The Press.
London, England, 1857-06-20 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

were all points universally recognised. The railroad
service was perfect; and if the City authorities could
but have lett the approaches to the station at London.
bridge clear, adverse criticism would have been de-
prived of its only complaint.
At the Judas Maccabeus, on Wednesday, the
assemblage of royalty, rank, and fashion, was re-
markable. In the royal box, to the right of the
orchestra, looking at the further transept, were the
Queen anti Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, the
Princess Royal, the Princess Alice, Prince Alfred,
the Duke of Cambridge, the Archduke Maximilian
of Austria, and Prince Frederick William of Prussia,
who did not look happy until he was seated by his
intended. Amongst the foreigners of note were
Count Zichy, Count Hadik, Baron de Bruck, Baron
de Pont, dce. On Friday (yesterday) the Duchess of
Cambridge and the Princess Mary occupied the royal
box. The visitors at each performance amounted to
nearly 12,000 on Monday and Wednesday, and it was
estimated that upwards of 13,000 persons were pre-
sent at yesterday's performance.
Imagine the scene on Wednesday. Take the orches-
tra, shaped in semi-circular benches, painted blue and
white, with the organ reaching to the summit. Beneath
stood the monster drum. In the centre were the lady
choralists, principally costumed in white. Black
masses on each side of them were the male singers.
Then follow the line of seats in the transept and
nave, filled with fashionable occupants dressed in
every colour, the men fortunately forming a decided
minority. Above these were the galleries filled with
visitors. A pause of deep expectation. The Queen
enters, and bows graciously, and the entire assembly
rise and cheer as with one voice. Then a martial
roll of the side-drums, followed by a deep-toned note
from the monster drum, and next the clear, thrilling
notes of Clara Novello penetrate to the remotest
corner of the vast Palace. A change of key in the
anthem is heard ; a quartet of voices Mme.
Rudersdorff, Miss Dolby, Sims Reeves, and
Herr Formes—is heard ; and finally the great
soprano returns to the original key, and
electrifies the vast auditory by an ascent
to the ringing note of the B flat. More cheer-
ing a solemn stillness follows—Costa looks at
the Queen, and the signal is given for the orchestra
to begin the overture to Judas Maccabeus. What
a series of emotions since the Sovereign of this great
country entered the Palace, and was greeted with
acclamations, not only by her own loyal subjects,
but by the foreigners of all nations, so infectious was
the enthusiasm ! There was another prodigious sen-
sation on the Wednesday, one in which the Royal
visitors evidently participated as strongly as the
general auditory. It was in the trio and chorus of
"See, the Conquering Hero Comes," opening with
Mme. Novello, Mme. Rudersdorff, and Miss Dolby,
then sung by all the female voices, and finally taken
up by the entire body of choralists, sustained with
the full power of the orchestra. Costa had scored
this national chorus with astounding brightness and
vigour. When he tried to go on with the March,
the interruption from the demand for the encore
drowned his orchestral phalanx. He at length
looked round to the royal box, and the Queen gave
the command for the repetition.
We now arrive at the prominent points in the
execution of the three oratorios, premising that an
analysis of such works would almost amount to an
insult to the memory of Handel. The question is,
how were they executed? What was the effect
produced by the solo singers? How did the choruses
come out? How were the orchestral undercurrents
heard ? How did Costa treat the additional accom-
paniments for the Judas Maccabeus
Alonday's choral sensations were the opening
anthem " God save the Queen," the " For unto us a
child is born," "The yoke is easy," " The Lord gave
the word," the" Hallelujah," and the fugued " Amen "
finale. At the rehearsal, Costa began the "Unto us"
according to his usually effective reading, pianissimo,
but at the performance he commenced piano. We
liked his original reading best, but his new version
told so powerfully that the redemand was vociferous,
which, however, he firmly resisted. The attack of
the trebles in the chorus " And the glory " was won•
drously fine. The male voices in the subsequent
choruses proved how carefully they had been selected.
But the main feature was the solution of the problem
as to the just balance of sound. The solo singing
suff-red from the magnitude of the locality. The
contralto and bass voices did not penetrate. Sims
Reeves when he got to his upper notes would not be
denied. Mme. Novello ruined some splendid
vo-
calisation by taking unwarrantable liberties with
the text. The oratorio, however, ended with the
general conviction, loudly expressed on all sides,
that the festival was an artistic triumph. If doubt 3
remained on the minds of any professor or amateur,
Wednesday's execution would have removed them.
It must have been as difficult for Costa to write the
additional accompaniments to Judas as to compose
a new oratorio. The task was exceedingly delicate,
but the success was complete. Objection has been
taken, it is true, to the weight of brass, but the

