Accordion

“ The other tricks, such as tossing the pencil from the slate and playing the accordion, can be perfectly explained and repeated by Mr. Sellers. Dr. Slade's fingers are unusually long and strong, and the accordion, which has but four bellows-folds, can be readily manipulated with one hand. ”

“ One of the Coolies employed in the great HERVEY wash-house at South Belleville, N.J., was observed to watch with great interest an itinerant performer on the accordion. Shortly afterwards, catching up a sucking-pig by the tail and snout, he manipulated it precisely as the player did the accordion, producing—accordion to the testimony of several credible witnesses,—strains quite as good as, if not worse than, those drawn out by that musician. ”

“ His body and the accordion together become one musical instrument on which his soul plays tunes, for he sways and vibrates with the music from head to foot and throughout his frame, half closing his eyes and uplifting his face, as painters represent St. ”

“ A chorus of angel voices, trained since the time when morning stars sang together with the sons of God, take up the words:
“Holy, holy, HOLY is the Lord.”
. . . . . . . . .
When the oratorio has ended, and we glide out, each hushed as a hidden thought, to his own ways, I stay beneath a linden-tree to gather breath. A fine sound, faint as the music of a dream, strikes my ringing ears, and, looking up, I see that the leaf above my head is singing. Has it, too, been one of the great chorus yonder? Did he command the forces of nature, as he did the seraphs of Heaven, or the powers of earth? ”

“ And so the oratorio goes on, the assemblage paying a grave and decorous attention to the music, and bearing themselves far more like a congregation than an audience. They are so devotedly rapt in the magnificent performance, that I expect every moment to hear the vast mass of them join in the choruses; and when, at the first bar of the sublime “Hallelujah Chorus,” the hearers all stand up, the singers in the orchestra seem to me like priests. In truth, I think that to hear an oratorio, chastens and purifies the mind, and that we go away from those grand performances wiser and better men. ”

“ The parable ends here; but the music goes on moralizing upon and illustrating the theme in four effective numbers,--the chorus, "O that Men would praise the Lord," which is the longest and best constructed in the work; the recitative and aria for tenor, "Come, ye Children;" the unaccompanied quartet, "The Lord is nigh;" and the final chorus, "Thou, O Lord, art our Father," closing with a Hallelujah in full, broad harmony.
The Light of the World.
Sir Arthur Sullivan's second oratorio, "The Light of the World," is laid out upon a much larger scale in every way than "The Prodigal Son." ”

“ Then follows [263] a full chorus beginning with male voices in unison (“Why, my Soul, art thou cast down?”) , answered by the female voices (“Trust thou in God”) . Again the soprano voice is heard in pathetic recitative (“O my God! my Soul is cast down within me; all Thy Waves and thy Billows are gone over me”) . A beautiful quartet of male voices with string accompaniment replies: “The Lord will command His Loving-kindness in the Day-time; and in the Night His Song shall be with me, and my Prayer unto the God of my Life.” The response is full of hope and consolation ”

“ The words sang in her mind and broke a new world into a firmament, a world fuller than the old. Theory, harmony, musical history, musical literature, technique, the legato, the perfect legato, the singing violin tone. ”

“ The soprano voice announces the new heaven and earth. A short tenor recitative ("Behold! He soon shall come") and the quartet response ("Then come, Lord Jesus") prepare the way for the final massive [289] chorus ("Great and wonderful are all Thy Works") , which begins with a few bars of full harmony, then develops into a vigorous fugue, which, after choral announcements of hallelujah, is followed by another fugue ("Thine is the Kingdom") , closing with a tumultuous ascription of praise, and Amen. The solo parts in the oratorio are always short and of a reflective character. ”

“ We think, then, that the “psalms” are those which are simply played to an instrument, without the accompaniment of the voice, and (which are composed) for the musical melody of the instrument; and that those are called “songs” which are rendered by the voice in concert with the music; and that they are called “psalms of song” when the voice takes the lead, while the appropriate sound is also made to accompany it, rendered harmoniously by the instruments; and “songs of psalmody,” when the instrument takes the lead, while the voice has the second place, and accompanies the music of the strings. ”

