The Peninsular Saengertest

Daring the past two montfas grea efforte have been put forth by the Beet hoyen society of this city to make the seventh peninusular saengerfest a suc cess, and as worthy of attendance as on previous occasions. Although the crowc was not as large as was anticipated, the festival itself was a pronounced success Many of the business houses, banks, anc private residences were tastefully an elaborately decorated with ñags, banners and bunting, and arches and festoons of evergreens spanned the streets. The following societies of the Kaengebunc were preeent: Fraueuchor, East Sagina w. 19 voices; Arion Franenchor, Bay City, 15; Germania, East Saginaw, 28 Concordia, Detroit, 24; Froesinna, Detroit, 24; Veteranna, Detroit, 34; Constatter, Detroit, 24; Harmonie, Jackson 24; Ariondes Wordeus, Bay City, 16 Liederkranz, Lansing, 16; Beethoven Ann Arbor, 12; Choral Union, U. of M., Liedertafel, Waterloo, Ont., 30. The societies were met at the depot on their arrival and escorted by the city band to the various headquarters assigned them. Monday evening occurred the OPENING EXEROISES in university hall. After an overture finely rendered by Speil's orohestra of Detroit Geo. H. Pond city recorder, in the absence of Mayor Robison delivered the address of welcome. He said: The Mayor of oar city having been called to anothor portion of the State to-niulit, the pleasinR duty of offerlng to the strangers within our gales word of welcome, has been delegated, quite unfortunatcly, to tho next nuniclpal omclaï. For the flrst time, 1 believe, in the liistory of tliia place, has it been thus honored, but we hope that yoor greetiug will be so cordial, and your meeting so successful, that the Peninsular Saengerbund raay accord Ann Arbor an estimable place in lts affections. Although our ltttle city bas not attalned any considerable importance in the fteld ol music, yet it has made a noble commencement and the seeds are sown, yes, the plants are flrmly rooted, tbat wlll bear good fruit n the future, and lt is confldently hoped that thls Saengerfest wlll give an Ímpetus to the art of music that wlll be of lastlug beneflt to this University city. If we are to believe the testimony of one of Germany's greatest sons, "Who loves not woman, wine or song, k.jiki' ns a fooi liin whole llfe long." And the master mlnd of the Eugllsh Hpeak ng race, Shakespeare, has written : That man that lmt.li no music in himself. And is not mov'd with concord of sweetsounds, Is fit for treason, strategems and spoils- Let no man trust mm." That verse is a tribute to the Germán people, for to tlioin is conceded the blrlh and lurture of this sweet art, untll it has reaclied so near perfectlon that "there's no passion in he human soul but flnds lts food in music' "Divine interpreter thou art, Oh ! Song ! To thee all secreta of all hearts belong." We will leave to abler longues than ours he relation of the History of Music. How lie anclent (reeks conceived in Phoebus Apollo a god personifying the perfectlon oí he human form, and gave to htm the realm of music and prophecy; how as civilizatlon leveloped music kept Blow paoe; frotnOreece o Rome it descended and there llngered on he shores of sanuy Italy iiulil transplaced o Oermany by Charles the Great : how it clung to life, tenaciously.survlvlng the great llscords and wars of the unhappy period of early Germán liistory; and bow, strangely enough, under Joseph I., at the closingperlod -of the terrible 'Thlrty Years War,fl lt trose to great prominence amidst the powiered wlgs, patched faces and furbelows of ,he Prlnces of thatage; how at the close of be 18tb century the art sprang to perfection, under the nutster minds of Beethoven, Mozart, GlUck and Haydn. untll to-day the nalons of the earth sit entranced with the melkIIi'.s of Germany. Others wlll teil you of these things In better phrase tban can we, but none can glve to ■oua more cordial welcome, than it Is my rlvilege to tender to-nlght in the name of be citfzens of Ann Arbor. Our gates are open wlde, and the hospltalilesof the city heartily given you; and we rust that when you return to your homes lt will be with such kimlly feellngs in your learts as wlll lead you, In the not dlNtant faure, to come again. Hon. Chas. R. Whitman of Ypsilanti, lelivered the welcoming address in beïalf of the regents, to the Peninsular saengerfest, as folio ws : It is my happy privilege to-night, in ehalf of the board of regents, to welcome you, my Germán brethren, within he walls of my alma mater. As an arlent and firm friend of the cause of education, I am especiaUy pleased to extend ihe hand of fellowship to you, kinsmen of Beethoven and Goethe, citizens from ihe land of education and culture. The inrity and perpetuity of our civil instiutions, our very rank among the nations of ths earth must depend upon the inelligence, the educatioo and the patriotism of the masses. But love of coun;ry must be based upon the excellence of [overnment and that upon the character ind quality of the citizen. Education, ;hen, mental and moral, is the beginning and end of public as it is of individual ife. We recognize in you oo-laborers in he field of knowledge. It has been wisely said that music has become a great language with its classio literature, s important to our mtellectual comleteness as English composition and jatin grammar, and a knowledge of which may be acquired by any one who vill take the trouble. We bave done something here iu the cause of music, ;hough not what we ought. A professorhip has been established, and. with the means at hand, astonishing resulte have een accomplished. But the best fruits can not be attained until the importance of music as an educational factor shall e fully and generally recognized. The wisest edacators say that such a general eeognition of music as an integral part of a liberal education seems the most mportaut reform that could be aimed at n musical education. Mr. Jevons, the :reat political economist, holds that muïcal cultivation is the safest and surest method of popular culture. Painting and sculpture are but the rigid forms of unchanging beauty, but the highest of arts - music, " the supreme art medium emotion," is as flexible as the changing moods of the immortal soul. In the cottage and in the palace, among the rich and the poor, the human heart may iravel into the great unknown bejond he caree, vexations aud pains of life to rest upon the ocean-breast of heaveny harmony. Was it all imagination that, "Orpheus could lead the savage race: And trees, uprooted, left their place, Sequaciousof the lyre." and that when his beloved wife Eurydioe