# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Costa, Michael

​COSTA, Sir MICHAEL (1810–1884), conductor and musical composer, son of Cavaliere Pasquale Costa, was born in Naples on 4 Feb. 1810. He learnt the rudiments of music from his maternal grandfather, Giacomo Tritto, and was subsequently placed at the Royal Academy of his native town. Three compositions by him were composed for the theatre of the college, a cantata, ‘L' Immagine’ (1825), and two operas, ‘Il Delitto punito’ (1826) and ‘Il Sospetto funesto’ (1827). An oratorio, ‘La Passione,’ a mass, a ‘Dixit Dominus,’ and three symphonies were composed at this time, no doubt under the supervision of Zingarelli, then director of the college. In 1828 he wrote an opera, ‘Il Carcere d' Ildegonda,’ for the Teatro Nuovo, and was appointed accompanist at San Carlo. In 1829 he wrote ‘Malvina’ for San Carlo, and ‘Seldlachek,’ in which Tosi, Rubini, and Bendetti appeared. In the autumn of this year he was sent to England by Zingarelli, who had composed a sacred cantata, based on Isaiah xii., for the Birmingham festival, and wished that his pupil should conduct it. The directors of the festival, distrusting his ability on account of his youth, refused not only to allow him to conduct the work, but to pay him any fee whatever unless he would undertake to sing at the festival. This he accordingly did, but, as may be imagined, with very moderate success. He was first heard on 6 Oct. in the duet ‘O mattutini albori’ from Rossini's ‘Donna del Lago,’ which he sang with Miss F. Ayton ‘in character.’ On the subsequent days of the festival he sang two solos, besides taking part in a few ensemble numbers. The criticisms on his performance were uniformly unfavourable, nor did his master's work obtain a much greater success. Zingarelli, according to the ‘Harmonicon,’ ​‘would have acted with more discretion had he kept both his sacred song and his profane singer for the benefit of his Neapolitan friends. As a singer he is far below mediocrity, and he does not compensate for his vocal deficiencies by his personal address, which is abundantly awkward.’ In ‘Musical Reminiscences of the Last Half-century,’ a work written by an intimate friend of Costa's, it is stated that Clementi found him ‘scoring’ a song from Bellini's ‘Pirata,’ and declared him to be a composer rather than a singer. For ‘scoring’ we should probably read ‘arranging from the score,’ since it is certain that he accompanied himself in the song ‘Nel furor delle tempeste,’ and that the audience testified their displeasure in no doubtful manner. That the proper direction of his talents was soon recognised, whether by Clementi or some other person, is evident from his being appointed maestro al cembalo at the King's Theatre under Laporte's management. In 1831 his ballet, ‘Kenilworth,’ was produced with considerable success, and in the following year he succeeded Bochsa as director of the music under Monck Mason's management. It was at this time that his real power began to show itself. Many of his most effectual reforms of abuses which had crept in among the orchestral players at the opera were now set on foot, no doubt much to the disgust of the old members of the band, who on the morning after his first appearance as conductor had presented him with a case containing seven miniature razors in mockery of his extremely youthful appearance. A ballet, ‘Une heure à Naples,’ is the principal work of this year; in 1833 he wrote a similar work, ‘Sir Huon,’ for Taglioni, and the vocal quartet, ‘Ecco quel fiero istante.’ In the beginning of 1838 an opera by him, ‘Malek Adhel,’ was produced at the Italian opera in Paris, with Grisi, Albertazzi, Rubini, Tamburini, and Lablache in the cast. When produced in London it succeeded better than it had done in Paris. A ballet, ‘Alma,’ was composed in 1842, and in 1844 another opera, ‘Don Carlos,’ saw the light, but failed to obtain the success which, in the opinion of Mr. Chorley, it deserved. In 1846, on the occasion of the secession from Mr. Lumley's company, Costa, with some of the principal singers and many of the members of the orchestra, joined the new enterprise at Covent Garden, and in the same year he was appointed conductor of the Philharmonic concerts. In this new capacity he astonished every one by his unexpected ability in the rendering of classical compositions, and he continued to conduct the concerts to universal satisfaction until 1854, when for one year the direction of the concerts was in the hands of Richard Wagner. On 22 Sept. 1848 he was elected conductor of the Sacred Harmonic Society, and in the following year he directed the festival at Birmingham, the scene of his unfortunate début, with very different results from those which followed his early attempts as a vocalist. The successive triennial festivals were conducted by him until 1879, as were also the Bradford festival of 1853 and the Leeds festivals from 1874 to 1880. To his energy must doubtless be ascribed the extraordinary success of the first Handel festival in 1857, and its successors from 1859 till 1877 inclusive. The list of his official posts is completed by that of director of Her Majesty's Opera, which he held from 1871 onwards. He received the honour of knighthood in 1869, and was also decorated with many foreign orders. Shortly before the Handel festival of 1883 he was struck with paralysis, and died at Brighton 29 April 1884.
