THE PURCELL CLUB.
THE half-yearly meeting of the Purcell Club was held on Thursday, at the Sussex Hotel ; Professor TAYLOR in the chair. Among the mem- bers present, were Messrs. TURLE, HOBBS, HAWKINS, BELLAMY, FRANCIS, lirOXLEY, BRADBURY, SALE, HAWES, and BALFE.
The selection was a rich one, perhaps on this occasion uuusually so. The grace was the " Gloria Patri" in C minor ; which was followed by the exquisitely pathetic Anthem, " Remember not, Lord, our offences," and the graceful and melodious Cantata, "My beloved snake."
Previous to the selections from PURCELL'S dramatic music, which consisted of about half the musio in King Arthur, the Chairman gave a short history of this celebrated and masterly composition ; which, he said, might be regarded as the mature effort of its author's views as to the employment of music on the stage, as well as a full development of his extraordinary genius. Fortunate in having such a coadjutor as DRYDEN, he was yet more fortunate in having induced him to mould his opera according to his own suggestion. The result was one of the most perfect specimens of the lyric drama in existence : the poet and the musician were each worthy of the other. Music was frequently em- ployed in King Arthur, and always judiciously. It was employed, also, with a variety of application and a diversity of style which few operas exhibited in a like degree. When compared with the Italian Operas of HANDEL and his contemporaries, its superiority in this respect was manifest. The Chairman remarked, that, like most of his operas, PURCELL had left King Arthur unpublished. From various manuscript copies hp had endeavoured to compile a complete one ; and it was a great satisfaction to him to look forward to the perpetuation of this and other valuable works of PURCELL by the agency of the " Musical Antiquarian Society." The music was then performed in the order in which it stands in the opera, to the end of the second act, with admirable effect, and to the great enjoyment of all who heard it. Much of it was new to most of the party ; and the charming song, " Thus I infuse these sovereign dews," had this among its other recommendations ; as well as the air, admirably sung by HOBBS, " 0 sight, thou mother of desires."
Rarely, now-a-days, is it possible to concentrate such an amount of musical enjoyment into an evening as this meeting of the Purcell Club contained. May it afford many such.
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