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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
Pierre Key's Music Year Book for 1938 lists 59 private organizations
actively devoted to the promotion and enjoyment of music in New Jersey.
Among these are 15 orchestras, 12 music schools, 23 choral societies, and 2
opera companies. Musical and community organizations in the larger cities
and wealthy suburbs regularly sponsor subscription concert series for half
a dozen important musical events.
Among the more prominent vocal groups are the Bach Society of New
Jersey, which annually in May presents Bach's B Minor Mass in Newark,
the Essex County Opera Association, the Montclair Operetta Club, and the
Opera Club of the Oranges. The Essex County Symphony Society annually holds a music festival in Newark, presenting leading singers and
instrumentalists. The closest approach to a State-manned symphony orchestra is the New Jersey Orchestra, drawn principally from the Oranges,
Montclair and Millburn. In December 1937 the Griffith Music Foundation
was established by the Griffith Piano Company of Newark to coordinate
and augment the existing musical activities of the State.
The activities of several educational institutions have enriched musical
life in the central part of New Jersey. The Princeton University department of music, under the direction of Roy Dickinson Welch, has lately
been enlarged and strengthened, notably by the addition of the well
known composer-teacher, Roger Sessions. Rutgers' instruction and concerts comprise a major portion of musical affairs in New Brunswick. The
Westminster Choir School at Princeton, where the noted composer, Roy
Harris, is a member of the staff, has achieved national recognition for the
excellence of its training, and the Princeton Theological Seminary is recognized as an innovator in ecclesiastical music. To the south, both Camden
and Atlantic City support local groups and concert series.
In recent years the work of the Federal Government and of the State's
churches has increased the scope of musical appreciation. By January
1939 the 27 orchestras and bands of the Federal Music Project of the
Works Progress Administration had given 17,742 concerts to 10,884,690
people. Church music ranges from hymn singing in small towns to the
production of Bach masses and Handel oratorios in urban centers. Particularly noteworthy in this field has been the revival of impressive performances of Gregorian chants under the auspices of the Roman Catholic
Diocesan Institute of Sacred Music in Newark.
The Federal Government has also contributed to the discovery and
codification of a considerable body of New Jersey folk songs. Herbert
Halpert of the Federal Theater Project has recorded more than 500 songs,
including indigenous American songs, sea chanties, children's game songs,
fiddle tunes and a large number of ballads of British origin. He has concentrated on the songs of the Pineys, swamp dwellers of southern New
Jersey. In the character of these recordings, Halpert believes he has evidence for the theory that southern New Jersey is the meeting place of the
northern and southern American folk song tradition.
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