CHORAL SINGING IN THE SANTA CRUZ CHURCHES.
To the Editor of the "St. Croix Avis"
Sir,
Having had opportunities of hearing all the choirs of this island sing, I beg permission to say a few words about choral singing, a subject which to me appears very important. I shall in the first place state my opinion of the singing in the different Churches respectively, and shall write according to the impression that has been made upon my mind; and should I chance to sacrifice delicacy at the shrine of truth, I shall cast myself upon the elemency of the ladies and gentlemen who will read this, and hope they won't be hard upon me.
Now then let me begin with Bassin;- that being head-quarters, I dare say some deference must be shown it.- Some time ago I attended English service in the Lutheran church, and whilst listening to the Singing, I was particularly struck with the boisterous manner in which the choir sung. There is, among young choristers, a certain vanity of showing off, each one trying to out-do the other, at the sacrifice, very often, of all that is beautiful and attracting in singing. This vanity appears to be regulated by the amount of musical knowledge possessed. Now, in the case of the choir in question the musical knowledge appears either small, or much limited, hence the jarring manner in which they sang and which could not fail to be detected by any well regulated oar. Nor was this the only defect I noticed in their singing; the sharp and abrupt manner in which the words were uttered, is another source of complaint to say nothing of the fearful amount of indistinctness accompanying it. As in oratory, clear and distinct utteranoo is the beauty of speech, so also it is one of the distinctive features ofgood singing; although this point appears to receivo little attention from West Indian choir trainers generally.
There was also much indistinctness in tho playing, which had a tendency to mislead the singers, owing to a predominance of the Bass. In leading singing, care must he taken that the singers hear distinctly the treble notes; hence many good organists strike them first, and then allow the other parts to come in afterwards. When once there is any indistinctness about the pitch of a tune the singers will generally be found below the instrument at the end of the line; and then, it demands a great amount of skill to bring them again into the proper key.
I shall pass on to notice next the singing in the Roman Catholic church. However well the Roman Catholics of other countries may sing, some exception must be made when we speak of the Roman Catholics of St. Croix. I remember, that once when, passing by a Roman Catholic church in one of the English islands, I was so much enraptured by the singing of the choir, that, I dare say, I felt as Telemachus did when listening to the chantings of the Nymphs of the goddess Calypso. The singing of the St. Croix Roman Catholics has no such attractions. Like the Lutheran choristers, they seem to pay little or no attention to sweet and harmonious singing, but each one endeavours to be heard.
The Singing in Saint John's church is just now very low. Although, unlike most of tho others, this choir appears to be composed principally of parties who possess more or less musical knowledge, yet in spite of this great advantage, their singing is just now almost a mere farce! Do you ask for the reason? Let me see if I can furnish you with an answer.
In the first place the choir is too small. The size of a choir must always be in proportion to that of the congregation. At present the choir consists of about 14 members, and of those sometimes more than 6 are not present at the public services, nay, I have seen as few as 2, Nor is the non-attendance at church the only thing to be deplored ; I understand that the attendance at the practising is not less unsatisfactory. Let me say that the possession of musical knowledge does not remove the necessity of going to practise, since we find professors, before coming into public with their performances, always meeting for practising together. I have never read or heard of any number ot singers, going into public to sing before coming together for previous practice. If therefore practise is necessary with professors, much more so must it be with those whose knowledge can at the most be small and limited. But I fear I have said too much upon this point; allow me then to pass on to my next reason, which is the want of an organ. I dont know of any other church of that site, which has only a harmonium to accompany the singing. I dont believe, as some seem to do, that the presence of an organ in the church, without any other aids, will remove all the defects at present existing in the singing. Until the choir has been enlarged and better trained, an organ will be able to effect little. Of what use then, you will ask me, is the organ in the church? Well, the sound of an organ being the nearest approach to that of the human voice, that instrument is better adapted, than any other, to lead singing in a church. Besides, an organ skilfully managed will keep down bad singing in a congregation. At another time I shall suggest a few plans for the improvement of Choral singing, as well as enlarging choirs.
The Moravians at Friedensthal seem to be aware of the great utility of an efficient choir in their church, and have greatly improved their singing. But among their choristers are some bad voices, and in their last choral singing there was much of the "nasal twang." This is not the smallest defect in singing. It is bad enough to hear words slurred over and indistinctly uttered, but who can tolerate sounds proceeding front the nose?
Taken as a whole there is no very great difference between the Bassin and West End Choirs. There is much of the same coarse boisterousness and indistinctness in the West End Lutheran and Roman Catholic choirs, with a fearful lack of musical skill and tasto displayed especially in the latter choir.
The choir of "Saint Paul's" was, I understand, much superior in former years to what it is at present; then, I dare say, the ladies composing it, had better health and greater zeal. I am told that the number of choristers is somewhat smaller now than formerly; and that sickness has done much in impairing the voices of some of its best members. Still, however this appears to me to be the only one among the choirs of St. Croix which has some notion of what church singing ought to be.
With thanks, kind editor, for your present indulgence, and hoping D. V. to trouble you soon age in,
(St. Croix Avis 31. oktober 1874).
To the Editor of the "St Croix Avis",
Dear Sir,
Allow me through your Columns to make a few remarks on a letter which appeared in your paper of October 31st in reference to the singing in the various Churches of St. Croix. I think if the writer desires to remedy the defects he attempts to point out, he should make himself active in another way, and not after making the painful, indelicate public remarks, to profess shortly in another letter to make suggestions. It seems to me as though P, Q. R, S, is some dismissed Singing Master (too lazy to work) who thinks he will get some easy employment here, where he can pass away time pleasantly, but I can assure him, that we are quite satisfied with our nasal, boisterous, and disagreeable singing; as men quite as capable, (if not more so) have been using efforts to remedy those defects long before this and will not thank him for his suggestions, which he proposes sending, as they will not be given with a good motive. Again, if he be a man of so great importance, why not give his name, residence, and other particulars, and offer his services to private individuals, who may desire to avail themselves ot his valuable assistance. We cannot think much of a man nobody knows. Has P, Q, R, S, a good voice? Who are you? Where did you get such a knowledge of music? Is music your forte? Have you nothing else to write about? If you have time to spare, get up a Choir, and give us a treat and we will judge whether or not your romarks are worth noticing. In concluding let me tell you, that you had better go about your business to some other place, if you are not satisfied with us in Sta. Cruz, and not be making yourself odious in this community, or you will find yourself so completely stung by bees, that you will have the painful necessity of being satisfied to remain within doors till the creatures are quiet. I simply mean to tell you this, keep your fingers from giving publicity to your thoughts on such points as the one you mentioned, or the bees will sting you by the same press, till you forget your suggestions. Thanking you, Mr. Editor, for the space allowed me
(St. Croix Avis 4. november 1874).
Ingen kommentarer:
Send en kommentar