“ The introduction of the air also gives more importance to the soprano part and relieves the succession of choral movements in the close of the work. The remaining numbers are the beautiful chorale, "Abide with me, fast falls the Eventide;" the chorus, "Now we believe," one of the most finished in the whole work; a short tenor solo ("His Salvation is nigh them that fear Him") ,--the only one in the oratorio for that voice; the chorus, "I will call upon the Lord;" and the final imposing fugue, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel." ”

“ It has all the deep and powerful accents of high musical poetry from the religious accent, calm and imposing, to the wild clamors of the orgy. The composer can make it chant like a choir of priests, threaten, lament, ring a funeral knell, raise a hymn of glory, break forth into frantic cries, or sound a dread flourish to awaken the dead, or to doom the living. ”

“ At the close of this number begins a choral theme for trumpets, horns, and trombones, followed by [162] strings and woodwinds, and introducing a soprano recitative (“With Grace, thy Gaze, O Harmony”) descriptive of the blessing brought into the world by music, followed by a picture of the misery of the race without its consolation. At the close the brasses give out a solemn march-like theme. A short chorus (“Joy to us! Again descending, thou Heavenly One”) describes the might of song. ”

“ The solemn and affecting church chant, the passionate romance for the tenor, the great closing duet in which the ecstasy of despair rises to that of exaltation, the resistless sweep of the rhythm—all mark one of the most effective single acts ever written. ”

“ They rush into each other's arms. First CHORUS (to the Second) . Why stand we thus, and coldly gaze, While Nature's holy transports burn? No dear embrace of happier days The pledge—that discord never shall return! Brothers are they by kindred band; We own the ties of home and native land. ”

“ Let us consider the oratorio for a moment as represented by Handel's Messiah. The most famous part perhaps is the "Hallelujah Chorus." Hear this sung by thousands: do you not thrill with joy and praise? As the music swells on, with its bursts of melodious exultation, we feel ourselves lifted away from everything common and base. ”

“ Imagine some old psalm tune, screamed forth, line by line, from the cracked throats of the old, and by the shrill voices of the young, all singing the air, each voice pitched on a different key, and some idea of their style of music may be formed. ”

“ One of the distinguishing features of modern choral technique is what I term ‘characterization,’ or realism, of the sentiment expressed in the music.... Contrasts of tone-color, contrasts of differently placed choirs, contrasts of sentiment—love, hate, hope, despair, joy, sorrow, brightness, gloom, pity, scorn, prayer, praise, exaltation, depression, laughter, tears—in fact all the emotions and passions are now expected to be delineated by the voice alone. ”

“ As the pope came in, a supplementary choir of men and soprano hybrids, stationed near the door, set up a high, welcoming song, or chant, which echoed rather finely through the building. All the music of the day is vocal. ”

“ At first the music of the prophetic song seems to move uncertainly amid sweet sounds, from which the true theme by degrees emerges, and thenceforward recurs over and over again with deeper, louder harmonies clustering about it, till it swells into the grandeur of the choral close. ”

“ As in an orchestra, amid the swell of many instruments, where deep-toned thunders mingle with sounds of softer influence, some one strain will rise, from time to time, suggestive of feelings apart from the rest, with higher and nobler sympathies around it, so did her voice, heard among the others, sound thus sweetly. ”

“ Till added to that heavenly choir,
We raise our songs of triumph higher,
And praise thee in a nobler strain;
Out soar the first-born Seraph's flight,
And sing with all our friends in light,
Thy everlasting love to man. ”

“ As the singers pause at the corner, the master of the choir directs the singing, with a tiny Hght on the tip of his baton, that flits and swings as we watch it, like a winter firefly in the dark.
Trumpeters and choir-boys, lanterns and candlelight and ancient carols — it all seems very old and legendary and charming, perfectly in keeping with the spirit and traditions of the place. ”

