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There is something unique, something,
distinctive about the Spartanburg Fes
tival. It is one of the most remark
able musical events in all the South,
probably in all the country. Those who
have spent "Festival week" in Spar
tanburg. S. C„ know that the festival
is an institution —or rather an occa
sion—unlike any other in this section
of the country, that has popular hold
on the public and has drawn year after
year to the auditorium, built especially
for this festival, brilliant audiences of
the most cultured people of the South
There is an atmosphere of spring, of
holiday' and of music about the festival
that gives it a charm even mote inspir
ing than some of the richest notes of
the great singers appearing in the con
certs.
Then there are the social features
of the week, in which the people of
Spartanburg take enthusiastic part,
seeing to it their friends and their
visitors —for- everybody has visitors
during the festival —share :n the
many entertainment:, embracing lawn
part its. class reunions at the colleges,
family gatherings, card parties—where
the "artistic temperaments” are for the
time being suppressed—and finally, the
‘Festival dance." an annual affair given
by the Festival German club. These
things all contribute to the pleasure of
being in Spartanburg during festival
week.
Work of Choral Society.
From a musical standpoint the fes
tival is remarkable in many respects.
In its eighteen years it has grown from
a small company of enthusiastic musi
cians. who gave annual concerts, to
<n organization known as the Con
verse Choral society, with a member
ship of more than 200 persons, some
of whom are merchants. bankers,
doctors, lawyers and ministers. In
fact, all the walks of life are repre
sented in the chorus. And these
members work. Month in and month
out they are rehearsing, rehearsing
and rehearsing for the festival. They
take it seriously. The choral society
is proud of its achievements-—and
justly so—for its members have sung
some of the greatest oratorios as well
if not better according to musical au
thorities who have heard them, as
many of the world's most famous
choruses.
It has long been the established
order of things to bring from abroad
to sing at this festival each year some
of the most famous artists. A list
of those who have sung at the Spar
tanburg festival would be a list of the
world's most famous singers. They
come unprepared for the event and
go away surprised and delighted that
they have found in the South such a
temple, as is the auditorium here,
erected to music and filled with such
an inspiring audience of music lovers
The audience, usually numbering over
2.000 persons, represents the cities of
the Southeastern states, for in the
more recent years the fame of the
festival has attracted musicians from
neighboring cities, who come in parties
to enjoy the week or music.
Our forefathers, “these men of vision,
without whose guiding power the South
would, indeed, have perished, achieved
greater marvels after 1865 than those
of the battlefields on which they had
led their troops to victory. The fight
against poverty, against lawlessness,
against disorganization in legislation
and in every avenue of governmental
and business activity was a harder
tight than that of bayonet and bullet
and the roar of cannon through which
they had just passed. This industrial
fight required as much courage, as
much ability, as that displayed by the
same men in facing the cannon, or
leading a charge on some apparently
forlorn hope in 1865.
The present splendid development
I’llK ATLANTA (iKOUUI AX, SATIIJDAY. .1 l-I.Y 6. I’. >l2
The South Atlantic States Music Festival
By AR THUR L. MANCHESTER, Director.
REV. ROBERT P. PELL,
President of Converse College, Spar
tanburg, S. C.
which we have reached today in the
South is under deep obligation to those
men of the great faith and the heroic
vision, for it was to their heroism and
unparalleled courage and self-sacrifice
that the Greater South exists today.
The material upbuilding of the South,
which by reason of the terrible disas
ters of war. made but little progress up
to 1880, was largely led by the same
men who had been active factors in
that great struggle. “They were men
of heroic mold, men of dauntless cour
age, men who knew not how to yield
to defeat; in fact, they never recog
nized defeat. From one end of the
South to the other they beat their
swords into plowshares and preached
and practiced the gospel of industrial
development as the only salvation of
the South."
Honor Where It Is Due.
Young men of the South, you who art
living in the golden age of our civiliza
tion. do not forget for a moment that
such a state of material prosperity as
you see today was made possible by
the foresight, the brains, the self-sacri
ficing devotion of the men of the six
ties—those men of the vision! With
never flagging zeal and untiring energy
they gave their very lives to redeem the
South from poverty to prosperity.
"Theirs was an uphill fight; the odds
were against them. The world at large
did not believe that they could re-es
tablish a stable government, rebuild the
South and save this section to Anglo-
Saxon civilization.”
