THE OPENING OF THE TOWN HALL.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 139, 9 December 1904, Page 5

THE OPENING OF THE TOWN HALL.

* THE CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL. / UNQUALIFIED SUCCESS OF A LARGE CHOIR. Tho third chapter in tho incidents of the opening of the Town Hall was recorded last night, when a School Children's Festival w as held in the new building. A charming scene was presented by the grouping of the great chorus of fully seven hundred boys and girls on the space set apart for singers at the northern part of the Hall. The public thronged the gallery densely, the whole of the centre of the ground floor was occupied, and not a few of the seats in the aisles. Great enthusiasm prevailed throughout the evening, and the Hall may be said to have had its baptism of tumultuous applause. Beforß the concert was begun, the Mayor addressed the children. In discussing the arrangements for the opening of the Town Hall, Mr. Aitken said, the City Council thought that the holding of a Children's Festival would be the proper thing to do. He and his Council were proud to have the children with them that night. The occasion was one which the children who took part in it would remember as long as they lived. Many of the boys, he hoped, would come to occupy seats not only in the City Council, but in Parliament. (Applause.) The teachers of the public schools of the city and its suburbs, when selecting the singers for the\ festival, were asked to pick out their best scholars, and undoubtedly it was from these that the future great men and women would come. In the* name of the Council, his Worship thanked the teachers for the special training they had given the boys and girls for the festival, and he thanked the boys and girls for giving their help that evening. It was greatly desired that the festival should be repeated on Saturday night, and he would ask Mr. Parker to make the fulfilment of that desire possible. (Applause.) Nothing but the highest praise oan be given to the great choir for the manner in which it rendered the songs and rounds so familiar to nearly all the ohildren of a larger growth who followed the singing with the closest attention and rewarded .it with resounding applause. The large number of young singers, who overflowed fiom the choir stalls into the people's gallery, was admirably handled by Mr. Robert Parker, who appeared to enjoy himself as ardently as the singers «nd the audience. The choir gave eleven selections, and all were given with delightfully appropriate expression, the voices being in excellent control, making possible rapid changes from the softest to most vigorous tones. "The Minstrel Boy" was a fine example of light-and-shade singing. Many of the items had to be repeated, bo vociferous and persistent was the demand for encores. '"The Five Bells of Osney" and "Who Comes Laughing?" were two rounds the singing of which took tho audience by storm, and the lusty singing of "The British Grenadiers," with its resounding "Hurra!" in the fourth verse, was of a quality only to be heard from young people. In Mackenzie's "The Empire Flag" the girls rendered the song and thfe boys came in with great effect in the choruß. Other items given were the choral march, "Let the Hills Resound," '"The Hardy Norseman," "Tho Meeting ot the Waters", (the charming Irish air was beautifully sung), Dibdin's "Tight Little Island," and "The Men of Harlech." An orchestra of some thirty boy and girl violinists, mostly boys, played Scotson Clark's "Marche aux Flambeaux," under the baton of Mr. L. E. Ward, who had trained them to assist in the festival, and the item had to be repeated. Master Eric Waters was at the piano throughout the festival, and Mr. F. W. Rowley assisted at the organ. The items given by the children's chorus were interspersed with songs by Mr. Philip Palmer, "A Song of Thanksgiving" (with an organ obbligato by Mr. R. Parker and with Mr. Rowley at the piano) and "A Golden Argosy; by Mr. Thomas Prjngle, "The Deathless Army," Miss Pringle playing the accompaniment ; and by Miss L. Pulsford, "Beloved, it is Morn," with "Still as the Night" as an encore piece, and, "The Lady of the Lea," thejatter piece being so delightfully sung that the audience , persistently demanded an encore, though Mr. Parker had the children on their feet for the next item. The conductor gave way, and the audience was rewarded with another excellently sung item, "Home, Love, is where the Ileart is." Mr. Parker played Miss Pulsford's accompaniments. In the final item on the programme, "Auld Lang Syne," Miss Pulsford sang the solo and the children and the public joined right heartily in the chorus. Owing to the frequency of the demands for encores, the concert concluded much later than the management intended. • The Corporation staff again maintained excellent order in handling the crq/vd. The Children's Festival is to be repeated to-morrow night.