Euterpe Public Rehearsal

“The sensation caused two seasons ago, in musical circles, by the concerts of the Madrigal Society, and the interest created last Winter by the performances of the Church Music Association, have had the desirable effect of leading to the formation of other societies for the study of choral music. One of them, an association planned under excellent auspices, called the Euterpe, held its first public rehearsal last Tuesday afternoon. The intention is to maintain in constant practice a body of singers capable of rendering efficient aid to the Philharmonic and other societies for the performance of great choral works, and in the meantime the four concerts and the four public rehearsals to be given this Winter will embody the excellent idea of producing works of a high character, which are not already hackneyed. The programme of Tuesday, (which is to be repeated next Thursday,) comprised a short but highly interesting pastoral symphony from an oratorio by John Sebastian Bach, a writer somewhat caviare [sic] to the multitude, and less often  ventured on in New-York than in Boston. Also a psalm by Ferdinand Hiller, an eminent German musician, more known as a critic than as a composer. This is a solid, learned work, with contrasting movements and regular beginning and climax. In strong contrast to this was a psalm by a Mr. Otis B. Boise, ‘of New-York,’ a writer who has also evidently deeply studied the treatment of the orchestra, but uses his knowledge in a manner very different from that of Hiller. For the first time we have a psalm set in the style of Wagner and Berlioz; it seems to be a fragment of some larger work; there is no introduction, no middle, no end, no consecutive movement, and no fugue. The voices are quite subordinate to the orchestra, and the words are chopped up in a way to have made Dr. Hodges’ hair stand on end. We cannot, however, find any fault with the Euterpe for producing music of the newest, as well as of the more ancient style; and as the field they intend to occupy is a wide one, it is to be hoped that they will meet with every encouragement.”