The Express.
London, England, 1867-09-02 00:00:00

THE BIRMINGHAM MUSICAL FESTIVAL

(1110/1 001 91.1CIAL COIRESPONDOIT.)
BIRMINGHAM, &maw'.

This great triennial music meeting came to a
tritunpliant close on Friday night, with a fine per-
formance of St Paul ; of which we must speak
after noticing the production of the new cantata,
The A titieng Mariner, at the concert of Thursday
evening.

Coleridge's romantic legendary poem offers so
many opportunities for picturesque musical effects
that it is somewhat surprising it should have re-
mained unappropriated to such purposes until its
present setting by Mr. J. F. Barnett. This
clever young musician, we need scarcely re-
mind our readers, is the nephew of one
of England's best composers, John Barnett.
The attempt to embody in music the series of
vivid pictures which Coleridge's poem suggests is a
bold one—a task, indeed, scarcely to be thoroughly
accomplished by any but a musician possessed of
original imaginative genius as well as practical art
acquirement.

Mr. Barnett's cantata has no overture, but
opens with a short instrumental introduction. A
unisonous passage of five bars leads to a cantabile
phrase for the violoncellos, accompanied by synco-
pated chords—the unisonous passage recurring in
intervals a fourth higher, leading to a continuation
and prolongation of the flowing melodious subject
for the violoncellos, afterwards relieved by inter-
spersed "wind points," containing some chromatic
progressions somewhat in the manner of Spohr ;
altogether producing some good effects of relief
and contrast, short as the movement is. A few
bars of two-part writing for the choral tenon and
basses announce, in a brief and simple strain, the
presence of the Ancient Mariner and his
interruption, as a fated narrator, of the
guests on their way to the wedding feast ;
some strains of a light and piquant cha-
racter announcing the festivities in bright
relief to the gloomy tale of the predestined
man. A few more introductory passages lead to
the " Mariners' chorus," "The ship was cheered,
the harbour cleared," a graceful and flowing piece
of vocal writing very effectively contrasted with
the rippling motion of the accompaniment. The
melodious theme of this movement is again used
in the course of the cantata, with the evident ob-
ject of giving an effect of unity of design to the
whole work. The " Bridal Chorus," " The bride hath
paced into the hall," for female voices, is light and
tripping in character, and distinctly marked in
rhythm. The chorus, "And now the storm-blast
came," is a clever effort at the picturesque
expression of dramatic effect, in which the orchestra
is used with much skill. Although not open to the
charge of positive plagiarism, this movement is
somewhat reflective of Mendelssohn's Walpurgis-
Nadi& The solo for soprano, "The fair breeze
blew" (in which the composer seems to emulate the
style of Weber's dramatic scenes), is effectively
accompanied by a murmuring under-current of
violin passages, with occasional contrast of those
reiterated chords for the wind instruments
which Mendelsaohn has made such frequent and
happy use. This solo, magnificently sung by
Mdlle. Titiens, produced a strong impression. The
short tenor solo, " Down dropt the breeze" (ad-
mirably given by Mr. Sims Reeves) has no special
character beyond a gloomy monotony, which may
be held to be appropriate I. the supposed situation.
The chorus, " about, about, in reel and rout,"
aims at a certain weird-like effect by its broken
deetato vocal passages in detached response. This
movement, which well sustains its character of
dispersion and agitation, was greatly applauded and
encored. The short recitative, " The steersman's
face," admirably declaimed by Mr. Santley, leads
to a quartet, " The souls did from their bodies fly,"
descriptive of the ghastly scene on board the
doomed ship. This movement is ushered in by
the strain previously heard in the instrumental
introduction, hero given to clarinet and bassoon—
occasional phrases being left to the unaccompanied
vocal quartet. In this piece occurs one of those
confusions of sense inevitable in the appropria-
tion of a personal narrative to the pur-
poses of music of combination. Thus we have
the four voices all singing the mariner's own indi-
vidual statement, " And every soul it passed me
by, like the whiz of my cross-bow." This parti-
cular instance might have been avoided by giving
this verse to one singer instead of to four voices.
The air, " 0 happy living things" (encored), con-
tains some smooth vocal writing, well suited to the
voice of Mr. Santley, by whom it was admirably
sung. The sustained cantabile of the vocal phrases
is well contrasted with the broken and re-iterated
chords of the stringed instruments—a favourite
device with Spohr. The slumber song, " 0 sleep
it is a gentle thing," is a plaintive melody in G
minor, with occasional obbligati passages for the
corno Inglese, charmingly played by M. Barret.
This air derived much significance from the
expressive singing of Madame Patey-Whytock.
The chorus, " The upper air bunt into life," is a ,
movement of some length, in which a certain rest-
les+ agitation is well maintained to the close,
together with sonic brilliant and effective instru-
mentation ; here again we find some reflection of
Mendelasohn's Walpnrgis nac,t. The quartet,
" Around, around," an animated and piquant move-
ment, was sung with admirable point and precision
by Mdlle. Titiens, Madame Patey-Whytock, Mr.
Sims Reeves, and Mr. Santley. The duet for the
two voices in the air," contains some fanciful
nstrumentation in the use of the muted violins
and the passages for flutes and clarinets, contrast-
ing effectively with the flowing phrases for the
"two voices," admirably represented by Mdlle.
Titiens and Madame Patey-Whytock. This move-
ment was at once called fur again and repeated.
The next piece is a recitative and air,
" Swiftly, swiftly," in the form of a dra-
matic scene, with variations of time and
rhythm—the bold declamatory passages of the
commencement being afterwards well relieved
by a recurrence to the tranquil strain of the
opening chorus ; the whole working up to a very
effective climax, with some very brilliant and
sonorous instrumentation—the coda, in which the
splendid upper notes of Mr. Bentley's voice were
conspicuous for their resonant and beautiful
quality, bringing to a close ono of the best written
pieces in the cantata. Nothing could be finer
than Mr. Santley's performance of this elaborate
scans. A graceful, although not very striking air
for tenor, " The Harbour Bay," somewhat in the
notturno manner, accompanied by some delicate
details of instrumentation, was sung in that
smooth, cantabile style of which Mr. Sims Reeves
is as great a master as he is of declamatory grandeur.
The chorus for female voices, " This seraph band,"
with soprano solo rising brightly above the general
combination of orchestra and chorus—the stream-
ing effect of the harps added to the ordinary
orchestral accompaniments—produced a good effect
of contrast and variety, the brilliant voice of
Mdlle. Titiens being prominent through all. The