20 AUGUST 1842, Page 15

THE PROVINCIAL FESTIVALS.

THE Opera season no sooner closes than ourmusicians begin to migrate ; some to Paris, some to Brighton, to Margate, or Gravesend ; some, formed into groups, wander up and down the country and levy contri- butions on provincials. But the grand reassembly of Metropolitan vocal and instrumental strength will be at the Norwich Triennial Festival ; to which the Ancient Concerts will contribute their Leader, the Philhar- monic its Band, Westminster Abbey its Organist and Choir, Gresham College its Music Professor, and the Operahouse its Runnar. We have always been accustomed to look forward to this triennial meeting for some accession to our store of musical wealth ; and it seems that we are not on this occasion to look in vain. The production of SPOHR'S Fall of Babylon is an event which, of course, creates the live- liest interest in musical circles. It has excited the surprise—not un- mixed with the indignation—of his countrymen, that such an honour should have been conferred by SPOHR on a provincial meeting in a foreign country ; and it is the highest tribute to the arrangement and discipline of the Norwich Orchestra that it could receive. He has "weighed it in the balance," and has committed to it the production of his oratorio as the result. It appears by the advertisement, that from the materials which MIL- TON and HANDEL have supplied, an oratorio, which may be denominated new, will be produced. This is an experiment which we ventured to recommend a few years since, after witnessing an attempt to reproduce HANDEL'S Samson at Exeter Hall. Attracted by the splendid scenes, the majestic choruses, the beautiful airs which are occasionally studded over this oratorio, its revivers seemed to forget that these were en- cumbered by such a mass of feebleness and puerility as to render the attempt abortive. It was so. At the very outset much was rejected, afterwards more and more : but all would not do. It was obvious that the prime cause of failure was not removed ; and that to cut out here and there from a work which demanded connexion and cohesion, was to exhibit not an oratorio but a disjointed selection. The prime cause of the failure of all attempts to revive HANDEL'S Samson is to be found in its libretto. Into the hands of some conceited bungler did HANDEL commit the task of supplying the words of his oratorio : and the havoc which has been made with Mmrox's text can only be known to those who have undertaken to compare the two poems. Not only are Mu:rotes bright and glowing thoughts needlessly expunged, but if a phrase or word of more than usual beauty or vigour occurs, it is carefully weeded out. Sentences are torn limb from limb, and the author of Paradise Lost is exhibited as a writer regardless of sense and even ignorant of grammar. The titlepage of the published oratorio impudently asserts this misshapen abortion to have been " written by John Milton"! It is time that this mistake were corrected, and that the union of two names so worthy of being associated should be real and not pretended. This, we hope, will be accomplished in the Samsun which will be performed at the Norwich Festival. There is no want of materials, for of these the existing works of HANDEL will supply a copious store. Some—perhaps we might say the greater part—of his finest songs are unknown, and in their original form will never again be heard. The revival of one of HANDEL'S operas is an event of which no one dreams ; and yet these contain the songs which he wrote for &NEMO, for CUZZONI, for STRADA, for GALLI, and other of the most finished singers of his time. From the printed report of the Conductor, addressed to the Committee of the Norwich Festival, we conclude that he has had recourse to those works of HANDEL which he justly designates as "a mine of musical wealth," and from these he has selected " music worthy of association with the words of Milton." Whoever essays this arduous but praiseworthy task must bring to it deep reverence for the ge- nius of these great men, and an intimate acquaintance with their several writings ; especially those of HANDEL, which are spread over a much wider surface, and present a more varied aspect. Some of his operas exhibit this diversity in an extraordinary degree. Page after page will reveal but a succession of trite and common passages—nothing which excited the composer, nothing, therefore, which excites the hearer : a last, the power of the great master breaks forth—some expressive recita- tive—some air breathing sweetness and tenderness—some strain of pity or some denunciation of rage, into which his whole soul seems to be poured, and which finds its prompt and sure response in the feelings of the auditor. A product so chequered, Professor TAYLOR justly ob- serves, "would result from the incessant demands upon Handers pen— from the varied abilities or caprices of the singers for whom he wrote— from the state of his orchestra, or from other circumstances which con- trolled his course, but which have long ceased to exist : and veneration for his memory, no less than veneration for the art which he so co- piously enriched and so eminently adorned, will lead us to select all the pure and sterling ore and give it currency and circulation." This is the spirit in which such a work should be undertaken, and we look for- ward with considerable interest to witness its accomplishment. A century has just elapsed since the oratorio of Samson was first produced: we trust the centenary of its birth will be the commencement of a new and more prolonged period of existence in a form more worthy of its immortal authors.

