Page:Anecdotes of Great Musicians.djvu/281

Rh are an exception to this rule. The organs of to-day are larger and have a more flexible action and greater varieties of tone color than in the time of Bach. The piano of to-day has a much greater volume of tone and an increased compass over the piano of Beethoven's time. In the field of choral music the choruses have been largely augmented, though, to be sure, a large chorus does not always promise the best results in shading and promptitude.

Händel heard no such choruses give his oratorios as we may hear sing them to-day.

When "The Messiah" was first given in Dublin the chorus consisted simply of the choirs at the two cathedral churches. And if Dean Swift had been sane in 1742 it is doubtful whether Händel would have been allowed the use of St. Patrick's choir, for in 1741 the great Dean addressed an exhortation to the Sub-Dean and Chapter, commenting on the conduct of certain members of the choir for "singing and fiddling at a club of fiddlers." The choruses that took part in the performance of Händel's oratorios during his lifetime numbered less than 100 singers. The chorus brought together for the great commemoration performances in Westminster Abbey and in the Pantheon in 1784 was made up of about 275 singers, and yet its size was the astonishment of the contemporaneous musical world.

What would the musicians and public of that day have said to a chorus of five or six thousand singers, such as are now frequently gathered together?  

Professional musicians often have questions propounded to them that are quite hard to answer, and occasionally some to which, were the truth answered, the reply would not be particularly enjoyed by the questioner. Very frequently some fond mamma brings her aspiring daughter, who, by the way, hardly knows the