The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-13 00:00:00

HANDEL FESTIVAL.

The arrangements for the festival are now com-
plete. The engagements have been made with the
entire band and chorus; and the committee of the
Sacred Harmonic Society—whose experience in
large meetings of this character is well known
state that on no former occasion has so large or so
talented an assemblage of amateurs and professors
ever been gathered together. The instrumentalists
wo lionndc ei
nl
sotsr
ua
mn de
nd
to: bal
re
eb
ea
ms s
pe sl .0
yCeodn,s eraiadnd tbhliys
comprise stringed instruments, of whom no less than
u
low3y Set
over
aretoh
oev i
great organ of Messrs. Gray and Davison,
which is now receiving large additions, will pro-
duce an instrumental combination without prece-
dent. The chorus will bring up the aggregate num-
ber of performers to about 4,000; and as the emana-
tions of the giant composer will now be heard for
the first time on anything approaching this scale,
in a completed and properly prepared acoustically
constructed roofed orchestra, the effect muss 1. far
vls
beyond what has ever been witnesssd.
It would occupy too much space to specify each
district or town from which the component parts of
this great orchestra have been assembled. Leeds,
Bradford, York, Huddersfield, Halifax, contri-
bute a large quota of voices,whose sonorous qualities
and perfect training are well known. Birmingham,
Norwich, Gloucester, Worcester, and Hereford,
towns whose regularly trained choral bodies are
kept up for the service of their respective festivals,
send efficient aid. Manchester, Liverpool, and other
Lancashire districts, help with their most efficient

singers to swell the contingent ; the Universities,
Oxford and Cambridge, and the Royal choirs and
chapels, each send a selection of their best vocalists,
while the cathedral towns, through the kind per-

. _
mission of the ecclesiastical authorities, are re-

presented scarcely without any exception.
It is a marked evidence of the growth of feeling
in favour of these great musical undertakings, that
both from manufacturers and others the most

liberal permission has been granted to attend the
coming Handel Festival. This is doubtless owing
to the International Exhibition being held at the

same time ; but whatever the cause, the most bene-
ficial effect will be produced on the general musical
excellence of the Handel Festival. The provincial
chorus will arrive in London on the afternoon of

Friday, the 20th inst., and a great choral rehearsal
will be held in Exeter Hall the same evening,

Large, however, as the great ball is, it is doubtful
if it will, with the aid of the orchestra and galleries
hold the large force of chorus singers who will then
be brought together. The great full rehearsal will
take place at the Crystal Palace on the following
day. It will begin at 11 o'clock, and is expected
to last some hours, as the most important pieces in
the programme of the three days, both for princi-
pal singers as well as full orchestra, will be gone
through. After the rehearsal a display of the
great fountains will be given. The price of
rehearsal tickets is 7s. 6d., if purchased on or be-
fore Thursday next; after that day half-a-guinea
will be charged. As all the guinea seats on the
floor of the palace are open on the rehearsal day to
the holders of these tickets, such unusual advan-

tages are offered that there is certain to be a very
large attendance at the rehearsal day particularly
as the season ticket holders at the Crystal Palace
have also the right of entry on this day. It has
been advertised that these tickets as well as the ss.

tickets for each day of the festival, are on sale a
. _ _

many of W. H. Smith and Mr. Colling's bookstalls
at the various railway stations, a facility which
doubtless many visitors to the metropolis during
the next week will profit by. Special trains will
also be run for the rehearsal day from many places,
particularly on the Brighton and South Coast lines.
The great roof over the orchestra is now complete
in its decorations. Its imposing span must be seen to
be fully appreciated. It is a sight in itself. The
most gratifying marks of approbation on the con-
struction have within the last week been conveyed
to the chairman of the Crystal Palace Company on
this great work. One of the eminent contractors
of the International Exhibition has described
it as one of the most ingenious pieces of carpentry
ever constructed. M. Costa, who has spent much
time in carefully noting its acoustical properties,
writes that he is "delighted with the effect pro-
duced by the organ as well as by a single instrument
played in the orchestra." Also, " Much as I had
anticipated from the roof, it has far exceeded my
most sanguine anticipations. The least sound is not
only audible, but travels everywhere, and the effect
that the immense orchestra will produce at the
coming festival must really be wonderful."
'The success which has attended the erection of this
great roof has enabled the directors to offer a very
much larger number of really good stalls to the
public on this than at any former festival. It is
now clearly ascertained that the best places for
hearing the music at this festival will be those at
some distance from the orchestra. The plans of the
d as the
galleries, which have just been issued, afford most
eligible positions. So mucb is this regarde
true state of the case that one of these galleries
has been reserved for the press,
provincial a more than usually
large number of continental and p
repor-
ters being expected to be present.
One of the most noticeable features at this festival
will be the large number of foreigners who will be
present. To them it will be peculiarly striking,
because, however much more highly musically
educated they may be than the generality of English
visitors to the festival, it is yet certain that in no
as
und
part of the Continent—great and deservedly
popular
as many of the great part-song meetings and con-
ngtinental musical festivals are—in no place abroad
musi-
calea n organisation,anything
ha: sameh ng the same complete
combination
of really effective musical executive art, be heard as
at the Handel Festival at the Crystal Palace.
Preparations for the Royal and distinguished
visitors expected at the
Festival
have begun by the
erection of a large Royal box in the centre of the
gallery ; two small boxes on either side of the
orchestra have
also been prepared with the same
object.
The official
it will be of
considerable bulk, and in addition to
the words of the oratorios and the selection, will
contain the names of all the performers, and police
instruction, &'., respecting entrances.
On the rehearsal day the performance will coin.
mence at 11, on each day of the festival at 1 o'clock.
us

