The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-05-07 00:00:00

14ORTNEEN TIMPS.-LIVEEPOOL, WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 1866

AT THE

though open to the charge of being somewhat too theatrical,
is a truly martial and soul-stiring effusion. Strange to t
'say, the weakest portions of the oratorio—the finales to the
two " parts"— where the most is expected—are the poorest.
In the fitiale,to the first part, where Eli, The Man of God,
and the People, bless God for the birth of Samuel, there
first performance, in Liverpool, of Costa's oratorio of "Eli."
This work was originally produced at the last Birmingham I work ; hut both here, and at the conclusion of the oratorio,
occurs the most clever bit of fugue writing in the whole
lite the composer has tailed to rise with Festival, on the 29th of August, when the principal which is descrip'ive of the ;death of Eli and the
.repent-
vocalista were, Miadm; Viardot Garcia, Madm. Castellani
the subject, and the effect of the ensem is, conseque..ce,
Mr. Sims Reeves, Herr Formes, and Herr Refit ardt, most lamentably vreakoned, the musical interest having
anee of the Israelites,
It was completely successful, the performance being little almeet egaporeSted before the composer has reached this
short of perfection, while the members of the band, as well portion of his tech,where all Ms imaginative and artistic
as the audience, were most rapturous in their plaudits—
a
, We may, upon further acquaintance With Eli, find cm-
there being no less than six encores. The first production resources should have been newt advantageously displayed.
canon to modify many of these opinions, but at present,
" Eli," in the metropolis, took place on the kith of we can only say that Costa has succeeded f:r better than
February, when it was performed by the Sacred Harmonic we could have hoped, and though we doubt if Eli will
Society, in Exeter Hell, the audience comprising the elite ever attain immortality, no one can deny that its comneeer
of metropolitan society—aristocratic, literary, and artistic— has exhibited the possession of a fund of melody, and an
the Queen and Prince Albert even leading the applause. amount of skill as an instrumentalist and a composer for the
On this occasion the vocalists were the name as those who the voice, such as neither his previous compositions nor the
sung here last, night, vie Rudersdorf, Miss Dolby, most e±travagant assertions of his admirers could have led
Mr. Sims Reeves, Mr. W. IL Weiss, and Mr. Montem the public to anticipate.
Smith. Here, again, "Eli" was a deCided hit; but as it The performance; last night, was very fair, though far
has since been performed a few more tinies—on the last from faultless, the choir being at times very unsteady—
occasion with the original singers—the judgment of the causing many of the more c.-implicated choruses to sound
Public was more cool arid critical, and to those who know confused and incomprehensible. This was particul irly
something of London cllgtees and coteries, it is clear that noticeable in the 't ungodly revel" scene, which requires to
in time " Eli" will quietly settle down into that compare- be sung with point and decisi n. The chorus, " Let ns go
tive obscurity, which has overtaken all modern oratorios to Pray," (in which the staccato cleverly intimates that they
except " Elijah." In spite of the successes of Birmingham sing as they walk), and the " Choral March," in the second
and London, where the spirit of musical politics' had part were given much better, the latter being sung with
evidently so much to do with the triumph of the courtly irreproachable vigour. Encores were awarded to the
composer, we here, having had several recent experiences " war song," which res declaimed with woede.reus power
of the first productions of new oratorios, can afford to by Mr. Reeves. liannlle ,5 air " I will extol Thee, " was
speak the truth, and to judge with something like imparti- brilliantly sung by Madame Rudersdorf. The unaccom-
ality, of so important a work as " Eli," undoubtedly panied quartet "We bless yeti is the name of the Lord, "
is, without resorting, on the one hand, to unmitigated a most faultless display of part singing, and the n Evening
eulogy, or falling into the more blameable error, of harsh Prayer " of Samuel, which Miss Dolby gave with that
and uncompromising denunciation. The fact is, no work simplicity and taste, so characteristic of her vocation—
of art requires so many requisites for its compasition or though we could not help thinking at the time of the scene
construction, as an oratorio, for it must be devotional, in Fra Diavolo," where Zolina goes to sleep. All the
consistent, interesting, dramatic, and melodious—avoiding principals exerted themselves to the utmost to plewe, but
dullness and obscurity in the first instance, and theatrical Mr. Armstrong, to whom the music of the Man of Go i was
effects on the other—ever reaching the sublime, and never allotted, was not in his best voice, as he frequently sang
descending to the commonplace. Allowing these quali. very flat. The duet between Hannah and Elkanah, where
fications to be essential for an oratorio composer, the they instruct Samuel, and the trio, " Thou shalt Love the
wonder is—not that so many fail, but that any succeed. Lord," may also be cited as amongst the best executed