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theMe in the first place is martial, and, secondly,
the dimensions of the transept had to be borne in
mind by Costa, who coloured the original stringed
undercurrent dramatically and brightly. The We
come, we come," "Disdainful of danger," and " Hear
us, 0 Lord," in the first part, were sung with sur-
passing grandeur by the choir. Not only did the
simple chords shake the ear, but the florid passages
came out with marvellous distinctness. Deep was the
impress►on at "Fall'n is the foe ;" exhilarating the
effect of " Tune your hares;" jubilant the tone of
"We hear, we hear ;" but the grand climax
in the second part was attained by "We never
will bow down." It was the upheaving of
mountains by giant forces—the massive combina-
tions coming out with colossal power. The solo
singing on the second day was magnificent. Sims
Reeves distinguished himself first in the florid divi-
sions in the air " How vain is man ;" and, secondly,
in " Sound an alarm." In the latter, he prudently
reserved his strength for the close; and the war cry,
as in Costa's Eli, broughtdown thunders of applause.
Mme. Novello, in the airs "0 Liberty" and the
" From mighty kings " gained great glory. Mme.
Rudersdorffs success in the air " Wise men,
tlatt'ring," was quite equal to any solo display of the
morning; it was admirably rendered. The casual-
ties of the day were in the basses, Weiss, however,
retrieving his laurels on one or two occasions. The
Old Hundredth Psalm was impressively sung at the
end of Judas, but the previous excitement had killed
the effect which was produced by it at the inaugura-
tion of the Crystal Palace. Wednesday was, perhaps,
on the whole, the greatest triumph of the festival—
delight and astonishment were on every face—tha
most carping criticism bad been extinguished.
The Israel yesterday was essentially the culminating
point of choral grandeur, and but for the undue pro-
minency at times of the organ would have been per-
fect. It is worthy of remark that on every occasion
the chorus-singers seemed to gain in precision of
attack. They appeared to enter more fully into the
feelings of their anxious conductor, whose beat they
watched with intense interest. The chorus "He
spake the word" was enunciated with a palpable per-
suasion of the composer's grand conception. The
annunciation was vastly imposing by its energetic
style of delivery. The declamatory vigour of the
phalanx of voice was intellectually grand. The
" Hailstone Chorus" was encored ; it was no use to
resist the call—it lasted several minutes ; and even
after its repetition there was what the French call

the " prolonged sensation." It took one's breath
away in fact. The intonation on the word
" fire " was awful ; it made the blood run
cold. Some of the veteran professors declared
aloud they had never before been so moved.
After this amazing display, anxiety was felt for the
terrific chorus, " He sent a t hick datkness," but
its supernatural attributes were magnificently in-
toned. The following fugue was attacked unflinch-

ingly—the pace was trying, but there was no
faltering. But the applause was again deafening
for the chorus, " But as for His people." The vast
audience appeared to be relieved from gloom and
despondency as the composer, by his genius, drew

them from the depths of 'despair to joy and glad-
ness. The execution was as bright as the glorious
sunshine which lighted up the assembled thousands
in the Palace of Glass. By many amateurs it was

thought that the grand feature of the day was the
chorus " But the waters overwhelmed their enemies."

We scarcely dare trust ourselves to depict the effect
of this choral exhibition, in which the vivid ideas of
Handel were so" overwhelmingly" realised. It was
an immense combination of instruments and voices,
asserting the accuracy with which the executive
elements had been gathered together and balanced,
to realise the composer's colossal conceptions.
Formes and Weiss secured the suffrages of the
visitors in " The Lord is a man of war." Altogether,
the double choruses were sung with a majesty and
power never before attained. The arrangement of
the orchestra for the voices in two choirs lightened
its sombre aspect, the prevailing black being relieved
by the intermixture. Clara Novello's fine organ in
the " Sing ye to the Lord," brought the oratorio to a
glorious conclusion. Again were the strains of
loyalty poured forth through the Palace, and then,
after a tremendous burst of cheering from audience
and orchestra to the only musician who could have
accomplished such mighty musical achievements
in execution—to Costa, who with Coriolanus could ex-
claim at the conclusion, " Alone I did it," the prelimi-
nary Handel Festival of 1857 came to an end musically
triumphant and financially successful. All honour
to the Sacred Harmonic Society as the originators ;
all honour to the enthusiastic executants, who have
brought the project to a glorious termination. The
shortcomings, the weak points, the defects, the draw-
backs in a festival of such magnitude, sink into utter
insignificance by the si,le of the great fact that there
were moments of sublimity never before reached at
such gatherings. Doubts, apprehensions, and mis-
givings have disappeared in the final triumph of the
most elaborate experiment in executive art ever

612

attempted in this or any other country. Such demon-
strations are politically as well as socially of infinite
mportance. The loyal outbreak of 'Wednesday will
be cited by the foreigners who were present, in every
part of the world ; and there were meetings of friends
and relations within the walls of the Palace which
only such a festival could have brought about. The
Handel Festival of 1857 in the Crystal Palace will be
a glorious reminiscence, and will descend to the chil-
dren's children of the actual generation.