MUSICAL DEMONSTRATION.

Evening Star, Issue 10749, 8 October 1898, Page 3 (Supplement)

MUSICAL DEMONSTRATION.

There was a very large audience at the Agricultural Hall last night on the occasion of the concert given by the Otago Sunday Schools' Union Exhibition Choir. The choir proper comprises some 500 boys and girls, but there is an auxiliary of about thirty adult tenors "and basses, who are called into .service, for obvious reasons, for certain of the items which have been prepared. Lust night's concert was a preliminary, and served the double purpose of raising funds for the exhibition and giving the public a foretaste of the excellence'of the concerts to be given nightly during the progress of the exhibition in November next. In the accomplishment of these objects the affair was a success. Financially, it was up to the most sanguine expectations; and musically and artistically it was far beyond the expectations of the great bulk of the audience. The 500 children, eleven-twelfths girls, with healthy, happy faces, arranged on a graduated platform and attired in white, with distinctive pink and blue sashes, presented a picturesque appearance, and, before a note had been sung, made a favorable impression on the audience. It was no light task that Mr Braik entered upon when he undertook to train such a chqir ; and that he has brought them to so advanced a state aa was evidenced last night speaks volumes for his patience, industry, and natural bent for that kind of work. In fact, under such perfect command were the large body of voices that the chairman's statement, that only once previously had Mr Braik been able to get his full choir together, seemed almost incredible. Yet such was the case. It is not our intention to go through the programme item by item, as each one was creditably rendered. There was a pleasing variety in the arrangement, whilst considerable taste had been displayed in the selection of music, that chosen being such as was calculated to meet with most justice from such a choir. A marked feature of the concert was the heartiness of the singing and the volume of sound produced. Of course, in a choir of such magnitude, whether juvenile or adult, there are bound to be some dummies, but it must be admitted that last night's contained a very small proportion indeed of these undesirable members. The singing was spontaneous and hearty, and throughout the concert there were no serious lapses from time or tunc. As has been already indicated, the singers were under perfect control, and never gave their conductor trouble—a state of things which, no doubt, cost him a deal of vexatious and arduous labor during the past few months. In some j of the items—particularly in the duet ' O lovely peace,' from ' Judas Maccabaeus'—■ there were ■ difficult and intricate passages and intervals, but there was no wavering, and all were accomplished with an case and correctness that was really remarkable. The attack at all times was good, whilst the phrasing and singing of the sustained pas- | sages was very creditable indeed. As is ! usually the case with trained children—much more so than with grown-up choristers—the enunciation was clear, those in the back ' parts of the hall being easily able to follow the words of the different choruses and songs. The parts were well balanced, none having an undue preponderance in volume, and the harmony passages were sweetly and tastefully rendered. With but one or two exceptions the songs were both sung and acted, and here again Mr Braik's. wonderful power of training children was manifested. The various actions were as correctly performed as the music was sung, and, what is even more to the point, they were done with promptness and unanimity. Some of the songs, whilst being musically a treat to listen to, were from a scenic point of view an artistic success. One of these was the color song 'The rainbow.' For this song each member of the choir was provided with a square of colored paper—red, blue, green, or yellow. The different colors were .systematically /distributed so as to produce the most striking effect. As the words of the song were sung these colored papers were manipulated by the singers, and while, of course, no very accurate representation of a rainbow was given, an artistic effect was produced which roused the audience to a state of unusual enthusiasm. In the action song ' White sails' a very striking elfect was produced by the use of handkerchiefs held in (he shape of a jib-sail and moved from right 1o left. In the laughing song a marked success was achieved. To get a choir, young or old, to sing a laugh naturally is a difficult tii'-k. but last night it was done to perfection, and with that spontaniety and heartiness which can alone be obtained from children. Of the action songs this was perhaps the success of the evening. The two items that stand out as the musical features of the concert were the previously-mentioned duet from Handel's oratorio and an echo chorus, 'Light-hearted are we.' The former was a somewhat risky undertaking, as the duet is by no means easy; but Mr Braik knew his material, and the choir were thoroughly up to their work. In the latter, the best human representation of an echo it has ever been our lot to hear was given. There was no ante room chorus to give back the echo. Everything was done from the stage, and the singers who sent forth the shout " Ahoy, ahoy!" themselves repeated the Avoids in so modulated a tone as to give the hearers the impression that the sound was really being reverberated from a distant hill. So much was this number appreciated by the audience that an encore was emphatically demanded, and when repeated the beautiful effect was as pronounced as on the previous occasion. The choir had ten items allotted to them, and each one was thoroughly enjoyable. In several the adult males assisted, and gave a body to the lighter voices ot the children. That the choir's efforts were appreciated was manifested time after time by the heartiness of thevapplause which followed each item, and the frequency with which repeats were demanded. If last night's concert is a fair sample of what is to be given during the exhibition then the success of that venture is already assured. Mr Braik, those associated with him in the work of training, and the choir are to be heartily congratulated on the success of the concert, which was one of the best of its kind ever given in Dunedin. The proceedings were diversified by vocal solos by Mrs Manson and Messrs T. [Hoigate and W. F. Young. Mrs Hanson's numbers were ' The soul's awakening ' and ' The carnival,' to each of which an encore had to be added. ' Oomin' thro' the rye' and ' Love was once a little boy'were respectively contributed. Mr Holgate sang 'When heaven sang to earth,' and Mr Young ' Nazareth. I The latter gentleman was accorded an encore, to which he responded with a recitation, which, we think, although eliciting hearty laughter, was hardly new to many present. I A double quartet party from the Movnington WesleyanChurch sang 'Hark! thai s i.Hng | solemn music,' the humming accompaniment |by the choir being very effective. Mr Braik and Mrs Howorth were responsible for much genuine amusement by their excellent renderI ing of the duet 'The singing lesson,' whhh was emphatically encored. Miss Dutton - as a recitation 'The passenger for (.'»....«., and well deserved the unanimous applause which followed its completion. The accompaniments to the choral numbers were played by Misses Little and Statham (piano), and Mr J. B. Ferguson (organ), and Miss Little accompanied the soloists. The singing of the National Anthem brought a thoroughly enjoyable concert to a close, but before this took place hearty thanks were accorded to Mr .braik and those associated with him in the undertaking. The Rev. A. North, who acted as chairman, apologised for the absence of Dr Brown, chairman of the Education Board, whose name appeared on the programme for a short address. The Rev. W. Hewitson. speaking principally to the younger members of the audience and the choir, gave a practical and highly humorous address on 'Union.' Although the rev. gentleman's remarks were directed principally to the more juvenile of his ,hearers, they appealed strongly, by reason of their pungency, to all present, irrespective of age.

Jenny Lind's mad lover has jußt died in Amerioa. His name was Tobias Van Steenburg, and he was seventy years of age. He lost his reason through his unrequited admiration for the great singer. He spent the savings of years in following her about, but his approaches were always repulsed. He eventually took possession of a hovel in whioh he lived for forty yearß, and in which fye died,