But they did it; and what is more,
they made possible an industrial and
commercial development for the sec
tion whose history reads like a fairy
tale. Her rivers have been spanned
with steel bridges; her mountain passes
threaded with railroads; her streams
harnessed to catch the unlimited en
ergy which before had loitered listless
ly to the sea and now is lighting a hun
dred cities.
“Living in the sunshine of today's
prosperity.” says a recent writer, "the
people of the South may well pause
to consider the achievements of the
leaders in state government reorgani
zation, in industrial development, in
railroad building, in diversified agricul
ture, who for a third of a century ago,
in every part of the South, did a work
which has never been surpassed, if ever
equated. Same of the otd industrial
plants which had survived the ruin of
war were revived: some new ones were
built and gradually there came a quick
ening. life-giving realization that what
the South had lost of wealth by the
war could be more than regained
through the fullest utilization of the
natural resources with which a kind
Providence had with lavish hand en
dowed this region. These men took up
the work which had so ruthlessly been
destroyed by war. They sought to re
vive the industrial spirit of the South
rather than to create a new spirit, for
there was inherent in Southern life a
great latent power for engineering and
industrial operations."
Financial Side of Festival.
In the Carolinas the festival is
known in away but appreciated only
by those who have attended it. It is a
great musical event and the men and
women who are directing it labor for
its success only through their devotion
to high ideals. Financially the festival
is upon a business basis. The recent
festivals have cost mote than SIO,OOO,
.but with possibly one exception the
■patronage has always brought to the
.box office sufficient funds to pay all
expenses. The approaching festival
will be one of the most expensive ever
given, but there is no uneasiness con
cerning the attendance.
In 1894 the South Atlantic States
Music Festival had its beginning. It
was a modest beginning, but the ideals
were high, and the determination was
then formed that nothing should be
promised that could not be completely
fulfilled, and that performance should
excel) announcement. And from the
beginning these have been the basic
principles of the festival How well
they have been adhered to patrons
who have attended the festival regu
larly for as many as ten years know.
It has been the constant care of the
management to fulfill all promises,
raising the standard of artistic excel
lence year by year.
The result of this policy has been
the establishment of a reputation which
is the pride of residents of the South
Atlantic States. And the record of
artists brought to this section, of great
compositions presented by the care
fully trained chorus, and of stimula
tion of musical culture is a matter of
common knowledge.
If the largely increased number of
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choral societies now in existence can
be taken as a criterion, interest in the
production of choral works is wide
spread. In all pants of the country
choruses. ' large and small, are busily
engaged in presenting compositions for
chorus and solo voices, with and with
out orchestral accompaniment. This
spread of interest in choral music is a
development of great value to music
generally, for a more educative and
important phase of musical activity
than that of the cultivation of chorus
singing can not be found.
The Converse College Choral society
is almost a pioneer in this field. When
it began its series of concerts in 1894
there were comparatively few such oi -
ganizations active; its eighteen years
of life have seen great advances marie
in the giving of choral music. During
these years it has maintained its high
ideals, and has given the patrons of
the festival better programs each year
I>t feels a pardonable- pride in the rec
ord it has made, and proposes to con
tinue advancing to better tilings each
succeeding year.
The s-teady growth of the festival
tjuiing the years 1905, 1906 and 1907
made it necessary to enlarge the audi
torium to a seating capacity of 2,500.
In 1908 this enlarged auditorium was
used for the first time, and was filled
to its capacity. The comfortable seat
ing. the perfect acoustics and the Con
venience of the foyer, cloak and re
tiring rooms at once appealed to the
patrons of the festival. In 1909 the
audience again filled the auditorium.
In discussing the selection of a sym
phony for the coming festival. Mr.
Damrosch recently told the director of
the festival that he could make greater
effects with an orchestra of 50 men in
the Converse college auditorium than
he could with 75 or 80 in Carnegie hall.
New York city. He has pronounced it
to be one of the most satisfying con
cert halls in the entire country, and
icvery artist who has sung in it has
emphasized this statement. Patrons of
the festival are fortunate in having so
perfect a combination of comfort and
musical qualities in the room devoted
to the festivals.
Officsrs of the Festival.
Following rs a list of the officers of
the festival:
A. H. Twichell, president: Warren
DuPre, vice president; Dr. H. A. Lie-on.
secretary-treasurer: Arthur L. Man
chester, director. Executive commit
tee: A H. Twichell, Dr. H. A. Ligon.
J. C. Evins. John A. Law, Warren Du-
Pre. Horace Bomar, W. E. Burnett. R.
H. F. Chapman and Arthur L. Man
chester.
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