The orchestra (the
_Strassbuerger Staedtische Orchester_) and the choir, which was formed of
different _Chorvereine_ of Strasburg, were conducted by Richard Strauss,
Gustav Mahler, and Camille Chevillard. But the names of these famous
_Kapellmeister_ must not let us forget the man who was really the soul
of the concerts--Professor Ernst Muench, of Strasburg, an Alsatian, who
conducted all the rehearsals, and who effaced himself at the last
moment, and left all the honours to the conductors of foreign
orchestras. Professor Muench, who is also organist at Saint-Guillaume,
has done more than anyone else for music in Strasburg, and has trained
excellent choirs (the "_Choeurs de Saint-Guillaume_") there, and
organised splendid concerts of Bach's music with the aid of another
Alsatian, Albert Schweitzer, whose name is well known to musical
historians. The latter is director of the clerical college of St. Thomas
(_Thomasstift_), a pastor, an organist, a professor at the University of
Strasburg, and the author of interesting works on theology and
philosophy. Besides this he has written a now famous book,
_Jean-Sebastien Bach_, which is doubly remarkable: first, because it is
written in French (though it was published in Leipzig by a professor of
the University of Strasburg), and secondly, because it shows an
harmonious blend of the French and German spirit, and gives fresh life
to the study of Bach and the old classic art.
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