THE CHORAL SOCIETY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8314, 22 July 1890, Page 6

THE CHORAL SOCIETY.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir,—As a member of committee, Mr. Beale has the advantage of mo in knowing the ins and outs of the Society, but his letter in this morning's Herald clearly shows that lie " doesn't know everythin' down in Judea." The secretary has suplied me with a rehearsal ticket. It runs thus : Rehearsal Ticket (not transferable). Admit Mr. Tibbs and member of h—Family." The words in italics are expunged in this season's ticket. As no ticket is required at the chorus door for the admission of singers to rehearsal, perhaps Mr. Beale will be able to explain the use of this ticket. The parallel between my investments in current literature and in the music prescribed by the Choral Society I do not quite see. What current literature I buy is my own choice, I interpret it, myself to myself, and then lay it by as useful for future reference. The music is the choice of the Society, its interpretation is effected by the Society, and after its performance by the Society, it is certainly " portable" enough, but, as its only value then depends on the chance of its being performed again by the Society (a chance remote enough), I should be slow to call it "property." I most certainly do make " tho assumption that performing members are making a sacrifice for the benefit of the Society," though Mr. Bealo jeers at such a notion. I maintain that no Society can exist without some self-sacrifice, and it is because of this lack of self-sacrifice that our Society is in its present unsatisfactory . state. Indeed, Mr. Beale's ideas of a Society seem to be fundamentally different from mine, for while ho says " The sooner performing member* discard the idea that we. (an amateur Society) are under an obligation to them the bitter for the Society," I would rather say the sooner performing members adopt the idea that they are under an obligation to each other and to the rest of the Society the better for the Society. Again, I go farther than Mr. Beale, and say that " all take part in the. performance, because they like it" and all "for educational purposesand it is only to try and raise to a maximum tho pleasure derivable from theso performances and their educational value that these letters of mine are written. I have always looked on the Choral Society as one of our highest educational institutions, having for its aim the cultivation of the taste for high-class music throughout the community, and therefore an institution which ought to rcccivo liberal support, and which ought to give liberal advantages. It is on this ground that I protest against the needlessly narrow interpretation by the present committee of the word "subscriber," ami against the spiring hand with which its privileges are dispensed. As for the two instances of members being allowed to sing without .sufficient rehearsal, 1 may tell Mr. Bealo that these cases are not at all singular, but that for almost every concert prominent members are pressed into the servico at the last moment—members who, T am sure, would be regular attendants at rehearsal did they not know that the rules of the Society will be suspended in their behalf. That the two members in question are the '' jirst of their order" I readily admit, and I have no doubt that they sang from the laudable motive of helping the Society over a pinch. In "Naaman" that happened, which might, be expected to happen, when a powerful voice is used freely, and not too attentively, by one who has not seen the work " for fifteen years." Mr. Beale seems fully alive to the difficulties and " severe classical sty/;/' of the "Lay of the Last Minstrel." Does ho really think it safe to admit even the best reader of the Society to sing in such a work after one rehearsal .' A chorus bench may not be the best place from which to criticise a performance, but it is at least as good as a seat behind a 'cello at the back of the orchestra, and I should not have been so plain spoken in my criticism had 1 not had the advantage of comparing, from the same bench, the concert performance with the final rehearsal. The two will bear no comparison, and why ? Because the crowd of irregulars were, as usual, absent from the final rehearsal.

The "Lay of the Last Minstrel" is a work unusually full of beauty and of interest, and, perhaps, more than usually full of difficulties, but certainly not beyond the capacity of our Society, it is, in fact, just one of those works which a well ordered Society should delight to master. We failed, because we (chorus and orchestra alike) arc unfair to the Society, to the conductor, and to ourselves.—l am, etc.,

Auckland, July 19, 1899. J. W. Tliiiss. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —In support of the two previous letters appearing in your paper 1 can endorse all they have said, and would like to add a few remarks of my own. In the first place, how is it we are losing our best instrumentalists, and our old vocal members, who have been the backbone of the Society for years past. There must be some cause, what is it? I can think of nothing else but the hard-and-fast rules which the committee have introduced of late years, or is there too much arrogance on the part of those who take a leading part in the management of the rehearsals. lam sorry to have to say the Society appears very unfavourably now to the position it occupied a few years ago. We are neither so proficient as a whole, neither have we the variety of solo voices as in days past. If the committee refer back a few years they will see I am not far out in my statement. With reference to the position the performing members occupy to the honorary members, I. may say the former labour under a great disadvantage, for this reason—an honorary member pays a guinea a-year, for which he receives two tickets, while the performing member, if he or she pays 10s (id, gets one ticket; but, in addition, has to pay for music, which costs more than Mr. Tibbs has stated, as the following will show. The music for the next rehearsal is lis a copy, and, as there are often two performing members in one family, this means 12s for the next concert, and reckoning in this manner, the difference between the two classes of members is apparent. The committee may say you derive pleasure. True, but not at the cost of our money and time for the benefit of those who choose to listen. I say, put the performing members on a fair footing, and find them music to sing to, and you will see the Society will thrive again. Those who wish to buy full scores to sing from can please themselves ; but let the working members see they have a little consideration, and things will come all right again. Perhaps a word or two would not bo out of place as regards the rehearsals. A new-fangled—not to say the least, somewhat childish—notion has been set up—viz., a bell rings at the commencement (as in a children's nursery or school), and at nine o'clock rings again, informing you school, or, I should say, practice, is over, without any remark being made as to the advancement or otherwise of the work in hand. The above reasons will, I think, tend somewhat to form some explanation for the imperfect and indifferent concerts now given.—l am, itc., July 18, 1890. Another Mkmuku.