THE MUSICAL FESTIVALS.
THE Festivals of the present year take place in the following order,—Manchester, Norwich, IVorcester, Liverpool. Of these, Norwich stands first in the numerical strength of its bawl, and in the possession of a building (the largest of its kind in the kingdom) admirably adapted for the display of an orchestra of 400 performers. The excellence of Worcester Cathedral for a similar !nurse is well known; and the discrimination of the Cancluetore Mr. CLARKE, has always assembled the most select although not. the most numerous combination of instrumental talent that any festival can boast. The orchestra at the last Worcester Festival was, for its sire, (187 performers,) quite unrivalled. The Man- chester and Liverpool people are driven to take refuge in one of their parish-churches; and the bigot zeal of some meddling priest ill the latter town has interdicted the performance at that church which is best adapted for the purpose.
The schemes of the Norwich and Worcester Festivals only have- been announced : and in some respects their features are alike. The musical public invariably look to the firmer for the produc- tion of some work of standard merit and high reputation. At Norwiele The Last Judgment or Sparta, The Death of Jesus by GRAUN, The Deluge by ScrixemeR, were first heard in this country; and at the coming Festival, " Redemption, an Oratorio, founded on the Requiem of' Moz ■RT," and The Christian's Prayer by SPOHR, will be produced. The firmer will also be performed at Worcester.
Pae.ious to the Westminster Abbey Festival, we urged the performance of this, the greatest of its immortal author's sacred compositions. At wind' the Standard angrily exclaimed—" Is the head of our Protestant Church to be insulted with the per- formance of a Popish mass ?'' We then assured our zealously Protestant contemporary, that we e ere not insensible to the force of his objection, but that it N'as high time it were removed, by the adoption of a version stripped of the peculiar notions of the Romish Church, in order to enable English Protestants to parti- cipate with their Continental brethren in the gratification of hear- ing this matchless composition. This laudable work been accom- plished by Mr. E. TAYLOR; and the Requiem of MOZART may now be heard in our cathedrals and churches without offence to Protestant ears. A more acceptable service to the cause of music could not have been rendered.
A rehearsal of Redemption took place on Monday last, at the Hanover Square Rooms; to which a few auditors were admitted. The band was a noble one, filling the entire Philharmonic orches- tra ; and the chorus, though sufficiently powerful for that room, was only a "faint echo" of the vocal strength which will be heard at Norwich, where it will amount to 268. F. CRAMER led, Sir GEORGE SMART was the conductor, and Mr. TURLE took the organ. The "Requiem," or mass for the dead of the Catholic Church, consists in part only of music. At the termination of the " Lacrymosa," the music ceases for awhile, and again after the "Hostias et preces." The Requiem, therefore, comprehends seve- ral detached portions, which are connected by such parts of the service as are performed at the altar. It is a composition requir- ing some links to connect the severed chain, whether performed in a Catholic chapel or an orchestra. These Mr. E. TAYLOR has supplied, either from other compasitions of MOZART, or from different celebrated writers of the same school. We might be in- clined to ask why were not all the addenda his, were we not aware that MOZART'S sacred music has no recitatives, and few airs except such as are perfectly well known in a different connexion;. and that much even of what he has written for the church service is light and operatic, and therefore would be quite out of place in a work which is a medel of the true ecclesiastical style. To the Requiem of MOZART certain compositions of other German writers are much more akin than many of his own. The additions are made sparingly, and only when demanded by the peculiar struc- ture of the work. They impart to it, however, a new character and increased interest; and it becomes, truly and properly, an Oratorio. Nothing of the original is omitted, and nothing altered. but the wolds. MOZART died before it was finished; and, per- haps for this reason, the last chorus of the Requiem is but a repe- tition of the first. Here Mr. TAYLOR has substituted the magni- ficent fugue from his sacred Cantata, "Heileger ! sieh gnadig,". which forms a most appropriate climax to the work. This immortal composition, the pride and delight of its author's countrymen, will now be known as it deserves in England : it will be heard, understood, and therefore enjoyed. We can scarcely wonder at its exclusion from public attention in its original form,
since to most hearers it would have been unintelligible, and to many of those who understood it offintsive. There is no need of this. We are not compelled to publish our peculiar creeds by sound of drum and trumpet : the more worthy and welcome employment of music is to speak to the heart and the affections of all Christians. Her province is their common, not their debateable ground.
Alter Redemption, The Christian's Prayer, a sacred Cantata by SPOHR, was rehearsed. We noticed this charming work soon alter its first appearance in an English dress. Part of it has been performed at the Vocal Concerts, but at the Norwich Festival it will be given (as it always ought to be) entire. The Norwich scheme also contains The Creation and Israel in Egypt ; thus presenting in succession the greatest works of Remus, HAYDN, and MOZART,-110t by fragments and scraps, but complete and unmutilated. At Worcester, The Last Judgment will be per-
formed without omission or transposition. Let us hope that such
examples as these will be estimated as they ought, and produce theu due effect upon the public taste. The selection of last year at York, and that at Westminster Abbey the year before, will
then be known and quoted as the works of ignorant imbecility, and preserved only as the relics of a barbarous age.
