The Press.
London, England, 1857-05-30 00:00:00

EPSOM RACES.

THE Downs, perhaps, never presented a larger
attendance of company than on Wednesday last.
The day was fine, the race was looked forward to
with considerable interest, and the cockneys rushed
out of London by thousands. A hundred thousand
persons were on the ground. Any one, observes the
clever correspondent of a contemporary, can fill up the
picture. " People got themselves weighed at the
machine, and immediately proceeded to add to their
weight at the refreshment booths ; then they blew
into flexible tubes, to ascertain whether their lungs
were in order, and were gravely handed sanitary
certificates by the professional gentlemen who super.
intended the operation. An aspiring histrionic gave
imitations of Mr. Charles Kean as Richard 111., and
was pronounced to be very like by all who had had

SATURDAY,

the happiness of seeing that distinguished actor
in the part. The pickpockets futilely rummaged
the empty pockets of people who had been rendered
wise by experience, and the policemen ran after the
dogs, who exhibited their usual perverse attachment
for the turf. At the paddock Mr. Dorling was in all
his glory, performing wonderful feats of equitation,
and waving his hand in grand semicircles with the
true air of a great commander ; and those who had
shillings to spare wont in to see the horses and the
preliminary mysteries, while those who had not
lingered outside and watched them as they went down
to be saddled and inspected at the Grand Stand.
And a noble troop they made, as they passed proudly
along, pawing the ground, and looking as if they
knew that the eyes of a hundred thousand people
were upon them. Every one crowded round Tourna-
ment, admiring his fine shape, his silky hide, his
fiery eye, and his gallant action. His winning
became almost a certainty, and his backers were in
ecstasies. Skirmisher, also—" Scrummager," as he
was fondly called by his humbler partisans—had a
strong party; but nobody asked which was Blink
Bonny or Black Tommy. In the meantime, the
din of tongues in the Ring bad swelled into a
deafening noise, bookmakers were dodging in and
out the crowd, and layers and backers generally
seemed to be indulging in a complicated game of
hide•and-seek. Amidst. the noise and the excite-
ment, the pushing and driving, it was somewhat
difficult to ascertain the real tone of the market. It
was evident, however, that Tournament held his
position firmly, whilst Skirmisher, who had been
slightly depressed, was again in high favour. The
advance of M.D. to 7 to 1, and the desire to back
Blink Bonny by those persons who wished to "get
out," and by others who remembered her two•year-
old running, and were. despite her wretched exhibi-
tion at Newmarket, determined to get on, were the
principal incidents which marked the close of specu-
lation.

At length the horses were got together at the
starting•post, in all thirty, a fair field. The
shouting and bawling in the ring suddenly ceased,
and a pause ensued. The impatience and excite-
ment was intense ; it was aggravated by one
false start, then by another, till at length a simul-
taneous shout of " They're off" was sent up for
the last time, and then subsided into a kind of
murmur as the horses streamed up the hill, and
again swelled into a roar as they rushed madly
round Tattenham-corner. The race was the affair
of but a moment. Blink Bonny was already ahead,
with Black Tommy close behind. Adamas made a
gallant rush as they passed the Grand Stand, the
favourites were lost in the crowd, and Blink Bonny
won by a neck, Black Tommy beating Adamas by a
head, and a neck only separating Adamas frcm
Strathnaver. The first four were placed as follows
The DERRY STAKES of 50 sovs. each, h ft, for three•year•
olds. (202 subs.)
Mr. W. I'Anson's Blink Bonny
Mr. Drinkald's Black Tommy (Covey) 2
Mr. Mellish's Adamas (Wells) 3

Mr. C. Harrison's Strathnaver (Bumby) 4

'SETTING AT STARTING.

4 to 1 agst Tournament, 7 to I each agst Skirmisher,
Saunterer, and M.D., 9 to 1 each agst Arsenal and Anton,
20 to 1 each agst Blink Bonny and Wardermarake, 25 to 1
each agat Strathnaver, Lady Hawthorne, Zuyder Zee, and
Sydney.
-

Thursday was the "off" day, and on Friday the
Oaks was won, of course, by Blink Bonny. The
following is the return of the race :
Blink Bonny
Sneeze
Mo3stissim a 'l
lmperieuse ..
Thirteen ran. Won by eight lengths. Four lengths be.
tween second and third, and four lengths between third and
fourth.