Genius, however, is the rarest of gifts, and to sum up the portions of the music, well worthy of the applause with
question in a sentence,'experience has proved, over and over which it was greeted. The band, whose duties were
again, that no oratorio has ever lived, unless the composer very heavy, gave full effect to the " March of the Irsaelttes,"
was a genius—witness the efforts of Spohr, Neukomm, and displayed a degree of delfc icy in some of the
Leslie, Horsley, and other men, undoubtedly very clever accompaniments worthy' of high praise, as it is rarely that
and intelligent musicians, au fait with all the technical they succeed in this particular portion of their duties. The
details of the " divine art," but deficient, unfortunately, in performance was protracted to ntea-ly midnight, but as the
the "divine spark." Now, believing that in these prc- latter portion of the oratorio is the dullest, at least one half
liminary observations we hate spoken the truth, we of the audience left the hall before the performance con-
hone we come prepared to judge impartially of chided. We mixt not omit to state that Mr. Ilirst's organ
M. Costa's work, which, we may say at once, is accompaniments; and those of Mr. gtreatber on the harp
very clever, very unequal, and much better (both instruments being in unusual demand), were of great
than we expected. Considering that Costa is an assistance in adding to the excellence of the performance,
Italian—that during the greater part of his artistic life he while Mr. Herrmann also merits a word of praise, for the
has been mixed up with operatic matters—it is highly tact and care with which he directed the performance of a
creditable to him, that he should have produced a work at work at once so long, difficult, and novel.
once so ambitious, and displaying so many evidences of The next concert takes place on the 20th inst., when
genuine musicianly feeling. Though long recognised es the Mridame Schumann (nee Clara Weick), the first female
first chef d'orchestre of his day, Costa has never previously pianiste of the day will make her debut in Liverpool. The
been successful is a composer—his operas, " Malek Adel," vocalists will b 3 Herr Rokatinsky alias Signor Bianchi, a
and "Don Carlos," were decided failures—with the fault, young basso and Miss Sherrington, a youthful English
so rare in an Itelian, of being deficient in melody. His vocalist, educated at the Conservatoire of Brussels.
ballet of "Alma' was more fortunate—thanks, principally,
o the exquisite dancing of Cerito in the raise de Fasei-
-Binee then, with the exception of some slight
the name of which has escaped our ntemory,
the Neapolitan chef has never appeared before the public as
a composer, acquiring, however, ample fame as a director of
the principal musical societies in the metropolis, and mana-
ger of the royal concerts. With these antecedents, it
required' no little courage. in Costa to appear again as a
composer, and, above all, as an oratorio composer, in a
country where oratorio music of the highest class is better
known and appreciated than in any other part of the world.
Still, undaunted by these facts, he has composed an oratorio,
and, if he values the plaudits he has received, he has great
reason to be proud and satisfied, though we fancy that time
will mellow the enthusiasm of his friends and his own satis-
faction. It is, however, but just to say that the unsatisfac-
tory portion of " Eli" is, in a great measure, due to the
concoctor of the " book," Mr. Bartholomew, who, in
attempting too much, has sadly erred, the story being inco-
herent and unconnected, and throwing upon the composer
tasks which would have taxed the mighty genius of Handel
to have rendered musically effective. The following is the
argument of the oratorio prefixed to the book :
PART I.—To celebrate the Festival of First-fruits, Elkanah and
his family come I.to Shiloh; where, with Hannah, he offers his
yearly sacrifice in the Tempe of God. After the ceremony, Eli
discovers Hannah praying ' • he rebukes, supposing her to be
drunken ; but, on hearing she had spoken out of the abundance of
her grief to the Lord, he dismisses her with his blessi g. She is
encouraged to trust In the Lord. In the precincts of the Temple,
Eli, with sorrow, overhears his sons (Hophni and Phinehas)
riotously s,nsing with the as men who assemble at the door of the
Tabernacle. For thei.• thus disregarding the work of the Lord, a
Chorus threatens them with His displeasure. The man appointed
by God, having detected the abuses of the meat-offerings, reproves
the Levite,, and predicts the speedy invasion of the Philistines;
who gather for wsr, and advance against Israel. The man of God
declares the Lord's anger to Eli; but, finding him contrite, implores
with him for mercy and forgiveness. Hannah returns to the Temple,
and with thanksgiving, fulfils the vow she had made to dedicate
Samuel to the Lord.
CART IL-Samuel, after performing his morning devotion, is
visited in the Temple by his parents. Eli finds them instructing the
child; after whirls, they separate, blessing each other. The
Israelites' God,
encouraged by Eli, and entreating the aid of go forth
to repel the Philistines. S imuel concludes his daily duties with an
evening prayer, and falls asleep, guarded by angels. While he is
sleeping, the defeat of the Hebrew. is announced in the city; upon
which, Hophni and Phinehas immediate'/ depart to their army with
the ark of God. Samuel is then celled—the voice, though only
