Lamoureux attempted in 1873 to perform the great choral works of Bach
and Haendel; and in 1878 the celebrated French organist, M. Alexandre
Guilmant, ventured to give concerts at the Trocadero for the organ and
orchestra, which were devoted to religious music of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. But the deplorable acoustics of the concert-room
had a prejudicial effect on the works that were performed there; and the
public did not respond very warmly to M. Guilmant's efforts, and seemed
from the first only to find an historical interest in the masterpieces,
and to miss their depth and life altogether.
Then a pupil of Franck's, M. Henry Expert, who began his admirable works
on Musical History in 1882, laid the foundation of the _Societe J.S.
Bach_, in order to spread the knowledge of ancient music written between
the twelfth and eighteenth centuries. And he succeeded in interesting
in his undertaking, not only the principal French musicians, such as
Cesar Franck, Saint-Saens, and Gounod, but also foreigners, such as Hans
von Buelow, Tschaikowsky, Grieg, Sgambati, and Gevaert. Unhappily this
society never got farther than arranging what it wanted to do, and only
sketched out the plans that were realised later by Charles Bordes.
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