OXFORD MUSICAL FESTIVAL.
THE Universities have not, of late years, been the distingOshed patrons of music. Those who originally planned and regulated the Cathedral service of our National Church, ordained suitable pro- vision for its performance. Among the means which they devised for promoting this object, was the establishment of a musical professorship at each University, in order that those who were destined for the higher vocal departments of that service, might there acquire the requisite knowledge. And so late as the profes- sorship of Dr. P. HAYES, Oxford was celebrated for the number and proficiency of the canons it was wont to educate. The resi- dence of a professor of eminence gave credit and consequence to his art, and diffused a sound and classical musical taste among the students of the University. The two professors are no longer re- sidents of Cambridge and Oxford. Dr. CLARKE lives at Here- ford, and Dr. CROTCH in London. Like many other professorships, those of music are become mere sinecures ; and hence our Cathedral music is, year by year, declining in reputation.
No wonder that the festivals and concerts of Universities should experience a similar decline. To the Oxford Festival,
which used to rank among the first in the kingdom, must now be assigned a very inferior station ; and, instead of contributing its principal singers to the first sacred performances in the metropolis, it is now compelled to resort to London even for its efficient chorus. There is an absurdity in its arrangement which requires reform, if such a thing is ever regarded as possible within the hallowed pre- cincts of a university. Instead of dividing the performances into morning and evening, and the music into sacred and secular, they commence at the unheard of hour of four in the afternoon; and this amalgamation of noon and night is followed by a correspond- ing melange of style, as unprecedented as it is offensive. We sought in vain for any reason for this practice : we were told that the performances always began at that hour ; and this, at Oxford, is a sufficient reason, we presume, why the custom should be con- tinued. In the same act we had" Vadasi via di qua," and "0 sing unto Jehovah ;" " All' idea," and "The arm of the Lord ;" the first four movements of the Dettingen Te Deum, and "Jo di tutto." These are absurdities to which we cannot conceive Dr. CROTCH to have been a party, although his name appeared as con- ductor of the festival. We will concede the admissibility of each of these pieces into the scheme of a concert, but not of the same concert. From such an offence against propriety and good taste, not a grain of musical knowledge was necessary as a preservative : the mere juxtaposition of the pieces ought to have satisfied any member of the Committee of its impropriety.
The arrangements betrayed considerable want of experience in these matters. The greatest proof of this was the sum paid to PASTA; which was just three times as much for each performance as 'AIALIBRAN received last year,—and that for a duty much less arduous, and for an attraction decidedly inferior ; for PASTA has nothing to offer (at least she chose to offer nothing) but the repe- tition of the same songs and duets which she sung here four years since. In no concerted piece, beyond a duet, was her assistance obtained. Therefore the reputation of the Oxford Festival was in no degree advanced by such a profuse and needless expendi- ture; nor, we are quite sure, were the additional receipts at all in proportion to it,—for the theatre, on the first day when, she did not sing, was very nearly as full as on the second and third. The band (probably owing to this engagement) was weak, and, in se- veral important points, ineffective. The second clarionet, second bassoon, second horn, and bass trombone—all worthy inhabitants, we presume, of the University—might have been advantageously exchanged for POWELL, TULLY, RAE, and young SMITHIES; and twenty efficient voices might have been added to the chorus, for less than half the sum paid to this lady.
The selections might have been improved by the introduction of novelty and excellence. SPOHRS Last Judgment blazed like a meteor among the sacred music ; winch, strange to say, did not contain a composition either of MOZART, BEETHOVEN, CHERU,. BINI, or HUMMEL. This easy, quiet, jog-trot way of getting up a festival, might do very well forty years ago, when HANDEL and Beams were almost the only authors on whom conductors could draw ; but times are altered, and though the very last place which the tide of improvement is destined to reach, is a university, yet even there it must and will penetrate. The principal singers were Madame PASTA, Madame CARA-, DORI, Mrs. KNYVETT, Messrs. BRAHAM, KNYVETT, E. TAYLOR PHILLIPS, and Signor DE BEGNIS. The principal novelties in the scheme, were the compositions of the Chevalier NEUKOMM, who honoured the Festival with his presence. Of these, the most effective was "Napoleon's Midnight Review," now for the first time allotted to BRAHAM, the only singer capable of doing full justice to it. His " Gratias ag,imus " is an elegant melody, enriched by an obligato accompaniment for the violin and violon- cello. CARADORI'S return has afforded another proof of the musical poverty of Italy. She returns, after a three years' residence there, bringing no contributions to our musical treasury. Her style discovers a stronger tinge of the Italian manner, hut her songs are the very same that she was accustomed to sing previous to her departure. We are not disposed to quarrel with her selec- tion, since it embraced airs of HANDEL, HAYDN, and MOZART: we only mention the fact as another evidence of the decline of the Italian school of composition.
The only remaining trace of the classical taste which used to distinguish the Oxford Festivals, was evinced in the choice of the glees. We name them, because the selection was faultless, and the execution admirable : "Thy voice, 0 Harmony," " Blest pair of syrens,"—" Deh dove,"—" Let me careless ;" to which may be added, though not strictly a glee, "Methinks I hear the full celestial choir." The Italian concerted pieces were few in number, and of these " Sento, 0 Dio " was incomparably the best. Too much was sacrificed to the mere desire of exciting the laughter of the audience. Buffo songs and duets should be introduced sparingly, and should be selected from the best specimens of their kind : here they appeared in such rapid succession as to destroy their effect, and, for the most part, pos- sessed little merit beyond that to which we have alluded. We give Mrs. KNYVETT credit for the good taste which led her to place
e, •
a song of PURCELL'S in the scheme. Her conception of it evinced the success with which she has cultivated English music, and especially the compositions of its brightest ornament. On the whole, the Oxford Festival can scarcely be said to have succeeded. There is no doubt that it was undertaken, not from any expectation of gain, but from a liberal and highly commend- able feeling on the parts of some gentlemen connected with the University ; and all that was wanted in order to insure success, was a more judicious appropriation of the money they ventured in the undertaking. It wanted an experienced and effective head ; and, in making this observation, we shall not be misunderstood as at all reflecting upon the eminent professor who presided at the organ, of whose attainments as a musician we think Most highly. But the details of a performance like this are out of his way ; he cannot descend to settle the petty manceuvres and claims of principal singers—he loves his art with a feeling too pure and too refined to enter into the adjustment of contentions upon which he must look down with the most sovereign contempt.
Previous page