indicated, is understood by Eli to be the Lord's. The child lies
down again; while Eli, restless upon his bed, hears the Temple
guards singing th it night song. On their proclaiming that the
morning has gone forth, Eli calls Samuel; and hears from h us the
decree, with contrite resigna'ion. The fatal result of another battle
is communicated to Eli, while sitting by the wayside of Shiloh,
anxiously watching—trembling for the ark The slaughter of the
army, the death of his two sons, pierce but break not his heart; but
when he hears that the ark of God is taken by the. Phi istines, he
dies upon the spot. A fast of humiliation is proclaimed; and the
people, assured that their repentance will appease the Lord, bless
His holy name in a chorus; which concludes the Oratorio.
The subject is recorded in the First Book of Samuel,
Chapters 1. to iv,
We now proceed to give a brief analysis of the music,
though it is impossible to do full justice either to the com-
poser or to ourselves in a hurried notice, and after the first
hearing of so elaborate a work as "F, i." The first thing
that struck us was the pleasurable and novel fact, that " Eli"
was unusually free from plagarism, and that whenever the
composer has been most successful, it is due to his imagina-
tion and not to his memory. He does not remind you
incessantly of the great German composers, except where he
has attempted fugues, and striven to give a consistency to
the character of "Eli," the aged high-priest, by awarding to
him a constant succession of dull heavy recitatives and airs,
which, though natural and effec'ive at first, soon become
wearisome and monotonous. When pure melody is called
for. the composer's Italian nature comes to his aid—his
most pleasing and natural efforts being the Morning
and Evening 'Prayers" of Samuel (Miss Dolby).
The first, " Lord,. from my bed again I rise," is a beautiful
flowing melody, natural and expressive in the highest
degree, reminding us somewhat of several of our best old
psalm tunes. The " Evening Prayer," in F major, has a
truthful and serene, calmness, in admirable keeping with
the sentiment of the words, the accompaniments being also
noticeable for their appropriateness and graceful prettiness,
the piamissinzo, as Samuel falls to sleep, being one of the
most effective morceaux in the whole work. In fact, with
the exception of the scene where Eli instructs Samuel to
reply to the Lord, which is too prolix and spun out, the
whole of the music allotted to Samuel is beautiful and
characteristic. The next best character (musically speaking)
is that of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, the two principal
airs allotted to her being admirably expressive of her
situation and feelings—first, as the barren and sorrowing
matron, and then as the joyful and exulting mother. Her
first air, " Turn thee unto me," where she calls upon God to
have mercy upon her, is the very expression of a devout and
chastened believer, whose faith is steadfast amidst all her
sorrows, and contrasts most effectively with the scene where
Hannah pours out her thanks to God for the birth of a son.
The air, " I will extol Thee," in which she does this, is a
natural and faithful exponent of her joyful sensations, with
iiorituri in the Handelien style—changing into the minor
key, on the words "I cried unto thee," where the pathos is
natural without being farfetched. Like Mendelssohn in
Elijah, Costa has attempted to create an effective contrast
between the music of the Pagans and that of the true
believers ; but here the Italian has not been so happy as the
German, and instead of being dramatic he becomes
theatrical. This is especially noticeable in the ungodly
revel of Hophni and Phineas in the precincts of the
though less so in the war song " Philistines,
by Saph (Mr. Sims Reeves), a Pagan
soldier.amrkp,l,,e,
snn g
As a mere battle song, this air is a most vigorous
and showy composition, elaborately and ingeniously
scored, and requiring lungs of the strongest, and a voice of
the loudest, to give it due effect, amidst the uproarious din
of the instrumentation. Mr. Sims Reeves. however, had
been most accurately measured by the composer (who has
" voiced" the music with rare tact and skill), and, in spite
of its difficulty, he sang it with a degree of manly energy,
which evoked the heartiest applause of the evening. The
music allotted to the second tenor, who sustains the part of
Elkanah (Hannah's husband), and "A Messenger," who
brings news of the defeat of the Israelites to Eli, possesses
nothing worthy of special notice. The choruses are of varied
merit, the best in every way being the choral march, " God
and Ring of Jacob's nation," which is full of energy and
colouring ; the chorus of angels, " No evil shall befal thee,"
an exquisite bit of smooth and flowing melody ; " The
Lord is good," where the people advise Hannah to trust in
him, which is also redolent of melodious simplicity, and
" Lament with doleful lamentation," in F. minor, which,
though cleverly designed, is not " equal to the situation."
'I he simply instrumental portions of the oratorio—the
" overture" and the " March of the Israelites"—though the
most ambitious, are not the most successful and pleasing
morceaux of the work—the former is most skilfully and
ingeniously written, but it creates no definite sensation—
the latter, however, is more decided in character, and

