The Express.
London, England, 1858-09-10 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 10, 1858.

MUSIC.

LEEDS MUSICAL FESTIVAL.
LEEDS, TaI7IBDAT ZIP-LYING.
The miscellaneou concert of lut night was too
long, but contained so many things of sterling In-
terest that the audience appeared to enjoy it to
the sad.

It began with Mozart's Symphony in C major—
not the " Jupiter," which is in the same key, but a
work of an earlier period aid more simple construe-
tion, redolent of Haydn, but full of Moeart's own
peculiar grace and melody. it was played as at the
Philharmonic Society's Concerts, and (to the credit of
the Leeds audience) as warmly applauded as it would
have been is London. The scena from the Norse di
7ifero, containing the recitative " B Susanna nee
Aim," and the aria "Dove sono," wee sung by Ma-
dam Weiss; in the recitative her declamation was de-
fective, but she sang the air with considerable vocal
power and good expression. She was very well re-
«ivied. Two beautiful part-fangs, Smarts " Behold
where laughing spring advances," and Hattou's
" Als, could I with fancy stray," were sung without
aptempaniment by the chorus, better, certabily;
than I ever heard them song before. Their beauty,
and the way they were sung, were fully appreciated
by a Yorkshire audience. Madams Alboni warbled
the hackneyed Rods's air with variations with so
lovely a voice, and such perfect execution, that she
threw the audience into a paroxysm of enthusiasm.
Notwithstanding the earnest request of the stewards,
contained in a handbill circulated in the hall, that
the public should abstain from encores, so as not to
prolong the performances too mush, they continued
to applaud, the Mayor and his company setting the
example, till the fair singer repeated the last 'varia-
tion. Buck requests are vain and useless—the audi-
ence must be allowed to follow the impulse of their
own feelings. Sainton played a solo of hie
own, in which he introduced favourite airs
of Verdi ; it was brilliant, graceful, short,
and warmly applauded. Madame Clara Novella
sang Meyerbeer's " Robert, tot que faime,"
with considerable vocal power, but this is not the
description of music in which this admirable artist
excels. An enormously long duet from Donizetti's
unsuccessful opera Pia del Tolotasi, sung by Miss
Palmer and Mr. Bendel, was an infliction to which
the audience submitted in patient silence. Singers
are very apt to choose badly for themselves, but such
a choice as this should not have been acquiesced in
by the committee. Neither did Mr. Reeves do well
in choosing the noisy, boisterous " 0, 'lts a glorious
sight to see," in Weber's Oberors, a song that Weber
himself disliked, having written it against his better
judgment to please Mr. Braham. It enables Mr.
Reeves to show his strength of voice, but that is all
that can be said for it. The first part of the concert
concluded with Mendelssohn's pianoforte concerto in
G minor, played by Miss Arabella Goddard—a mag-
nificent performance, which was applauded with
acclamations.

Professor Bennett's new cantata, " The May
Queen," the production of which hu been expected
with much interest, was then performed. The poem
is a little pastoral drama by Mr. Chorley. In spite
of a few conceits and quaintnesees of expression
which make the language occasionally a little ob-
scure, it is pretty, fanciful, and well fitted for being
clothed in music. A company of rustics of the olden
time are represented as holding their May festivities
on the banks of the Thames. The May Queue is
installed in her dignity in the midst of Joyous songs
and choruses, while a forlorn lover of her rural ma-
jesty,
keeping apart, laments his hard fate as the
victim of her cruelty. When he ventures to ap-
proach her and plead his passion, he is treated by
the damsel with light-hearted raillery. They are
now joined by another band of revellers in the
guise of foresters, heeded by Robin Hood.
The stranger pays his court to the May Queen
with a freedom which her moody lover cannot
brook. A quarrel ensues ; the lover gives his for-
ward rival a blow; and in the middle of the strife
the Queen—the real Queen, the Queen of England
—makes her appearance. She desires to know the '
cause of the disturbance, and is informed by the
rustics that there has been a quarrel about the May
Queen, and that oue of the gallants has struck the
other. Her Majesty, indignant at this trespass on
the royal grounds, orders the offender to be seized ;
but the poor May Queen, now ashamed and repent-
ant, pleads for her lover with such pathos that the
Sovereign is induced to forgive him ; while at the
same time, discovering in the pretended Robin Hood
a dissolute nobleman of the court, she dismisses hint
from her presence with a severe rebuke ; and then,
turning to the village maid, gives her this sensible
advice :
For you, my maiden, all too gay
To wear again the crown Of May,
Wed him at morn, your folly o'er,
And trifle with trim love no more.
Professor Bennett's music is English in character,
simple, natural, and full of rural Bwahnese, while it
is masterly in construction and full of spirit.
Though richly ornamented—now and then, too
richly, I was inclined to think—yet the vocal parts
depend little on instrumental support, nor does it
seem that the choral harmonies stand in need of a
large body of voices. Hence, I expect that this
46°1will be found charming in private performance
A a party of singers as may be grouped round
a drawing-room pianoforte. It is preparing, I an-
illerstand, for publication, arranged for this kind of
performance, and I would recommend it to all your
readers who love what is good, and pure, and true,
I. music, to themselves of "The May Queen"
forthwith. rtss:rmsas moat admirably executed last
night. Madame Clara Novello sang the part
of the May Queen, Sims Reeves the unhappy
Lover, Weiss the pretended Robin Hood, and
Mimi Palmer (instead of Mime Dolby, still disabled by
indisposition) the English Queen. It was most
warmly received. One portion of it, in particular,
consisting of a dancing chorus, " With a laugh as
we go round," and a song of the May Queen, " With
the carol in the tree," accompanied by the chorus,
was found to be so gay, airy, and animated, that it
was encored with loud cheers from all parts of the
Hall.

