EXETER HALL ORATORIOS.

THE army of amateur chorus-singers, which of late years Las been accustomed to train and hold certain field-days at Exeter Flail, has gone into winter.quarters—but for action, not rest. This powerful and effective force seemed to spring up all at once, "in perfect strength and fully grown ;" and the immediate result was the putting a final end to those trashy and feeble exhibitions, miscalled Oratorios, which for some years existed at the Theatres. This was one good. Another was the rescue of HANDEL from the puny grasp of the old ladies who now direct the affairs of what passes by the name of the Ancient Concert, aud who had long been accustomed to regard him as their peculiar pet and property ; confining themselves (probably from sheer ignorance) to a yearly performance of the same pieces, and burlesquing his double choruses with a choir of some four or five voices to a part. The formation of a choral society of four hundred voices, at once furnished u machine competent to deal with any of HANDEL'S Oratorios, and to reveal to the public a fact which certain professional jobbers had long striven to conceal—that HANDEL had actually written other oratorios besides the Messiah.

Having revived Israel in Egypt, Solomon, and Judas lifacealneus, these choral harmonists have now resuscitated Samson ; which oratorio was performed entire on Wednesday night.

Samson is a production which must be approached with a feeling of deep reverence—the joint work of Alturos, and HANDEL is no subject for flippant and frothy criticism. The Samson of HANDEL, it is need- less to remark, is the Samson Agonistes of MILTON curtailed, altered, and reduced to oratorio.like form. The original drama, as its author expressly says, " was at vor intended for the stage," and certainly not for music—but for the closet. The adapter took as much of it as answered his purpose; occasionally (sometimes needlessly) altering MILTON'S text, and interspersing it with fragments culled from his minor poems. Thus, the song. " Thus when the Sun, from's watery bed," is from the poem on the Nativity; as are the two lines—shorn of their power

Then roiled :dmitt the starry throne Of lino oho ever roles alum.,

Your heave nly • guided soul shall climb;

of all this earthly grossness quit.

With glory cauvu'd for ever kit.

And triumph over Death, and thee, 0 Time."

We need not detail more of the process or the result. Nor was any proof necessary to show, that whoever touched one of Miurox's lines, betrayed equal presumption arid fully; and that wherever an epithet was altered or omitted, an attribute of power or of beauty was lost. There can be no doubt that MILTON'S poem arose out of the state of Iris mind at the Restoration. It is the blaze of a mind as gigantic as Samson's form and strength. Like him he had pulled down the Temple of Dagon ; and he was saved only from that destruction which over- took his friends and associates, by the calamity which, in common with his hero, he endured.

But the Samson of Has:or:Vs associate, (whoever be was,) though bereft of much of MwroN's power, yet retains much—enough to place it, as a poem, very far beyond the verses with which HANDEL bad to deal in his other oratorios. And he felt it to be so. As a general rule,

'rue stars with deep amaze Strait list in stedfast gaze."

The song, " Then long eternity," is extracted from the exquisite ad- dress to Time ; as well as the chorus, beginning, " Then round about the starry throne," though enfeebled in a similar way. MILTON'S lines, " when once our heavenly•guitIml eottl shall climb.

Then, all this earthly grossoess quit. Attired with st,rs we shall tor 4.nel. bit, Tritimitliii.g over Death, and Chem.., awl thee, 0 Time I "

are thus stript both of their gorgeous apparel und their grammatical connexion— it may be said that HANDEL rose with his subject, and, in like manner, fell with it. His Israel in Egypt is incomparably his greatest work : for he never had such a succession of scenes to describe—never such a display of grandeur to exhibit—never such a height of sublimity to at- tempt. Many, doubtless, are the exceptions to this rule in his volumi. nouns woths ; but they are but exceptions, and serve only to confirm it. If the strength of Israel in Egypt lies in its choruses, that of Sam- son is at least equally shared by its songs and recitatives, especially by those which belong to the character of the Hebrew champion ; and of these, unquestionably, the best are written to the words of MitTost. That glorious passage beginning, " God of our fathers, what is mini?" unfortunately contains of MiuroN this line only ; and HANDEL'S sorig, after the first phrase, is just as poor arid dull as his coadjutor's verse. The scolding scene between Samson and Delilah might have been curtailed with great advantege to the performance. We suppose it was retained entire at the wish of the married gentlemen of the society, for the purpose of enforcing on their wives the unpalatable truth contained in the words of the concluding chorus- " To matt. Urals universal law Gars loiter tu keep the sills in awe;" to which the ladies seemed to re:sent with reluctance, while the gentle- men enforced it with full power of lungs.

