MU S IC,
THE FESTIVAL SEASON OF 1843.
ONE of the writers in AnrilsoN's Spectator calls silence the finest part of music. It is an amusing paradox, with a truthful as well as a face- tious side. The French ridicule an indifferent artist by telling him he distinguished himself by his silence—by somewhat more than an un- usually brilliant observation of the rests in his piece. This is better, however, either in concert or solo, than the entrance of a noisy fellow out of time or out of tune ; for an artful pause is not only among the finest effects of composition, but silence is an atmosphere necessary to the mightiest operations of music, and equally so to prepare our faculties for the due enjoyment of them.
After the heat and fever of competition in the London musical cam- paign have subsided—when Swom has packed up his violin, Dam- CHOCK set off to cool his fingers in the provinces, and our astonished ears have had a month's holyday or two—the autumnal Festivals fall in as pleasantly and naturally as the fruits and early firesides of the season, or as the vintage in the South of France or Italy. The eases- tial spirit of a musical festival is and should be festive—mall its :mom- paninients it should be a true musical holyday. With its pleasant ac- cessories of sight-seeing, driving in carriages, recognition of friends, copious invitations, dining at large with a Friar John to uncork the bottles or help the Bologna hams, it is a season not ill adapted to the enjoying natures of true musicians. We rejoice to say that this is the sensible and old English view of it taken by our country friends. Music in the morning ; then dinner, graced perchance hy some London celebrity—rapturons criticism over our wine, or at least sympathy and good talk ; then to the evening concert. where the intervals between BEETHOVEN and MOZART may be bestowed on the fair forms and com- plexions of England's youthful aristocracy, till the idea of an exclusive order and of the "old blood" of certain families ceases to be a fiction : such are the kindly interchanges of a musical festival. An immense assemblage of persons is gratified more or less in this manner. To ask on each occasion, "what has been done for the art ? " were to in- quire too curiously. Sufficient has been done if the flame of music has been reillumined in the heart of our population, and if the knowledge of bygone genius have prepared the way for its easier apprehension in future. Seldom does the opportunity occur in the country when so bold a step in novelty may be judiciously made as at the Norwich Festival, in the production of SPOHR'S Oratorios The Crucfirion and The Fall of Babylon. Impulses to the art would seem more naturally the work of the Metropolis, and thence to be traced through the arteries and veins of the country. But here, the want of some acknowledged master- spirit, the prevalence of talent of a certain level, professional jealousy and party squabbles, impede the progress of music ; and happy are we to be permitted to flee awhile from these discordant themes, and to re- vive old pleasures at their old sources in the country. Manchester commenced its festival early in the mcnth ; when a gene- ral union of the principal choral sccieties and neighbouring choirs took place in the great Hall of the Anti-Corn-law League, and performed The Messiah and a miscellaneous concert, under the direction of Sir HENRY BISHOP. The music, perhaps, pleased all the better in that it superseded for a time the eternal cuckoo note of complaint and agita- tion. The room gave great satisfaction to the singers. BnAnAm ap- peared much reduced in the volume and power of his voice, but retained his artistical manner. Miss CLARA NovEr.Lo took her place as the queen of sacred song. Her singing in The Messiah is alike perfect in the conception and execution : the silvery tone, the pure intonation, the facility of the high notes, the true declamation, all point to this voice as one of the finest conceivable for the simple and nobly pathetic strains of HANDEL. The choruses, by the HARGREAVES and the Manchester Choral Societies, pleased the conductor and the audience.
The triennial meetings of the Choirs of Gloucester, Worcester, and Hereford, are quiet and gentlemanly reunions, aiming at nothing extra- ordinary ; but preserving the ancient reputation of these cathedral cities for sound taste in music, as well as attachment to institutions ; this of the Choirs having been supported for a long time at a considerable pecuniary sacrifice. The Hereford Festival, which is that we have at present to notice, is the only one in which we recall of late years a re- markable and novel feature. This was in the introduction of several compositions of the late SAMUEL WESLEY by his son, Dr. WESLEY, for- merly organist of the Cathedral. They pleased the connoisseurs highly ; and to those who were somewhat versed in the composer's private his- tory, showed mind triumphant over circumstances. But the novelties of the provincial festival are unhappily soon dissipated and forgotten. We hope it may not prove thus with the clever young composer Mee- PARREN, who had a trio sung at one of the evening concerts here with much applause. There is an individuality of style about this composer which invests him with proud distinction among his brethren of the day. The morning performances comprised The Messiah and a grand selection. The evening programme puts one in mind of crossing the Alps, such are the inequalities in the names, and the odd juxtaposition of composers—PHILLIPS, CIMAROSA, JOHN PARRY, WEBER, &c. A numerous and expensive engagement of solo-singers gave effect to the works of this jumble of composers : in addition to CLARA and SIBYLLA NOVELL°, there were Miss FlAwEs, the Misses WILLIAMS, PHILLIPS, HOBBS, JOHN PARRY' and Meninx. The solo performances were there- fore often exquisite ; but we have not space to enter into particulars.
