The Press.
London, England, 1858-07-03 00:00:00

CRYSTAL PALACE.

THE Handel performances of last year, though only
professing to be rehearsals for the great festival
which is to take place in 1859, were very profitable
aff.iirs. It is no wonder, then, that something like a
repetition should be attempted during the present
season—the chorus singers have the benefit of more
practice, and the company of some more money. So
on Friday the same enormous band of musicians
and amateurs was brought together, and the follow-
iag selection performed :
Parr I.—Chorale, " The Hundredth Psalm."—Chant,
" Venire exultemus," Tellis.—Trio end Chorus, " Lift

tlune eyes " (Elijah ),Idendelssohn.—Chorns, " When His
loud voice" (Jephtha), Handel.—Chorus, " The Lord is
good " (Eli), Costa.—Quartet and Chorus, " Holy, holy "
( F.lijsh), Mendelssoha.—Motet, " Ave verum corpus,"
Me:Art.—Song end Chorus—" Philistines, hark !" Costa.
PART H.—Chorns, " Oh, the pleasure of the plains,"
Handel.—Part song, " Farewell to the forest," Mendels-
sohn.—Chorus, " To Thee, 0 Lord (Mese), Rossini.—
Trio and chorus, " See the conquering hero comes,"
Ilandel.—Solo and chorus, " Colm is the Riau), ocean"
(Idomeneo), Mozart.—Chorus, " Hear, Holy Poser"
(Masaniello), Auber.—National Anthem.
It was wise to have so well varied a programme, and
wiser still to limit the performances to one. The
present taste for monster concerts cannot, we hope
and believe, be more than a mere fashion ; and
fashions are apt to wear out. It would be awkward
if, when the real festival comes at last, people should
find they have already had enough. We cannot
look upon this as at all a movement in the right
direction, or likely to produce any good result. We
complain of the chorus singing we meet with at the
musiabails in London, because it is wanting, more
or less, in accuracy, delicacy, and refinement. How
is this to be remedied by multiplying numbers? It
is but increasing and multiplying defects ; we do not
find the singing at the Crystal Palace clearer or more
certain than at Exeter-hall or St. Martin's, hut very
much the reverse. The only good effect which we
get from the immense area of the centre transept is
a certain softening down of crudities. The shouting
of two thousand voices in the larger space is not
so harsh as of five hundred in the smaller, merely
because the space is increased beyond all proportion.
But this is all the good we get; the singing is no
better in itself. If you have a hundred indifferent
singers, do you make them any better by mixing
them up with nine hundred more as imperfect as
themselves ? If the object of these demonstrations
is to bring about an improvement in choral-singing,
we think the means employed most unlikely to pro-
duce any such result; but if the achievement of
grand and startling effects is the thing aimed at, in
music only of the broadest and simplest character
dots it seem to us to have been attained. There
were but three pieces in the programme yesterday
which could be called really effective ; and these
were the Hundredth Psalm, the National Anthem,
and " See the Conquering Hero Comes." In such
simple music the choristers could scarcely go wrong;
and the accumulation of voices was certainly
imposing. But in a complicated chorus, like the one
from Jephtha, the only effect of these unwieldly num.
bets is to make the whole composition misty and con-
tused ; while in a gay and sprightly chorus like that
from Adis and Galatea the very character of the
music is entirely lost. And then the vast space,
which certainly has a good effect upon the perform-
ances of the enormous choir, is utterly destructive
of solo singing. Mme. Clara Novello, indeed, showed
that it is possible for a very clear and strong soprano
voice to be audible as long as the music allows it to
be forced to its utmost extent upoo every note. It
any one likes to call this singing, be it so ; it is not
our idea of singing. Mr. Sims Reeves in the war-
song from the Eli could scarcely be beard upon half
the notes, and the beauty of the remainder was
entirely destroyed by the strain put upon them. If
he failed, what tenor is likely to succeed? Mme
Lemmens Sherrington, Miss Palmer, and Mrs.'
Lockey were the other vocalists, and, no doubt, sang
very well, but we should not like to venture an
opinion.

THE MEMBERS OF THE VOCAL ASSOCIATION gave
their last concert for the present season, at St.
James's•liall, on Wednesday evening. The first part
of the programme consisted of Mendelssohn's
" Hymn of Praise," and the sec-ind included an
overture to Shakespeare's Henry IV., by Herr
Joachim, Mozart's pianoforte concerto in E fiat, airs
from Oberon and Don Giovanni, a glee of Webbe's,
and a madrigal tl Mareiizio. Herr Joachim's over-
ture attracted a crowd of musicians, all apparently
ready and anxious to find in the young violinist a
composer of equal genius. The result was no other
feeling, we believe, than one of disappointment. The
overture is a production of the most ultra-modern
school, full of the strangest and most artificial modu-
lation, and destitute of anything like a clear subject
or a defined idea. For ours.elves, we found it impos-
sible during its performance to get a single glimpse
of the composer's meaning, or five minutes afterwards
t) recall one solitary phrase. We cannot, however,
quite give up our notion that Herr Joachim ought, to
be a composer ; he has been carried away by a
fashion of the times, but he may be strong enougti
to cast it off. Mozart's concerto is not one of his
hest works ; there is plenty of teehi:ical skill and
fluent prettiness about it, but nothing more. The
pianoforte part was played to perfection by Mr. C.
Halle. The " Lobgesang " seems to increase in
Livour year by year, as may be gathered from the
fact that it has been peifurined :some five or six
times in J...r ndon during the preseit season. The
instrumental prrzian was very well played on