Music in Whcmqcmui in the Early Days.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume VIII, Issue 1, 1 April 1903, Page 47

Music in W hcmqcmui in the Early Days.

By GEORGE FRKDERIU ALLEN

IN the first number of the New Zealand Illustrated Magazine appeared an article headed "Old Musical Identities/ which gave a very interesting account of music ax Auckland in the early days*. This was followed by another good article entitled " Old Musical Days in Taranaki "**. I propose to follow at a humble distance these two papers, by attempting to describe early musicnl doings in Whanganui, of which my personal knowledge began in 1862. Prior to that time there had beon occasional concerts, but never any established musical society. The origin of the Whanganui Choral Society was due to Mr William Bridson, who was previously, and is still, a member of the Auckland Choral Society. In 18<i2 I came to Whanganui as District Surveyor, and shortly after my arrival spent an evening glee-singing with Messrs Bridson and Richard and James Woon, at the house of the latter gentleman in Wilsonstreet. While we were at supper Mr Bridson asked, " Why don't you form a Choral Society here, Allen ?" I replied that such an undertaking was beyond my ability and my ambition, adding that I thought there were very few folks in Whanganui who could read music. " Then there's the more need of a musical society to teach them/ said Bridson. The Messrs Woon thought there was not material for such a society ; but *"Old Musical Identities," by W. B. Oathwaite, N.Z.1.M., Oct., 1899, p. 67. ** " Old Musical Days in Taranaki," by D. Saul, N.Z.1.M., Oct. 1900, p. 40.

Bridson, James Woon and I agreed to inquire, and to report a month afterwards. The result was that Bridson secured five names and I twenty. I was then asked to call a meeting, which was held in the old Christ Church Sunday Schoolroom. It was attended by over forty persons, all of whom entered as singing members, except two or three, who preferred being on the " honorary " list. There were soon ninety singing and over thirty honorary members on the roll. At the first practice meeting I was asked to act as conductor protem, and 1 began by requesting- all who could read music to come to one end of the room. In response nine gentlemen and seven ladies stepped forward, but of these one lady sang contentedly from a bas-s copy, and one of the gentlemen never succeeded in performing any other part than the soprano an octave lower. I handed round copies of John Weldon's anthem, " 0, Praise Jod in His Holiness," which (accompanied by Mr Davis on the harmonium) was fairly sung. Clarke Whitfield's anthem, " In Jewry is God Known," followed in very creditable style. Then those who professed no knowledge of music were asked to sing " God Save the Queen." At first this was an ignominous failure, so we put on the bold dozen to lead, and, after two or three attempts, got something like the National Anthem out of the crowd. At the first business meeting Mr Davis was elected pianist, myself conductor, and Mr Bridson depiity-

conductor. A committee was appointed, consisting almost entirely of men whose names began with " B "— Beaven, Bell, Boyle, Bridson and Burnett being among them, and they were commonly caHe r l. " The Busy Bs."

" The Princess Theatre ") on January 20th, 1864. All the ladies appeared in white dresses, the soprani wearing red sashes, and the contralti blue, while the gentlemen were in evening dress. The concert began with an overture played by the second band of the 57th Regiment, consisting of about a dozen players, conducted by SergeantMajor Heywood. The following was the programme : — Part 1. — Sacred. " 0, Praise God in His Holiness " Plead Thou My Cause, 0 Lord '[ " Behold, How Good and Joyful " " 0 Thou Whose Power Tremendous " " Thine, 0 Lord, is the Greatness " " Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning " " In Jewry is God Known "

In accordance with Mr Bridson's suggestion, two singing-classes were formed. He preferred to teach those who knew nothing of music. I took those who knew something of it. He taught on the Tonic Soii'.-i System ; I on the Hullah. His class of forty made so much better progress than mine of twenty, chat I abandoned Hullah, and adopted the Solfa.

The number of singing members soon increased to above ninety, and there were eighty-six present at a practice-meeting shortly before the first concert. But of these a fourth were, what a rude person called " weeds/ and the committee instructed the unfortunate conductor to " root them out/ Happily he was spared this unpleasant task, for the weeds, with two or three exceptions, eradicated themselves. There were sixty-five singing members present at the first concert, which was given in Howe's Assembly Eooms (afterwards called

Part ll.— Secular. " The Hardy Norseman's House of Yore " " 0 Where, and 0 Where ?" " See Our Oars With Feathered Spray " tC Rich and Rare Were the Gems She Wore " " Rule, Britannia \" • f Home, Fare Thee Well !"