died. he followe'l her into the inernal regions; charmed to repose the dread god, Pluto, and carried the lost one back into heaven. Music has its greatest inüuence on those who learned ts power in ohildhood . It is an article of mental food and at the same time the jit of sweetening which makes more )alatable the diet of the school-room. & an educator for children no other study, either in art or science, can sur?ass it. The moral nature is strengthsned in many ways, not alone by the elevating influences of music, but by ;rainiDg the character in the virtues of jwrseverance, patien3e,self-sacriflce aud perfect purity of motive. The mental powers can reach no higher state of cul:ure in early years from any other persuit. A perfectly clear oonception, a nice poetio discrimination and good judgment f effects goes to every musical interprepretion, and every student can apprecite the mei) t il grip attained by any musician who gives an evening recital from Bach, Beethoven, or Chopin without notes, and the imaginativo power that can lead the player through so wide a field of emotion. Ability to do this means a mind under quick control, yet trained to long continued and severe application, and sucli a mind is equipped for life. All this we have seen done by the young, and is it possible to be done because the study of music gives its hourly reward. The baby who coos itself to sleep, the child whose light neart breaks into song, and the deaf Beethoven leading an orchestra whose sounds were audible to his inner ear alone, each and all find perfect satisfac;iuu. The ohild may carry to the home o poverty a work of art in some simple melody which shall add more peace urn happiuess to that humble home than of ten dwells in the habitation of the rich In all ages the people have found ex pressions in sougn and bulhuls which nave become a part of their nationa life. What is the magie in those national antheras, like "Watch on the Rhine," or the "Marseillea Hymn,' which excite the heart to grear and he roic deeds. It has been said, in substance, that i: a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who shoulc make the laws of a nation. And Soliumann says : " Listen most attentively to all popular songs; they are a mine ol most charming melodies and afford an insight into the character of the different nations." What greater agency for moral culture with young and old. Even the most hardened criminal is lifted above the gross desire and wicked impulses of his dwarfed and distorted nature, when hstening to the sweet melodies of childhood oi' the soft and melting hymns of Christianity. He is " born again" and beoomes as a little child, and his heart is brought to the very feet of God. Robert Hall, the well knowu prison reformer, says : " It is, to say the least, a singular coincidence that of all the reformatory institutions whicn I have visited, those only can be said to be absolutely successful in which a prominent place is given to instrumental musió." Surely, an agency so powerful may and should be employed to the fullest extent in the development of uur individual and national life. We havo been called a materialistio people by thae who forgot that our nation was begun as tbo outgrowth of a spiritual need. Our material was the result of our outward cicumsfrinccs. We bad a savage race to subdue; a mighty forest to turn into cultivated fields; endlees rivera to explore; a trackless desert to span; the problems of religious indo pendence and pohtical equality to solve, and we were but a handful of mon. The earnestnees and intensity, the f loom and repression of the early New nglandsettlers has colored and marked our national character to this day. For [is there is no folk-song to cheer the 'armer at his plough, the mechanio in lis shop or the housewife in her daily toil. Germany has led the world in her inllectual life, and has thereby become a mighty nation. Mr. Lothrop, in his masterly plea for ligher education, some years since upon ;his platform, said: "Of the French army it is said that only 43 per cent. could write, while of the Germán army )8 per cent. could wnte." This led a ?reat orator to say, "in the great conflict oetween Germany and Austria, it was ;he Germán schoolhouse which destroyed ;he Austrian military force." In the connet between Germany aud France it was again the school house that over;hrew France. The Germans who have come to our shorea and become an integral part of our nat.onal growth, have brought their intelligence,thrift, and especially that civihzer, "music, man' sweet joy," into our daily life. Their saengerfests are rapidly forming and developing public taste, and the day s not far distant when music, last and divinest of the arts, shall lead ns into he higher planes of aesthetic culture and to " those heights where dwells re)ose." Dr. C. George, president of the bund delivered the festrede in Germán, which was well received by the many Germans iresent. The remainder of the program or the evening consisted of a soprano solo by Miss Ida Belle Winchell of this oity, a waltz rondo by Frau E. Miltner, a song by the Gemiscliter choir of Saginaw and Bay City, the Die Einschiffung y the Waterloo, Ont., Liedertafel, concluding with a pieoe entitled "The Dream," in whioh Miss May Wedon, ftau E. Miltner. Mr. 0. Slocum and J. dertens and the Choral Union took tart. Tuesday it was expected that thouands ofjexcursionists would visit the city ut for some unaccountable reason they lid not materializo, although a goodly dumber of visitors arrived on the reguar trains. In the afternoon a large audience was resent at the matinee in univereity hall. ind a;ain m the evening that spacious ïall waa crowded to its fullest capacity. The trains f rom the east and west Vednesday, brought a large number of ersons to witness the closing day of [the aengerfest. At an early hour Main and luron streets were lined with people, and at half-past ten o'clock, the time ixed for the procession to move, the crowd had increased to several thousand. ?he Waterloo band led the parade which was paraticipated in by Oompany A, members of Welch Post, G. A. R., the fire department, visiting societies and mem)ers of societies of this oity, Spiel's and of Detroit and the Ann Arbor City and. During the afternoon and evening there was an immense gathering at ielief park, wbere singing and dancing was indulged m by citizens and visiting guests. All in all the seventh peninsular saengerfest may be called a success. Among the ofücers elected Wednesday rom this city, are Dr. George,vice-preslent; Geo. Halier, treasurer, and John Votzke corresponding secretary.