Music: Editorial Cantata

"Dear Editor—I am 8 years old.

Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O'Hanlon."

This embarrassing letter, in 1897, gave pause to the editors of the staid New York Sun. But not for long. Next day. in an editorial written by Editor Francis Pharcellus Church, the Sim answered in a fearless affirmative. "Not believe in Santa Claus!" it blustered, "You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see."

The Sun has often reprinted this editorial, and other papers have been pleased to copy. While Virginia O'Hanlon grew to middle age in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, at Columbia University's School of Journalism the Santa Claus editorial was held up to students as the perfect example of its type. Finally, as sooner or later happens to all such classics, the Sun's credo was set to music. The composer, NBC Conductor Rosario Bourdon, made a cantata out of it, with chords of booming brass, a soprano soloist and a male chorus, broadcast it (1932) with Soprano Jessica Dragonette. This year, for the Christmas trade, Jessica Dragonette made Is There a Santa Claus? immortal on a Victor phonograph record.