"0, Who Will O'er the Down so Free V " Dame Durden " " Hail, Smiling Morn \" il God Save the Queen/

was characteristic of " R.A.R.O." — "My dear Mr Allen ! You say you're satisfied with me as pianist. .Well, I'm satisfied with you as conductor. We are getting- aldng scrumptiously. Why make any change ?" Sterndale Bennett's " May Queen " was next attempted, the casts being : Miss Agues Gowor, May Queen ; Miss Emily Neville, Queen Elizabeth ; Mr Geo. Fred. Allen, the Lover ; Mr Peter Bell, Robin Hood. The profits of this concert, some fifty pounds, were handed to Mr Owen in lieu of salary. He resigned, and Mr Wm. Haydn Flood was elected pianist. After a miscellaneous concert or two, I asked Mr Flood to relieve me of the conduetorship, which he did. Mr Flood was a good performer, both as an organist and a pianist, but his conducting of the Whanganui Choral Society was somewhat disastrous. Instead of train-

The second and several succeeding concerts were of the same style as the first ; and then it was resolved to attempt a higher flight. So " Judas Maccabaeus " was given, in aid of the New Zealand Patriotic Fund for the families of those killed in the Maori War then in progress. The band of the 57th being at the front, we had to be satisfied with the accompaniment of an harmonium (Mr Robert A. R. Owen), a cornet (Mr D. Scott), and two flutes (Mr George Scott and myself), though I must confess I did little more than the obligato in "■0 Lovely Peace/ sung by Miss Neville and Miss Cummins. At the same concert Locke's " Macbeth " was given, in which Arthur Gower, a boy of ten, was the First Witch, Andrew McFarlane Fourth Witch, and Peter Bell, Hecate.

Soon after Mr Owen became pianist, I offered to retire and propose him as conductor. His reply Vol. VIII.— No. 1-4

ing, the voices to sing without accompaniment, he trusted to his powerful pianoforte playing to " pull them through," as he expressed • it. The result was that,

when he left Whanganui, and 1 again became conductor, the Society had ■ gone backward, and it was with difficulty that a performance of " The Messiah " was struggled through. I was at this time occupied with surveys at a distance from "Whanganui, and so had again to resign the conductorship, to which Mr James Woon was temporarily appointed. One or two miscellaneous concerts were given under his direction.

Mr -John Dewar, the founder of the Ma'tarawa Musical Society, now moved into town, and was shortly afterwards elected conductor of the Whanganui Choral Society. Under his care a good band was formed, consisting of half-a-dozen violins, led by Mr Alfred Webb Oan exquisite player), viola, 'cello, double-bass (Samuel and Alfred Drew, both good), cornet (Horace Baker,, admirable), flute (James Woon, an excellent performer) and sundry other instruments, Miss Hook being pianiste.

The band not being so strong, the name of the Society was changed to " The Philharmonic Society." Under Mr Dewar several masses were given, including Mozart's "Twelfth," also "The May Queen " (twice), and sundry miscellaneous concerts. Mr Dewar continued in chatrge till 1875, when he removed to Auckland.

The lavish expenditure of an optimistic committee now led to an investigation into the pecuniary condition of the Society, which revealed the fact that it was hopelessly insolvent. It was therefore unanimously resolved to raffle the piano, auction all the other property in one lot, and dissolve the Society. But at the same meeting those present straightway formed themselves into a new society, and dropping the " Phil/ came forth as " The Harmonic Society/ A company, consisting of some of the members, purchased a new piano, and lent it to the Society till its

cost was paid off. Mr Woon was instructed by the committee to bid up to twenty pounds for the Philharmonic's property. Two or three members of the Phil, who had not been present at the meeting at which it was dissolved, and who disapproved of the action taken, resolved to go one pound better. But their intention leaked out, mid unlimited powers were quietly given to Mr Woon, with the result that their bid of twenty-one pounds was capped by his twenty-two, and they retired. But they were not yet without hope, for they fully expected the new society to come to strife in the election of one out of the three available conductors, Woon, Webb, and myself. In order to obviate this 1 proposed Woon, and Webb seconded him, and he contimued till his departure for Westport in 1878. During his term of office Weber's " Mass in G" and Weber's " Mass in Eb " were given very successfully. Haydn's " Creation " followed, and was done well, Mr John Randall and Miss Kitchen being the Adam and Eve, and Mrs Pinches (Tiny Gower), Mr Frank Watson and Mr Thomas Oulpan the Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael. Handel's " Acis and Galatea " was also given.

