omit.
Tiu, BIRMINGHAM MTJSICAL FESTIVAL.
WE defer our criticism on the great provincial Festival which has just terminated, until next week, when we shall be able to give a con- nected review of the whole. In the mean time, it will suffice to say that the success of the Festival, up to yesterday, Was all that could be desired by all parties concerned, a series of crowded audiences having been feasted with splendid performances of four chefs-d'ceuvre of the greatest sacred composers, and there being a fair prospect of a large surplus for the charitable objects to which the profits are devoted. The Festival opened on Tuesday with Elijah, which, having been composed expressly for their Festival of 1846, is- looked upon by the Birmingham people as peculiarly their own. On Wednesday morning Samson-was performed; in the evening, the Creation,, and, Thursday morning, the Messiah, which proved as attractive as ever, the attend- ance being 2299, or the largest but one ever attracted to a Birmingham Festival performance. The customary three miscellaneous concerts have this year been reduced to two, the first of which took place on Tuesday evening, the second on Thursday. A performance of Judas Maceabaus is also announced for Friday evening in lieu of the ball with which the Festival has hitherto been brought to a close. The orchestra, numbering 146, and the chorus of 335, are worthy of being led by the baton of their conductor, M. Costa.
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