The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-03-25 00:00:00

OR.4TORIO-DRURT-LANE.

Mr. Boehm last night presented us with another instance
of his indefatigable endeavours to meet the taste, or at all
events to gratify the frequenters of the melange of music
known by the name of an Oratorio. Whatever our opinion
may be of the singular mixture of religious and profane
music ' • however we may think their union unnatural and
u3suitedto produce their intended effects—of pleasure,
satisfaction, and mental improvement—still we cannot but
admire the efforts of Mr. Bochsa, who seems to spare no
exertion in bringing before his patrons and the public such
a combination of musical science and execution, as has
hitherto been unsurpassed, if it has been equalled, in this
country. The First Act of last night consisted of selections
from the works of those prodigies, Handel, Haydn, Beet-
hoven, and Mozart, with a veryx beautiful aria by King,
" Must I leave thee, Paradise, which was sung in ex-
cellent style by Miss Goodall. Next followed a fantasia
on the Lombardo Afandolin, by Vimercati, who displayed
a•great exuberance of power on an instrument only suited
to those savage tribes, who use their whim-wham with
about as much pleasure to themselves, at the mandolin
afforded to the audience of last night, who had just before
heard Mrs. Salmon, the first singer of Sacred Music in our
day, sing and enrapture them with the air of " With ver-
dure clad,' from the Creation, by Haydn. It cen only be
considered as a waste of genius to devote so much talent
and power of execution as Vimercati does to an instrument
(for so we opine we must call it) which is incapable of
that specific sud yet varied intonation which belongs to
concerted instruments. The same power, devoted to ca.
more gratefuloliject, would well repay the undeniable abi-
lity of Vimercati, who could not prevent his Mandolin be-
ing laughed at, though his skill was admired. The Second
Act—rather the second part, for so the play bills call it—con-
sisted of a sacred oratorio, composed by an amateur, and
produced for the first time in this country. It was called
the Prophecy, and is nothing wore nor loss than Pope's
imitation of the fourth Eclogue of Virgil, recoeding the
Advent of the Messiah, upon whose arrival
" No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear,
From every face he wipes off every tear."
To attempt a subject of such joy and such momentous im-
portance argues no want of opinion of his own sufficiency
in our author, and he must last night have felt his highest
ambition satisfied, when lie found his success complete. If
he soared an eagle's flight he had an eagle's wing, and sus-
tained himself through his arduous undertaking with a sin-
gular power and ability. The Amateur, a very inapt name
for the composer of the Prophecy, may shortly bid fair to
rival some amongst the Professors, tf a strong sense of
that feeling, which is never totally absent from the
professors, should not induce them to tread down an indi-
vidual who has no wish to deduct from their merits—
who has no necessity to press himself into notice,
having a respectable patrimony on which to live, arid
who, we have reason to believe, has, in offering The
Prophecy to the notice of the world, been only actu-
ated by that laudable ambition which every man of ge-
nius should have, and having should exert, in order to
secure his proper station in the world of letters, of science,
or of art. The author of die Prophecy seems to have had
one great object in view, which is, that
" The sound should be an echo to the sense."

To realize this object is not the work of every man,
nor of every day, and, to say truth of our modern corn
posers, seldom or never attempted. It is, however, the
test of genius to strike out unbeaten paths ; speak-
ing originally, to be original in the expression of those
thoughts ; or, if adapting, not to filch without re-
morse and without regard to unity or to harmony in
the adaptation. The overture to the Prophecy was com-
menced in a recitative by Mr. Braham, which had the great
merit of bring a judicious index to what was to follow,
and which all overtures ought to embrace. Its slow
passages were suited to the importance of the subject
matter to follow, while its livelier strains aebrded a
proper key to the joys and heart-touching consolations
which the Advent of the Messiah was to communicate.
Ye Nymphs of Solyma, begin the song ;
To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong:
The mossy fountains and the svlvan shades,
The dreams of Pindus and th' iEonian maids,
Delight no more. Oh ! Thou my voice inspire
Who touch'd Isaiah's hallowed lips with lire !
This was followed in the same spirit by a quartett, be-
tween Miss Paton, Alias Venes, Mr. Brahain, and Mr.
Phillips:—
From Jesse's torn behold a branch :wise,
Whose sacred fin v'r with fragrance tills the skies,
Th' ethereal spirit o'er its leaves shall move,
Aid on its top descends the mystic dove;
Ye heavens from high the dewy nectar pour,
And in soft silence shed the kindly show'r !
The following recitative by Pync was good :
The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid,
From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade,
All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail,
Returning Justice lift aloft her scale,
Peace o'er the world her olive w nd extend,
• And white-rob'd Innocence from Eleven descend.
''•• • ' •

but it was almost lost in the effect produced by the double
chorus--

Swift fly the years, and rise th' expected morn
Oh ! spring to light, auspicious babe, be born !
which is perhaps one of the most characteristic efforts of.
the Oratorio, and one of the fairest specimens of that haw
ideal in excellence to which the author has bound himself.
In this chorus his more joyous vein first discovers itself to
be a ruling vein, aml would have been amongst the more
prominent objects of the evening, if it were not for the fol-
lowing ducttino between Miss Paton and Miss Venn:—
Nee Nature haste, her earliest wreaths to bring,
With all the incense of the breathing spring ;
Sce lofty Lebanon his head advance,
Ste nodding forests on the mountains dance,
Ste spicy clouds from lowly Sharon rise,
See Gornel's flow'ry top perfume the skies t
We never heard music with more of " the incase of die

