The Twelfth was the most frequently sung if
grand, joyful music was required. The Requiem Brevis, a gem of church
music, was given on the most solemn service. All Saints' Day generally
claimed that number. The Fifth Mass was the one chosen when we
dedicated the magnificent $10,000 organ, June 20, 1869, which was
bought with the money received from the grand concerts which were
given from time to time by the regular choir and chorus of thirty
voices with orchestra and visiting soloists of high repute, if they
happened to be in the city at the time of giving.
I am more than grateful that I can place within these pages a fine
photograph of this magnificent organ, a reminder of the once beautiful
and grand instrument which was destroyed and burned until there was
not a souvenir left to tell the story of the great and grand music
that it pealed forth so many years, and of the work of the beautiful
voices that once sang the praises and the power of the grandest music
ever written by a galaxy of writers who are no longer with us. Of
Haydn's sixteen masses we usually sang from one to eight, these being
the most used, and No. 16 B Flat mass was often chosen. His Vespers
No. 1 was sung many times. We generally used Weber's masses--one
written in E flat and one in the key of G. They were the most familiar
of his masses. One of the most difficult masses we sang was written by
I.J. Paine of Boston. It was the first mass and required artists to
give the proper importance to this magnificent mass.
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