The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-24 00:00:00

rum SUN, LONDON, SATITROAY EVENING, JUNE 24 1865.

THE HANDEL FESTIVAL.

The Grand Full Rehearsal.
Yesterday afternoon's superb performance in the
Crystal Palace at Sydenham might be described
(and in no way extravagantly) as a magnificent
flourish of trumpets, announcing the approach of
the Three Grand Days set apart next week for the
Handel Festival. Everything connected with the
celebration yesterday of the advent of this Triennial
homage paid to the incomparable genius of Handel
was again, as usual, carried out upon a scale of
most appropriate, or, it may be said, of simply pro-
portionate grandeur and magnificence. The wea-
ther itself could hardly by any possibility have been
more propitious. Our English midsummer in all
its glory rendered the Crystal Palace itself radiant
with sunshine, while filling the green branches
of the " leafy month of June" more pro-
fusely than ever with the gorgeous colouring
of the rainbow in all the abounding blossoms
of those flowering trees and shrubs and efflorescent
plants, that are of themselves so complete an adorn-
ment, so matchless an attraction among the count-
less other attractions and adornments lavished by
Nature and by Art, by the gift of God and the
ingenuity of Man, upon the 'glorious Palace of the
People down at Sydenham. The attendance, again,
was yesterday of itself a sight worth seeing.
So vast a multitude, even with the vivid remem-
brance before us of past occasions of the like kind,
was such as could scarcely in reason have been
anticipated. Gigantic as the attendance has been
before now upon the three preceding celebrations
of this Triennial Handel Festival, it was yesterday
altogether surpassed. Much of this astonishing
increase in the number of the visitors is attributed,
of course, to the greater facilities of rapid commu-
nication by railway with all parts of the United
Kingdom. But, coupled with that fact, there
is another that appears to us to be equally
obvious and equally noticeable namely, the
fact of the extraordinary fame of these un-
rivalled, nay absolutely unprecedented perform-
ances—awaking an eager curiosity among thousands
who must have merely heard of them or read about
them, until now, when, the opportunity again re-
curring, the desire at last to participate in the en-
joyment themselves, because (with these additional
thousands) just simply irresistible. Triennial fes-
tival after triennial festival, it has been thus in re-
gard to the appreciable increase in the multitude of
visitors swarming up to London from all quarters
of the United Kingdom. Occurring, moreover, as
these wonderful performances do, triennially, and
not annually (their annual repetition, if only
by reason of their magnitude and com-
plexity, would, in fact, be an achievement
incapable of realisation, if attempted),
they possess always the charm of Novelty--the
charms of a Freshness, that is that never palls by
too frequent repetition. Every successive occasion,
besides this, gives evidence, on the part of the great
bulk of the performers, that their hands and voices
get more " in" to the adequate production of the
colossal work before them ! Practice, here as else-
where, tends, more and more, towards the all-
desirable goal of Perfection. Turning, however, to
the great preliminary performance which yester-
day signalized the inauguration of the Fourth of
these Triennial Festivals, this henceforth especially
memorable Festival of 1865, we would here remark,
to begin with, that the wondrous Orchestra never
looked more magnificently ! Yonder, in the central
position of all, confronting that marvellous gathering
together of Four Thousand Singers and Instrumen-
talists, was the Prince of Conductors—Mr. Costa.
Seated far above him before the triple keyboard of
the stupendous organ, himself a mere dot amongst the
multitude, was the organist of the day—doubly typi-
cal, one is tempted to say, through the simple oddity
of his name, of the intensely English character of the
performance throughout—Mr. Brownsmith ! Ex-
tending to the right hand and to the left in the
noble sweep of the concave semicircle of the orches-
tra—a structure so gigantic that it is actually in its
dimensions twice the diameter of the dome of St.
Paul's Cathedral—extending to the right hand and
to the left, we say, from those two important, con-
spicuous, and central figures (above, the Organist !
below, the Conductor !), like the wings of a very
army of performers, were ranged. the 500 instru-
mentalists, as many as 400 of them artists armed
merely with stringed instruments, aided by another
hundred weilding the varied sounds that flow from
auxiliary instruments of metal, wood, leather, and
parchment—drum, and cymbal, and trumpet, and
ophicleide, and serpent, flute and bassoon, clarionet
and trombone, hatitboy and triangle, horn, and
harp, and flageolet—backed, surrounded, encom-
passed by the serried ranks of the huge chorus., or
rather choruses--singers numbering the occupants of
that lovely and symmetrical orchestra, up to the grand
total, already mentioned, that wondrous total never
approached by any other choir upon record, the
almost inconceivable total of Four Thousand Per-
formers ! Eleven years have sufficed to lead to this
marvellous combination. Sixteen hundred of the Four
Thousand, it should be remembered, too, are fur-
nished by the Metropolitan Division alone of the Han-
del Festival Choir, that important division, that most
important of all divisions, having been drilled with
so much regularity, from time to time, in the area
of Exeter Hall, under the master-baton of Mr Costa!
Co-operating with these sixteen hundred amateur
members of London, there are here, besides, chora-
lists gathered together from all the principal cities
of England, Ireland, and Scotland—from Birming-
ham and York, from Dublin and Edinburgh, from
Exeter and Aberdeen, from Oxford and Cambridge,
from Gloucester and Limerick.
At a quarter-past 1 p.m. the performance of yester-
day commenced—a performance exceptionally inte-
resting, even as compared by anticipation with the
three grand days of the " Handel Festival" proper,
for inasmuch as its Programme may be said to em-
brace within it the very pick of all the rarer choruses
and solos of the Monday, and Wednesday, and Fri-
day—of the Day of the Messiah, of the Day of the
" Israel in Egypt," and of the intermediate Day set
apart for the Selections. The semi-chorus from
Saul, " Along the Monster Atheist Strode !" gave
the first taste of the quality of the performers
grouped together in that vast concavity of the
Grand Orchestra. Afterwards the full choral chant
from the same great masterpiece, " How Excellent
Thy Name !" evidenced in a remarkable manner the
majestic concordance of sounds that in all the
grander choruses of these Handel Festivities seem,
so to speak, to fill, to satisfy, to satiate the sense of
hearing—sounds that so entranced the soul of the
great composer, Meyerbeer, when, upon the occa-
sion of, the last festival, he then for the first time
listened to them with an eager avowal of grateful
and wondering admiration. Madame Sainton Dolby
led the way among the soloists by her sympathetic
and refined rendering of the air in Saul " 0 Lord,
whose mercies !" Chorus after chorus then fol-
lowed, in no way, however, according to the
sequence marked down in the Programme—which
same printed form, by the way, was expressly
entitled, as if from a consciousness that no pre-
scribed order could very well be attended to upon a
preliminary occasion so purely and essentially that
of a REHEARSAL-" Probable Programme." After
the fairy-like sinfonia of chiming bells, preluding
the Recitative " Already see the Daughters of the
Land," given with brilliant effect by Madame
Parepa, came the deliciously-harmonious semi-
chorus of " Welcome, welcome, Mighty King !"
woven about, or intertwined, so to express it, by a
continuation of the delicate accompaniment of those
chiming bells ! The momentary sound of the brief
and almost interjectional recitative, by Saul,
" What do I hear ?" introduced Mr. Santley to the
recognition and applause of the enor-
mous audience. Their applause, however, the
great English baritone, had immediately
afterwards a better opportunity of earning
by his delivery of the pathetic air of Manoah,
" How willing my Paternal Love !" from Samson.
From the same stupendous oratorio we had the de-
light of listening to, in sequence, the aria " Let
the Bright Seraphim," sung most exquisitely by
Mdlle. Adelina Patti—deliciously accompanied by
Harper's wonderful trumpet obligato. The triumph
thereby achieved was complete and instantaneous,
signalised by a crashing round of plaudits, plaudits
so sustained in enthusiasm
,as to necessitate an

