Trinity Church Christmas Service

“The crowd was dense. Music far better executed than one could have expected after hearing last Friday’s rehearsal. Chorus in chancel & orchestra in organ loft, though so far asunder, kept together marvelously close—even in the two fugues (Cum sancto spiritu & Et vitam)—Messiter’s adaptation of the English words to Haydn’s music was good—though it might have been improved in a few details. This Mass has always seemed to me characteristic of the composer’s going beyond all the other fifteen, most Christmas-like in sentiment of them all, & surpassing all but No. 6 in religious feeling. There is an honest hearty downright Deutsch piety & gladness in the phrases of the 1^st Mass, which can be found nowhere else. “Twas worth a year of common life” to hear that first allegro phrase of the Kyrie, which I have so loved for thirty years, rendered in Trinity Church; then the grand sweeping phrase on which the Credo is built—the exquisite pathetic melody of the Et incarnatus—and the varied beautiful expression given to the rest of the creed—the splendor of the Gloria & of the Sanctus. I confess that as the orchestra rang out its magnificent accompaniment & the fresh boy-voices rose above it, I found myself trembling & the corners of my mouth twitching, my eyes filling. This service brought together two great things, widely separated till last Ascension Day, the Anglo-Catholic liturgy & an orchestra & chorus executing music of the first order. Thank God I have had a little something to do with producing their combination. This example will be followed, & cannot fail of good effect. How fortunate it is that we have a rector like Morgan Dix, of fine fibre, & able to appreciate live music at something like its value! Thirty years ago, I used to enjoy such a service as this, in waking dreams. I never hoped to hear anything like it in this world.”