Samson was HANDEL'S sixth oratorio ; being brought out in 1742— and he wrote nothing else. either sacred or secular, in that year. BEARD Was his principal tenor; and the best testimony to his excel- lence as a singer, is the fact that HANDEL wrote for him " Total eclipse," " Torments, alas! are not confitied," arid " Why does the God of Israel." DII3DIN bears this emphatic testimony to BEARD'S vocal taleirt—" his voice was sweet, powerful, arid of great compass ; and he had abundant flexibility : but ire added to these, strong natural feeling; and when his passions were excited, lie never failed to move those of the audience. Ile bad not acquired all the tricks of his trade, butt nature was his guide ; and, corrected by his natural good taste, he never went wrong." The part of Micah was sung by Signora GALLI ; whom the writer of this notice remembers making her appearance, as from time dead, inn 1798, at one of ASHLEY'S Oratorios. She was then a feeble and decrepid old woman.

Samson has rarely been performed entire of late years : the last time was about thirty years ago, at the Anchnt Concerts, by command of GEORGE the Third. Like many of its author's similar productions, it not only bears, but improves by curtailinent ; for it is no honour to the memory of HANDEL to exhibit his failures and embalm his weaknesses. The weight of Samson lies on the principal singers : the story has little dramatic action, and no incident capable of musical description occurs till the third act if, therefore, it happens that the singers are unequal to sustain such a weight, the oratorio cannot with truth be said to be performed. Amid such, alas ! was the fact on Wednesday night ; when the cast stood thus—Samson, Mr. 13ENNErr ; Manoalt, Mr. Arsixs ; Miss F. WYNDHAM ; lIaraplia, Mr. Prinaies ; Dalilah, Miss BIRCH. With the exception of a few well.known songs, the execution of the principal business was got through with in a most slovenly and discreditable way. The singers were groping about in the dark, un- conscious of what sort of work they had to do, and utterly unable to do it. In "Total eclipse," BENNETT knew from BRAI1AM'S singing, as every body knows, what a volume of expression is wrapt up in a few simple notes ; and he endeavoured to give BRAIIAM'S reading of the song : but in "Torments, alas ! are not confined," he was evideotly un- conscious of the deep anguish of soul which lies beneath HANDEL'S 110tCS —"notes that breathe and words that burn." Nothing appeared but a very dull and drowsy strain, which siuger and hearers seemed equally to dislike. ATKINS amid PHILLIPS were both out of place. The former naught have aptly personated the Philistine bully—that "bulk of spirit void ;" while the latter would have given to the" paternal love" of Manoah its true and touching expression. This blunder may be fairly charged on the maw( rs ; since, throughout, there was a similar want of dis- cernment—a want of knowing the best agents for the accomplishment of any given work. Miss IV AM was floundering about from first to last—totally ignorant of her business—and wondering, we dare say, what people could find in such queer, old-fashioned music as HANDEL'S to like. But what else could be expected from a "Royal Academy pupil ?" 'f his young lady may be, and we dare say is, a very attractive and efficient member of Moues ban d of itinerant musicians ; but she had better eschew Hamm.. And her engagement, too, was the re- sult of choke, not necessity; Aliss ItlAssoN and Miss HAwEs, both accomplished Handelians, being in town. One defect tine singers shared in cut-ninon—the inability to deal with recitative. They seemed equally and alike to forget that recitative is to be spoken rather than sung, and by common consent drawled out their notes like a dull chant. Recitative is the dialogue, the conversation of the piece ; but from Miss Blum and Miss Wvxmtast we never caught a word: and to those hearers who were unacquainted with the oratorio, or had not the words before them, sounds only, end not sounds connected with sense, could have been presented. But let us quit this exhibition of weakness, and turn to one of strength—the aural majesty of HANDEL developed by four hundred voices. It was paying u great price to sit out the songs in order to enjoy this, but the enjoyment was worth the price. The boisterous jollity of the Philistines came out in fine contrast to the severe and stately grandeur of the Hebrews; aird HANDEL judged wisely in steal- ing from CARISSIMI that sublime invocation of the Jews, " Hear, Jacob's God !" Ile might well distrust even his own power to produce any thing in a simildr style like it. Jr. the chorus which immediately follows the pulling down of Dagon's Temple, his own vigorous fancy breaks out ; and nothing rim be more sublimely descriptive than the composition. This, however, is time only chorus in which HANDEL'S dramatic power appears or indeed could appear. The ball was crowded with bearers ; and, with such encouragement to their labours, tine society will proceed prosperously. 'I hey would do well to turn their attention to tine great Church writers of the English school, and especially to HENRY PURCELL ; many of whose Anthems, composed for an orchestra, invite, as they assuredly will re- pay, their attention. What might riot such a vocal band do with some of the" Cantiones Sacrx " of Taws arid BIRD, or the Anthems of GIBBONS?