THE HANDEL FESTIVAL OF 1857.
This great Festival, which has drawn so many thousands of people to the Crystal Palace during the past week, must be regarded with reference to its objects and their success, not merely as standing by itself, but in connexion with the still greater celebration intended to take place in 1859, the centenary of Handers death. The Sacred Harmonic Society, with whom the whole scheme originated, have explained that the present Festival has been meant as a preparation for the Centenary Commemoration which will be held in other countries besides this, and in which England ought not to hold a secondary position. "It has been thought," they say, "that a preliminary Festival held in 1857 would excite great public interest, and, as it were, preparing for the Commemoration of Handel in 1859, would decide satisfactorily some important points which otherwise would be open to future discussion." Both these objects have been accomplished: the Festival has excited great public interest—greater even than was anticipated ; and, we think, some important points have been decided in a manner which may be advantageous in the management of the Commemorations.
Even were nothing to follow from this Festival, it might of itself be regarded as the noblest tribute ever yet paid to the great musician's memory. The host of vocal talent called, into action, showing the greatness of England's musical resources—the strong and widespread excitement which drew thousands and tens of thousands from every corner of the kingdom—the multitudes who filled the vast edifice, eager to enjoy, not a frivolous amusement but the pure and lofty pleasure bestowed by art in its sublimest forms—all joined in giving a moral grandeur to the scenes of the Crystal Palace still more striking than their surpassing brilliancy and beauty. They have left behind them, we doubt not, a lifelong impression on the memory of many who witnessed them. There have been three performances ; of The Messiah on Monday, Judas Maceabesus on Wednesday, and Israel in Egypt yesterday. There was, moreover, a general rehearsal on Saturday last ; which, indeed, may be reckoned among the performances, and was in some respects the most remarkable of them all It was public, and attended by an assemblage of many thousand people, who now saw for the first time the vast musical army, arrayed under their commander Costa. More than half their number had arrived in London only during the Friday ; and, except a short muster in Exeter Hall in the evening, had never before been brought together. They were picked people, from the most musical districts of England, and had been practising in their various localities ; but still it was a formidable thing to set this vast machine in motion. No small confusion might have reasonably been expected; but, to our surprise, everything went almost as smoothly as on any of the subsequent days. The rehearsal consisted of choruses from the oratorios to be performed, some of them very difficult. But the singers, genuine English choristers, were well "up to their work" ; the conductor seldom had occasion to interrupt them; and it was evident that their defects arose from their numbers and the place in which they sang, for the same defects were apparent during the subsequent performances. The rehearsal was on the whole satisfactory. The impression of precision was greater, but the impression of power less, than we had anticipated. Where the movement was slow, and the sounds in large masses, the harmony was clear ; and, being free from the harsh noises which prevail in a smaller place, was smooth and grateful to the ear. But the same vastness of expanse which gave this softness likewise produced feebleness. Though the full swell of the choral voices was often wonderfully grand, yet the piano and mezzo-forte passages—corresponding to the lights and middle tints of a picture—were pale, weak, and sometimes almost inaudible. Where the chorus was in fugued counterpoint, full of short and closely-commingled points of imitation and response, it was impossible in the nature of things for such passages to be taken up with the requisite aplomb by the ponderous masses of which each vocal part consisted, and in those cases great confusion was sometimes the result. The only thing to do in such a case is to make the movement very slow ; and this precaution, as it appeared to us, with all respect for the conductor's skill, was not sufficiently taken by Mr. Costa. To these defects another was added when the oratorios came to be performed entire—the failure of the solo-singers to produce any effect or even to make themselves audible. This was the worst defect of all. It is fatal to the performance of an oratorio. What becomes of The Messiah when all those divine airs, "Comfort ye my people," "Rejoice greatly," "He was despised and rejected of men," and "I know that my Redeemer liveth," are reduced to nothing or less than nothing ? Yet this was the case in some measure with all of them in Monday's performance. And it could not be otherwise. To be sufficiently heard in such a place, the singer must have had lungs of brass and a throat of iron. Clara Novelle's magnificent soprano, strained to its utmost pitch, became a dear, thin note, faintly heard as it were from a great distance. Beeves made himself heard from time to time by shouting spasmodically; Formes uttered inarticulate growls ; and poor Miss Dolby, whose voice is generally so sweet and mellow, could not make herself heard at all.
The second day of the Festival, Wednesday, derived additional interest from the presence of the Queen, her family, and the illustrious foreign visitors now at her Majesty's court. Of this royal visit the public were aware : it greatly increased the prevailing excitement, and gave a brilliant and festive aspect to the scenes in and around the Ctystal Palace, even surpassing that of Monday. Her Majesty's party arrived a little
before one o'clock, the time fixed for the comm anc,e ; they were received in the usual state, the richly-decorated box or balcony prepared for tance from the orchestra. The Queen and Prin panied by the Austrian Grand Duke Marimilian, the Prince of Wales, and his two elder sisters. appeared, a deafening shout arose from all corners surpassing in physical power and moral harmony the choral band. The Queen seemed more than us homage of the heart, and responded to it with mark earnestness both of look and gesture. Then "God save the Queen burst from the
orchestra ; its closing strains were lost in another ate acclamation ; and when calm was restored the oratorio began.
