The Express.
London, England, 1866-10-29 00:00:00

THE NORWICH MUSICAL FESTIVAL

(FROM OUR OWN OORRISPONDKNT.)
NORWICH, SATURDAY.
The local arrangements for this important musical
celebration are now quite complete, and all is in
readiness for the full rehearsal, which is to take
_ _

place in St. Andrew's-hall on Monday morning ;
when the orchestra and chorus from London, and

the provincial aids, both instrumental and choral,
will unite in a final trial of the special works pre-
pared for the various performances. Preliminary
rehearsals have been for some time going
on here under the able professional guid-
ance furnished by this city. Mr. Harcourt,
organist of St. Peter Mancroft, holds the post of
organist to the festival, Mr. J. F. Hill being the
chorus master ; Mr. Wilkins, leader of rehearsals ;
and Mr. J. Oury, conductor of band rehearsals—
the latter gentleman of old repute as a brilliant
violinist. The list of orchestral players exhibits
the names of 77 instrumentalists, many of whom
are members of the Royal. Italian Opera band.
Among the chief performers are Mr. Henry Bla-
grove, principal first violin ; Mr. W. Watson,
principal second violin ; Mr. R. Blagrove, prin-
cipal viola ; Mr. Paque,. principal violon-
cello • Mr. Howell, principal contra basso ;
116611:100MereirViaibisilements, the were et
Messrs. Pratten (flute), Barret (oboe), Lazarus
(clarinet), C. Harper (horn), and T. Harper (trum-
pet), are sufficient guarantee that excellent as the
stringed band is, the wind band is equally so. The
aggregate chorus, London and provincial, makes
up a total of 247—consisting of 62 sopranos, 24 con-
traltos, 35 altos, 59 tenors, and 67 basses—a vocal
force sufficiently strong for the production of the
grandest effects, while not being too large for clear
and intelligible execution in peerages of
any degree of rapidity. The proportions in
the above numbers seem to us well
calculated to ensure a just balance of
sound between the four parts of the vocal score ;
though much of this result may depend on pecu-
liarities of situation and the relative position of
each band of singers. The conductor of the whole
festival, Mr. Benedict, has the advantage of long
experience in the direction of such performances,
combined with the higher faculties of a composer
skilled in the complexities of orchestral and choral
effects. Both Mr. Benedict and Mr. Costa are
here—the first in readiness as general conductor of
the festival, the latter with special reference
to the performance of his oratorio, Naanum,
which will be heard for the first time
in Norwich, at the Wednesday morning perform-
ance, conducted by the composer. The festival
begins on Monday evening with Handel's three!
in Egypt, with additional wind instrument so-
companimenta by Mr. G. A. Macfarren—the ora-
torio being preceded by the National Anthem.
With such an array of choral and orchestral
strength—such solo vocalists as Mademoiselle
Tietjens, Madame Rudersdorff, Miss Edith
Wynne, Mademoiselle Sinico, Madame de Moric
Lablache, Mademoiselle Anna Dtaadil ; Messrs.
Sims Reeves, Cummings, Santley, Weiss,
and Signori Morini and Gassier—with such
a combination of executive excellence, indivi-
dual and collective, bestowed on such great
works as are announced for performance, the pre-
sent festival can scarcely fail to rival, if not exceed,
the success of any past occasion—while the pro-
mised presence of their Royal Highnesses the
Prince and Princess of Wales (who are expected
to attend the performance of Wednesday) gives
an added splendour tits the proceedings of
the week. On the day of the royal visit,
the programme will consist of an anthem 'by Spohr,
not hhitherto performed, and Mr. Costa's oratario,
Naawsan, conducted by himself, being its first
performance at Norwich. The morning per-
formance of Thursday will possess especial musical
interest from the production of Mr. Benedict's new
cantata, &dug Cecilia, composed by him spe-
cially for this festival ; previous to which a
selection will be given from the Passion
music of Handel a work long existing
unknown among the manuscripts at Buckingham
Palace ; and published a few years since by the
Leipzig Handel Society through the exertions of
Dr. Chrysander, to %horn we also owe an elaborate
" Life of Handel" (in German), two volumes of
which are already published. The Thursday
morning's pert ormanc,, will be an abundant enter-
tainment. since, in at:,lition to the compositions just
named, Haydn's o-at. rio, The Caution, is to
be given. With the Friday morning's performance
the festival will terminate, as far as music is con-
cerned—the being given as the climax
—a grander one there could not be, nor a more ap-
propriate ; this work having been constantly per-
formed since its production in aid of the purposes
of charity, and the Norwich Festival beiug ex-
pressly designed fur the benefit of "the principal
charities in the county of Norfolk and city of
Norwich."
The. first instance of a musical perform-
ance for charitable purposes is said to have
been at an anniversary of the Sons of the
Clergy in 1709 ; some fifteen years after which
period the meeting of the three choirs of
Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester was insti-
tuted those cathedral cities sending their
choristers to each place in alternate years. These
early music meetings, however, were held in the
evening, and seem to have been limited to the
performance of anthems and the Te Donn.
The first occasion of an oratorio being performed
in the morning appears to have been at Hereford
in 1759, when the Messiah was so given. The
Birmingham Triennial Festival was instituted about
the year 1778 ; and that of Norwich, as now held
in St. Andrew's-hail, in 1824, previously to which
the Norwich Festival consisted of the yearly per-
formance of an oratorio in the cathedral, the pro-
fits having been handed over to the treasurer of
the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. The per-
formances, as now given here, are on a much
grander scare, extend over a longer period, and result
in a far greater and more widely-spread amount of
charitable aid. The festivals of Birmingham and
Norwich now stand pre-eminent among provincial
music meetings, both for the excellence of the per-
formances, and for the special interest given to the
programmes by the production of new or little
known works. Among many other chime to
honourable distinction in this respect, it is the chief,
and will be to the lasting, honour of Birmingham
that Mendelssohn first produced there (August 26,
1846), hie Elijah. Norwich, also, has earned honour-
able distinction,especiallyby having brolght forward
for the first time several of Spohr's sacred works.
If we mistake not, his oratorio The Last Judgment
was first made known to English hearers (more
than thirty years since) at Norwich ; where also
his similar works, Ca:rary and The Fall of Babylon,
were first given.
In addition to the special performances of the
week already adverted to, there will be miscel-
laneous concerts on the evenings of Tuesday, Wed-,
nesdey, and Thursday ; and the festival will be
evening.broughtto a close with a full-drees ball on Friday

