The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-22 00:00:00

ST. MARTIN'S-HALL.

Mr. Hullah has already contrived this season to
maintain the credit of his popular concerts in St.
Martin's-hall, Long-acre, as among the most de-
lightful of our musical entertainments. Yesterday
the programme included the whole of the grand
oratorio of " The Mount of Olives," by Beethoven,
and of Handel's exquisite serenata of "Acis and
Galatea." The attraction proved in every way so
remarkable that the ample area of the hall was
tolerably well crowded from the very commence-
ment. The performance of two such masterpieces
upon the same evening awakened, it wotild seem,
an irresistible curiosity among all- the lovers of
music in the metropolis aware of the treat in store
for them and capable of attendance. The result
was au audience as numerous and respectable as
they were attentive and discriminating. Beetho-
ven's oratorio had of course, and as by right, prece-
dence over Handel's serenata. The solos in the
former being allotted to Mr. Montem Smith as
tenor, to Mr. Winn as bass, and to Mrs. Enderson
as soprano—while those in the latter were confided
to the gentlemen already mentioned, aided by the
melodious tenor of Mr. Wilbyo Cooper as Acis,
and of the dUlcet mezzo-soprano of Miss Lucy
Escott as Galatea. The choruses were for the most
part achieved to admiration by the members of Mr.
Hullah's first upper singing school, assisted by an
efficient orchestra, an orchestra almost what the
bills declared it to be—" complete in every depart-
ment." As to the principal vocal performers,
whom we have but just particulazised, they can
hardly be commended in higher terms than as art istes
of respectable ability and moderate powers, but at
the same time of eminently praiseworthy assiduity
in the application of both to the difficult and re-
sponsible task entrusted to each, individually. As
to the choral effects produced by the blended voices
of the members of Mr. Hullah's first upper
singing school, they were iu a great measure be•
yond all praise, and entitled, as we have said, to
what they elicited, again and again, from their audi-
ence, the token of a very general and a very ear-
nest admiration. This is especially observable, of
course, in reference to the wonderful choruses in
" The Mount of Olives"—the distinguishing glories
of that astonishing product of the genius of Beeth-
oven. Scarcely anything, for example, could have
been finer, in its way, than the rendering by the
chorus of that terrible march—in which are
audible, so to speak, the stealthy tread
and muttering voiees of the Hebrew rabble
following in the track of the Redeemer to
the olive garden of Gethsemane—" He came to-
wards this mountain 1" Thrilling as the tones of
that awful chorus are with the implacable " He'll
not escape us—he'll not escape us," again and again
repeated, as the crowd armed with sticks, and
stones, and torches, follow in the darkness, the
path already trodden by the holy footsteps of the
Messiah. Immediately afterwards came the yet
more terrible concord of the great choral outburst
—"Here—seize him I"—a choral outburst, last
night, as ever, strangely startling and effective.
Beyond all, our oulogium to Mr. Hullah's upper
singing school must be awarded the most unre-
servedly to the crowning chorus of the oratorio,
that astonishing "Alleluia Chorus" which has ever
been to us as the grandest exhibition of exultant
melody that ever emanated from the imagination
of the most glorious of the Great Composers—
a song of triumph that one might almost
fancy, without profanity, might be chanted
in the courts of Heaven to the sound of angelic
trumpets, by the burning choir of the Seraphims.
After having even thus cursorily passed in review
"The Mount of Olives," we have scarcely courage
or inclination to turn our regard at- once to any
other work of art whatever, even be it a work in
its way so incomparably exquisite and harmonious
as the ever-delectable serenata of " Acis and Ga-
latea."
Hardly had the last echoes of the final
chorus of Beethoven's oratorio died away in our
memory when we were called upon last evening to
hearken to the alluring overture of one of the
daintiest, as it is also, beyond all doubt, one of the
most delightful, of Handel's masterpieces. A pro-
pitious overture, the promises of which are
speedily justified to the full by the magnificent
chorus—madrigal-like in its effect—" Oh, the plea-
sures of the plains 1" succeeded later on by the rap-
turous " Happy, happy, happy we!" and this again
in its turn by the yet more striking chorus
" Wretched lovers 1" with its wild, weird, eltrich
accompaniment. The last-mentioned, replete in
almost every bar with extraordinary difficulties,
was the great triumph of the night for the pupils
of Mr. Hullah. The ensemble, the precision, the
vigour—were admirable—were wonderful. It is
observable by the way that the first encore of the
evening was that accorded to Mr. Wilbye Cooper's
charming execution of the delicious air " Love in
her eyes sits playing," an air almost as delicious in
itself as that other, " Hush, ye pretty warbling
choir," sting nearly as charmingly, though by no
means so effectively, by Miss Lucy Escott. Mr.
Cooper indeed retained the honours of the encore
almost exclusively—sharing it, in fact, only with
that subsequently accorded to Mr. Montem Smith in
" Would you gain the tender creature ;" the latter,
however, being merely partial, whereas the former,
besides being first in point of time, was, as it de-
served to be, quite unanimous 1 Little can -be
Said commendably of Mr. Winn's " Oh, ruddier
than the cherry," a giant love-ditty, requiring for
that matter an organ not altogether unworthy of
a Polyphemus. Much, on the contrary, mi,ht
well be said in praise of that most exquisite of
trios " The flocks shall leave the mountains," the
bloom, the jewel, the pride, the glory of the whole
serenata. Enough, however. The evening was
altogether delightful—thanks to the skill evidenced
by Mr. Hullah's pupils in giving choral voice to
some of the noblest melodies of Handel and
Beethoven.

CRYSTAL PALACE.—One Shilling Day, Wednesday,
Nov.
21.--Ad2m3islsi;otnostaol
nvisitors, 985. Corresponding
Payment, 754 ; ditto, by
day last year, 1,246.
The Spanish army, in 1E46, consisted of 136,000
season tickets,
infantry, 10,074 cavalry, and cost 319,203,056 reals ;
but in 1855 it was reduced to 76,535 infantry, with the
same number of cavalry, and cost 271,658,000 reals.
M. Meyer, the banker at Berlin, who was lately con-
demned for being concerned in obtaining telegraphic
secrets, but who remained at liberty on bail, has just
been arrested on the demand of the public prosecutor,
and placed in prison to undergo his punishment.
ROYAL LONDON YACHT CLIIR.—The annual dinner
of this flourishing club took place last evening, at
Willis's Rooms, King-street, St. James's, when nearly
200 gentlemen sat down, presided over by the Commo-
dore, Mr, James Goodson,