breathing spring;" it was as "lofty as Lebanoh," and ass
as "spicy as the clouds that from lowly Sharon rise," and
as "flowery as Carmel's top when perfuming the skies."
It was er.cored, and though not unanimously, if we have
any gift of "prophecy, we are persuaded it will become
a general favourite. From this period forward our author's
school seems settled; and we find him throughout, whether
in the grave or gay, to be a disciplined and unbending dis-
' to the maxims of that school. We are not prepared
to say that this adherence to system does hot produce
monotony, and that consequent degree of listlessness in an
audience, which may be fatal to authors not endowed with
that meat dirimir which can play with our imagination,
while it ought to warm our hearts, cr mule with our pas-
sions, while it should seize hold of our judgments, and
there fix fast the more solid advantages of wisdom, well
attempered with mirth. Brabant was never mote happy
than in this recitative and aria:—

RECITATIVE.
Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers:
Prepare the way ! a God, a (tod appears !
A God I a God ! the vocal hills rvply ;
The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity!
•114
Lo ! earth receives hint from the bending skies I
Sink down ye mountains, and ye valleys rise !
With heads declined, ye cedars, homage pay !
Be smooth ye rocks ! ye rapid floods give way !
The three last lines and a half were given with a pallid'
and a smoothness which reminded as of that splendid
passage in Othello, " Farewell the tranquil mind," as
given by Kean, when one really would feel it that life was
but a dream, and that, not Ot!ellds alone, but elat our own
occupation was also " gone." Miss Pawn gave this recita-
tive with great power and delicacy:—
No more the rising sun shall gild the morn, 1
Nor eiening Cynthia fill her silver horn,
But lost, diriolv'd in thy superior ray%
One tide of glory, one unclouded blase,
Wertlow thy courts—
She literally spread over it—
" (hie tide of glory ore otdokidsrl blase."
But it was not well recerv'ed- Tbilosellor worperbaps less
happy in this chorus :
In adamantine chains shall Death be bound,
And Hell's grim tyrant feel eternal wound,
than in any other through the evening ; it was too joyous
and capering, and conveyed no impression whatever of
either " hell," or " chains," or "death." The duet, "As
the good Shepherd," between Miss Paton and Mr. Braham.
was well sung, but did not meet with any. special degree of
favour. One of the Author's most favourite pieces we have
under:go-AI to be the following recitative and air :

RECITATIvIt.
On rifted rocks, the dragons' late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods.
Waste sandy vanes, once perplexed with thorn,
The spiry fir and shapely box adorn,
To leafless shrubs the Sow ring palms succeed,
And odious myrtle to the noisome weed.
AIR.
The lambs with wolves shall grate the verdant mead,
And boys, in tiow'ry bands the tiger lead ;
The steer and lion at one crib shall meet,
And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet;
The smiling infant in his hands shall take
The crested basilisk and speckled snake,
Pleas'd the green lustre of the scales survey,
And with their forked tongue shall innocently play.
It certainly struck us to be the most original part of the
Prophecy, and was very respectably sung by Mr. Phillips.
We have no wish to disparage the abilities of Mr. Phillips;
but we state an honest judgment, when we say, that in
other hands they would have been more effective. We
have already, we fear, extended our notice of this new
Oratorio a little too far; but it is so great a novelty to us to
meet such an effort from a young and almost unknown
aspirant to fame, that we could not resist the opportunity
of extending our observations upon his " Prophecy.
From what we have said, no one, we think, can accuse us
of being niggardly in our commendation of the amateur
author ; but commendation, however pleasant, is not the
only duty of the critic. We think we can hear some persons
say, the Prophecy is not sublime and solemn enough for
the majesty of the subject—that the ." amateur has
dipped deep into the old and modern natters, and has
given us, though by no means a rechadh, yet much of
what we heard from various other Wad!! before. It
is not for us, on this occasion, to detail more of the
on-Dili which we heard repeated, much less is it our
business to answer them. When we have a better
acquaintance with the Prophec , we shall be in a
condition toepeak more positive sad, loshapa, users
tally on the subject. We sometimes perceived the author
to borrow from himself—no very unusual discovery amongst
modern poets as well as musical composers, and, pro &into,
not to be visited with severity in an amateur. In drawing
to a conclusion, we must again repeat our conviction, that
if the professors do not deal ungenerously by the amateur
(if so he must be called), his Prophecy will have a fair share
of public encouragement and applause. He has evidently
read his predecessors to great advantage ; he seems to have
a quick perception of the higher ingredients of composition,
and a dexterity in the appropriation of the thoughts of
others, not often found united in an amateur. We cannot
conclude our observations, without noticing the unsurpass-
ing exertions of Miss Paton and Mr. Braham, to whom,
by-the-bye, the amateur owes no inconsiderable debt of
gratitude for the flattering reception of his Prophecy. The
house was thronged at half-price.