PARKER.
Horatio W. Parker, a young American composer of more than ordinary promise, was born at Auburndale, Mass., Sept. 15, 1863. After his fifteenth year he began the study of music, taking his earlier lessons of the three Boston teachers, Stephen A. Emery, John Orth, and G. W. Chadwick. In 1882 he went to Munich and studied the organ and composition with Josef Rheinberger, for three years. In the spring of 1885 he wrote the cantata “King Trojan,” and it was produced for the first time in that city with success during the summer of the same year. Since then it has been given in this country by Mr. Jules Jordan, of Providence, R. I., Feb. 8, 1887. His string quartet in F major was played at a concert of the Buffalo Philharmonic Society in January, 1886; and a short scherzo was performed by the Van der Stücken orchestra in New York City in the same year. Besides these compositions, he has written three overtures, quite a number of songs and pieces for the piano-forte, and a symphony in C, and ballade for chorus and orchestra, both of which were played in Munich last year. In 1886 he accepted the professorship of music at the Cathedral School of St. Paul, Garden City, L. I., and in February, 1887, went to New York, where he now resides, to take charge of a boy choir in St. Andrew’s Church, Harlem.
King Trojan.
“King Trojan,” composed for chorus, solos, and orchestra, was written in March, 1885, and first performed in July of the same year, at Munich. Its story is the poem of the same name, by Franz Alfred Muth, the English version being a free and excellent translation by the composer’s mother, Mrs. Isabella G. Parker, of Auburndale, Mass.
After a short and graceful introduction, the cantata opens with a solo describing the quiet beauty of a summer night, daintily accompanied by wind instruments and harp. A second voice replies (“O Summer Night”), and then the two join in a very vigorous duet (“O fill thou Even with Light of Heaven”). A short solo for third voice leads up to a chorus which gives us a picture of King Trojan’s castle gleaming in the moonlight. It is followed by a very effective solo for the King (“The Horse is neighing, O Page of mine”), in which he bids his Page saddle his steed for a night ride to visit his distant love. The chorus intervenes with a reflective number (“What thinks she now?”), which is very dramatic in style, describing the mutual longing of the lovers to be together.
The second scene opens with a short solo by the Page (“Up, up, O King, the Horses wait”), followed by the chorus as narrator, describing the ride of the King and his companion through the greenwood, with which is interwoven Trojan’s solo (“How sweet and cool is yet the Night”). In the next number, a vivacious allegro, the story of the ride is continued by the chorus, with a characteristic accompaniment, and again Trojan sings a charming tribute to the summer night, which is followed by responsive solos of the King and the Page, in the allegro and penseroso style,—the one singing of the raptures of night, the other of the gladness of day and sunlight. A passionate bit of recitative (“Now swift, ye Horses”) by Trojan reveals the secret of the King’s haste. He is King of the night, and the morning ray will be fatal to him. A short choral number (“And forward fly they”) brings the first part to a close with the arrival of the riders at the Queen’s castle.
The second part opens with a beautiful solo, quartet, and chorus (“Good-Night, the Lindens whisper”), which describes the meeting of the lovers, while
“Beneath the lofty castle gate