Lzost. Ciwroiss.—By the elevation of Sir Hugh
Cairns to the bench, he has ceased to be a member of the
Council of Law Reporting ; and Mr. Rolt, having been up-
pointed Attorney-General, is now an ex offiew member xn
his stead.
Nonni RIDING PAUTISH LUNATIC ASYLUM.—
The committee of visitors of the North Yorkshire Pauper
Lunatic Asylum have appointed Dr. Christie es medical
superintendent of this institution, in the place of Mr.
Samuel Hill, who, through ill-health, has been compelled
to reign. Dr. Christie is now the medical superintendent
of Pembroke House, Hackney, London, and brings with
him the highest testimonials. We cannot make this an-
nouncement without
most
our sympathy to Mr. Hill,
who has been a most ev public servant, and has by
his ability and energy* brought the North Riding Asylum
to its present high state of efflciency.—Yorkshiu tarok.

Drama.

OLYMPIC.
A bold and, to some extent, a flloOessful theatri-
cal experiment was tried at this house on Saturday night •
in the transfer to a public theatre of Mr. Wilkie Cr,lUDs's
drama, The Proses De*. A play written for " private
theatricals," to be performed by a band of amateurs on the
confined space of a drawing-room stage, so rarely fulfils the
requirements of an ordinary playhouse, that transfers of
this kind are not numerous in dramatic history. The
Froren Deep, like The Liphthouse, produced at the
Olympic when the late Mr. Hobson was a member of the
company, was written by Mr. Wilkie Collins for the
private performances at Mr. Charles Dickens's house, in
Tavistock-square, in 1856 and It<s7, and wufuirt represented
at Tyristock House on Twelfth Hight, 1857. All the
characters were embodied by Mr. Charles Dickens, his
family, the author, and their literary and artistic friends ; •
and on the death of Mr. Douglas Jerrold, in 1857, the
Frozen Deep was chosen for those " memorial" perform-
ances which were given by the same distinguished band of
amateurs at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, and the
Gallery of Illustration, London. for the benefit of Mr.
Jerrold'm widow.
The Frozen Deep is more a conversational play than •
drama of incident, and there is great simplicity and ori-
ginality in its construction. The part of Richard
Wardour, originally played by Mr. Charles Dickens, and the
part at Polak APAaprier, atiftiaMyplipait-by Mr. Wade
Collins, fall to the lot of Mr. Seville and Mr. Montagne.
Mr. Seville's Wardens is full of rugged force, and is fair
better than Mr. Wigan's Crayford, which sadly wants the
geniality first thrown into it by Mr. Mark Lemon. Miss
Lydia Foote is an earnest and impreesive Clara Vernon.