COUNTY COURT.-YESTERDAT.

In the absence of Mr, Pollock, Mr. T. F. Raffles pm-
side in this court yesterday.
NELSON V. PuTataN,—This was a claim Made by Peter
Nelson, a boarding-house keeper, against George Putman,
captain of the ship Daniel Webster, lying in the
Waterloo Dock, for £l2 16s, being a week's board and
lodging of eighteen men belonging to defendant's vessel.
It appeared that the boatswain of the vessel had made an
agreement for the board of these men with the plain-
tiff's wife, at the rate of 14s per week for each ordinary
seaman, and 16s for the boatswain and the cook. The
men went to the plaintiff's house on Thursday, the 10th
of April, and on the following Tuesday the mate of the
vessel sent an order to the plaintiff, stating that the
ship would not be responsible for the board of
the men after Saturday, April 12, as they had
left the ship. The men, however, remained
in the house until the Thursday, and the
present claim was made for a whole week's board. The
defendant had paid £7 9s 4d into court as payment for
four days. Mr. 11 ime appeared for the defendant. It was
proved, on the part of the plaintiff, that eighteen men
altogether had been hoarded, and his Honour accord-
ingly gave a verdict for five days' board for eighteen
men, being £2 14s 8d in addition to the amount paid
into court.
ARRANGEMENT OF BUSINESS.—This being the first
May court, the following arrangement of the business
was made :—Thurs day, May Bth. adjourned cases at ten
o'clock, and fifty others at twelve ; Friday 9th, 141
cases ; Tuesday 13th, 121 cases ; Wednesday, 120 ;
Thursday, fifty cases, involving sums above £lO ;
Friday 16th, adjourned cases, and 26th, additional
cases.

nm) SOMMONSES.—SeveraI fraud summonses were
heard, and orders for committal made. None of the
cases, however, had the slightest public interest.

