_Conductor_--S.W. Leach.
_Sopranos_--Mrs. Marriner-Campbell, Mrs. J.E. Tippett, Mrs.
J.M. Pierce, Mrs. Sarah Little.
_Altos_--Mrs. M.R. Blake, Miss E. Beutler, Miss Ida Beutler,
Mrs. Chisolm.
_Tenors_--J.E. Tippett, Ben Clark, J. Webber.
_Bassos_--Walter C. Campbell, C.W. Dugan, Will B. Edwards.
_Pianist_--Geo. J. Gee.
For years we served the public, winning fresh laurels yearly and
adding to our repertoire of madrigals and songs worthy the aspirations
of any competent and conscientious singers. Every number was a gem of
the music writer's art. Good music never grows old, and songs like
these should claim the student's attention in place of the common
everyday songs that cater to a lower taste or create a laugh. They
lower the standard of the singer. There are many comic songs that will
bring the wholesome laugh and be welcomed by an appreciative audience.
The singer makes the song as she builds her own character. It is the
understanding of the writer's meaning, of the sentiment he has tried
to embody, which shows the intelligent and artistic singer. Happy
indeed is the singer if his success follows the rendering of his
songs. This is the way our reputations are made. Is it not a great
happiness to the singer and the listener that the tones come pure and
limpid from the long-cherished instrument that still answers to the
beautiful strains of the Last Rose of Summer or Safe in the Arms of
Jesus? Can any one conceive the devotion with which a singer nurses
the beautiful gift which is above rubies--a priceless gem--only to be
made more beautiful when it returns to the God who gave it, and made
more beautiful by the knowledge that he has done what is possible with
the talent entrusted to him, and unconsciously made the gift more
suitable to join the Everlasting Choir, Eternal in the Heavens, to
join in the congregation of saints who had found the harmony of the
Lost Chord, and to make the heavens ring with the melody of the last
strain, Only in heaven I shall hear that grand Amen?
It is a fact that in writing my memoirs I felt a little reluctant at
first to write all about myself and my work, but I have come to the
conclusion that it is not vanity on my part to report history, and
certainly I have left no stone unturned to hunt out real facts and
occurrences from my letters, programs, diaries and other papers. As I
have been first in many things, perhaps it may be interesting to know
who sang the Lost Chord the first time in California, a song so
widely known and sung by so many singers. In the year 1878, while Mrs.
Louisa Marriner was in London on one of her yearly visits, in her
generous kindness she sent me the Lost Chord and also Sullivan's Let
Me Dream Again, two new compositions which, she said, were just
written for me. During this year Calvary Literary society gave an
evening of song for the Ladies' Relief society, and among the numbers
of the programme was the Lost Chord, with piano and organ
accompaniment. Mrs. Henry Norton was soprano; Mrs. M.R. Blake,
contralto; C.L. Gage, bass; J. de S. Bettincourt, tenor; C. Howland,
second tenor; E. McD. Johnston, bass; Miss F.A. Dillaye, organist;
H.M. Bosworth, organ and piano, and Prof. Theo. Herzog, violin. It was
on this occasion that I sang the song of the Lost Chord, with organ
and piano.
Sometimes in recounting incidents in our lives we often wonder how
they began, as, in this instance, "I wonder who sang the Lost Chord
first on this coast?" In this article you have the answer.