Choral Union Concerts

CHORAL UNION CONCERTS

American Composers Given a Chance.

VERY FINE CONCERTS.

Will be given by noted Musicians - the Course One for lovers of good music.

The eleventh season of the Choral Union Series of concerts will be inaugurated November 6th by a symphony concert given by the Pittsburgh Orchestra, under the direction of Mr. Victor Herbert. The Pittsburgh Orchestra is one of the more recently endowed orchestras, and has been steadily gaining ground in artistic efficiency, until now it is recognized as one of the leading organizations in the country. In a sense it is a part of the educational work of the Carnegie Institute and owes its origin to the awakening of interest in things artistic and educational through the founding of that institution. The organization is composed of the most excellent musicians and Mr. Herbert has shown himself well qualified for leadership. He is a most rigid drill master and a most inspiring leader, a man of very broad artistic sympathy and thorough training. The program will be very interesting and will include three Wagner numbers, the D Major Symphony, Beethoven; the Midsummer-night's Dream Overture, Mendelssohn; and other shorter numbers. It is expected that this concert will be a fitting opening to the Series.

Those who heard Mr. Eddy at one of the former festivals, will hail with pleasure the announcement that the second concert of the series will be given by him, November 24th. Mr. Eddy has been identified with all that is best in organ playing for so many years, that it is not necessary to dwell upon his abilities. He drew up the specifications for the Frieze Memorial Organ, and therefore understands its possibilities to the utmost. He will play a number of works written especially for him. This will probably be Mr. Eddy's last appearance as his engagement's abroad are so urgent that he has practically become an European musician and does not contemplate returning to America for several seasons.

The third concert of the series will be given December 18th, by the Coral Union, Chicago Festival Orchestra (fifty members). Mme. Liune, Soprano; Heinrich Meyn, Baritone; Holmes Cowper, Tenor. The program for this concert will include orchestral work, solos, and the performance by chorus and orchestra of "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast", by S. Coleridge Taylor. This work has been given with pronounced success in London, and Mr. Taylor is considered one of the most promising of the younger English composers.

The fourth concert, on January 26th, will be a song recital by Mrs. Josephine Jacoby. Mrs. Jacoby's triumph at the May festival last year was so pronounced, that he appearance in recital will be hailed with satisfaction. Mrs. Jacoby is one of the few artists who has been eminently successful in great works of recital. 

The fifth concert, on February 23rd, will consist of a miscellaneous program and "A Persian Gardn". Mrs. Seabury C. Ford, Soprano; Miss Marguerite Hall, Contralto; Mackenzie Gordon, Tenor; Davis Bispham, Bass. The "Persian Garden" a setting of verses from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, will be given by this superb artist's quartet and will fill Part II of the program. It will be remembered that these artists were announced for the opening concert of the season last year, but owing to the repairs on the roof of University Hall, their appearance was necessarily postponed.

The festival will be unique in that it will give as full and fair a representation of American works as has ever been attempted in this country. The fact that American works have won distinction abroad is well known to musicians, but the public, unfortunately, have been educated to the belief that nothing "good can come out of Nazareth." The wonderful successes of American singers abroad have been noted and commented upon, and people are familiar with the fact that many of the leading artists, both on the concert platform and the operatic stage, are Americans. But they have note realized that in the line of creative work America has been steadily gaining ground. As a matter of fact, taking everything into consideration, the progress made during the last twenty years in this direction has been commendable, but it is only in later years that it has been possible for American composers to appear on concert programs by right instead of courtesy. No modern work has been received with greater enthusiasm that McDowell's Second Pianoforte Concerto at Berlin, and Professor II. W. Parkerker's "Hora Novissima" won the most distinguished approbation at the Worcester Festival, England, and is to be sung by several of the leading chorus societies of Great Britain this season. It is hoped that both of these great works will be incorporated in the program for the Festival, to give a festival composed entirely of American works would be unprofitable and uninteresting. A the coming festival, therefore, there will be included many important standard works in order that the proper balance of programs may be preserved, and the interest in the festival maintained. While, of course, no definite arrangements have been made it is safe to assume that every effort will be made to secure artists worthy of the occasion and of the audience. The enormous expense attending the series makes it imperative that a large number of tickets should be sold and it is hoped that the response on the part of the citizens and students will be as generous as in the past.