The Worcester Festival, which always takes place concurrently with that of Norwich, was for many years under the direction of the able and accomplished Organist of the Cathedral. To the regret of the en- tare Orchestra, Mr. CLARKE has resigned a situation he was so compe- tent to fill, and in which he united the abilities of a sound musician, the seal of an ardent admirer of his art, and the manners of a gentleman. To the surprise of every member of the profession, the person selected to succeed him is—Mr. SURMAN, known, and we must add known only, as the beater of time to the Exeter Hall Society. It was supposed that on Mr. CLARKE'S resignation, the appointment would have been offered to one of the Organists of the associated Choirs — Mr. Amcerr of Gloucester, or Mr. HUNT of Hereford ; and equal astonishment and in- dignation have been expressed in musical circles, that a person whose musical attainments are of the scantiest kind, and whose musical range is of the smallest circumference, should have been selected. This in- dignation might, however, have been spared, if the complainants had endeavoured to arrive at the motives which dictated the appointment. We infer these from well-known facts. The Worcester Festival, like the other meetings of the three Choirs, is a tax upon certain County Squires, which every one dislikes and which each tries to avoid. The Stewardship of a Worcester Festival is something like the office of High Sheriff; the expense of which few of the squirearchy disregard, and which is only rendered palateable by its parade--by riding, for once, in a carriage and four preceded by tenants and javelin-men, and being announced by "sound of trumpets." The poor Festival Steward, alas! has no such honours and glories. He is powerless in council, powerless also in action. In the Festival posting-bill stands the name of Sir TOBIAS TIMBERTOP, or of Joule GREATACRE, Esq.; but in small and modest type, while that of Madame CATALAN', or Madame MALIBRAN, blazes in huge letters with all the radiance that red ink can bestow. In the Festival week he is a forgotten person. Was ever any auditor known to ask, "Which are the Stewards?" Not one. We were once unconsciously reminded of their existence by being compelled to hear this brief and pithy colloquy between two unknown persons bearing the aspect of country gentlemen—" Well, —, the Festival is nearly over, and I'll give you three hundred pounds to pay my share of the loss." "No bargain 1" was the reply, "I'll give you guineas to pay mine." From this unenviable position, of which the sole duty is to pay, it is not wonderful that there is a general wish to escape. The retirement of the Organist of the Cathedral from the post of Conductor, (which could not be announced till the Stewards were appointed,) seemed a fit occasion to accomplish the abolition of the Festival. To the present one they were committed, but they might con- trive to render it the last. It had always been respectable—it might now be rendered ridiculous—and then it would cease. Such we take to have been the tactics of the Worcestershire Squires ; and if we are right, all the uproar that is raised about poor &MILAN'S appointment will only serve to convince them that they were right. When assured that it will be a deathblow to the Worcester meeting, they will only chuckle, and plume themselves on their sagacity.

The Worcester Festival, as appears by the advertisement, will be vocally supported by English singers alone ; and its materials will be chiefly supplied by one composer. The Seasons of HAYDN will make an agreeable variety ; but Itowanito's "Song of the Bell" is scarcely of a musical character sufficiently high to occupy the chief place in such a performance. Some parts of it are pleasing, as ROMBERG'S music generally is ; but beyond the merit of a clever copy it never reaches.