THE SUNDAY PROMENADES On the grand parterre,
Windsor Castle, commenced on Sunday last, when
the band of the Royal Horse Guards (blue)
played,
for the first time this season, from four till seven
o'clock in the evening. The north terrace now bears
the bell from Sebastopol and two Chinese cannon of
beautiful workmanship. The gun sent to this
country from the Sultan, as a present to her Majesty,
will also be placed there.
A FIRMAN for a railway from Kostendje tot the
Danube has been granted to a company. Kostendje
is 100 miles nearer to the Bosphorus than the Salina
mouth, and 200 miles nearer than Odessa; and this
portion of the Black Sea is by far the most danger-
ous and the most dreaded by shipowners and ship-
insurers. The directors of the company in whose
name the concession will run are Messrs Thomas
Wilson, S. Cunard, Price, M.P., Paget, Lewis, Beale,
M.P., and Newall. The capital of the company is
fixed at 300,0001. in the first instance, of which two
per cent. is to be deposited with the Turkish Govern-
ment. The concession is for ninety•nine
years, and
permits all goods not the produce of Turkey being
transported free in bond from the Black Sea to the
Danube, and vice versa. One-sixth of the shares
have been reserved for Turkish subjects.

MAY 30, 1857

giteratart.

The Life of Handel. By Victor Schcelcher.
London : Trubner and Co.
Handel: His Life, Personal and Professional.
With Thoughts on Sacred Music. A Sketch.
By Mrs. Bray. London : Ward and Co.
Grand Handel Musical Festival at the Crystal
Palace in 1857. A Letter addressed to the
Members, Subscribers, and Assistants of
the Sacred Harmonic Society. By Robert
Bowley. London : Bradbury and Evans.
THE commemoration of Handel in 1859, now
organising in Germany, suggested the Crystal
Palace Festival for next June, and evidently
has hastened the production of the two books
of M. Schcelcher and of Mrs. Bray. It is
clear that the biography of the French
author has been the work of years, and has
been prematurely published; it is palpable
that the " sketch" of the English lady has been
brought out under the erroneous impression
that the genius of Handel was not sufficiently
appreciated in this cJuntry ; and it is certain
that the Crystal Palace Festival will not derive
much aid from the zeal and enthusiasm of the
two biographers. Mrs. Bray's intentions are
good, but inasmuch as she speaks of Nlendels-
sohn's Elijah as a work " so admirable and so
"much in the school of Handel" that she
" sometimes could have fancied it was his
"own "—as Dr. Morell is mentioned as the
arranger of the words of The Messiah for
Handel—as the date of the birth of the com-
poser is wrongly given—as she describes
the recitative " There were shepherds " as a
" sacred song," and as her Handelian impres-
sions seem to be mainly based on the Com-
memoration at Westminster Abbey in 1834,
since which festival oratorio execution has
progressed enormously, we must be pardoned
if we go at once to the more elaborate effusion
of Victor Sehcelcher.

This is an extraordinary work in many re-
spects. In the first place, it is curious that a
Frenchman should have taken up Handel, and
that he should rate his country and his country-
men so soundly on their non appreciation and
non-acceptance of the immortal composer.
Schcelcher is a republican in exile, and of all the
arts, he tells his readers in his preface, " Music
" is that which brings the greatest consolation
"to the mind when consolation is pos,ible."
He was an admirer of Handel from an early
period. He delighted in listening to his
oratorios. He began to collect his works and
to study the records of those authors who
made mention of Handel, and after three
years of labour and research his " Life " sees
the light. Originally written in French, it is
Mr. James Lowe who has given it, M Schcel-
cher states, " the English dress," and the
foreigner himself, oddly enough, testifies to
the perfect exactness with which the language
renders his " intentions." M. Schcelcher,
despite of his German name, is no linguist.
It is Dr. Dick, " his friend and companion in
" exile," who translates for him Von Matthe-
son's German biography of the musicians of
the epoch, published in Hamburg in 1740.
Thus much for the literary portion.

