SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY.
AN Oratorio, new to London, was performed by the members of this Society last night, at Exeter Hall. Its title is The Death of Abel; its au- thor, Mr. GEORGE Perry, the leader of the Exeter Hall band. The work, though produced for the first time in the Metropolis, is one of Mr. PERRY'S earliest compositions, yet displaying talents and acquirements of no common order. Every Englishman who has hitherto essayed the composition of an oratorio, has also proposed to himself HANDEL as a model, and Mr. PERRY among the rest ; a dangerous experiment, yet it is only justice to him to say that few of our countrymen have suc- ceeded better. He has a considerable facility in the production of me- lody ; and if his phrases have no decided claim to originality, they are generally pleasing—rarely tedious. Like MENDELSSOHN'S, his subjects of fugue are sometimes parodies upon those of HANDEL, though he ex- hibits far less technical skill in their treatment than his German contem- porary. There is, to us, an agreeable flavour of the style of Gassux. in several of the songs of this oratorio ; and sometimes we caught a- reminiscence of the author's preceptor, equally grateful. Mr. PERRY'S style of instrumentation is not Handelian, but that of the modern school—though wanting the rich and skilful amalgamation of the best. German writers.
With some faults and errors in judgment, The Death of Abel is still a work of great merit, English though its author be. The interest of the piece is well kept up ; and it was heard (by a partial audience, no doubt) not only with evident pleasure, but with the most marked and enthusiastic approbation. The chorus acquitted themselves admirably; and Miss Brace, Hoses, Mr. Piumzes, and Mr. LEFFLER, contributed by their excellent singing to the success of the piece.
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