As to forgery by photography, the watermark is
the most t ffectual safeguard which can bo conveniently
employed, and this appears to be the opinion of the Bank
authorities, who, for some time past used a paper water-
marked to a considerably greater extent than formerly.
The fact that this art has not hitherto been employed, so far
as known, in the multiplication of those valuable sheets of
paper bearing the superscription of J. Gattie, is a proof that
there are obstacles in the way of so abusing it, which lens only
become evident in practice. In the first place,
must be a large and good one, and such a lens costs a
con-
siderable sum of money ; and to this must be added a few
pounds more for the machine requisite to produce the water:
mark. Then the pulp of which banknote paper Is made, is
of a peculiar manufacture, and can only be obtained, if
obtained at all, surreptitiously. As to anybody getting a
blank note, that is almost impossible, in consequence of the
precautions taken in the mills where they are manufac.
tuned,..Ono a Wee.

• 9
The Siecle of yesterday contains a letter' row
Rome, of the ith, in which the writer describes the
particulars of an interview which he has had with
the Mortara child, or rather with his tutor, for
nearly an hour. The writer had heard that the
unfortunate child was at a particular convent in
the city, where once a week he appears as one of
the choristers at the mass, and with some ingenuity'
managed to getadmission into the cloister where the
child, with five or six others, was taking exercise
aifter the service. The ether children were dressed
in white, the little Mortara in a black cassock. He
describes the child, whois 101)3-ears and four months
old, as timid, bashful, and almost melancholy, and
having quite the Jevb-j;ii cast of features. nu/
writer contrived to get in,;9 conversation with the
tutor on the subject of a fret•coe on the wall, ani
being mistaken for an Italian, 50,7'11 succeeded in
turning the conversation on the pupils.
"Who," said I, "is that child sitting there upon.
the edge of the well ?" ‘t Oh, you havb often
heard o him ;
it is the little Jew Mortara, Laptiscd
at Bologna."
-n
The child rose sl'owldyr,ed !"
took off" Come
cap,
ap, here,a nEd d garl'
stood
before us with his eyes on the ground. "Has he
good health ?" " Excellent, although a little deli-
cate. In the three years that he Las been here he
has only had one slight illness."
e has a low
forehead—that is not a priori a sign of intelli-
gence." "Nevertheless he is very intelligei2t ; he
learns all that he likes, and especially Latin,. for
which be seems to have a marked inclination."
did not wish to play in anything the part of a false-
brother, therefore I limited myself to putting one
question to the child, while drawing him towards
me and taking him by the hands. " Well," said I;
" are you content to be here ? Are you well ?"
" Yeg," said the child. This was all that it was
possible to extract from him. As soon as he could
get away he retOnedt and re-seated himself with a
sad expression on the edge of the well, under the
shade of an enormous fig " How is it," said
I to the canon, " that the namt;' of Edgar was given
to him in baptism ?" " 9t give him that
name—it is the one that he hs.C., before being bap-
tised." "And his parents, do they often come to
see him !" " Once, in 1859. The father cane with-
out the mother in 1860, but he did not ask to see
him. He entered the church, and we were warned
to keep ourselves on guard, for he intended, it was
said, to carry him sway." " When will he have the
power of leaving 7" "fit seventeen ; but he has a
marked calling for the ecci,gsiastical state." " Does
he often speak of his father an:l mother P" "No ;
he appears to have forgotten them. However, he
writes to them twice a year, imploring- them to be
converted. The parents make no reply :0 his let-
ters." (I thought to myself that such letters, writ-
ten by this unhappy child from a copy made
ent ba„
y
the priests, could poorly satisfy the
par
Moreover, they knew very well that a reply
would not reach the child.) " The mother, they
tell me," said he, "is a good woman, who would
willingly become converted, but the father is s
hardened sinner. It was he who-gent to Cavour
at Turin, and was the cause of all the fuss that was
made on account of the carrying away of this child.
Henceforth the child belongs to God. He will have
his first communion next week, and will receive thr,
holy sacrament from the hands of a French bishop.
I could report to you several other details of this
interesting conversation, but my space fails me..
I will only say that I shall never forget the accent
with which the priest to whom the young Mortars
is confided said to me these words, " They talk
much of the rights of the father and of nai;ure re-
specting the carrying away of the child, but divine
rights, supernatural rights, override the rights of
the father—of the family. A baptised child is our
property."
I was loth to leave, Slowly I descended the
steps of the cloister which led to the church, and
took a last look at that poor Israelite, passing his
infancy amidst those black robes. Entering the
church, I came across a group of devotees, who were
kissing the chains of St. Peter. They offered thmt
to me to kiss; but, thinking of the poor child, I
turned away my head, saying to myself that resig•
nation could never reach such a depth with me as
`o embrace the emblems of such a .horrible servitude,