The Express.
London, England, 1849-02-24 00:00:00

Auk.

•
SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY.—" Israel in Egytt"
was performed at Exeter-hall last evening, for the first e
under the new regime of Costa. It wee the anniversary of
the " mighty muter'* " birth. According to Hawkins and
Burney, Handel wee born on the 24th of February, 1684,
and these writers have been followed by more modem bio-
graphers ; but the inscription on his monument in West-
minster Abbey, which mews to be the best authority, states
the day of his birth to hare been the 23rd of February. The
oratorio was performed entire, and without twat the inter-
polated airs which it bu been customary to introduce into it
for the purpose of affording some relief to the chorus, of
wt ich, iu the first part, chile are no less then eleven, in an
unbroken series. We are not inclined to visit this practice
so several) as some critics have done. We believe it has
been reneraDy adopted ever sine. Handers time; nay, there
le evidence that ft wen adopted by Handel himself. And,
indeed, there is some reason fur t, for the gigantic cho-
rus. of this oratorio beoe%ne, from the unparalleled grandeur
and sublimity, absolutely overwhelming; and the
tensian in whici the mind is kept by their
uninterrupted succession teals at length to a state of exhaos-
lion. Such at leas*, we must confess, is the effect which
these stupendous maws of harmony have frequently pro-
duced upon us. Toey appear to have a similar effect on the
ehoreaelegers themselv‘s; for, notwithstanding the ad-
mirable doicipline they exhibited last night, they (the
sopranos in particular) frequently sang fiat in the piano
pameges ; a fault which we ascribed to the relaxation and
languor cured by their 'sites having previously been kept
so long upon the stretch without Intermission. With
this occasional drawback the performance of the choruses
was most magnificent—we never, indeed, heard such
effects produced by vocal harnioay. "He gave them hail
Moses for min—fire mingled with hail ran along the
ground was absolutely terrific, a perfect hurricane of
sound; and not led tremendous wee " The horse and his
rider bath he met into the sea." The airs of this oratorio are
wry interior to the choruses. One of them, "Their land
brought forth (rep," is deformed by an instrumental IC-
sempaaluent which mimics the hopping of these animals,
• puerility which the bad taste, in them matters, of
Mandera day may account ioe, bet cannot justify. There
are, however, two excellent dues, " The Lord is my
strength," and "The Lord is a sun of war ;"
both of which were exceedingly well sung, the
former by Miss Birch and Miss Louisa Pyne , the
latter by Megan. Phil ire and Mackin. The short unac-
companied solo, " ring ye to the Lord," which introduces
the final chorus, was given by Miss Birch with singular
energy sod vocal power. Every part of the performance
both vocal and instronthathi, bare the marks of Me. Costa's
admirable training. The time ell every movement was
terreetly taken, and the utmost attention was paid to all
the debacles of effect and expression. The original score was
tiny adhered to, some of the pert* being occasionally, and
most indicionaly, doubled by wind instrument& In this
way pest effects were produced by the trombones and
The hall was crowded to *acme, and the per-
Itemanco was nailed with great apples'', several of the
amen being encored, in utter diocesan of the earnest
rased, expraesed in the bills, that "ice eandoration of the
mond nature ante performance, the mailkears would allow
it to prated without any intemiquitrem applause or
emeores." This request has bees tly made by the
meaty, and we sincerely regret then* made in vain.