganist and threo years later Mr. TVII-lard TVII-lard Scowcroft replaced Mr. Shurtllff as president. The choir has a membership member-ship of 220 voices, divided aa follows. Sopranos, SO; altos, 60; tenors, -10, and bassos, 50, making an almost Ideal chorus of mixed Voices. Llko all Mormon Mor-mon choirs, tho Ogden organization was primarily brought Into being for the purposo of religious bong worship, and tho music rendered by them at tho regular reg-ular Sunday services In the local Mormon Mor-mon tabornacle Is rnrely equalled In any church in America. Tho members glvo thulr services freely for tho love of the ) work, but before being enrolled ovtTiy applicant must puss an examination m to hlB or her vocal ability. Asldo from the church work, the greatest Impressions made by tho cho" havo boon In tho presentation of thu classic oratorios and cantatas In concert. con-cert. In this particular field omin f musicians say director Ballantyno has secured results equal to th most Ideal performances in the world included In tho repertoire arc Mendelssohn's "Elijah," "Eli-jah," Dudley Buck's "Forty-Sixth Palm," Julian Edwards' "Lazarus," J. Whitney Coombs' "Tho First Christ-has," Christ-has," F Flaxlngton Marker's "The Star of Bethlehem." "Horatlon W. Parker's "Tho Holy Child." John J. McClollan's "Irrigation Ode " and a numerous collection col-lection of tho classic choruses, both sa crod and secular, of the world's foremost fore-most composers, past ami contemporary. Conductor Ballantyne, a son of ono of Utah's hardy ploneerj, Is an American by birth, breeding and musical education. educa-tion. The quality of his scholarship and the magnificent results which ho has attained with this body of non-professional sltrgers has given him rank with the foremost musical directors of tho country-, and is proof of what wo can do without much, European aid. Tho choir first same Into national prominence whCi It rendorcd tho famous fa-mous "Irrigation Ode," composed by Mrs. Gilbert McClur. and set to music by Prof. John J. McClellan, tho well-known well-known organist of Salt Lake City, at the eleventh national Irrigation congress, con-gress, held in Ogdon in 1903. The Impression Im-pression mode at tho tlmo was such that a motion was passed by tho Irrigatlon-ists Irrigatlon-ists to havo tho ode sung at aubse- i quent congresses, and In August, 1905, ' tno Ogden chorus was secured to sing the ode at tho thirteenth congress, hold In Portland, Ore., ilurlng the Lowls and Clark exposition he Journ.jy to Portland Port-land was mado by . tho choir, and tho success achieved and tho appreciation of the people fortunate onougn to hear them, may be Judged by tho following excerpts from uic. Cortland newspapers and tho Associated J.'resa dispatches at the time. Portland. Ore, Journal, Aug 23, IMC. "In It work last night, the Ogden Tab-einaclo Tab-einaclo Choir revealed the threo predominating pre-dominating qualities of, choral work: spirit, color and olumo. It sang tho Soldiers' Chorus.' from 'Faust. with that flo which poople little dreamed ex-laicu ex-laicu outside the Metropolitan Qpera House Tho ovation was tremendous and the nudlencn from then on was wildly enthusiastic. Greater appreciation, bo It said to Portland's credit, has rure-lv rure-lv been manifested here on any occasion, occa-sion, and yet. In Utah, these choirs are regarded as a maltor of course, Joseph Ballantyne, Uio conductor. Is of tho right school arid competent to tho end of hla baton " Portland Orogoiilun, Aug. 2J, 1003: "Naturally mom of tho Interest contored In the choir It in the largest and beat west of tho great centers of population In tho middle states, and for tone, quality, qual-ity, Intelligence and attack. It can hold Iin own with tho best eastern choruocn " Associated Pross dlnpatch, Aug. 21, 1P05. Portland Oro "Tho Ogden choir was given a tremendous ovation tonight in the Auditorium, and after the rendition rendi-tion of the 'Irrigation Ode,' three thousand thou-sand poople arose In their seats and cheered for five minutes. Not until the choir responded with that Immortal 'Poldlors' Chorus' from "Faust would the audience permit speech making The sincere appreciation of Mr Tom Richardson Rich-ardson of tho Portland Commercial olub was voiced In tho following words- 'I want to tell you that this Is the grcat- est 2l-volcn chorus 111 America and that Mapleson In his palmiest days as a conductor never had unythlng bjtter I nlso want to remind you that this marxolnus music has come from Mor-monthroats, Mor-monthroats, that every singer In tho choir la a Mormon, and that they havo come to holp this congress out to show the people of Portland nnd the exposition