ROYAL MUSICAL FESTIVAL.

By this designation the approaching performance of sacred music in Westminster Abbey is to be distinguished; and, we believe, the pre- parations for carrying it on with vigour and success are proceeding according to the wishes and intentions of its projectors. There are three distinct Committees or boards of management,—the first, con- sisting of Earl HOWE, EarICAWDOR, Lord SALTOUN, Lord BURG- HERSH, Sir BENJAMIN STEVENSON, and Sir ANDREW BARNARD; the second, of Sir GEORGE SMART, Messrs. F. CRAMER, POTTER, MEYER, and PARRY; the third, of the Organist and Choirs of Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's, and the Chapel Royal, with a few professors holding other official situations, and a large delega- tion from the Royal Society of Musicians, making an aggregate of nearly seventy. It is obvious that the endless details of a festival like this cannot be discussed and decided by such a numerous assembly ; and that the executive department must here, as elsewhere, reside in a few. We believe the large body has been called together once; partly for the purpose of being informed that no questions of importance would be sub- jected to their decision, or allowed to come under their discussion, —in point of fact, that they were a registrative rather than a de- liberative body. And if power be placed in able and competent hands, the work will go on more smoothly and more satisfactorily than if confided to the jarring interests, opposite wishes, and con- tending claims of so many. To speak plainly, if the selection and the principal details are committed to the ostensible Conduc- tor, Sir GEORGE SMART, WC have full confidence that all will go right; for no man in the profession has acquired so large a share of experience in the management of such an undertaking. We have apprehensions, however, that influences are at work, which may in some measure counteract that salutary control which he would unquestionably exert. The first effort, which was to dis- place him from the situation of Conductor, was made by Mr. W. KNY VET?, on the ground of that gentleman's having succeeded to the direction of the Ancient Concerts. As good a claim certainly might have been set up by the Master of the Worshipful Com- pany of Musicians; that venerable body having a more ancient and chartered right to distinction, and exercising just as much influence over the musical world as the body over which Mr. Kaivvarr presides. And be very soon found that such was the 'fact. The court of claims, with three of the Ancient Concert Directors in the number, refused to admit the plea.

It was then resolved to appoint four Leaders,—F. CRAMER, WEICHSEL, MORI, and SPAGNOLETTI. As far as the last gentle- :man is concerned, This selection evinced a want ofjudgment. We rate SPAGNOLETTI highly, very highly, in his place: but as a leader of sacred music, and especially that of Hareuxt, he has had no experience. Who has ever beard him rehearse even a common oratorio song, without the exclamation—" Vat is de time of dis song ? I know noting about it." Therefore, while standing

in the place of a leader, he himself would need to be led. Nor is this any disparagement to the talent of a man who has spent his

life in the orchestra of the Italian Opera, where his power is acknowledged and his talent fitly employed. And this appoint- ment, too, was intended to exclude T. COOKE, whose excellence not merely as the head of a theatrical orchestra, but as a leader of

HaNDEL's music, is undisputed. Such an exclusion was an error ill judgment, and, in a festival intended to display our national resources, a proof of bad taste. We are happy to learn that an unanimous remonstrance from the large Committee has placed this gentleman in his proper position.

The number of Organists seems to be indefinite. The plain and obvious course was to take the Organist of the Abbey ; unless it could be shown, either that the general effect of the performance

would be increased by vat) ing the Organists, or that Mr. TUR LE was incompetent to fill the situation : and as no competent judge

of such matters would venture to start an opinion so absurd as each of these, it follows that an extension of the number of Or- ganists is unnecessary ; and if unnecessary, that it had better be avoided. It seems that, in addition to the Organist of the Abbey,

Mr. Arrwooe, Mr. STAFFORD SMITH, Mr. KNVVETT, Mr.Bisnoe, and Mr. Porrea are alternately to take the keys. But why stop here ? Surely ADAMS, CROTCH, NOVELL°, J. JOLLY, BLACK- BOURNE, Goss, GEORGE SALE, and many others we might men- tion, have some claim to be reckoned among the most aecomplished organ-players of the present time, evea should SAM WESLEY be forgotten and overlooked in the strife. With the Committee it may be the "Fro ratiene voluntas," but the profession at large,

and the public, will assuredly ask the questions we have put ; es- pecially as two of the gentlemen already selected, however great their talents, are not known as organists at all. And if piano- forte-players are on this occasion to turn organists, why exclude

Jonar Ce.vama, Mosensaa:s. KIALLMARK, SCHULTZ, CRIES- BACH, and fifty others. By this extension, it might be so managed

that all our best keyed instrument players mialit be indulged with performing a chorus each This a ould be latitudinarianism in perfection.

