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*• toystli DppitY n^ef^znjB. * No. 31. Vol. III. JULY, 1895. Peice One Penny. iiATOiiis (g@iy w fm «dei sal; JULY 10th. Cfl8R7!Ii FEgflYp. The Choral Festival which took place in Llanidloes Parish Church on Wednesday afternoon, June 26th, Was, probably, to be ranked amongst the most successful ever held in this Deanery; everything passing off without a hitch, and reflecting the greatest Credit on the Eev. W. D. Eoberts the conductor—and ^e may say, manager in general as well. Contrary to usual practice, only one service was held instead <>f two ; this took place at 5-30, and was preceded at 2-30 by a preliminary^ rehearsal, after which the choirs took tea together at the National Schools when tfte catering was in the hands of Mr. Geo. Roberts, and we believe gave general satisfaction. The service opened with a processional hymn " To «ie Name of our Salvation, "the surpliced choirs enter¬ ing by the West door. We must emphasise the plural surpliced choirs inasmuch as for the first time in the history of the deanery the Llanidloes choir was Reinforced by another lrom Llangurig. When these had taken their places in the chancel, the ^Qsurpliced choristers sitting immediately below, the Vicar of Carno who intoned the service throughout ln- excellent style, commenced the regular Evensong. -*-he Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis were sung to a 8otnewhat uninteresting unison setting by Dr. Monk, *°-e 1st and 2nd Lessons being read by the Vicar of Llangurig, and the Vicar of Trefeglwys respectively. -The anthem was " The Sun shall be no more thy Xlght by day" by Woodward, and the beautiful ttiusic was excellently rendered. The sermon was Reached by the Eev. L. IT. Evans, M.A., Vicar of Rhayader,who spoke of singing, first,for competition Which he stigmatised as its lowest legitimate use (he was evidently thinking of the emulation caused by musical competitions, but we must remember that there is such a thing as healthy rivalry without unworthy emulation, and we must confess to not entirely agreeing with Mr. Evans here); second, for applause ; and third, in the service of God, which he justly characterised as the highest use to which the great gift of song can be put. He paid the choirs a high compliment for their delicate observance of light and shade, which, coming from so capable a musician is highly gratifying. During the singing of the hymn " There is a blessed home," a collection was made towards defraying the cost of the music, then the blessing having been pronounced by the Vicar, the Festival closed with the Eecessional Hymn " At the Name of Jesus." On the whole, we may say that the singing was superior to the music which was not especially attractive. The anthem was certainly as we have said extremely taking, and Monk's Chant to Psalm cxlviii very good, but the hymns were wanting in variety and " go " ; Smith's grand, simple and familiar tune to " Be Thou my Guardian and my Guide," which was sung before the sermon being a brilliant exception ; but the singing was uniformly good, pitch and time being excellently kept, and the attack in most cases much better than on some former occasions. Some minor criticism we might make, but we will only point to the confusion which resulted once or twice between the Llanidloes use of a harmonised Amen, and the rule of the Festival that all Aniens were to be in unison ; but this was only a speck. We heartily congratulate Mr. Eoberts, and we should be glad to think that our Llanidloes boy choristers will take a lesson from their young brethren of Llangurig, who sang excellently.