CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ROMAN CATHOLIC, EPISCOPAL, AND JEWISH MUSIC. J.H. DOHRMANN. THE BIANCHI'S
URING my ten years' engagement at St. Patrick's Church, on Mission street, San Francisco, we gave many masses and also arranged concerts which would prove of great value to the singers of today who have aspirations for better music than the frivolous songs and bad style of singing which is in vogue. The masses that we sang were written by the best masters. Our organist and director was educated in Europe and received the best musical education and understood the standard which should be upheld. We were familiar with all of Mozart's masses, requiems and vespers. 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. Rossini's Solenelle was given on the solemn occasion of the death of Pius IX. It was rendered for the first time in California October 31st, by sixteen solo voices, thirty-five in the chorus and the regular choir, full orchestra and organ. The following was the programme for the requiem mass Solenelle sung by the soloists and assisted by the chorus and orchestra and organ; Introit, Dies Iræ, Lacrimosa, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, Lux Aeterna were all from Cherubini's compositions; offertory, Dominus from Verdi, Libera from Palestrina:
Mrs. Brandel, soprano
Signora Bianchi, mezzo-soprano
Mrs. M.R. Blake, mezzo-contralto
Signor Bianchi, tenor
Signor Meize, tenor
Mr. Stockmyer, bass
Mr. Yarndley, bass
J.H. Dohrmann, organist
Orchestra 30 pieces.
With a crowded church and the altars draped in black, with the rest of the gifted singers on that occasion, will candelabras that were all burning, with many priests upon the altar, and the other accessories, the scene was notable. Time never can erase the picture as it comes back in memory. The wonderful music, in which I took part, with the rest of the gifted singers on that occasion, will never be forgotten.
Later, as years rolled on and the old singers retired, we had other artists who were the singers in this choir:
Mrs. Urig, soprano
Mrs. Young, soprano
Mrs. Taylor, soprano
Signora Bianchi, mezzo-soprano
Mrs. Herman, mezzo-soprano
Mrs. M.R. Blake, contralto
Miss Ella Steele, contralto
Mr. Buch, bass
Mr. Schnable, bass