THE YORK FESTIVAL.
THIS is a thankless subject to enter upon, inasmuch as it places our national as well as our musical character rather low in the scale of intellect and taste. It is mortifying to see good intentions misdirected by ignorance or selfishness, and to witness an effort of public liberality frustrated for the sake of eking out a job. The County and the Cathedral of York seem made for each other. It requires a building of such ample proportions to contain that portion of its large and wealthy population e hich a Musical Festival may fairly be expected to attract ; and the possession of such a place in the midst of such a population ought to stimulate those who undertake the direction of the meeting to ezortions commensurate with the means thus placed at their disposal. Such an opportunity of advancing the interests of the art, and, by cre- ating an unrivalled musical attraction, of also benefiting several excellent charitable institutions, does not often occur ; and the attention of the managers ought to have been directed to the im- provement of these advantages in every possible way,—first, by activity, zeal, and good taste in the selection of the music to be performed ; next, by a judicious choice of the performers, and a skilful apportionment of what each has to do; and lastly, by placing the orchestra in the best possible situation in the Minster for the complete development of its power. •
As to the first point, the selection of the music evinces not only a total destitution of activity or research, but the most listless and (in the present day) unaccountable indolence and ignorance. The most liacknied pieces of the Ancient Concert books are strung together with that utter disregard of style and character which so frequently deforms the work of these selection-makers. To get through the week with the least possible effort to the conductor and the band, seems to have been the sole aim of the person who ar- ranged the scheme of the York Festival. To him, music is pre- cisely where and what it was thirty years ago : unconscious of, or thoroughly indifferent towards what has taken place since that. time, he persuades himself that all the world are as blinder as in- do!ent as himself. Yorkshire is rather an unfortunate county in which to try such an experiment, since the practice of choral music is a constant amusement among the immense population of the West Riding ; and the weavers cf Halifax and the clothiers of Leeds have for many years evinced an ardour and perseverance in the cultivation of this branch of the art, and a desire to extend their acquaintance with it to every new work of reputation, which emi- nently fit them to judge of the true merits of a Festival. They will detect the poverty of the scheme at a glance ; and there are hun- dreds of artisans in this district of the county who would have suc- ceeded infinitely better in its construction. Wherever the name of BEETHOVEN, MOZART, or SPOHR, occurs—apparent rani nantes in gurgite vasto—it is only in connexion with some fragment torn from its place. As far as the choice and arrangements of the music is concerned, the York Festival must take its rank far in the rear indolence and bad taste are written upon its programme in large and legible characters. The choice of the principal singers is a subject of general sur- prise; although it ought to excite none, where the symptoms of a job are so manifest. STOCKHAUSEN and CAAADORI are excluded, and Mrs. KNYVETT is the principal female singer! When this lady was in her prime, she was a very respectable second or third to MIS. BILLINGTON, Mrs. SALMON, or Miss STEPHENS : she is now advanced to the occupancy of the same station which they filled. The cause of this extraordinary exclusion, and still more extraordinary promotion, is palpable enough. GRISI is engaged, in order that the auditors of the York Festival may witness a re- petition of the deplorable failure which took place last year at. Westminster Abbey. RUBINI and LABLACHE will also appear in the Selections at the Minster,—it would seem for the ex- press purpose of thrusting the most offensive portions of the- Catholic service in the faces of a Protestant audience, in the- presence and under the sanction of the Archbishop of YORK. It is scarcely decorous in such a place, and before such an assembly,
to select such pieces as " Penis omnipotens," and " Ave verum corpus;" yet these, with the addition of one of the Creeds
from the Mass-book, occur in the same act, separated by the chorus of " When his loud voice." Israel in Egypt is an- nounced, but shorn of its beauties, and deformed with senseless and incongruous interpolations. A fragment of the Last Judgr ment appears in the scheme; in which the order of every move- ment is inverted, and musical connexion as well as common sense, of necessity, disregarded. We have heard many a strange and disreputable musical olio in the course of our lives, but such a stupid and senseless jumble of incongruities as the scheme of the- York Festival presents never before fell under our observation. The orchestra is placed in the worst possible situation for dis- playing. the power of the band — directly under the Lantern • TuYier, instead of being erected at the West end of the Minster;
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