De Koven Male Quartet

              THE DEKOVEN MALE QUARTET COMPANY
S. M. Holladay, Mgr.,  Midland Chautauqua Circuit,  Des Moines, Iowa
The DeKoven Male Quartet
HOWARD L. BAXTER, First Tenor & Cornetist.   I VON H. BLACKMAN, Second Tenor & Mgr. CLIFFORD A. FOOTE, Baritone.                     JOHN J. ODBERT, Basso.
THE DE KOVEN MALE QUARTET. A company of selected vocalists singing many of the old songs and singing them well. For several seasons we have contemplated placing before our committees a company of artists capable of correctly interpreting the songs of long ago. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to have heard the great and only "Patti," will remember the storm of applause that greeted her when she sang "Home, Sweet Home." We have always claimed that it required greater art to render the familiar songs in English, than many of the Operatic selections in a foreign tongue. The individual members of the company possess excellent voices and sympathetic natures, so essential in the ensemble work. The DeKoven Male Quartet are so well known in all sections of the country that words of introduction are entirely unnecessary. They have been returned year after year over some of the best Lyceum Courses.
The De Kovens have been before the public for six years now and have never had a change in their personnel which has had much to do with the great success that has followed them all over the country. They are together all the year doing a big Chautauqua season and a thirty-two weeks Lyceum engagement every year. We cannot say too much in behalf of this able quartet and we can guarantee satisfaction to any committee engaging them.
DE  KOVENS  AT TEKAMAH, NEBRASKA CHAUTAUQUA (1909)
The De Kovens appear on the largest Lyceum course in the world—over 4,000 course tickets, besides about 1,000 single admissions. The big auditorium, seating over 5,000 taxed to extreme capacity. Simple, yet vibrant with melody and tenderness; plain, yet teeming with the spirit of sunshine and shadow; wholesome, yet rich and mellow, were the songs rendered by the De Koven Male Quartette Company to an audience which taxed the capacity of the Auditorium and by its earnest endorsement and responsive appreciation of the numbers offered, well upheld the reputation for culture and refinement which Nashville has always had, and the love of song, for which the South is known abroad. The programme was divided into three parts, first containing a number of new airs, the second being in the nature of a musical sketch written and arranged by Mr, Foote, and the last division offered the old songs, the songs of simplicity and the South. And it was in these that the company shone with especial splendor.
When the De Kovens were here they received such tumultuous applause that they expressed a desire to return again in the spring. The suggestion did not need to be made, for Salisbury was too much delighted to allow these men to stay on the road without giving them a return date. They will be here again in March. This is undoubtedly the best quartet that has ever sung in this city. The eleven numbers on the program received thirty-five encores.— Salisbury Evening Post, N. C.
The De Kovens filled fourth engagement in the Star Course of entertainments, given by the  Y.   M. C.   A.,  and  entertained a large audience in Music Hall last evening. The audience was impartial in its appreciation of the different numbers, and seemed intent on making each member give as many encores as the time allowed.—The Rochester Herald, Rochester, N. Y.
The first number of the Peoples Entertainment Course was a delightful success. It opened most auspiciously with the De Kovens at the Opera House last night. The combination proved a particularly strong one and every number on the program was enthusiastically received with rounds of applause. It has been a long time since a Hanover audience had the pleasure of hearing a more evenly balanced quartet of male voices, which blended so harmoniously, while the solo work was of high order.—Hanover, Pa.
The De Kovens greatly delighted the large audience at the Y. M. C. A. Hall last evening by the excellent program they rendered.—Norfolk Daily News, Norfolk, Va.
The Star Lecture Course opened Friday evening with its first entertainment, The De Kovens with nearly every seat in the Academy of Music filled. The opening selection, "Bridal Chorus," from "The Rose Maiden," was extremely fine, and "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny," and "The Last Rose of Summer," in part three were heartily encored. The quartet blended together in every way, and it introduced several humorous selections. The work of the De Kovens was different from other organizations of the kind introducing novel features, making the entertainment highly entertaining.—Athol Transcript, Athol, Mass.
SOME OPINIONS
The DeKoven Male Quartet won the hearts of a big audience at the Bodley Auditorium last night. From the outset the entertainment was artistic and clever and the audience was thoroughly alive to its every merit. In addition to several classics which they rendered with splendid temperament, the quartette sang such old favorites as "Dixie," "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" and "De Sand Man," each of which so captivated the audience that several encores were demanded by the prolonged applause. The voices harmonized perfectly and evinced talent as well as superior culture and training.—Staunton, Va„ Leader,
The best entertainment of its kind ever given in South Dayton was held last Friday night. The De Koven Male Quar¬tet was certainly a very fine concert company. Their program consisted of eleven numbers; each selection being encored once and sometimes twice to all of which they responded kindly and delightfully. The voices of the quartette blended perfectly and their selections were varied to meet the demands of a lyceum audience. They sang as a quartette without the accompaniment of the piano. Individually and collectively the concert was a great success.— So. Dayton, X. Y„ News
The DeKoven Male Quartet will be the only vocalists on the program, and they are down for several numbers. Judging from their work of last night, and that at the afternoon concerts, they will please immensely.—Richmond, Va., Dispatch.
The De Koven Quartet appeared before a large and enthusiastic audience in Carroll Hall last night, in a carefully selected and most pleasing program. This was a return engagement.—Cumberland, Md.., News
The concert given on Monday evening by the De Koven Quartet was enjoyed by a large and appreciative audience. The well chosen musical selections were rendered in a very pleasing manner, characterized by such animation and vivacity that the real enjoyment of the audience was assured. A very clever "Twenty-Minute Sketch" concluded this most pleasing program.—Olean, N. Y., Times
The entertainment in the town hall last Wednesday evening, given by the De Koven Quartet, was well patronized and worthy of the enthusiastic praise bestowed by all who were privileged to be present. It is rarely that we hear a male quartet so well balanced, as to tone quality, as this, while their social and seemingly informal manner of rendering the program made it doubly pleasing.—Marlboro, N. H.
The De Koven Quartet visited Norwich Tuesday evening, and were given a rousing reception at Clark Opera House. From the very start every member of the company did excellent work. The numbers were all well rendered, and every number came in for its share of the applause. The twenty-minute sketch which concluded the entertainment was one of the finest things seen in Norwich in many months. —Norwich, N.  Y., Sun.
The entertainment given at Howard Opera House last Friday evening by the De Koven Male Quartette was one of the best attractions of the kind that has appeared in Baldwinsville and was greatly enjoyed by the large audience present. The program was an unusually good one and every number was rendered with a spirit and pleasing harmony that delighted the most critical. The sketch is a clever one and the parts were well adapted. The presentation was a most successful one and was enthusiastically received. —Baldwinsville, N. Y., Gazette