Music and Some Highly Musical People Part 27

From "The Philadelphia Inquirer," Feb. 22, 1873:--

"THE COLORED OPERA-COMPANY.

"This opera-company made its first appearance in this city last evening at Horticultural Hall, and was most favorably received. The performance, which was given to quite a large and intelligent audience, was Julius Eichberg's opera ent.i.tled 'The Doctor of Alcantara,' which was excellently rendered.

"Miss Lena Miller, who sang the _role_ of 'Isabella,' is young and graceful, with a pleasing voice; and her part was well given. Mrs. A.G. Smallwood was cast as 'Donna Lucrezia,' and had considerable to do. She sings well, and her acting far exceeds that of any other member of the company. 'Inez,' a maid represented by Miss Coakley, and a difficult part, was given with great accuracy. 'Carlos,' by Mr. H.F. Grant, was fairly rendered.... W.T. Benjamin as 'Dr. Paracelsus,' although a little stiff, fairly performed his part.

"The chorus, composed of probably thirty voices, male and female, was a feature; and their singing is really unsurpa.s.sed by the finest chorus in the best companies."

From "The Philadelphia Evening Star," Feb. 22, 1873:--

"COLORED AMERICAN OPERA-COMPANY.

"This company made its first appearance last evening at Horticultural Hall to an audience, which, though not large, was attentive and sympathetic. The attendance would, no doubt, have been larger, but for an unfortunate mistake....

As it was, the performance was an agreeable surprise to all who were present; not only being a decided success, but in the matter of choruses surpa.s.sing any performances of the same opera ever given in this city by any of the foreign or 'grand English' opera-troupes.[16] The cast of the colored troupe included Mrs. Smallwood, who has a beautiful ringing soprano-voice, a very easy lyric and dramatic method, and a carriage of unusual grace; Miss Lena Miller, whose voice, though less powerful, is very pleasant, and whose acting was notable for its unaffected style; Miss M.A.C. Coakley, a mezzo-soprano of very fair capacities; Mr. H.F. Grant, whose tenor-voice has good power, range, and quality; Mr. T.H.

Williams, who possesses a deep ba.s.s-voice, controlled with a fair degree of culture; and Messrs. W.T. Benjamin and Smallwood, who filled their parts not unacceptably."

[Footnote 16: The same opera was performed here a few days before with the following cast: Miss Howson, Mrs. Seguin, and Miss Phillips, and Messrs. Seguin and Chatterson.]

From "The Age," Philadelphia, Feb. 22, 1873:--

"The colored opera-troupe gave their first performance in Philadelphia last night in Horticultural Hall. The selection for their _debut_ was 'The Doctor of Alcantara,' by Julius Eichberg, which has frequently been given previously by various English companies, but, we venture to say, never so perfectly in its _ensemble_ as by this company.

"There was a great deal of enthusiasm; and several numbers of the opera were vociferously re-demanded, including the _finale_ of the first act, which revealed to us a choral effect which has never been heard upon the operatic stage in our country since the palmy days of Ullman's management. The chorus was large and efficient, every member doing his and her part; and, to all appearances, there was no 'dead wood'

among them. It must be understood, besides, that _all_ the music was sung; every part in harmony being taken with exactness and precision, whether as to time or intonation.

"Indeed, so admirably did the chorus sing, that we hope to hear them in a ma.s.s or an oratorio at some future time, being satisfied that they will make a most favorable impression."

From "The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin," Feb. 22, 1873:--

"A company of colored persons appeared at Horticultural Hall last night in Eichberg's opera, 'The Doctor of Alcantara.'

The opera was given in a really admirable manner by singers who understand their business, and have vocal gifts of no mean description. The leading soprano, Mrs. Smallwood, has a full, round, clear, resonant voice of remarkable power; and she uses it with very great effect. She sang the music with correctness and precision, and played her part capitally.

"The tenor and ba.s.s are both excellent; but, while they display fine voices, they show a want of high training. This is also the single defect of the two subordinate female voices of the company.

"The chorus was very fine indeed; and its performance, like that of the princ.i.p.al singers, proceeded without a flaw or blunder from first to last."

From the Was.h.i.+ngton correspondent of "The Vineland (N.J.) Weekly,"

February, 1873:--

"On Tuesday evening it was the good fortune of your correspondent to attend the opera rendered by the 'Colored American Opera Company,' of which I spoke in my last.

"To say that every thing pa.s.sed off well, simply, would be but faint praise. We all know that the colored race are _natural_ musicians; and that they are susceptible of a high degree of cultivation is evinced by their rendition of the opera on the occasion of which I speak.

"As for the chorus, it is not saying any thing extravagant when I make the a.s.sertion, that it has never been excelled by that of any of the professional opera-troupes which have visited this city."

The comments just given, taken, as it may be seen they are, from the princ.i.p.al journals of Was.h.i.+ngton and Philadelphia, without regard to party bias, would be of little value here, were it not for the vein of candor that runs through them all. In them the writers have tempered very high praise with the faithful pointing-out of such defects as to them appeared in the performances. This is the spirit of true criticism, which, while it ever eagerly seeks to discover all the merits of a performance, fails not also to note, in the interest of true progress, all its errors. Praise, then, from such a source, is praise indeed. Moreover, it is not pretended that our little troupe of amateurs presented a _perfect_ performance. Others of longer experience and of far more pretentious character had not done this.

Nor was or is such a thing possible; for, as Pope says in his "Essay on Criticism,"

"Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be."

But, allowing for such errors as caught the sharp eye and ear of the critic (it is seen that these errors were but trifling in number and character), the series of operatic representations under consideration was a fine, a brilliant success.