INSOLVENTS.

The following insolvent applications were heard and
disposed of : _ _

Thomas Harrison, supported by Mr. Chilton, received
his final order without opposition.
Edward Owens, supported by Mr. Chilton, was
ordered to come up for his final order on the 3rd of
June.

James Prewer, supported by Mr. Gray, to receive a
final order on the 3rd of June.
Anne Gale, adjourned to the first November court.
William Webster, opposed by Mr. Hime, petition
dismissed. _ _

Robert Heeps, final order granted.
James Evans, final order granted.
James Henry Fox, final order granted.
William Dolan, supported by Mr. Hughes, to receive
a final order on the 3rd of June.
Wm. Hyde, to receive a final order on the 3rd of June.
James Gribbin, musician, was opposed by Mr. Roby
on behalf of Mr. Peter Stubbs, and supported by Mr.
Husband. The insolvent was directed to come up on
the 3rd of June to receive a final order, protection to be
withheld in the meantime as regarded the debt to Mr.
Stubbs.
Robert Parr, final order to be granted on the 3rd of
June.
Thomas Williams, adjourned to the first October
court.

GARSTON LOCAL BOARD OF HEALTH

The ordinary monthly meeting of this board was held
at four o'clock yesterday, in the Aigburth hotel,
Aigburth, Mr. J. A. Tinne in the chair. Other members
present— Messrs. Cooper, Bevan, W tts,aChaloner,
Chidson, and Sutton.
The proceedings of the committee of works were read
and confirmed. In connection with them was read a
letter from Mr. Whitby relative to the new road from
Window-lane to the river. It stated that the railway
company would keep the road in repair until the new
road was made.

Mr. Cooper suggested that as parties had encroached
upon the road in the building of houses, it would be
better to defer the matter before the board came to any
conclusion in it. Besides, they had nothing to show
that the arrangement with thej railway company was
complete. _ _ _

The Law Clerk observed that so far as that was con
cerned, he thought there would be no difficulty.
. .

It was agreed that the clerk should have an interview
with the company on the subject, and in the mean time,
that the surveyor examine and report on the state of the
road.

A letter was read from the Rev. Mr. Evans, of Gras-
sendale, in reference to the narrow width of the road,
between the Aigburth hotel and St. Mary's church.
The letter was referred to the works' committee, the
Chairman observing that the matter had not escaped the
attention of the board.
f 'The proceedings of the finance committee were read
and confirmed. They contained nothing of interest.
Mr. Cooper suggested that it would be well if the rate
were always laid in spring; as at present, several
parties who lived in the township for a portion of the
year, escaped the tax altogether. This was not fair, and
it should be known that the rate was not an annual
one, but that the board could always lay one when out
of funds. Their funds at present were nearly exhausted,
and arrangements should therefore be made at once for
striking a rate.
The matter was referred to the finance committee.
The board then adjourned.. ,

TOXTETH-PARK LOCAL BOARD OF
HEALTH.

The usual monthly meeting of this board was held
yesterday, at the public offices. Mr. Greigson was in
the chair. The members present were—Messrs. Rath-
bone, Allpass, Avison, and Siddeley.
The Clerk read the minutes of the last meeting, which
were confirmed.

..-The proceedings of the several committees were read
and confirmed.

Mr. Alpass stated, in answer to the chairman, that he
had seen the Mayor of Liverpool, and that he hoped
that before the next meeting of the board, some arrange-
ment would be made for the sewerage of Grove.lane.
Mr. Alpass had no doubt that before the next meeting
the question would be amicably settled.
The Surveyor's report was read, ani the meeting
adjourned.