Soon after this Mrs. Pierce accepted the position of soprano at the Church of the Advent, Rev. Mr. Lathrop, pastor; Louis Schmidt, organist. After two years she joined the choir of the Plymouth Church, which celebrated its golden anniversary January 12, 1912, Rev. T.K. Noble, pastor. She was a member and the soprano of this flourishing church for five years. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce and their two children then took a trip East with the intention of making Boston their home, but the longing for California was too strong and after an absence of two years, during which time Mrs. Pierce was soprano in the largest Congregational Church of Freetown, Mass., they returned to California where Mrs. Pierce again resumed her church and concert work, singing in the Church of the Advent, Mr. Lathrop, and after eighteen months in Grace cathedral, Dr. William Platt, rector, and William Whittaker, organist, where she remained as soprano six years. The fine instruction she had received as a singer enabled Mrs. Pierce to hold several important positions as teacher, being several years at the Perry Seminary in Sacramento and also at the Irving Institute, San Francisco, under Mr. and Mrs. Church. She had a large class of pupils, many of whom hold important positions today. The position of soprano of the First Unitarian Church, then the largest and most fashionable congregation in San Francisco, being offered Mrs. Pierce, she accepted it, and was for ten years in this very happy connection, Dr. Horatio Stebbins, pastor, Mr. Louis Schmidt, Mr. J. Humphrey Stewart and Mr. Henry Bretherick, the present incumbent, being organists. At this period Mr. and Mrs. Pierce gave up their home in San Francisco, which had always been recognized for its hospitality and charming musical atmosphere, always welcoming and entertaining the musicians of the city and new arrivals, and removed to Berkeley to enter their son and daughter into the University. Here Mrs. Pierce again took up the leadership in the Unitarian church choir, then being held in Stiles hall and until the new church was built she sang but after the service of dedication of the church she resigned, the singing being of a congregational form and led by a baritone voice. At clubs and parlor receptions, Mrs. Pierce is still a favorite ballad singer and is always greeted with appreciation and pleasure, for her voice though not so powerful as in its prime, still exemplifies the value of her early training and fine method of pure Bel Canto. Like the authoress of this book, she proves a perfect method in youth preserves the beauty of the voice even unto and beyond the three score and ten. Mrs. Pierce and Mrs. Marriner-Campbell were the singers at the famous Chamber concerts given by Messrs. Schmidt and Weil and who were considered by a patronizing public the exponents of the best music ever given in California, and at the concerts given by Mr. Henry Heyman and those of Mr. Jacob Rosewald. Mr. Joseph Maguire's last appearance in public was when he and Mrs. Pierce sang at a concert under the direction of Mr. Stephen Leach. They sang the fine old English duet, When Thy Bosom Heaves the Sigh to tumultuous applause and were recalled again and again. Before Mrs. Campbell's departure for Europe, at a farewell concert (held in the Howard Presbyterian Church, Mission street, before 1800 persons), Mr. Walter Campbell and Mrs. Pierce gave a most spirited rendering of the difficult old Italian duet for basso and soprano of Master and Scholar with tremendous effect. At the music jubilee held in old Mechanics' pavilion in 1878, Mrs. Pierce was seated in the third row of sopranos and very willingly took her place, when after the first chorus, Mr. Zerrahn, the leader, leaned forward and said, "Please, that lady, come out here," and placed her at his side, so telling and pure was the carrying quality of her voice that he at once singled her out for the cherished "front row."
Always associated with the highest efforts in music, Mrs. Pierce is one of the founders of the successful Musical Association of Berkeley and also of the New Oratorio Society of Berkeley which has in its membership many of the most prominent musicians in the University town, the musical center of California.
A very high compliment was paid Mrs. Pierce on her departure for the East in 1876 when the Handel and Haydn society of San Francisco, under the distinguished leader, John P. Morgan, gave her a letter of introduction to the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, bespeaking for her all the privileges which it could grant to a "devoted and well beloved member of its sister society on the Pacific Coast." This was the first time this signal honor had ever been given to a member.
One of the most pleasurable remembrances I have of Mrs. Pierce is associated with a Handel and Haydn concert in Mechanics' Pavilion. Elijah was given and with Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Haydn, Mrs. Pierce sang the immortal trio, Lift Thine Eyes, to tremendous enthusiasm. The trio had to be repeated three times, so evenly and perfectly were the voices blended. Later this trio was sung with great success at a reception given by the Bohemian club. Mrs. Pierce, Miss Wood and Mrs. Birmingham were the singers.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
REMINISCENCES OF LATER CALIFORNIA MUSICIANS AND SINGERS
JOSEPH MAGUIRE
