At the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. II: Music at the World’s Fair

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AT THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION.

[One sees the largest organ in the world, at Festival Hall, though one may not hear it there to the best advantage, owing to the building's defective acoustic properties. Music with art and nature make the grand promenade a poem of delight. To stand in the shadow of the colonnade of states, or at the opposite end near the statue of St. Louis, and there hear the magnificent instrument, see the flowers and gardens, statues and walks, buildings and bridges, and listen to the cascades and the murmur of the fountains, as their music mingles with the songs of the gondoliers, is a life-long inspiration. One of the Utah musicians who has seen and heard these wonders is Joseph Ballantyne. He experienced more, for he attended the singing contests held in the great Festival Hall, in July. His impressions are given in this paper. Joseph Ballantyne is a native of Utah, and one of the youngest sons of Richard Ballantyne, the founder of the Sunday Schools. He studied in New York, taking a four-years' course in the late 90's, and en returning to Ogden continued his musical labors, publicly and privately. He has been specially successful, in teaching the children, as the stake chorister for the Sunday Schools, a labor which he engaged in by the special request of his father who was for many years leader of the Sunday Schools of Weber. He has also succeeded admirably as teacher in the State schools for the Deaf and Blind, and as director of the Ogden tabernacle choir. Editors.]

II.

MUSIC AT THE WORLD'S FAIR. BY JOSEPH BALLANTYNE, CONDUCTOR OF THE TABERNACLE CHOIR, OGDEN, UTAH.

My visit to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition was arranged for at a time when the Competitive Choral Contests were in pro-

946 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

They began the afternoon of Monday, July gress, in Festival Hall. 11, and ended Saturday afternoon, July 16. There were five competing choruses in the first gr^de, and four in grade two. The awards were made in Festival Hall, Saturday evening, July 16, by President Francis, and were as follows: —In the first grade, chorus for societies of one hundred or more members, the first prize, $5,000, was awarded to the Scranton, Pa., Oratorio Society. The second prize, $3,500, went to the Evanston, 111., Musical Club, and the third, $2,500, to the Denver, Col., Choral Society. In the contests for organizations in the second grade having not less than 60 voices, the first prize, $2,500, was given to the Denver Select Choir; the second, $l,500,to the Pittsburg,Pa., Cathedral Choir, and the third, $1,000, to the Ravenswood, 111., Choral Society. Mr. Watkins was the Conductor of the Scranton Oratorio Society which won first prize in grade one. He is a man of force and precision in his conducting, always having his chorus under perfect control. He displayed a very high musicianship in Mr. Henry Housley his interpretation of the four choruses rendered.

(whom the people of Utah will remember as one of the competitors in the Choral Contest at the Eisteddfod some years ago) was the

conductor of the Denver Select Choir, which carried off the first

prize in grade two. He is known as a composer, organist and conductor, a man of great musical ideas, and one of our best known conductors. It was an invaluable opportunity for a person interested in choral work to hear the competing choruses. Surprising as it

may seem, there was marked difference in the interpretation of the choruses by the various conductors, and right here is where a display of the true characteristics of a great conductor are employed. Even in the matter of tempo they were at least twenty points at variance. It was a pleasure I shall long remember, and one very much appreciated and enjoyed. During the week of the choral contests, there were three of the great standard oratorios given. The Creation, by Haydn; Caractarus, by the modern English composer, Elgar, and the very great and well known Elijah, by Mendelssohn. Three of the competing societies did the chorus work assisted by the regular Exposi-

AT THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION. 947

tion orchestra of one hundred pieces. On account of the unfavorable position of the chorus, being far back on the platform behind the orchestra, the choral work was impaired, but the orchestra was magnificent, well balanced, with the necessary supply of strings and wood wind. The Saint Louis Exposition has the largest organ in the world. After the close of the Fair, in December, it will be removed from Festival Hall to Kansas City, Mo., where it will have a permanent place. Each morning at 11 o'clock, there is an organ recital given on this great organ, for which the small admission fee of ten cents is charged. Some of the greatest organists in the United States have been engaged to give recitals on this organ, and the greatest of them all, Alex Guilmont, the veteran French organist, is engaged for a series of twenty recitals. Music has been well cared for at the Fair. There are numerous military band concerts, almost every day, free vocal and instrumental recitals, in the various state buildings, symphony concerts by the Exposition orchestra, in Festival Hall, three times a week, and various lighter forms of music always in progress. It is a matter of sincere congratulation that the Exposition officials have deemed it wise to provide music in its higher forms for their visitors, and all who attend the Fair may have an opportunity, outside the realm of opera, of hearing the master's greatest works, by artists in their special line.

[When it is remembered that last year more than twenty-six million dollars in ore were taken out of the mines of Utah, and that every month in the year half a million dollars or more are distributed to Utah mine owners, in dividends, the magnitude of our mineral wealth is partly comprehended. It is, therefore, specially fitting that at the world's great

display of wonders, at St. Louis, Utah should include a machine showing the process of separating gold from its base surroundings. The marvelous power exerted by this mysterious machine is a source of much wonderment to all who visit Utah's fine and famous mineral exhibit, in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy. We present herewith an enthusiastic description of it as seen by an Eastern writer. Young men who may not have the privilege of seeing this machine in St. Louis may have the