The Express.
London, England, 1858-09-13 00:00:00

. MUSIC.

LEEDS MUSICAL FESTIVAL.
This great music-meeting closed on Saturday
scorning with The Messiah. The Town Hall was
quite fall, about 2,000 persons being present. The
performance is its details was similar to those of the
Sacred Harmonic Society at Exeter Hall, the prin-
cipal solo-singers being the same ; bat the general
effect was unquestionably greater, and the superiority
lay in the execution of the choruses. Throughout
the whole festival the Yorkshire chorister, have
maintained their high reputation. Among those
men and women, drawn entirely from the indus-
trious inhabitants of Yorkshire towns and villages,
the name of Handel has long been a household
word, and the singing of his sublime harmonies a
daily pastime. With The Messiah, in particular,
they have been familiar almost since the days of the
=master himself—the knowledge of it has been
down from parent to child for generations
and this acquaintance with the greatest of all mu-
sical weeks of course implies a corresponding apti-
Lode for comprehending and executing the works of
eves, ether composer. With the Rhicsh, aooordingly,
the master-work of Mendelesohn, they are now not
Ism convenient than with The Afeselah itself.
de a whole, thie Festival has been eminent! y sno-
easeful. We have not been able to obtain (is we
did at Birmingham) returns of the numbers o per-
sons present, and the amount of money received, at
each performance. We have learned, however, on
local authority on which we eon rely, that the num-
bers present at the seven morning and evening per
forenoon averaged about 2,000 at each ; that the
amount received has been about 7,5001. ; and that
the expenses are estimated at 8,0001. ; so that the
net surplus applied towards the support of the
General Infirmary will be about 1,5001.
The expenses of this Festival, it will be observed,
have been much less than thou incurred during the
preceding week at Birmingham, which amounted to
between 8,0001. and 9,0001. The saving could not
have been upon the sums paid to the principal
singers and solo performers; for the engagement' of
this kind, including the Italian Opera singers (the
most expensive of all performers), at Leeds, mast hays
masiderably exoeeded the engagements of a similar
kind at Birmingham, so that the saving must have
been upon the chorus and instrumental band, which
at Himiogisam were about aoo strong, while at
Leeds they numbered in all only 340—a farther
illustration of the opinion we have again and again
expressed, that great multitudes of voices and in-
strument are by no means conducive to real mu-
sical power. It has been agreed on all hands that
the 340 performers at Leeds were more effective
than the 500 at Birmingham ; and that at both these
places the aggregate real power wan mach greater
than that of our 700 at Exeter Hall : the truth being
thus proved by experience that the real power of a
great orchestra is in the direct ratio of its quality
and in the inverse ratio of its numbers when they
exceed the necessary amount. The reason is plain
when a vast multitude is brought together (u at
Exeter Hall and the Crystal Palace) they
inside a great many inferior performers,
who only make noise without making
main; and besides, such a multitude becomes
a great unwieldy machine which no conductor, how-
ever skilful, is able to manage or control. From all
this the conclusion seems evident that, instead of
adding hundreds to hundreds, so as to excite vulgar
wonder by pompous announcements, the business of
and directors is to form choral and instal-
roar :ands, of which every individual shall be a
trained and competent perfermer. This will require
greater ewe and pains than are generally bestowed
at pressed, but much less expense will be incurred.
At oar provincial Festivals, moreover, much needless
expense is incurred in the engagement of principal
singers. This hes been the cue at Birmingham,
and still more at Leeds. At the latter place there
were no less than twenty singer", including several
of the Italian Opera stars,—Alboni. Piccolomini,
Ginglini, Rossi, and Vialetti. On looking over the
various programmes, it appears evident that every-
thing could have been done to more advan-
tage with half the number. There was a
complete embarras des richesses : and, in the
oratorios, it was often found necessary to divide one
vocal part between two singers of the same class,
much to the detriment of musical propriety, and only
for the sake of giving employment to everybody.
In this way a vast deal of money has been worse
than thrown away. There can be no doubt that
if these things were sufficiently considered, our great
music meetings might be carried on at mach lees
expense than at present, and yet with more advan-
tageous results in an artistic as well as financial
point of view.
On the whole, however, the Leeds Committee are
entitled to great credit for their management of the
first Festival given in their town: and for nothioie
are they entitled to greater credit than for their
choice of Professor Sterndale Bennett as the con-
ductor. Dr. Bennett his gained " golden opinions
from all aorta of people," and his popularity in the
north is as great as it is deserved. It is intended,
we believe, to erect the Leeds Festival (like the Bir-
mingham Festival) into an inetitsition, with a per-
manent committee and staff of functionaries, in
order to hold a regular series of triennial meetings
for the beneficent purpose to which this first meet-
ing has been applied. We trust that this design
will be carried into effect, for the town of Leeds is
of all the means and advantages requisite
possessedmaintaining
a aeries of musical festivals second
to none in the kingdom.

DRAMA.

LYCHUN.

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