From an article in Thursday's Chronicle, it seems that there is a prospect of MALIBRAN'S being engaged at the Manchester and Liverpool Festivals. There was a negotiation with her for the whole, which was broken off because she refused to abate in her de- mand of 650/. from each. We shall not be suspected of a desire to underrate the talent of this accomplished singer, when we affirm, what experience has taught us, that no individual talent is worth such a sum to any festival. CATALAN!, in the plentitude of her power, used to say—"! am a musical festival: a score instruments anu as many voices are required to assist and relieve me, but I am the sole and sufficient attraction." That time is past, that folly is over. A provincial festival now depends upon its power to exhibit a succession of fine compositions, well supported in every part, and not upon the individual powers of any singer, however great. It is in vain to expect that a whole county will congregate in order to enjoy a gratification which has been purchaseable for a shilling during an entire London season. The provincial festivals must offer some attraction beyond this, or they will speedily sink. The necessary effitt of giving exorbitant terms to one performer is to starve the rest. This was the result of the CATALAN! plan; and it took many years to elevate these pefformanees to the rank which they have now attained. As a mere matter of profit, we state it confidently, that the giving exorbitant terms to a single singer does not answer. The increased receipts have very rarely been equal to the increased expenditure.
From the same source we learn, that Meermessone's Paul is 10 be brought out at Liverpool. Our resp: et for the talents of its author leads us to wish that more—that is, sullieient—time had been allowed for its due preparation. The oratorio has but just reached this country in its original language; and although, to some persons, half the merit of producing a work consists in the rapidity with which it is brought out, we are not, and we are quite sure the author of Paul is not, of that number. It was, with him, the work of years; but a few necks are to suffice to translate, copy, engrave, rehearse, and perform it in England. A copy of the work is before us; and although its pervading character is simplicity, we are quite sure that this hurried kind of preparation will not produce a fitir exhibition of its merits. Any rehearsal of it in London, like that of the Redemption, is out of the question. Our singers and players are now dispersed ; and, at a festival, where one morning is usually allotted to the rehearsal of six per- formances, revision and correction are impossible.
The Oratorio (of which the words are chiefly selected from the Acts of the Apostles,) opens at the 24th verse of the 14th chapter. it then proceeds to the accusation and death of Stephen, begin- ning at the 8th verse of the 6th chapter. Here Paul appears on the scene. The conversion of the great Apostle of the Gentiles fol- lows, and his meeting with Ananias at Damascus. These events occupy the first act. Those events which form the subject of' the second are principally extracted from the 14th and 20th chapters of the Acts; comprising the labours of Paul and Barnabas at :Lystra, and of the former at Ephesus.
It is not our intention, at present, to analyze the merits of the work as a musical composition. We will only say that it is the production of an avowed and a worthy disciple of the school of SEBASTIAN BACH. Like his Oratorios, its strength will be found to reside in its choruses; among which are many excellent speci- mens of fugal counterpoint. It dues not assume a dramatic form; and is interspersed with frequent chorales, in conformity with the model on which it is constructed. Those who look in Paul for .modern graces and songs to tickle their ears, will look in vain ; but solid substantial enjoyment, and that gratification especially which a musician derives from good choral writing, may confi- dently be anticipated. It seems there has been some inquiry at Manchester as to the use of a Conductor—since a Mr. WILKINSON there is to play the organ. It is rather desirable that this functionary's duties should be more accurately defined; since we have reason to think that he is sometimes blamed for acts over which he has no con- trol, and, it may be, praised for that which he has done nothing to accomplish. For example, it never could be ascertained on whom the disgraceful jobbing of the Abbey Festival was charge- able, or who was the compiler of the unrivalled selections there, and at York, to which we have referred above. In most of the Festivals of the present year there is less difficulty in fixing re- sponsibility, and awarding praise or blame where it may deserve to fall. At Norwich, it is publicly announced that Mr. E. TAY- LOR is responsible for the morning selections ; at 'Worcester, the entire arrangement of the Festival from first to last devolves on Mr. CLARKE; and at Manchester, the bill is really and truly formed by the Committee, or rather by a few of its members equal to such a task,—and as Mr. W. SHORE is one of the number, they have no want of an able adviser. We are deceived if that gem ileman's hand be not distinctly traceable in its principal outlines.
We make this announcement in order to preclude any of that absurd and pernicious mystification in which such undertakings as these are sometimes shrouded.
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