Birth of the
Terre Haute Choral Society

THE TERRE HAUTE SYMPHONY
CHORUS AND ORCHESTRA

TILSON MUSIC HALL

Sunday, December 15, 1974
3:00 P.M.

Sponsored by the Terre Haute Symphony Association

The Board of Directors of the Terre Haute Symphony Association is very proud to sponsor the newly formed Terre Haute Symphony Chorus. This enthusiastic group of singers will greatly assist us in the furtherance of musical culture in this and surrounding communities.

We are also very grateful to members of the Terre Haute Symphony for foregoing their remuneration for this presentation of the MESSIAH so that all proceeds may be used to establish a Student Music Scholarship Fund.

PROGRAM

CHORUS PERSONNEL

SYMPHONY PERSONNEL

Review

The Star, Terre Haute, Ind., Monday, December 16, 1974

Chorus And Orchestra Present Christmas Concert

By FREDERICK BLACK

The Christmas portion of Handel's "Messiah" and Daniel Pinkham's "Christmas Cantata" were given great performances Sunday afternoon in Tilson Music Hall by the Terre Haute Symphony Chorus and Orchestra.

Mr. Robert Hounchell. who's the director of the chorus and who prepared the chorus for the singing of both "The Messiah" and the "Christmas Cantata;" directed the attractively dissonant "Christmas Cantata" by the highly regarded contemporary composer, Daniel Pinkham, which opened the program

It was evident from the singing of this first work that Mr. Hounchell had welded his singers into a vocal ensemble of fine unity and balance. Clear diction and the ability to stay on pitch contributed to the effectiveness of the performance. A brass ensemble of nine instrumentalists furnished a strong accompaniment.

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Handel was down on his luck I when he composed "The Messiah." Its subsequent popularity saved him from bankruptcy. That popularity remains undiminished to this day, over 230 years after it was composed . The audience was a large one, nearly filling Tilson Music Hall and they came to hear "The Messiah," as do audiences all over the world, particularly at Christmas time.

Dr. Victor B. Danek. conductor of the Terre Haute Symphony, directed the chorus of 100 plus and about 40 members of the Terre Haute Symphony who accompanied the chorus. Under his understanding direction Part I of "The Messiah" plus the famed "Hallelujah! Chorus" w e r e given as the Christmas Portion of the great oratorio.

The chorus sang splendidly. Suitable restraint in tempo contributed to understandable diction a controlled ensemble, and made those mean 16th note passages evenly executed.

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The four soloists did as superb a job as did the chorus in singing this demanding oratorio. They even made it sound easy, no mean feat! The two men soloists were David Doyle, tenor, and Wilbert Boone, barltone, both products of Indiana State University. The two women were Ann Pavell Klaer, soprano, and Pat Kasper Foulk, mezzo-soprano.

On the part of both the sololists and the chorus the singing was of the highest caliber. It was an outstanding performance, probably the best local performance yet of Handel's "The Messiah " The audience aplauded long and loud at the conclusion of this afternoon of inspiring music.