The performance of Judas Naceabaus was decidedly be than that of The Messiah. The choruses were sung with more m precision, and they produced a greater impression of power. The prseipai singers were happier in their vocal efforts ; and the airs were no only for the most part distinctly audible, but sometimes highly effective, which was seldom or never the case on Monday. The fact was observe by every body, and it has been accounted for in various ways. e Tinies
ent of the performimmediately entered em at a suitable dieAlbert were accome Prince of Prussia, eon as her Majesty the building, far grandest swell of y moved by this
„ail says that the music of Judas Maceabeus being less genei familiar than that of The Messiah, the performers may have been mo on their guard, and more carefully anxious in taking up the points : but this explanation cannot be applied to the solo-singers. They, we are' dined kea to think, sang better because they had gained souse experience o e lo
cality,-.-a thing which, everybody knows, is not obtained at once. dy the singers had learned in what respects they had failed before, whe they
had been indistinct, and where inaudible ; and they knew better thai before how to measure their voices against the space which they had tt fill. They found that their voices must not sink beneath a certain poirt of loudness : but this precaution necessarily deprived their singing of muy delicacies of effect and expression derived from a free use of all the dations of sound, from the loudest cry to the softest whisper. At Crystal Palace, the louder the cry the better; but those gentle brea ings in which the deepest pathos lies are absolutely excluded. In regalf to the choruses, the most effective, as before, were those in which tin masses of harmony are broad and the movements comparatively slow. The long wailing notes in "Mourn ye afflicted children," utterm in the subdued tones of a great multitude, were very impressive. The chorus "0 Father, whose Almighty power," was one of the most effective. It contains a fugue, but of remarkably clear construction ; and it was judiciously taken in a time so slow and so well marked that the ear could seize without difficulty the various points of the harmony. The bold and simple chorus "Disdainful of danger" also derived great advantage from being taken more slowly than usual. Much applause was bestowed both on the choruses and the songs ; all the principal singers, Madame Clara Novelle, Madame Rudersdorff, Miss Delby, Sims Reeves, Weiss, and Formes, receiving warm tokens of approbation. Once there was an encore, bestowed on the garish ad captandum "See the conquering hero comes : " Costa for a time ignored the call, though it was determinedly persisted in ; but at length he turned to the Queen's gallery, as if requesting -her Majesty's commands, and then gave the signal of repetition.
We may add to these remarks, that additional orchestral accompaniments by Mr. Costa were made use of for the first time. They contain many fine instrumental effects , but the loud brass instruments, in accordance with the able conductor's well-known propensity, are too profusely employed. The organ, too, an instrument of immense magnitude and power, was often excessively predominant, completely overwhelming by its tremendous roar the muted sounds of the whole orchestra. At the end of the oratorio, the Hundredth Psalm was sung, by desire, it is said, of the Queen. This is the music fittest of all for such a place and such a host of performers ; and this simple tune, one verse of which was sung in unison by the whole two thousand voices, had a sublimity which no language can describe.
Yesterday, the last day of the Festival, the Palace was filled by a much larger assemblage than on either of the other days. On Monday and Wednesday between eleven and twelve thousand persons were present ; yesterday the number exceeded seventeen thousand. In the area of the transept there was not an unoccupied seat, and all the galleries were full ; and the appearance of this vast multitude made the scene more animated and striking than it had ever been before. The performance was, altogether, more successful than it had hitherto been. Israel in Egypt is made up almost wholly of choruses;. the airs and duets, five or six in number, being slight and unimportant. This very peculiar construction of the oratorio was advantageous to the performance, the weakness of the solo voices being comparatively little felt. One air only made much impression—" The enemy said, I will pursue" : it is bold and warlike, containing some phrases shouted by Mr. Sims Reeves with great energy and at the utmost pitch of his voice. Another solo passage had a great effect—Miriam's burst of exulting triumph in the final chotits, which Clara Novello gave with a vocal power nothing less than marvellous ; though she spoiled the noble simplicity of the passage by an inappropriate ornament. The magnificent double choruses, which are of the grandest proportions, and require the greatest possible amount of vocal er, were sung with admirable firmness, and often with sublime effect. was especially the case with the famous "Hailstone chorus," the description of the destruction of the host of Pharoah, and the final song of triumph, with which this great celebration worthily closed. ' From what has been said, our readers may gather our impressions of the strength as well as weakness of these performances. The defects, we think, are not incapable of remedy on a future occasion. In the first place, something must be done to improve the locality. The transept of the Crystal Palace, in its present state, has no acoustical properties ; musical sound is lost and dissipated in its expanse, as in the open air. Something must be done, by partially enclosing it or otherwise, to produce vibration and resonance. In the next place, we believe it will be found on consideration that the number of chorus-singers should be reduced. It is very fine to talk of two thousand voices ; but we believe that the maximum of real power and effect, even in the transept of the Crystal Palace, might be obtained by half the number, supposing every individual to be thoroughly trained and efficient. As to the music of single voices1 it is entirely out of the question, unless means lx' taken to give the locality something of the properties of a music hall.
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