The most prominent among his compositions are the two oratorios ‘Eli’ and ‘Naaman,’ both produced at Birmingham, on 29 Aug. 1855 and 7 Sept. 1864 respectively. Though it is impossible to deny that these two works owe their form, if not their very existence, to the success of Mendelssohn's ‘Elijah,’ there is yet no doubt that they contain many extremely effective passages, many attractive melodies, and, in the latter case more especially, some instances of fine choral writing. Perhaps the best proof of their vitality is the fact that they are still retained in the programmes of the Sacred Harmonic Society. In point of popularity ‘Eli’ was far more successful than Costa's second oratorio; the simplicity of Samuel's evening prayer, ‘This night I lift my soul to Thee,’ was justly admired for many years, and the well-known march has almost become part of our national music. In ‘Naaman’ the composer seems to have aimed at a higher and more earnest style of writing; several somewhat noisy marches occur, it is true, no doubt in consequence of the success of that which we have just mentioned, but the structure is a good deal more ambitious in many ways. It has never taken the public taste as ‘Eli’ took it, nor does it possess enough sterling merit to secure the lasting admiration of musicians.
Living at a time before faithfulness to a composer's intentions was considered the first qualification for a conductor, it is not to be wondered at that Costa should have made additions to Handel's scores with a view to rendering the compositions of that master thoroughly effective from his point of view. He had not the perception to see that the simple grandeur of the choruses in the ‘Israel ​in Egypt’ requires no help from the brass instruments of modern times, and he therefore inserted trombone parts and occasional drum passages almost wherever he pleased. Though we may deplore his want of refinement, we must remember that Costa perfectly suited the taste of his generation, and that but for him the national love of Handel would have been far less than it now is.
It is as a conductor that his name will longest endure, for he was the first master of the art who had appeared in England. Not so very long before his arrival the direction of the orchestra had been effected from a pianoforte or by the leader of the violins; the change to the present system of beating time from the front of the orchestra was introduced by Spohr in 1820, but it was some time before conducting became a separate art as it is at the present day. His chief characteristics as a conductor were his indomitable will, his absolute firmness and decision of beat, and his indefatigable energy; he possessed also no small amount of diplomacy, which was of the greatest use in managing recalcitrant prime donne and other mutinous persons. Though many of the subtleties of the highest kind of music were beyond his reach, he never failed to realise the general effect of the compositions he directed, and Meyerbeer, whose contribution to the music of the 1862 exhibition he conducted, was no doubt in earnest when he called him ‘the greatest chef d'orchestre in the world.’
[Grove's Dict. of Music; Quarterly Musical Magazine, x. 462, &c.; Harmonicon, vii. 273, &c.; Times, 30 April 1884; Musical Recollections of the Last Half-century; information from Dr. A. Nicholson.]
J. A. F. M.