The great feature of the Birmingham meeting was Deborah. It was in reference to this work, which was a favourite one of the composer, that HANDEL said reproachfully to some one who asked him for an ad- mission to hear his Ads and Galatea, " What! you will go and hear my pretty music!" Deborah, it seems had been played to empty benches. And so it might be even now, with this and other great works that require the steady advance of musical education and the ac- cumulated taste of ages to do them justice, were it not for the interpola- tions introduced with more or less judgment by the managers of festi- vals; a process which, as it does not affect the integrity of the original, but leaves it as it found it, may be pardoned in those whose duty it is to provide for expenses and make a festival pay. This commercial consideration is not to be altogether blinked by the votaries of high art : however poetical and exciting the season, if debts and liabilities are left behind, harmonious gatherings must cease of themselves. EstrvEris conducting has been the subject of much animadversion. No one who knows 'Clain-Err will assert aught to the prejudice of his classical taste and sound musical education. His long retirement in the Isle of Wight, and cessation from the habits of the practical musician, are thought to have unnerved and given him indecision in the orchestra. On this subject we will not undertake to speak, but turn rather to the general position of the conductors at provincial festivals. Here we have ever a huge orchestra of very miscellaneous materials—some steady and assured in every movement, others entirely the reverse; and if the two parties do not absolutely pull together like dog and eat in harness, the want of a thoroughly crisp ensemble is at least always perceptible. Placed in the midst of such a band, with little time for rehearsal, for explanation for acquaintance even with the position of the instruments, a man ;hose business is to make the music go, and not to expose the faults of his coadjutors, will always have a difficult task. The defect of a certain wavering in the time attaches more or less to all large bands: the accent of the music is not contemplated from the same point by all ; and we well remember that Fins, in conducting the Overture to the Zaubeififfte at one of the anni- ?emery fetes of the Belgian Revolution, seemed to make every beat contra tempo. In archery, at a long distance, a man allows for the wind : here it was necessary to allow for the echo. The limits of music are circumscribed, little as we may like to confess it: enlarge number and augment grandeur if you will, but you must lose in energy of movement and variety of rhythm. The choral grandeur of Rossira's Stabat Mater is said to have been first tasted at Birmingham. The solo-singers, with the exception of FORNASARI, were among those who have won their brightest laurels in the execution of the work. CLARA NOVELL°, who has sung it under the auspices of its composer, has here the true material for her broad style and elevated delivery in sacred song; Memo, for his sweet tone and pure feeling. It was not judicious to unite two such singers as Miss NOVELL° and Miss RAINFORTH in the " Quis est hotno," as that duet requires forcible low notes in the second performer. Miss RAINFORTH has no notes of any quality in the lower part of her voice; and though a singer of great merit in some respects, her general style is small, and she has the habit of taking breath too often. This practice may in- crease tone, but it diminishes style in an equal ratio : where we should have a full-length portrait, we get a miniature.
The presence of the organist, Dr. WESLEY, was interesting to the assembled musicians who knew his reputation as a solo-player, but were curious to know how he would supply the place of TURLE as the ac- companyist of an orchestra. In each department he displayed skill and judgment. The mechanical difficulties of this enormous instrument, the weight of the touch, and the extent of the pedal-board, put to a severe test abilities of the first magnitude. 141ENDELSSOEIN, when he played solos here, was assiduously engaged in private practice from seven in the morning till nine ; and Dr. WESLEY, we are informed, had made during the previous fortnight several very judicious and indeed necessary exercitations. In an affair of this kind, Mahomet must go to the mountain with a vengeance,—the execution of organ fugues and preludes involving a more complex operation of mind than that of "God save the King" on the flute. The performances cost Dr. WESLEY great exertion—his face being bathed in perspiration ; but were neatly executed. He performed every thing for himself—the management of the stops, the turning of the leaves of his music-book. The pedals were chalked to prevent a slip of the foot, and an area of some breadth was kept open around him. The scene interested the musicians of the orchestra ; one of whom declared, that he had "never seen a man so fully engaged in his life."
Still, the organ does not please the connoisseur ; being more famous for noise than quality. We fear that the true proportions of this style of instrument are known to the Germans only ; and we could wish to try the question of superiority by a comparison between this and their most celebrated modern works—the organ at the Cathedral of Lund in Sweden, at the Metropolitan Church at Fulda, and at St. Paul's Church at Frankfort. Such instruments, when good, are the triumph of me- chanism, at once honourable to human skill and interesting as the in- terpreters of the genius of BAen.
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