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The National Music of America. 311
tions offered at the musical bargain-counter. Yet American art was benefited by the " monster" (the word fits well) festivals; choristers came from every part of New England and the Middle States, and many a little singing school, or choir, or rustic chorus, that had been satisfied with singing the watery music of the cheap " Musical ConÂvention" collections, was suddenly made acÂquainted with Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and other of the great masters. The classical musician might deplore some features of the colossal performances, but the fair-minded one will acknowledge that the Gilmore Peace Jubilees planted the seeds of good music in hundreds of villages where they had not existed before.
Gilmore wished for some special anthem which should be associated with the second festival, the largest musical gathering that had ever taken place on earth, and he found Matthias Keller's slow-moving theme, al- |
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