The Harmonic Society continued under the successive conductorships of Mr William Holden, Mr Allen, Mr Greenwood and Mr Holden again. During this period " The Messiah "

was given thrice. At other concerts Macfarren's " May Day/ Birch's " Merry Men of Sherwood Forest/ and* " Eveleen," ''Macbeth/' " Elijah/ " St. Paid," Mozart's " Twelfth/ " Farmer in Bb," " Sampson/ " Comala/' "The Ancient Mariner," "The North-east Wind/ " Trial by Jury " and " lolanthe " were given. The two latter (comic operas) were rendered in costume, and performed several times.

About 1890 several minor musical and dramatic societies had been formed, and these diverted attention and attendance from the Har-

monic, the legitimate successor of the Choral Society founded in 1863. So in 1892 it was resolved to suspend operations for a while, and the music and instruments were stored, uninsured ! A fire ensued, and— here endeth the Whanganui Harmonic Societv !

About 1893 the Whanganui Harmonic Club was formed on the same general lines as its predecessor, but after a precarious existence, depleted by the minor societies and the choirs of the various churches, it died about 1895. Since then, no large society for combined instrumental and vocal music has come into existence in Whanganui.

In the early days the Choral Society was the only musical association except the choirs of the four then existing denominations. St. Mary's (Roman Catholic) choir sang high-class masses as far back as 1862. Mrs Sharpe, who at that time was organist, was succeeded by Mrs Turner, and that lady by Miss Maggie Coakley (now Mrs Lloyd), who is still in charge at the organ.

Christ Church (Anglican) choir was formed in 1863, and I acted as choirmaster up to about 1869. This choir gave full choral services at the greater festivals, and on some othee occasions, and always sang an anthem at evensong each Sunday. Mr James Woon succeeded me as choirmaster in 1863, and I followed him when he left for Westport in 1878. Messrs William Holden, James Crawford, Gilbert King and John Randall were successively choirmasters, and at a later date Messrs Harold Brooke, Consterdine and Naylor. Until comparatively recently there were no regular choirs at the Presbyterian and Wesleyan Churches, and the music then consisted only of metrical psalms and hymns.

About 1876 the Orpheus Glee Club was formed. This was .limited to eight men, all of whom were guaranteed to possess good tempers, good voices and good musicreading powers. Mr William Holden was conductor. At the practices four or five- men usually sang a glee, part-song, or madrigal (of course, without accompaniment), while the others listened, and afterwards criticised freely. Then the listeners had to sing the same piece, and were freely criticised in their turn. This system was found to work well. The Glee Club was assisted at concerts by six lady honorary members (four vocalists and two pianistes), but it seldom gave concerts on its own account, though always willing to aid other musical societies. It wound up about 1888 owing to several of its members leaving Whanganui.

In 1889 several of the " Old Identities " agreed that it would be pleasant to re-assemble as many as possible of those who took part in the first concert of January 20th, 1864, and repeat the' programme of that concert as closely as altered circumstances would permit. Circulars were sent to all existing old members, and responses almost unanimously favourable were received. But owing to departures, old age, illness and deaths, out of the sixty-five who assisted at the first concert, oniy twenty were now forthcoming. These were :

George Fred. Allen, conductor ; William Bridson, deputy-conductor ; Henry Claylands Field, chairman general meetings ; Joseph, Augustus Burnett, chairman committee meetings ; Cornelius Burnett, secretary and acting pianist ; George Beavea, Peter Bell, David Blyth, Robert Davis, Wm. Jas, Harding, Andrew McFarlane, Thomas Scrivener, Mrs Allen (Miss Hanson), Mrs Beaven (Miss Cummins), Mrs Blyth (Miss Harrison), Mrs McWilliam (Miss Neville), Mrs Russell (Miss Davis),

Mrs Eockell (Miss Gower), Mrs Watson (Miss Gower), Mrs Pinches (Miss Gower).

It may be interesting to mention here that the old Choral Society was very successful as an Amateur Matrimonial Agency. Four of the eight lady members abovementioned married male members.

Some of these twenty old identities came from Palmerston, Otaki, and Wellington to attend this commemorative concert. The solos were sung by those who had undertaken them in 1864 in all cases, except where absence or death necessitated substitutions ; and it was pleasing to observe how well the voices had sustained the twenty-five years which had intervened.

About forty members of the Har

monic Society assisted the old identities in the choruses. This commemorative concert was given in the Oddfellows' Hall on April 24th, 1889, under my direction, Mr Cornelius Burnett playing the accompaniments. It was proposed by some of those present to repeat the same programme every five or ten years, but others pointed out that the thinning out of the original members would not stop at the two-thirds already missing, and the proposal was withdrawn. That this was the better course was early made evident, for the twenty were very soon reduced by the deaths of Mr Harding, Mr Blyth, Mr Beaven, Mrs McWilliam, and (since this article was written) Mrs Allen.