20 MAY 1854, Page 11

There has been a second performance of Mr. Henry Leslie's

new oratorio, at St. Martin's Hall. Immanuel was first produced under the direction of Mr. Benedict ; its repetition on Monday was conducted by Mr. Hullah, the choruses being sung by the members of his Upper Singing School. On both occasions justice was done to the work of our young composer, but Mr. Hullah's chorus had the advantage in point of training and discipline. This oratorio is unquestionably the greatest work of its class from the pen of an English musician. It is vastly superior to Dr. Crotch's much-vaunted Palestine ; and has much more independence of thought than the only other English oratorios that can be placed in comparison with it, those of Mr. Charles Horsley. But it labours under the disadvantage we have already mentioned : the dryness —we may call it—of the manner in which the subject is treated, will prevent it from exciting general interest. We hope that in his next essay Mr. Leslie will find a theme less abstract, and more calculated to affect the imagination and the feelings.