It is generally understood that, in addition to the four perform- ances al: eady announced, two, if not mure, will also be given. If so, it were better that the annaunceineat were officially made; for it is quite certain that the Abbey will not hold, in four rerform- ances, the number of persons that such a display of musical power will congregate. There is no reason Ihr any such limitation. la a provincial festival, the majority of the pciformers (the most ex- pensive ones at least) have to assemble at a distance from home : here the entire instrumental band will be resident, and many, per- haps most, of the vocal. Hence the entertainment can be prolonged at a comparatively small expense, the entire musical public grati- fied, and the charities additionally benefited. Of what the per- formances will consist, no official announcement has yet been made. We presume that the selection will embrace those pieces which a powerful band is best calculated to display. First of all, the Israel in Egypt, entire; and the Dettingen Te Drain. We mention these, obviously because they are HANDEL'S finest choral works. Songs and concerted pieces there must be, for relief; but choral grandeur will be the distinguishing feature and the chief (almost the Sole) attraction of the festival. The Creation of HavnN also should be given : nor ought the works of our own great masters to be neg- lected. The name of PURCELL, dear to every English musician, is indissolubly associated with the Abbey in which he was Organist, and the place in which his ashes rest. He will, of course, not be forgotten. GIBBONS and Caoer, too, ought not to urge their claims in vain. We ought to have " Ho- sanna to the Son of David," that the world may hear a speci- men of choral harmony, which, though the production of an Englishman, is still unequalled of its kind. While we give our German brethren their due honour, let us also do justice to the genius and talent of those of our own country who may fairly enter the lists with them. The Requiem of MOZART is end nently fitted for such an orchestra ; and we hope that, for once, a Catholic "Missa pro defunctis" may be heard in Westminster Abbey. With these compositions, great as they are, the Last Judgment of SPOHR may be safely ranked ; which would be the most novel as well as the most attractive feature (judging from all past experience) in the selection. We have not included the name of BEETHOVEN; for, great as he is elsewhere, his supremacy in sacred music is, to say the least of it, very questionable. Add to which, his only oratorio contains but one chorus at all worthy his fame. Such ought to be the leading features of the Royal Musi- cal Festival. And we warn the managers, be they peers or com- moners, that they are acting under a serious and weighty respon- sibility. The musical character of our country is, to a certain ex- tent, confided to their keeping ; and upon them will Nary much depend the position it will hold with competent ContineLtal judges. They may earn for themselves and for the English profession a large share of fame : they may also accumulate uron their own heads contempt and disgrace. The most eminent provincial fes- tivals have done so much towards enlarging our acquaintance with sacred music, and so completely familialized the English public with its performance on a large scale and in the best manner, that the Directors of the present undertaking will have to sustain a com- parison which could not be applied to the Commemoration of half a century ago. That stood alone : this will be one of many. Let us not be understood to say that the performance can be either disgraceful or contemptible. The excellence as well as the num- ber of the band must preclude the possibility of that. But the possession of such means adds to the responsibility of those who have assumed their direction. The valour of an army may shield it from disgrace, and even earn for it distinction and renown, in spite of the inexperience, the folly, or the cowardice of its com- manders; but these are not suffered, on that account, to escape uncensured. Nor will the skill and power of the orchestra assem- bled within the walls of the Abbey sustain its managers against the onset of public opinion, should their course be marked either by incapacity or indolence. What we especially urge is the un- mutilated performance of the greatest works; what we especially deprecate is their being cut up into shreds and patches. Let not the Directors lower themselves to the rank of selection-mongers, and think that the vulgar recipe for a Covent Garden oratorio hill ought to be applied to this festival. Nothing has lowered our musical reputation on the Continent more than this detestable practice. An oratorio is as complete and finished a work of art as a play, a painting, or a statue; yet no one thinks of exhibiting a scene of one or an arm of another instead of the entire production. Let us refrain from the mockery of a pretended honour to an artist, while in practice we are barbarously defacing the noblest produc- tions of his genius. "Ex pede Ilerculem "—but there is no need to break off the foot, when the entire form may be presented to view.

Having stated our ignorance of the body with whom the power of selection and management really resides, these remarks can have no personal bearing. But, be that body noble or plebeian, it is right that its members, even for their own sakes, should be aware of their position, as well as what the public expects at their Lands; especially after the suspicious indications to which we have already alluded. We have no wish to find fault. We ear- nestly desire that the Royal Festival may be such a demonstration of musical taste and power as shall be worthy of the high patron- age it has received, and the extraordinary expectations it has ex- cited : nor shall any effort of ours to this end be wanted.

It may be necessary to add a few words on the nature and ex- tent of that public expectation which is now directed to this sub- ject. It will probably be, with many, exaggerated and absurd. We have beard foolish and ignorant vaunts as to the number of the band, reaching from 1200 to 1500. We suspect that half the first number will be nearer the truth. Westminster Abbey is smaller, much smaller every way, than York Minster; and 615 was the largest number ever assembled there, 400 being all that its spacious centre aisle would contain, the rest extending at right angles into the side aisles. Dr. BuRNEv's account of the Com- Inenuiration of HANDEL says, that " the orchestra ascended from the height of seven feet from the floor to upwards of forty from the base of the pillars • " and this, at the proper degree of eleva- tion for each row, would not give an area capable of affording due accommodation to 600 performers. Such an orchestra would be of amply sufficient magnitude for the Abbey. At York, it was placed under the lantern tower, backed by the choir and flanked by the transepts, where much of its power was dispersed, and consequently lost to the audienste. In the Abbey, the orchestra will stand at the West end of the building, and its entire strength be heard as well as seen.

We have not the means of distinctly pledging ourselves to the accuracy of all the information which it is the object of this ar- ticle to convey. We have taken the best means in our power to be accurate; but while there are so much secrecy and mystery, such various and perhaps conflicting bodies of management, truth comes out but scantily and slowly. Involuntary errors we shall be happy to correct, should any be found.