-----
The sacred performance of this morning consist • ed
of Rossini's Stabat Mater, a portion of Bach's
Passions Musik, and Beethoven's Mount of Wises :
three different pieces all on one subject, bat certaioly
treated in very different forms and styles. Rossini s
&abet Mater, the last of his works, gives extreme '
delight to the public, and to all who judge from '
feeling, but is undervalued by many musical critics,
who find it theatrical, slight, shallow, and unlearned.
I believe that—as bee been the case with Rossini's
music in general—such criticisms are losing their
weight, and that it is more and more ad-
mitted that the Stabat Meter is not only
full of beautiful melody, but of religious senti-
ment, and that it is worthy of a place among
h`
he
works of the great sacred composers. I have
never heard it more finely performed than it was to.
day. The opening chorus and quartet, of which the
solo parts were taken by Madame Weiss, Madame
Alboni, Signor Ginglioi, and Mr. Bentley, might,
from the beauty of the airs, the broad sod simple
harmonies, and profound expression of sadness, have
formed a part of the Requiem% of Mozart. The air,
" Cojus animam gementem" was sung by Giaglini
with exquisite finish and in the purest Italian style.
" QUM est homo," sung by Clara Novello and Alboni,
was a vocal gem; and Mr. Bentley's execution of the
"pro peaceful" was not unworthy of Tamburini. I
, never before heard the choruses so finely sung : the
harmonies were so pure, delicate, and refined, that
the choristers might have been a body of Italians

instead of YorkshireinVl; but thaw Yorkshire pecpte
are such thorough musictium that they can enter into
the style and spirit of any clitoral music whatever. The
audience were delighted with this performance.
Throwing aside all conventional restraint, they were
vehement in their applause of almost every move-
ment.
It might, perhaps, have been as well had Bach'.
Passions-Musik preceded, in place of following, the
&abet Mater. Bossini's music is so rich in sweet
and graceful Italian melody, and its instrumentation
is so full, varied, and brilliant, that the music of the
great old German, to ears unaccustomed to it, is apt
to appear somewhat dry and meagre. The music of
Bach. his vocal music especially, is in oar day eel of
thou things for which it is necessary to acquire a
taste; but, like other acquired testes, this may be-
come the strongest of any. Almost no uneducated
persons like Bach at first ; and even people not un-
acquainted with the works of modern composers
do not take to it readily. But we see that
every one who has studied it, has been ac-
customed to hear it, and thoroughly under-
stands it, comes to love it passionately, and to
prefer it to all other music. I cannot as yet reckon
myself among these select few ; though certainly,
having had the advantage of hearing the perform-
ances given by the Bach Society, under Dr. Sen-
ate's direction, I am wining to appregate sad feel
• the beauties of the great master. To-day Dr. Bennett
of mutes selected those morceau.r most calculated to
gratify modern ears, and the performance appeared
to give great and general satisfaction. Several of the
mat attractive pieces were mach applauded ; parti-
cularly the beautiful and pathetic air, " With Jeans
I will watch and pray," sang by Mr. Sims Reeves ;
and the air, " From mercy will my Saviour perish,"
snug by Madame Weise, with a brilliant flute aocom-
pamment played by Mr. Pratten. The final chorus,
a wonderful grand composition, also made a deep
impression.
The Mount If Ohms was performed under its
real title, and with the original words, as translated
and adapted by Sir George Smart, and with which
the public have been familiar for half a century, and
, not under the absurd and uncalled-for transforma-
tion which it has undergone at Exeter-hall, both in
title and subject. Of a work so well known it is
sufficient to say that it was magnificently performed,
the solo parts being sung by Clara Novelle, Sims
Reeves, and Weiss.
The hall was again very full, and the president's
gallery presented an array of distinguished pertain
most of those who came on the occasion of the
Queen's visit having remained daring the Festival.