M U SI C.
SACRED MUSIC AT CROSBY HALL.
THERE is peculiar grace and propriety in selecting this princely rem- nant of the domestic architecture of old London as a locality for sacred concerts, and more particularly for such as exhibit the Gothic remains of our English school of Church Music ; carrying us back in idea to an age almost contemporary with the founder. The passion for antiquity displayed in the restoration of a time-honoured relique, and the interest felt in every monument hallowed by association with the past—be it only a sentence of SHAKSPERE—are redeeming traits of our times ; showing a disposition to amend the faults of our predecessors, and to cul- tivate a conservative spirit for the future. Under such influences, fame becomes less visionary in the prospect : he who nourishes that noble " infirmity " has now only to produce worthy things, and, after under- going the ordeal of death and burial, and the repose of a century or so, his name will be certainly unearthed, and his works produced before a circle of admiring bearers.
What an extraordinary chapter in the work of some future historian of the lyric art will the details of the progress of Cathedral Music in the present century afford No account, we regret to say, will there be found of replenished choirs, of fine new compositions, or of well-paid and encouraged artists; but there will not be wanting anecdotes of in- dividual enthusiasm for cathedral music, to compound for the indiffe- rence of Deans and Chapters. Such an event as that of Mums's Litany performed by a party (of the true church in such matters) after a dinner at Freemason's, and subsequently, by the influence of an ama- teur, established as an annual celebration at the Abbey on the festival of St. Simon and St. Jude, will be duly recognized : the specimens of FARRABT, ORLANDO GIBBONS, and other old ecclesiastical composers, which Sir JOHN ROGERS, the late President of the Madrigal Society, had the good taste to include in the anniversary selections of that body— the establishment of two Purcell celebrations annually at the Abbey, also under amateur influence—the republication of all that musician's church compositions, and of all the music contained in BOYCE'S and ARNOLD'S voluminous compilations of Cathedral Music—will be noticed as indubitable evidences of the taste and feeling of the day. It is remarkable, that this impulse to the taste for church music should have been almost entirely the work of the laity—devotees to the cause from pare fellow-feeling ; the Church dignitaries in general contenting them selves by offering no opposition. And thus, after a long lapse of years, in which, from the want of society among musicians and the proper intercommunication of thought and feeling, anthems have been per- formed to audiences as cold and dead to all beyond the momentary im- pression as any that lay beneath the marble pavement of the cathedral, the art revives—if not in the plenitude of its inventive power, at least in all the gusto of its original enjoyment. So much for the taste of England in the present century ; a taste signalized in the conservation of those grand traditions of the music of our Reformed Church which embody many types of national character and feeling, and have been powerfully influential on the style of vocal expression throughout Europe. Crosby Hall, with its choir, sweet-toned organ, and fair and clever organist, Miss MoustsEr, presents an interesting spectacle, and will well repay a visit. There are arches and crypts and effects of light here, which to one versed in romances suggest somewhat conventual : now one is seated in the Beguinage at Ghent—now transported to the mo- nastic solitudes of Binges, in momentary expectation of a dirge, a mass, a procession of the Abbess and her nuns. Meanwhile, the reality is only that of a beautiful old hall, so admirably adapted for sound, that the voice revels in it, and comes out with a freedom that tempts the singer to many stentorian excesses. The performance of Wednesday last con- sisted of solo-singing by Misses RADIFORTH and DOLBY, and Messrs. humus and NOVELL°, interspersed by choruses, accompanied by the organ alone. Considering the means at hand, and that the organ em- ployed is but a small instrument, incapable of those great varieties and powerful effects to which the best masters in this department of music have accustomed the ear, the selection appeared to us rather various than judicious. Many of the pieces, whose accompaniments obviously required the orchestra, would have been better exchanged for others : for, though indeed the organ possesses the capacity of being used orchestrally, it is rather in the solo than in the accompaniment of the voice. Miss MOUNSRY is of the new school in her mode of accompaniment : she in- troduces instrumental, and even violin features, sometimes with success, sometimes the contrary. In an air by ANDO., Miss DOLBY was re- quired to outsing the fall organ, and accomplished the task successfully. The forcing of her notes is an error to which this lady is sufficiently in- clined at all times, and the habit produces in her lower tones the quality of a reedy cracked clarionet—the reverse of either the grand or the beautiful. We trust that this meritorious young singer may not injure her artistical reputation by too great a sacrifice to effect—too indiscrimi- nate and injudicious an abandon. Miss RAINFORTH was in good voice ; but the music in which she appeared was for the most part devoid of interest. Him= is a writer of no mark or note in sacred composition, and is in his element only in little opera-songs. Mr. FRANCIS has a good style in sacred music ; and performed a song of HANDEL'S, "Guardian Angels," very pleasingly indeed. The charming duet of Dr. BOYCE, "Here shall soft Charity," sung by hint and Mr. NOVELLO, would have been very effective had the organ acconks paniment been more subdued : we longed for the rich and soft mur- mur on the strings that the composer imagined in the original. An air from The Fall of Babylon, by SPOHR, " Ab, gracious Power, thy aid alone imploring," was finely sung by Mr. NoVELLO, both in point of voice and style. The chorus would improve their general effect by re- straining a tendency to vociferate. Miss MOUNSEY acquitted herself in an organ solo with skill, and discovered a clear and good execution; though the composition itself had little to recommend it.
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