The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-29 00:00:00

THE HANDEL FESTIVAL.

The Selection.

The following appeared in our Late Edition yesterday :
A Proverb has been brilliantly defined as " The
Wisdom of Many and the Wit of One." And ac-
cording to a familiar example of one of these same
delectable morsels compounded from the concen-
trated essence of wit and wisdom, it has long ago
been remarked epigrammatically that " Variety
is Pleasing." It cannot, therefore, be any
matter at all for wonder that the Second
of The Three Days of The Handel Festival should
have proved (as it has) to be an especial favourite.
It comes intermediately this year between The
Messiah and The Israel in Egypt, and consists
.avowedly of SELECTIONS. For that matter, it is,
in consequence, a repetition for the most part
of the preliminary performances of Friday
last, the day judiciously set apart by the
organisers of these Triennial Celebrations for
what was called The Grand Full Rehearsal. Upon
those precursory performances, we have already,
in these columns and at considerable length, com-
mented. Our sufficiently ample and detailed critique
upon them, in fact, appeared in a late edition of our
journal of that very same evening. In remarking,
now, therefore, upon the superb repetition of the
same selected masterpieces this afternoon, we
are constrained, as it were, in spite of ourselves,
to bear in very vivid recollection the fact that we
are here perforce going, very much indeed, over
the same ground. Ground delightful enough,
doubtless, for ourselves to traverse, ground that we
cannot by poisibility very readily tire of, yet ground,
for all that, that has, so to speak, been here so
recently and minutely mapped down, and topogra-
phically expatiated upon, that we must needs refrain,
so far as may be at all practicable, from any unneces-
sary reiteration, by us, of opinions already pro-
nounced. Regarded .simply as " Selections," the
three-and-thirty productions thus taken from the
works of this most Sublime of all Musical Composer*
and set down upon to-day's Programme, were, in two
respects, very remarkable indeed—remarkable, that
is to say, in the first place, for their relative diversity,
and in the next place for their harmonious combi-
nation. They consisted—these thirty-three care-
fully chosen works picked out deliberately from
among all the wondrous masterpieces of Handel—
of fifteen from Saul, of three from Samson, of three
from Acis and Galatea, of two from Solomon, and
of ten from Judas Maccabeus. An aggregation of
attractions, to say the very least of it, suffi-
ciently diversified ! And, added to this
special and peculiar charm of to-day (an excep-
tional charm distinctive of it, as the Second or In-
termediate Day of the Three) there is that astonish-
ing combination of attractions (yet more marvel-
lous in their variety) belonging to them all alike—
the numerous and gigantic attractions ly-
ing—beyond the wondrous works themselves—
in the mass of the performers, in the army
of artists peopling that wonderful amphitheatre
of seats built up, semicircle above semicircle, into that
stupendous Orchestra. Conspicuous among these
artists, the first and foremost in the profession,
whether attention be paid to the singers or to the
instrumentalists. Soloists, comprising among
them a tenor like Mr. Sims Reeves, a
Soprano like Mdlle. Adelina Patti, a Con-
tralto like Madame Sainton Dolby, a Bari-
tone like Mr. Santley. Turning again to the
instrumentalists—Four Hundred of them drawing
simultaneously the bow across the strings, andhaving
at their head a violinist as accomplished as M.
Sainton. Five hundred orchestral performers, alto-
gether—in the midst of a multitude of choristers,
numbering (with them) the now well-known grand
total of four thousand in all. Appropriately
enough, there was performed, this day, with mag-

nificent effect, that great choral chef d'auvre.
from the oratorio of Solomon, " Zadok the Priest,'
popularly known as " The Coronation Anthem.'
Appropriately performed this afternoon, we say, by
reason of to-day being the 28th anniversary of the
Coronation of her Majesty the Queen. An anni-
versary calculated to distinguish any day at the
Crystal Palace as a gala day thrice welcome among
the loyal lieges of the Sovereign. As the days
of the Handel Festival number up, now, alas, only
too rapidly to their conclusion, Mr. Costa seems to
us to get his four thousand more and more completely
in hand. Hardly inlany instance could the merest
passing, momentary hitch be detected, even upon the
closest observation. In the piano, even into the
rarer pianissimo passages, the mammoth choir, with
its five hundred instrumental accompaniests, obeyed
the sometimes almost imperceptible beck of the great
conductor's wand. " How Excellent, 0 Lord,"
began the day's selection, at a second or two after
the appointed hour of three—and so majes-
tically in its effect, that one might, by
way of summing up its merits, echo its two opening
words, after the prelude of the oboes and trumpets,
How Excellent !" After Madame Parepa's
charming air " An Infant raised," came the fearful,
sorrowful, ghastly chant " Along the Monster
Atheist Strode "—followed by the consoling sounds
of " The youth inspired by Thee, 0 Lord, with ease
the boaster slew"—and by the prolonged exultation
articulated in the chorus, " Our fainting courage soon
restored." Crowned—this succession of choruses from
Saul—by the iteration of " How Excellent, 0 Lord,"
and by the noble and affecting strains of the " Halle-
lujah." The reverberation at the momentary pause
—immediately prior to the closing bar—had an effect
marvellously beautiful ! The charming combination
of the stringed instruments and the tinkling bells in
the Sinfonia preluded as exquisitely as on Fri-
day, Madame Parepa's lovely recitative,
" Already, see the Daughters of the Land." After
the chorus, " Welcome, welcome, mighty King,"
apportioned almost exclusively to altos and trebles,
followed by Mr. Santley's brief recitative, " What
do 1 hear," and by the chorus, " David his Ten
Thousand slew"—the vast audience listened with
hushed delight to Madame Sainton-Dolby's deli-
ciously dulcet warbling of that most haunting of
all the melodies in Saul " 0 Lord, whose mercies."
So closed with admirable effect The First Part of
the Day's performance—Part the Second following
close upon the heels of it, with barely any
perceptible pause whatever ; its opening
chorus engaging the whole strength of the
mighty choir in the grand and glorious
sound of " Envy ! Eldest born of Hell 1" Here
came—as a matter of course one is almost tempted
to say—an unmistakeable encore, the first encore
of the day. Mr. Costa had no alternative but to
accede to the demand for its repetition. Wonderful
throughout—this chorus was especially wonderful
in the fading down as into a hushed and
lamenting whisper of " Virtue sickens at
thy sight !" As for the glorious March
that then ensued—those matchless notes of woe and
lamentation, the world-renowned " Dead March in
Saul"—never has it been so superbly played, as it
was twice played this afternoon at the Crystal
Palace. The second time in answer to a de-
mand for its repetition that almost amounted to a
peremptory mandate, so enthusiastic was
the burst of applause elicited by' it from the im-
mense assemblage confronting the giant Orchestra.
Mr. Santley was
,as fine as ever in his noble deli-
very of Manoah's air from Samson, "How Willing
my Paternal Love" finer even than on
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Friday last, admirable as was that, his
earlier performance of it. Au encore here,
too, would have been inevitable, only that the
first demand for its repetition was hushed—from a
general eagerness to hear Madlle. Adelina Patti's
refined and exquisite singing of the immortal aria
" Let the Bright Seraphim"—perfected in the effect
of it by Harper's lovely trumpet obligato accom-
paniment. This—the magical duet that is be-
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Then came the three choicest morceaux
that could have been excerpted from Acis and
Galatea—" Love in Her Eyes sits Playing," most
tenderly delivered by Mr. Sims Reeves—followed,
in striking contrast, by Mr. Santley's Polyphemean
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