For the happy conception and successful carrying-out of the idea of presenting to the public a rendition of opera by musicians of the colored race, words too high in praise of these ambitious _pioneers_ of Was.h.i.+ngton cannot be spoken. Never before had there been an attempt by persons of their race to enter, as the equals of others, the exacting domain of the music drama. The performances, although few in number, were of such a highly-pleasing description, and the movement was withal so entirely novel, as to render it a somewhat startling and a most delightful _revelation_.

Mingled with the feelings of just pride that many persons experience when reflecting upon the grand musical and dramatic success achieved by these artists, ever and anon arise those of regret,--regret that they did not longer continue their charming performances, extending the same to other cities besides those mentioned. It is therefore earnestly hoped that ere long they will again appear. It is hoped that even now they are devoting themselves to rigid study, and to the arrangement of matters of detail; and that, guided by past valuable experience, they will soon give representations of opera in a style even exceeding in finish that which characterized those which they formerly gave.

As the _avants-courrieres_ [Transcriber's Note: avants-courriers] in art of those of their race, whom, let us hope, a fast-approaching day of better opportunities shall make plentiful enough; holding as they do their torches in the remaining darkness, to light the pathway of those that shall follow them into the bright, the delightful realms of the operatic Muse,--theirs is therefore a beneficent, a n.o.ble mission, the continuance of which promises the happiest results for all concerned.

XIX.

THE FAMOUS JUBILEE SINGERS

OF

FISK UNIVERSITY.

"The air he chose was wild and sad:...

Now one shrill voice the notes prolong; Now a wild chorus swells the song.

Oft have I listened and stood still As it came softened up the hill."

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

"If, in brief, we might give a faint idea of what it is utterly impossible to depict, we would adopt three words,--_soft, sweet, simple_."

_"The Jubilee Singers:" London Rock._

The dark cloud of human slavery, which for over two hundred weary years had hung, incubus-like, over the American nation, had happily pa.s.sed away. The bright suns.h.i.+ne of emanc.i.p.ation's glorious day shone over a race at last providentially rescued from the worst fate recorded in all the world's dark history. Up out of the house of bondage, where had reigned the most terrible wrongs, where had been stifled the higher aspirations of manhood, where genius had been crushed, nay, more, where attempts had been made to annihilate even all human instincts,--from this accursing region, this charnel-house of human woe, came the latter-day children of Israel, the American freedmen.

How much like the ancient story was their history! The American nation, Pharaoh-like, had long and steadily refused to obey the voice of Him who said, between every returning plague, "Let my people go;"

and, after long waiting, he sent the avenging scourge of civil strife to _compel_ obedience. The great war of the Rebellion (it should be called the war of retribution), with its stream of human blood, became the Red Sea through which these long-suffering ones, with aching, trembling limbs, with hearts possessed half with fear and half with hope hitherto so long deferred, pa.s.sed into the "promised land" of blessed liberty.

Slavery, then, ended, the first duty was to repair as far as possible its immense devastations made upon the minds of those who had so long been its victims. The freedmen were to be educated, and fitted for the enjoyment of their new positions.

In this place I may not do more than merely touch upon the beneficent work of those n.o.ble men and women who at the close of the late war quickly sped to the South, and there, as teachers of the freedmen, suffered the greatest hards.h.i.+ps, and risked imminent death from the hands of those who opposed the new order of things; nay, many of them actually met violent death while carrying through that long-benighted land the torch of learning. Not now can we more than half appreciate the grandeur of their Heaven-inspired work. In after-times the historian, the orator, and the poet shall find in their heroic deeds themes for the most elevated discourse, while the then generally cultured survivors of a race for whose elevation these true-hearted educators did so much will gratefully hallow their memories.

Among the organizations (I cannot mention individual names: their number is too great) that early sought to build up the waste places of the South, and to carry there a higher religion and a much-needed education, was the American Missionary a.s.sociation. This society has led all others in this greatly benevolent work, having reared no less than seven colleges and normal schools in various centres of the South. The work of education to be done there is vast, certainly; but what a very flood of light will these inst.i.tutions throw over that land so long involved in moral and intellectual darkness!

The princ.i.p.al one of these schools is Fisk University, located at Nashville, Tenn.; the mention of which brings us to the immediate consideration of the famous "_Jubilee Singers_," and to perhaps the most picturesque achievement in all our history since the war. Indeed, I do not believe that anywhere in the history of the world can there be found an achievement like that made by these singers; for the inst.i.tution just named, which has cost thus far nearly a hundred thousand dollars, has been built by the money which these former bond-people have earned since 1871 in an American and European campaign of song.

But what was the germ from which grew this remarkable concert-tour, and its splendid sequence, the n.o.ble Fisk University?

Shortly after the close of the war, a number of philanthropic persons from the North gathered into an old government-building that had been used for storage purposes, a number of freed children and some grown persons living in and near Nashville, and formed a school. This school, at first under the direction of Professor Ogden, was ere long taken under the care of the American Missionary a.s.sociation. The number of pupils rapidly increasing, it was soon found that better facilities for instruction were required. It was therefore decided to take steps to erect a better, a more permanent building than the one then occupied. Just how this was to be done, was, for a while, quite a knotty problem with this enterprising little band of teachers. Its solution was attempted finally by one of their number, Mr. George L.

White, in this wise: He had often been struck with the charming melody of the "slave songs" that he had heard sung by the children of the school; had, moreover, been the director of several concerts given by them with much musical and financial success at Nashville and vicinity. Believing that these songs, so peculiarly beautiful and heart-touching, sung as they were by these scholars with such naturalness of manner and sweetness of voice, would fall with delightful novelty upon Northern ears, Mr. White conceived the idea of taking a company of the students on a concert-tour over the country, in order to thus obtain sufficient funds to build a college. This was a bold idea, seemingly visionary; but the sequel proved that it was a most practical one.