Among the amateur dramatic societies there is La Section Littéraire et Dramatique du Cercle Jeanne D’Arc, while many of the churches, colleges and schools have their own societies, the best known of which, that attached to Trinity Church, which under the well known Montreal actor, W.A. Tremayne, gives, during the season, a production of a very high order each month. The Dickens’ Fellowship also gives each season representations of the dramatized works of the great master.
The amateur drama has not fared ill in Montreal. It was in Montreal that the great Canadian actress, Margaret Anglin, received her education in a convent of this city; other artists educated here being Maxine Elliot, Gertrude Elliot, the wife of Sir Forbes Robertson; Miss Marie Tempest, and Madame Donalda, the Canadian singer.
As a sign of the interest being awakened in the drama in Montreal, it is pleasing to record the birth, during the last two years, of the Drama League for the purposes of promoting the true interests of the theatre and the cultivation of a right drama in the city.
MUSIC
Music naturally came into this country with the French, who are essentially musical, for the church encouraged this trait by affording many occasions for the best music. Good voices were easily procurable and every encouragement was also given to orchestral music, both in the churches and in the home. From this there spread out the desire for musical associations. Among modern societies that of the Société de Ste. Cécile was founded by A.J. Boucher on November 11, 1860, and there followed in 1861 the Société Musicale des Montaguards Canadiens founded by François Benoit. The English also did not neglect musical culture and about this time the “Amateur Musical League of Montreal” was founded by a Mr. Torrington who was organist of the St. James Methodist Church.
Perhaps the most noted musical organization which Montreal has ever possessed was the Mendelssohn Choir, a private society initiated in 1884 by the late Mr. Joseph Gould, who during its whole musical life of thirty years, acted as its sole business manager and conductor. The Choir was composed of picked voices, to the number, in its later years, of about one hundred and twenty-five. Its forte lay in its remarkable unaccompanied part-singing which was compared by competent judges with the best performances of Henry Leslie’s choir in London, in those days, perhaps the most famous body of its kind in the world.
The first Mendelssohn Choir concerts were given in Mr. Gould’s piano warerooms on St. James’ Street, admission being exclusively by invitation. After a few years, subscribing annual members were received, in addition to the active members. The concerts thus became, and thereafter continued to be, subscription concerts; and were given in the principal public halls, the Mechanics’ Hall, the Queen’s Hall, and others being successively used. Many of the most celebrated artists, both instrumentalists and vocalists, who have visited Montreal, were introduced to the public at Mendelssohn Choir concerts, although the chief attraction always continued to be the singing of the Choir itself, whose reputation gradually extended throughout Canada to the United States and even to Europe.
In 1894 Mr. Gould, owing chiefly to failing health, resigned his position as conductor and director, and the Choir, unwilling to sing under any other leader, voluntarily disbanded.
Two other contemporary musical societies at this period have also left a void in the city. The Handel and Hayden Society and the Philharmonic, the former being led by Professor Rayner, and the latter organization as notable as the Mendelssohn Choir, by Professor Couture. The rôle of the Philharmonic, however, was oratorio with orchestral accompaniment. The first steps for organization were taken in 1877 by three concerts given under the name of the Montreal Musical Festival held in the Victoria Skating Rink. The object was to produce in Montreal two of the grand musical productions with first class soloists, choir and orchestra, after the manner of the great English festivals.