Church Music Association Public Rehearsal

“C. M. A. rehearsal, 4 p.m. with orchestra. Steinway well-filled in spite of the riotous snowstorm. The chorus not so strong as it should have been. Many made default, & in the fortissimo passages of the Mass the trumpets & trombones out-crowed the voices. The Lindpaintner overture was much approved & applauded, being perfectly clear & somewhat flashy. William Schermerhorn said it reminded him of a party of lunatics busy with ‘God Save the King’—first they sang it & then they danced it & then they shook their chairs to the tune & gibbered at it. In one sense I never heard the Beethoven Mass before—in its orchestral raiment, that is. When it was performed last spring, I could think of nothing but poor Ellie, then so fearfully ill that I felt ashamed of myself for going to hear it. It is prodigiously grand—especially the Kyrie, Qui tollis, Credo, Et incarnatus, Sanctus, & Dona. With what solemn sweetness the Kyrie opens—and what an experience of majesty & profound depth is in the first enunciations of the word Credo. But Beethoven had begun to be odd when this work was written—witness the ‘genitum non factum’—the ‘Sub Pontio Pilato’ & the Katy-did ‘Miserere’ in the Dona. The quartette was excellent. Leggat & Mme. Krebs did their work charmingly. So will Mrs. Gulager, but she was scared by the great orchestra this afternoon. Centemeri is always safe & true. ‘Spring’ (to end of the ‘Power of Produce’ chorus) was delicious, ‘Come gentle spring’ celestial. Centemeri’s healthy genial solo went off with great effect & applause.

Diccon [Richard Henry Derby, Strong’s nephew]—charming young fellow—dined here. Pech came in afterwards, in doleful dumps, because some of his chorus who live at Yorkville & Williamsburgh were kept from duty by this howling raging snowstorm that has made our thoroughfares nearly impermeable. Ellie & I comforted him up.”

“A great effect was produced at the rehearsal at Steinway Hall yesterday afternoon by the performance of a stirring and resonant festival overture by Lindpaintner, which is to open the programme of the next concert. It is a masterly orchestral elaboration of the air of ‘God Save the Queen,’ and for a first performance was well rendered. Beethoven’s Mass in C was also rehearsed, the well-trained voice and admirable school of Madame Michalesi- Krebs lending effect to the quartet passages in which Mr. Gulager, Mr. Leggatt and Mr. Centemeri took part. In the Mass and in the ‘Spring’ music of Haydn’s ‘Season’s the chorus was hardly up to the mark, but will be all right before the concert takes place.”