In respect to the musical editorship, M.Scheal-
cher avows that he is no professed musician, but
he acknowledges that Mr. Rophino Lacy has
not only conducted for him a minute research
in the British Museum and the journals of the
Handeliar. period, but also that the technical
details of a complete catalogue of Handel's
works, which is to be published shortly in a
separate volume, are by Mr. Lacy. He states
that this well-known " adapter " also inspected
for him the original MSS. of Handel, now in
Buckingham Palace, and that Mme. Viardot
had examined for him the MS. copy of the
oratorio The Passion. He includes Mr.
Ayrton and Dr. Rimbault amongst the
persons to whom he is indebted for
information. He thanks Prince Albert
for having allowed Mr. Rophino Lacy to
take copies of many Handelian MSS. at
Buckingham Palace; he is most grateful to
Mr. Anderson, in whose charge are these MSS.,
for his courtesy and his vigilance over the

THE PRESS.

relics ; he is indebted to Mr. Horatio Towns-
end for his "elegant correspondence " ; he
had great assistance from the Rev. C. C.
Babington, of St. John's College, Cambridge,
in examining tho MSS. in the Fitzwilliam
Museum; Mr. R. Bowley and Mr. W. Husk
placed at his disposal the library of the Sacred
Harmonic Society ; Mr. R. Lonsdule commu-
nicated to him some useful documents ; and
Mr. Surtnan, who is called CEdipus, is also
thanked for his readiness in replying to
questions (what questions ?)
Professors and amateurs will stare at some of
these names, and many of them will smile at one
or two beingaccepted as " authlrities." The au•
thor supplies the list of works he has referred to.
Of course Dr. Burney and John Hawkins have
been ransacked. The musical dictionaries of
Grassineau, Rousseau, Hoyle, Charon and
Fayolle, Busby, Dannely, Lichteuthal, Fetis,
&c., have been consulted ; the memoirs by
Mainwaring, John Bishop, Richard Clarke,
Townsend, &c., have been perused, and various
periodicals of Handel's days referred to ; but
it is surprising, with all this industrious re-
search, how little has been added to the before-
existing stores of information. With his
unquestionable enthusiasm fur Handel, it is
strange M. Schcelcher should not have visited
Halle, the place of his birth, and Hamburg
and Hanover, where he resided, in order to
have searched for records of his early youth.
Throughout the work the author is very severe
against those professors who have on various
occasions " cooked " Handel's works: to serve
a special purpose. And yet it is not a little
curious that the musical colleague, Mr. Ro-
phino Lacy, with whom he has worked on this
" Life," should have been the very " arranger"
who has taken the most unpardonable liber-
ties with Handel. Mr. Lacy has been known
as an operatic adapter and " cook " for seine
years. Ho might have been forgiven for his
Rossinian mixtures, but what can be urged in
defence of that extraordinary melange which
he made at Covent-garden Theatre in 1838, by
giving Handel's Israel in Egypt, in action with
scenery, with a selection from Rossini's Mose
in Eyitto (Zora)? This was to have been fol-
lowed by Jephtha, another concoction, but the
profanity was stopped by the Bishop of Lon-
don, and nothing has been, very properly,
heard since of oratorios in action.

Tho list of sacred works cited by M. Sehcel-
cher in the appendix includes 2 Italian orato-
rios, 1 German oratorio, 19 English oratorios,
5 Te Deums, 7 psalms, 20 anthems, 2 motets,
3 hymns, a Gloria, Kyrie, and Nlagnificat.
Handel's secular music comprised 4 German
operas, 39 Italian operas, 1 English opera, 2
Italian serenatas, 2 English serenatas, 1 Eng-
lish interlude, 1 Italian interlude, 4 odes, 2
chamber trios, 24 chamber duets, about 150
cantatas ; and in the instrumental pieces are
included sonatas, water music, harpsichord
suites de pieces, minuets, marches, hautbois
concertos, fugues for the organ, concertos for
the organ, concertantes, forest music, fireworks
music, &c., out of number.

George Frederic Handel was born at Halle,
on the Seale, in the Duchy of Magdeburg,
Lower Saxony, on the 23rd of February, 1685,
and he died in Brook-street, Hanover-square,
on Good Friday, the 13th of April, 1759, being
the anniversary of the first performance of
The Messiah, which oratorio was heard for the
first time in Dublin 13th of April, 1742, at the
Music-hall in Fishamble•street. On the 2nd
of May, 1759, the people of Halle heard of his
decease, and public prayers were offered up
in the Lutheran Church of St. Laurent, where
he was baptized. His will was in English and
in his own handwriting, for he became a natu-
ralised British subject by private Act of Par-
liament in 1726. He arrived first iu London
at the close of 1710, after a residence of some
years in Italy and a sojourn in Hamburg and
Hanover. On the 24th of February, 1711, his
first lyric work, Rinaldo, was produced at the
Italian Opera (Haymarket Theatre), the poet
Aaron Hill having concocted a libretto from
the episode of " Rinaldo and Amide " in
Tasso's "Jerusalem Delivered," and dedicated
it to Queen Anne. Rinaldo was given fifteen
times without intermission, so great was the
success, Walsh the publisher clearing 1,5001.
by it, and causing Handel to write to him,
"As it is only right jthat we should be upon

