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doubtless would have been glad to liave it fail, i that they might come to the rescue and make it -a success, thereby establishing the supremacy of German music and German singers in the land.“Of late the indications liavey been that it ( would not fail, and the German papers have spoken more favorably of it. Some of them ( even claim to have given it their sympathy i from the beginning, and deny that the Germans have stood aloof, pointing for proof to the individual Germans who are in the chorus. The correspondent here of the St. Louis West lie he Post tells the truth when be says, ‘I have found by cautious soundings here and there, that the ' German singers have generally stood aloof from the undertaking, and that the Festival Is mainly ] an American one.’“The deficiencies of the chorus are mainly in the tenors. The best tenors in the city are in the Maennerchor Society, which, with two hun- i dred vocalists, has withheld its support. Of the Orpheus, another German society, with an active membership of nearly five hundred, and an hon-orary membership of several thousands, seventy live members have joined the chorus as individuals, and have done efficient service. The more sensible Germans now see that these Gerrnau societies have made a mistake, and it will doubtless never occur again. The Germans, after all, have the largest share in the great triumph achieved. Mr. Thomas and nearly all his orchestra are Germans. Mr. Otto Singer, the chorus conductor, is a German, and the music was almost exclusively German. Mr. Singer, who is immensely popular with Americans and Germans, has had inducements held out to him to reside permanently in Cincinnati. He will be the means of adjusting the rivalshlps and jealousies of the German societies, for they have • much jarring among themselves, and will bring together the entire musical resources of the city In the chorus for the Festival a year heuce.This is good, too, if not new:“With a want of power and confidence in the tenors, and an occasional tripping on the part of the basses, the sopranos and altos won the admiration of the professionals from abroad. The word ‘pluekiness’ expresses precisely the quality in which they excelled. Their attack on the difficulties of the score was splendid. The altos, which never numbered a hundred, were not a match in power for the sopranos, which numbered nearly two hundred; but they were soErompt and accurate thht Mr. Thomas safd he ad no anxiety about them. Mr. Varley expressed himself delighted with the quality of voice in the sopranos. He hajL ndver heard such a pure tone in a choruMdBtt he queried whether the fact was attribujj^^Si a%v way to the climate. Our American said, wereinferior to the English; bul^^F-American sopranos, and especially the CinWfmati sopranos * are magnificent—better than any he has heard iu England.’’__-
Newspaper Details
Cincinnati Commercial
Cincinnati, Ohio, US
Sun, May 18, 1873
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Joanne G.
NA, 15 Mar 2025
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