Yesterday afternoon, at a concert for the benefit of the pension fund of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a Chorus composed of about 200 Radcliffe and University students, trained by Dr. A. T. Davison" 06, of the Divison of Music, performed a motet by Bach and the "Song of Fate" by Brahms, accompanied by the orchestra. Dr. Davison conducted the motet and Dr. Muck the "Song of Fate."
The success of the chorus and the quality of its performances constitute another item in the rapidly increasing achievements of Dr. Davison in proving false the prevalent notion that the American college student is too light-minded a creature to undertake anything worth while in intellectual or artistic fields, and too irresponsible to finish a good task begun. The singing of the chorus yesterday was more than a serious attempt honestly accomplished; one may judge it by mature artistic standards.
It is no reproach to the chorus or its work to point out that the tone is sometimes light and lacking in body, for the lack is not due to faulty singing or careless training, but solely to the physical immaturity of the singers. This must be taken for granted, and the performance judged on artistic grounds.
Except for this purely physical shortcoming, the tone of the chorus is of excellent quality. The intonation, even in treacherous passages, is so accurate as to seem remarkable. The attacks are notably prompt and clear, even by professional standards, and the too-often neglected endings are no less exact than the attacks. The singing of this chorus achieves apparently quite as a matter of course, two of the less easily attainable goals of all choruses, large or small, amateur or professional--smoothness and clearness.
The interpretation of the chorus is free from blemish--a great achievement for a group of amateurs, and still a greater for their trainer. It is again surely no reproach to point out that these students have not the wide range of light and shade, with subtly adapted tone-qualities and suggestions of emotional depth that have come to expect from the best choral societies and professional choruses. Such flexibility and sympathy bespeak a mature view of life in general and familiarity with a large musical repertory in particular, which even fairly earnest students cannot usually attain in their late teens or early twenties.
To sum up, this student chorus suffers in comparison with adult choruses only in qualities which cannot possibly be a fair basis of comparison between students and adults; while in several qualities, such as accuracy of pitch, time and shading, it considerably surpasses many adult choruses.
Dr. Davison should feel, as the individual members of his chorus should feel, the greatest satisfaction at the success of this courageous undertaking. Still more praise is due to Dr. Davison for the planning and execution of the details of training so large a body of students in work of so serious a character. But by far the greatest, worthiest and most dashing effect of the task and its achievement must be that of inevitably broadening and intensifying musical interest and understanding in the minds of the participants themselves. And this undoubtedly means more to Dr. Davison than everything else put together