535

"an equal footing, you shall compose the next
" opera and I will sell it." He returned to
Hanover for a time, hut finally settled in Eng-
land in 1712. He held a pension from Queen
Anne of 2001. per year, one of 2001. a year from
George 1., and finally an additional 2001. as
musie•master to the daughters of the Prince
of Wales, afterwards George 11., making 6001.
per annum from the Royal Family of England.
He became chapel-master of the Duke of
Chandos in 1718; between which year and
1720 he composed the two To Deuins and the
twelve works called the " Chandos Te Deums"
and the " Chandos Anthems." In 1726 the Ita-
lian Opera was revived under the title of
" The Royal Academy of Music." A subscrip-
tion, at the head of which was George I. for
1,000/., was raised by a few noblemen to the
extent of 50,000/. Handel wits appointed
director. In the sante Haymarket Theatre,
a company of French comedians played on the
offnights of the opera. In 1721 he resigned
his post at Whitchurch-chapel, Edgware, after
composing for the Duke of Chandos in 1721
his first oratorio, Esther, and the serenata,
Acis and Galatea. The organ at \Vhitchurch
is actually in existence, with an inscription
that Esther was composed on it by Handel.
The Royal Academy of' Music expired in 1728,
Handel having been found an impracticable
impresario, owing to his violent and imperious
character. Out of the profits of his works,
however, he had realised 10,0001., and, with
Heidegger, took the Italian Theatre, which
was reopened in December, 1729. He was
singularly unsuccessful in his new operas. a
result which M. Schcelcher ascribes to the
somniferous effects of the poems, in which
there were scarcely any without some one or
other of the principal personages who did not
fall asleep in the presence of the audience.
In 1733 came the Senesino schism, a portion
of the nobility espousing the cause of the
singer, and many of Handers best patrons
going over to the coalition against the com-
poser, whose passionate disposition became in-
tolerable. Under the " banner of the barons,"
a second Italian Opera-house was opened on
the 20th of December, 1733, with the Ariadne
of Porpora.
Frederick, Prince of Wales, at that time
headed the coalition. It was at his house
the general rehearsal took place. On the
26th of January, 1734, Handel produced.
another Ariadne, writing it, accordin4 to
Hawkins, "to recover the favour of the
" nobility, whom he was sensible he had dis-
" pleased in some of his most elaborate corn-
" positions." 'This satire of the composer ex-
plains the feuds of the day. It was high art
against fashion. What can approach the
malignant feelings of rival opera-houses ?
What were the deadly animosities between
the Gueiphs and the Ghibelines, the
Montagues and the Capulets, compared with
those of the Gluckists and the Piccininists,
the nobles and the Handelians? The two
Ariadnes were equally successful, having been
given exactly the same number of representa-
tions, namely, nineteen, at the rival establish-
ments ; but in 1734, owing to the cessation of
the partnership between Handel and
Heidegger, the nobility lost possession of the
Haymarket Theatre, and Handel occupied
Lincoln's-inn Fields, vacated by the coali-
tion, and for the first time stood on his own
account. In this struggle he lost his savings
of 10,0001., and in the same year (1737) the
coalition wound up with a loss of 12,000/. We
are struck at once with the recollection of the
conflict between Her Majesty's Theatre in the
Haymarket and the Royal Italian Opera at
Covent-garden Theatre between the years
1847 and 1857. Farinelli, in 1734, was paid
1,500 guineas for fifty performances, and
Signore, Cuzzoni 2,000, besides benefits. So
that the great artistes a century since com-
manded even higher prices than the present
day, looking at the difference in the value of
money. The ancients, according to the
" Traite des Cytharedes," cited by Fetis, re-
munerated musicians on a much higher scale,
Atnoebceus, the celebrated flute player of
Athens, never taking less than an Attic talent
(about 2701. sterling) to play anywhere ! M.
Sclicelcher, in reply to a protest that it was a
scandalous thing a mere singer should receive pl.
more than a general who has served hie