CHESTER MUSICAL FESTIVAL.
Twis festival furnishes one of the numerous proofs of the vast supe- riority of many provincial towns over the metropolis in the cultivation and the performance of sacred music. In a town containing hardly one fourth of the inhabitants of the parish of Islington, has been this week assembled an excellent and efficient orchestra of nearly three hundred performers, capable of doing justice to the finest sacred music Of HANDEL, HAYDN, MOZART, Or BEETHOVEN. Nothing of this sort is to be heard in London. All the performances of this species of music are on a confined scale. The dimensions are as the Adelphi to Covent Garden Theatre, when compared even with the Chester band, which is far from being the largest of those which are assembled at these provincial anniversaries. We can hear Muslim'', or PATON, or MALIBRAN, in the metropolis ; but we cannot hear HANDEL, or any other choral writer, in his due and proper proportions. The materials for such an exhibition, at present, exist only in the country.
The venerable Cathedral of this old and singular city is remarkably well adapted to give effect tochoral music. Its dimensions are not too large to prevent each individual singer from being well heard, while they are large enough to contain a numerous and effective band. The managing Committee exercised a sound discretion in many of their arrangements. Instead of building the orchestra in the centre of the church (its usual place at York, Gloucester, and most other festivals,) they erected it in front of the west window, leaving the whole of the nave for the audience, and thus selecting the most favourable spot for giving its full effect to the band.
The principal singers engaged were Madame MALIBRAN GARCIA, Miss PATON, Mrs. W. KNYVETT, Miss CRAMER, and Miss FARRAR; Mr. BRAMAN, Mr. KNYVETT, Mr. PHILLIPS, and Mr. E. TAYLOR. CRAMER led the church music, and MORI the evening concerts. GREATOREX was the conductor.
The selections cannot be commended. Much, undoubtedly, of sterling good music they contained, but it was all of the most com- monplace description. There was a total want of research into the abundant supply of first-rate church music which has within the last few years found its way into this country. A few old books of the Ancient Concert seem to have furnished the materials for the Chester Festival. Whatever would give the least possible trouble, has been scrupulously selected. The most hacknied pieces from Judas Mac- cabana., Joshua and Saul, with the first act of HAYDN'S Creation, composed the principal features of the morning performances. The only attempt at any thing in the way of novelty was in the selection from Jephtha, and this was singularly unfortunate. It was quite mar- vellous with what a total want of judgment almost all the best parts of the oratorio were passed by, and the most ineffective ones chosen, In- stead of the airs "Pour forth no more," "Take the heart," or heaven's all-ruling power,"—and the choruses of "No more to Am- mon's God," "Cherub and Seraphim," and "Iii glory high,"—we had long recitatives in succession, interspersed with the instrumental sym- phonies, and that poor (and if it were not HANDEL'S, we should say vulgar) air "Welcome as the cheerful light." It was a very dull act, and it ought to have been a most interesting and effective one.
Of the respective merits of the singers, very little is left for us to say. With the exception of Madame MALIBRAN, we have so often heard them in the same pieces, and the public are so well acquainted with them all, that criticism is here superfluous. We ought not, however, to pass over Mrs. KNYVETT'S singing. This lady is succeeding to some of Miss STEPHENS'S sacred songs, and thus occupying, most de- servedly, a higher rank in the profession. Her " Pious Orgies" was one of the most perfect things of its kind we ever heard. MALIBRAN'S songs were selected with very bad taste. Such an artiste ought to lie encouraged to bring out some of the sacred music of Italy, and not be made to 'expose herself in the performance of HANDEL'S songs. In the one she would be at home ; in the other she was abroad. And these were badly chosen for her. They were all of one class, and that an inferior one. MALIBRAN is a singer of strong feeling, and to give her such songs as "0 had I Jubars lyre," and "Praise the Lord," showed a strange want of judgment. Miss PATON appeared a good deal exhausted on Tuesday from exertion in her first song ; bu her in- disposition was only temporary, and she went through the whole of her professional duties with great success. Her readily- of some of HANDEL'S airs differs occasionally from that of her preZecessors, but it has always the character of strong musical feeling. There was nothing new for BRAHAM, KNYVETT, PHILLIPS, or E. TAYLOR. They all acquitted themselves with their accustomed ability in their several departments. .
The Choral band was the glory of the Chester Festival. It was selected from the well-practised troops of Lancashire and Yorkshire, by Mr. WHITE of Leeds. We wished for some of the ladies who pre-
tend to act the part of chorus-singers at the London Oratorios, that they might have taken a lesson from the steiady and powerful singing of the Lancashire girls. There is only this difference between them, that the latter know their business and the former do not. Of the instrumental band (consisting of ninety-seven individuals), the princi- pals only were London. performers ; and to the credit of the rest be it spAen, a more effective band for sacred music we have seldom heard. Under good management, the Chester Festival might have been a first- rate performance. The Evening Concerts were held in a room called the King's School. A more barn-like place for such a purpose we never saw. And the arrangements were as bad as it was possible for them to be. A lofty gallery was constructed, in a part of which the orchestra was placed; by which contrivance the performers were elbowed by one half of the audience, and separated by a fearful interval from the other. The evening selections were poor. With such singers as MALIBRAN, PATON, and BRAHAM, we expect something better than "Jenny Gray," '0 no, we never mention her," and "The Kim., God bless him." Some of the gems of the season ought to have found a place ; but for these we looked in vain. -
The Festival has been very well attended. The Earls of STAMFORD, GROSVENOR, WILTON, HARRINGTON, the EGERTONS, STANLEY S, IRGHS, WILI3RAHAMS, DAVENPORTS, and the other great Cheshire families, have given it their support, and the county and city generally have followed their example. There are several points in which the Committee might have been better advised ; but they have probably learned something by the experience of the present meeting, and will manage the next better.
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