exposi-tion what thoy can do. Thoy aro making mak-ing the trip and the demonstration at a cost of more than $11 000. This Is the offering that tho splendid nnd enterprls-OAL enterprls-OAL SIX SOUVNlR ... xzilflff . .. Ing city of Ogden. and the stato of Utah, lays at our feci this week'' Othor testimonials of appreciation woro tendered tho choir In tho shape of Invitations to banquets and receptions In tho dlfforont stale buildings, and to the Portland Commorclal club Much more could be quoted about tho Portland Port-land trip, but spaco will not permit. In Septombor, ir7, the choir was again chosen to Ming the odo at the flfteonth nntlonal Irrigation congress, held In Sacramento. Sac-ramento. Cal, and again tho maglo charm of their singing was foil by all who hoard them Prominent among tholr hearers was Vice President Fairbanks, from whoso remurks tho following lines are quoted- ''I want to pay a trlbuto to this magnificent choir, that has honored hon-ored this splendid occasion I am going go-ing to say another word in thanks and congratulation It Is a magnlflcont choir and worth the long, arduous Journey Jour-ney to hear this great tribute of eong rendered to Irrigation as It was sung today Magnificent, magnificent. It can't be beatl" Mayor Beard of Sacramento, Governor Glllcllo of California and Governor Mead of Washington also spoke moat enthusiastically of their splendid work The following oxcerpts aro taken from tho Sacramento and San Francisco pre.ss. during tho stay of tho choir In California. Saoramcnto Union, Sept S. 1907: "Never "Nev-er bofore In the history of California state fairs has there been such nn attendance at-tendance as wan that which filled the pavilion from wall to wall last night. Thoro were In all 10,115 persons present, just 3,000 moro paid admissions than hnd ever been received before It Is declared de-clared that last night's crowd Is tho largest by far that has evor boon In the stato pavilion. Tho attraction responsible re-sponsible for this showing was tho singing sing-ing of the Ogden Tabernacle choir." San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 5, 1W7. "If all choirs sang with the spirit that was demonstrated by the Ogden Mormon Mor-mon Tabernaclo Choir at tho Dreamland rink last night It could be vouchsafed that thero would be few people dragged unwillingly to places of worship. "Joseph Ballantyne, the conductor of this splendid chorus, Is ono of tho fc-w leaders who. without tho aid of missies, can prevent a chorus from lagging, certainly cer-tainly a departure from the usual condition con-dition of affairs. Under his spirited leadership thoy sang with an unusually fine attack, splendid breadth and good shading Tho voices are well balanced and thero Is what, Is not always to be had In many choirs, an adequato and satisfying chorus-of sopranos." Ono of the moaW remarkable occasions over participated In by the choir was tho reception tendered Vice President Fairbanks at the Fairmont hotel by the Union League of California. There, amid a brilliant asemblage of over 1,000 guests, among them governors, senators sen-ators and representatives, with the vlco president as guest of honor. In the beautiful beau-tiful parlors of the palatial hostelry, emblematical of tho now San Francisco, the choir sang four soul-stirring numbers, num-bers, which wore received with an ovation ova-tion of unbounded enthusiasm. Professor Profes-sor Ballantyne received numerous congratulations con-gratulations for tho fine w'ork. Vice President Fairbanks shook his hand and said- "I thank you heartily for the great pleasure you have given us tonight to-night with your superb singing lour groat choir responds ns n united whole, your control over them Is mnrvolous In addition to those hlchly complimentary compli-mentary notices, the choir has received recognition on spyoral occasions from the Now York Musical Courier and Burr McIntoh Monthly, tho foremost musical musi-cal publication of America A perusal of the foregoing will readily read-ily convince the most skeptical of the hlch standard of the musical attainments attain-ments among the people of Ogden. And after all. tho people of anv community are Its greatest asset, and what community com-munity Is not tho better for being such lovers of those who so beautifully speak the universal language. Thus tho value of this great choir as an advertising medium can readily bo seen, and tho acts of enterprise and energy this has mado possible, tho splendid trips nro reactive, They tend to stir our citizens to a resolve to do something outside or tho routine of evorvday life, for the advancement ad-vancement of Ocrden and to nrnkc It an Ideal city of homes |