The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-24 00:00:00

7 HE

IVAL.

The great musical event of the year which, vac
:her in respect to its fine art—or even national if__-

portance—ranks second only to the more prutAit-;41

display of the Exhibition—the triennial Handel
Festival waa inaugurated yesterday under cii-

cumstances of the most favourable and gratifying

character. The weather, which in the morning

had been very chilly and foreboding, as the day
advanced seemed to grow ashamed of its ill humour
and perverseness, and at length broke away into
one of the finest days which we have had for
several weeks, lighting up faces and land-
scape with a congenial glow of brightness.

Accordingly the expected crowds were soon seen
to begin assembling at the railway stations, :Ind

by twelve o'clock the Crystal Palace was assuming
a very lively and elegant appearance. On reaching

our scat, the first thing that struck us was, of course,
the improvement in the orchestra, which. is now.

rcofed over with a handsome dome, in order to com-
pact and throw out the sound, instead of being
covered by its old sail cloth, which, to a great
extent, absorbed it. This addition, which is un-
questionably a great musical advantage, doss
not, at the same time, abate from the general im-
pression of the transept. It gives a proscenium in
the form of a handsome ellipse, is colored through-
out a delicate blue, with some ornamentation in

the centre of a light amber tint, and has altogether
a very elegant and airy appearance. There
seems to us another improvement of which
the transept is still capable, and that is an

enclosure of its sides by a light wooden

partition during such occasions as the present,
the effect of which would be to create a perfect

Hall, that certainly in space and elegance, if not
acoustic propertieF, would be one of the
finest in the world. The enlarged dimen-

sions of the choir at the present festival furnishes
another and distisctive feature of this attractive
celebration. Three years since, it will be remem-
bered the band and chorus amounted to some 3,500

members. ~ They are now augmented to 4,000 (the
new members, we believe, being taken from
London societies), being the largest musica
force ever assembled in this country, and
we aro inclined to think also in Europe.
The solo performers on this occasion were, of

course, worthy of its importance. They included

with one exception only—Madame Goldschmidt—
the very first talent of the day in connection with
sacred music—Madame Titiens, Madame SF in-
ton Dolby, and Mademoiselle Parepa, Mr.
Sims Reeves, Mr. Weiss, and Signor Belletti. Of
the execution of the " Messiah," with which the
festival opened, we may say, in general terms,
that it was one of the very finest that has
ever been heard in England, whilst in re-
spect to the solo music, having so recently
noticed its principal singers at Exeter
Hall, we have no occasion to do more than
say that they were all in excellent voice, and
renewed their claim to all the eulogies which we
then so cordially bestowed on them. As respects the
choruses—in every requisite of time, sentiment,
and artistic treatment—we have never heard them
more happily given ; whilst, at the same time, we
confess the improvement caused by the addition to
the orchestra was rather in respect to an increased
clearness [and fineness of tone, ;than to any
very perceptible increase of force. They were
given with an energy as well as precision
which it would have been quite impossible to sur-
pass, and yet we confess we were not sensible ofpro-
founder impressions than they created three years
since. However, whether the improved
orchestra or numbers have added to their
force or not, there can be no question
as to the superb quality and artistic cha-
racter of their delivery, or the sense of gran-
deur which their masses of sound must have raised
in the souls of the most indifferent. We shall allude

but to those which especially impressed us as the
most suce-2ssful. These were, in the first part--
" For unto us a child is born," sang with immense
fire and precision ; " Glory to God in the highest ;"
and " ills yoke is ersy," which wore ooh
as ani-
mated and vigorous as they were artistically varied.
In the second part, the " All we like sheep" was a
most masterly performance; " The Lord gave the
word" had a vigour that was unsurpassable ; whilst
the unapproachable Hallelujah," it is only justice
to say, was never rendered with more majesty. The
choruses of the concluding portion were all of the
same superior character. Of the solo performers,
es wo have already noticed, Madame Dolby,
Air. Sims Reeves, and Signor Belletti, so recently,
we can only renew the praise which they then so
entirely merited. The great novelty of this per-
formance, and, we may add its great solo feature,
we need scarcely say, was Madame Titiens, whose
recent successful entrance into the field of sacred
music, so worthily enlarged the public estimate of
her sympathies and talents. Madame Titiens may
be safely pronounced as the only successor of
Clara Novello in this field of lyric exposition,
and not more entitled to this distinction by
the unequalled character of her voice than the pro-
found feeling, taste, and reverence which she
th dise
plays in its employment. Her execution of d
two great airs, " How beautiful are. the feet" an
"I know that my Redeemer liveth," were successes
so perfect of their kind, so true in expression, E 0
rich in tone, so impressive in
sentiment,
co'aend.
enrapturing in melody, that w
and.
9despa:oef
our comm nv 3
-
ing their effect by any words at
We were told on
leaving the Palace that the
numbers present v_

71IE AMERICAN HARVEST.

The advices from New York this week state that
the accounts respecting the approaching wheat har-
vest
he
new
in the Western States are very conflicting.
T
issue of £30,000,000 of inconvertible paper
was expected to be speedily authorised, and mean-
while the question as to the probability of the Tax
Bill being passed this session seems scarcely to ex-
cite the slightest interest. The proposal introduced
by the Chairman of the Committee on Military
Affairs in the House of Representatives, for an en-
largement of the canals to enable vessels of war, in
contravention of the spirit of the existing treaties
with Great Britain, to reach the lakes, so as to place
that frontier " beyond the reach of foreign aggres-
sion, and effectually relieve it from further menace
or insult" appeared to be much more popular. A
return of the stocks and specie held in the banks
and sub-treasury on the Ist of June showed the total
to be £7,680,000, against £11,520,000 on the Ist of
June, 1861. The fraudulent issue of Indiana State
bonds continued to be a subject of anxious discus
sion, owing to the extent to which advances had
been made upon them. The Indiana authorities were
r
already putting forth pleas to prepare the vi'sYwerr_oe
a repudiation of liability, although the bondtse
itself
duly executed in every respect, and the
Stfaraud by
had pi evented a timely discovery of !I:ethe know-
concealing it long after it had comeoirdivg
to the
ledge of its officers. Meanwhile,
usual practice in Ameriea of cbatrtgeir g
of course, rc-
a;:c- every public
man with malversation, as %ill, a
leading Federal
ports were in circulation that
the transaction." With
officer in the service of t.hteh
in some way mixed up evenue Department is
UirapOSitiOla of an export duty
finally adopted fort
regard to the cotton guest vestion, should the clause be
equal to a farthingrnake
England and Europe pay
sterling per lb., and which is
war, it. will prove devised in order a t•ighly
the
ulus to India, Egypt and the other
serviceable stlre
countries, who wil lathu be offeyed
producing
cotton
permanent bounty such as has been alleged to be
their quota totocivil
a tal to induce them to enter with confidence
competition with America. Of an equally
remarkable character is the proposed confiscatory
measure in the shape of an income tax, which, in-
stead of being levied upon income at a rate of so
iisistoent-ih e
much per cent., is to be made to fall with increased
weight upon those individuals who would, even
under an equitable scale, be called upon to
pay the
most. The law, as passed by the Senate, is to im-
pose a tax of 3 per cent. upon small incomes, and
71 per cent. upon large ones. -This
pleasure
admitted, there is no reason why, athtehe p
whole of a
of the populace, 50 per cent., or even principle once
ttas the Demo-
man's income beyond such an
will inaugu-
te,nance, should
cracy may think necessary for trliistict
not be taken. Such a m.eapre,sl
if submitted to,
simply precede
rate a full flood of Socialisima
may perhaps gnetral break up of
the rights of property,