No one will seriously deny that music is a necessary element in our lives when it can produce in the same listener the highest spiritual exaltation as well as the most frivolous gaiety. The inspiration to strive for an ideal—the will to be better than we really are—these things come to us most readily through music and afford an adequate refuge from the world, the flesh and the devil—the triad which gives battle in every heart.
Sacred music in all its many forms occupies a quite special position and carries a quite special significance. In all of it there is the same basic effect on the mind and one must be cold as ice not to feel the thrill of the full choir, the magnificent choruses of oratorio.
All of these things are part of what the Victrola brings into your home and into your life. Reverence or the brimming over of one’s faith does not manifest itself only under specially consecrated roofs, and in these exalted moments it is good to know that the Victrola brings to you not only the music of the church but the music of all faiths.
It would be exceedingly difficult to suggest records of hymn tunes which would be of equal interest to everybody, but the Gluck and Homer Duets, the Crucifix, the Palms, Élégie, the Angel’s Serenade, the Mascagni Ave Maria and the record of Come, All Ye Faithful, in which chimes are used, are among those which make a very general appeal.
Concert Songs
There are those who will tell you that the highest achievement of vocal art is the concert song, and much may be said in justification of such a statement. Certainly, on the concert stage, art is shorn of accessories. There are no borrowed effects and no borrowed interests. The composer, the accompanist and the soloist stand alone at the bar of public opinion and it would seem quite reasonable to suppose that only a consistent excellence on the part of all three would be sufficient to win the world’s acclaim.
One thing is very certain, that the concert song, like the violin solo, is a complete musical composition in itself. One needs to know no “context” for there is none, and so none of its effect is lost. However that may be, opera and the symphony are available to only those who live in the big cities or near enough so that frequent visits are possible, and so it happens that for the majority of us a concert is about the biggest musical experience we can attain. For that reason, if for no other, concert songs mean more to the great majority than does any other form of music.
One’s enjoyment of any concert can be vastly increased by a little preliminary knowledge of the forthcoming program gained by means of the Victrola and while it would be quite impossible to offer a list of all the concert songs which are available in the form of Victor records, the following will unquestionably satisfy the most discriminating taste: “Voce di primavera,” “Ah, Moon of My Delight,” “Leggiero invisible” (Bolero), “A la Luz de la Luna,” “Oh, That We Two Were Maying,” the Lullaby from Jocelyn, “Caro mio ben,” “Le Nil” and “The Cry of Rachel.”