JOSEPH MAGUIRE
N THE death of Joseph Maguire, California lost one of its finest tenors. He was known to a wide circle, both in this state and Nevada.
He was a mining man, but it was as a musician that he made his reputation. He was a tenor singer of great sweetness and power. The public had a keen appreciation of the purity of his vocalization and had the opportunity to hear him weekly at the Unitarian Church, Dr. Stebbins, pastor. His sickness was of short duration and his death came as a severe blow to his many musical friends and associates. He was a member of the Amphion Quartette and Bohemian Club chorus. He was tenor in the St. John's Presbyterian Church on Post street, in the quartette, where he and I sang for two and a half years. It was a half hour previous to his death while in a delirium that he sang like a bird Gounod's Ave Maria, imagining himself at a musical gathering. The last sad rites were performed under the auspices of Occidental Lodge, F. & A.M., of which Mr. Maguire was a well-beloved member. He was a native of Bolton, England, aged forty-four years.
In memory of our much beloved Joe Maguire, as he was affectionately called by his California friends who loved him for his beautiful singing and for his own self, I shall give the musical service as it was rendered at the church. A most beautiful tribute of flowers, in the shape of a lyre with the silver strings snapped and hanging loosely, was placed in the choir where he stood each Sabbath and sang his glorious songs. Certainly no one knew him but to love him, and the last tribute of song given him by his friends will last as long as memory remains in the living musicians who assisted in the ceremonies at the church.
Funeral Services in Memory of
JOSEPH MAGUIRE
September, 1833—March, 1878
First Unitarian Church, Geary street
San Francisco, Sunday, March 24, 1878.
1. Organ voluntary.
2. Chorus of male voices:
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Brother, through from yonder sky Cometh neither voice nor cry, Yet we know from thee today Every pain has passed away. Brother, in that solemn trust We commend thee dust to dust, In that faith we wait 'till risen, Thou shalt meet us all in heaven. |
3. Readings from the Scripture: Extracts from the Book of Job.
Rev. Horatio Stebbins.
4. Double quartette for female voices.
Their sun shall no more go down; the Lord shall be their everlasting light; and the days of their mourning are ended. For the Lord shall feed them and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
5. Funeral oration, by Harry Edwards.
6. Choral from Spohr's Last Judgment.
Lord God Almighty, we adore Thee; Thou, Lord, will take away every sorrow; Thou wilt wipe away all tears from my eyes. Yea, every tear and every sorrow Thou wilt wipe away from our eyes; nor death, nor pain, nor sorrow shalt then be known.
7. Remarks and Prayer, by Horatio Stebbins.
8. Hymn, Abide With Me.
There were thirty-five voices in all from the societies with which he had affiliated, and the sixteen female voices were the soloists of the different choirs in which he had sung so many years. They were grouped about his casket and with superhuman effort performed the last tribute of affection for one of God's most beautiful singers whom all loved. Rest, sweet spirit, rest.
