Book Description

From the INTRODUCTION. IT is not the purpose of this little book to give a complete history of the singing societies of New York City. That would be an unprofitable if not an impossible task. I had designed, originally, to write only a sketch of the Society which now represents our highest attainment in choral culture. Knowing, however, that an institution like the Oratorio Society could only be the outcome of many experiments in the past, and that its peculiar features and the cause of its present success could only be understood and valued if viewed as the fruit of early experiences, I addressed myself to a study of choral history in New York with the aim of bringing to the attention of the reader the influences which have been at work in the development of the present state of culture in this department of music. I was the more willing to let the record of my observations and speculations crowd my original purpose into the background, since I became more and more convinced, as I went on, that many others must have felt with me the need of some handy notes on choral culture. It is one of the inexplicable things in the literature of music, that we should be without a history of the rise and progress of amateur singing societies. It would be difficult, I am sure, to point to another influence in the history of modern music so fruitful in results to the art itself, as well as to its cultivators, as that exercised by voluntary organizations of amateur choristers; and its interest as a theme for discussion is greatly enhanced by the fact that the story is almost compassed by the present century, and its elements might, therefore, be got together with comparative ease. The cultivation of choral music in the phase in which it shows itself now in the great festivals of England, Germany, and America, and in the concerts of such choirs as the Handel and Haydn Society, of Boston, the Oratorio Society, of New York, and the choir of the Musical Festival Association, of Cincinnati, is less than a hundred years old; and a more exhaustive investigation than is possible here, owing to the narrow limits of this book, might flatter patriotic pride by discovering that American cities were quite as prompt as Berlin in giving it encouragement, though, it is true, under far less favorable circumstances....