“ Our utmost might is all in men,
All men born of God our
[100]
A bass recitative, commenting on the preceding sentiments follows, and then a treble aria, “Within my heart of hearts, Lord Jesus, make thy dwelling.” In the fifth number the whole chorus sings the melody in unison, now changed to 6/8 time, and with a very florid accompaniment.
This is followed by a tenor recitative, “Then close beside Thy Saviour’s blood-besprinkled banner, my soul remain,” &c., a duet for alto and tenor, “How blessed then are they, who still on God are calling;” ”

“ Still more extraordinary is the wonderful power and reach of his voice, for while, probably, the seven hundred or a thousand voices of the grand chorus of an oratorio would fail to fill the vast spaces of the atmosphere, it can be done by this glorious little songster, which, mounting upwards, makes itself heard, without effort, when it can be seen no longer. ”

“ In such cases Nature has provided that every weekly Chorus shall bring the three Lovers into closer harmony. Each trial of voice, each fresh discovery of discord, almost imperceptibly induces the less perfect to modify his or her vocal utterance so as to approximate to the more perfect. ”

“ The choir is furnished with the numbers of the hymns that are to be sung, by the minister, and they put a bookmark in the book at the proper place. One morning they all got up to sing, when the soprano turned pale, as an ace of spades dropped out of her hymn book, the alto nearly fainted when the queen of hearts dropped at her feet, and the rest of the pack was distributed around in the other books. They laid it onto the tenor, but he swore, while the minister was preaching, that he didn’t know one card from another. ”

“ In an interesting article of the Dublin Review (New Series, vol. ii. January-April, 1864) , the effect of official pronouncements on the questions affecting the plain chant and concerted music is thus succinctly summed up: "1. That music, properly so called, may be admitted as well as plain chant. 2. That the music of the church is to possess a certain gravity and to minister to devotion. 3. That instrumental music may be allowed, under certain restrictions." ”

“ Beside that, if you let them sing one tune at a service, they will be putting their oar into the other tunes and bothering the choir. There is nothing more annoying to the choir than, at some moment when they have drawn out a note to exquisite fineness, thin as a split hair, to have some blundering elder to come in with a "Praise ye the Lord!" ”

“ Not, then, as the advocate of music, but as the ambassador of that God, whose being and benevolence, music proclaims, do I now address this assembly, entreating every individual, without delay, to adopt and practise the resolution of the royal Psalmist—I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. Psa. civ. 33.
In your imagination go back to the origin of the world, when, every thing was very good, and all creation harmonized together. ”

“ When two or more voices or instruments are perfectly in tune with respect to each other, and their tones blend and intermix, so as to form one consonant and harmonious result, they are said to accord. ”

“ Having settled that plain chant should have a part, and indeed a large part, in our choral service, but that figured music should not be excluded, it remains for us to say what figured music is to be used in alternation with plain chant, or substituted when plain chant is completely set aside. ”

“ Not only in chorus and choir, but especially in church and Sunday school do we find people singing prayerful words in a manner which cannot be better described than in Weber's language—"bawling in the presence of God." ”

“ However, the rubric disappeared; [108] and, I think, happily and providentially. For certainly (except the reader chances to have a very beautiful voice) it would be painful to hear a Lesson—perhaps a chapter of fifty or sixty verses—said all in monotone. Moreover, while in solemn addresses (whether of Prayer or Praise to God) , the solemn musical Recitation seems most fitting and reverential, in lections or addresses delivered primarily for the edification of man, a freer mode of utterance appears desirable and rational. ”

“ Later on we come to some roulade passages of six notes on the same exclamation “Ah!” (bars 43, 44, and 45) which must be sung with increasing verve, so that the wood wind of the orchestra comes running up perfectly in tune and tempo, as it were from right under your last note. Here, much depends upon the cue of the conductor, but, changing one’s manner and keeping up the growing joyfulness, you begin a new era, as it were, with{101} the words, “Bright troops of fairies hover round me.” ”