excerpt from 'Musical Memories' pp. 125-126 (186 words)
excerpt from 'Musical Memories' pp. 125-126 (186 words)
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The 'Christus' oratorio was given at the first concert of the festival at Heidelberg. It lasted three hours and a half and is so long that I would not dare to advise concert managers to try such an adventure. The performance was sublime. It was given in a newly constructed square hall. Cavaille-Coll, who knew acoustics, used to advise the square hall for concerts but nobody would listen to him. Three hundred chorus singers, many from a distance, were supported by an orchestra that was large, but, in my opinion, insufficient to stand up against this mass of voices. Furthermore, the orchestra was placed below the level of the stage, as in a theatre, while the voices sounded freely above. Two harps, one on the east side of the stage and one on the west, saw each other from afar, a pleasingly decorative device, but as annoying to the ear as pleasing to the eye. The chorus and the four soloists-- their task was exceedingly arduous-- triumphed completely over the difficulties of this immense work and all the varied and delicate nuances were rendered to perfection. |
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