encore. Completing the selections from the Samson,
there came next the intricately-linked and winding
chorus, " Let their celestial concerts all unite,"
terminating with a giant flood of har-
monies ! A bunt of applause, after a brief
interval, signalled the appearance in the
foreground of the platform of the great Eng-
lish Tenor, Mr. Sims Reeves, who sang, as no one
but himself could sing, so tenderly, so deliciously,
with such pathetic warblings of the master-passion,
" Love in her Eyes sits Playing," from Acis and
Galatea. Surely, never was there such a choral
lullaby as the dulcifluous one that followed, in-
stantly upon the close of that delectable love-song
—" May no rash intruder"—with its whispering
zephyrs, and breathing flowers, and melodious
nightingales ! Afterwards, from Judas Maccabeus,
Madlle. Adelina- Patti gave the " linked sweetness
long drawn out"—drawn out at last into a pro-
longed trill" From mighty Kings he took the
spoil !" Then came that magnificent protest
against idolatry, "We never, never will bow
down !" pealed forth almost, it seemed, at
times simultaneously from every pipe in the
grand organ, from every trumpet in the huge
orchestra of 500 instrumentalists, from the throats
of all those 4,000 choristers singing together, as
with one voice at the beck of Costa's magic baton.
As a fitting close to the selections from " Judas
Maccabeus," came the grandest paean of triumph
ever conceived by the imperial imagination of a
Composer—" See the Conquering Hero Comes 1"
given this afternoon with a pomp of sound on
drums, trumpets, and choral voices as it, surely,
never was given before ! In presiding over the
terminal passion and fervour of it, Mr. Costa must
have felt, as he waved his baton over that storm of
harmonious clangour, almost as though he were the
leader of an army ! It was nearly enough one might
have fancied to have summoned the soul of Handel
back to earth ! Part Two began at about a quarter-
past four p.m., with a Cyclopcean rendering of the
National Anthem, iollowed by the two sublimest
choruses ever composed by the sublimest of all
composers :—" For unto us a child is born," and
the immortal " Hallelujah !" In the former we
cannot, for one moment, imagine that those adoring
cries of love, and veneration, and awe, have ever
before this day been so majestically raised by
human voices and hands to Heaven—those impas-
sioned apostrophes addressed to the Redeemer of
the World, whose name was called as though
through an angelic trumpet by Handel—" Emanuel !
Wonderful ! Counsellor ! The Mighty God ! The

Everlasting Father ! The Prince of Peace 1" After
the " Hallelujah " came no less than
six of the majestic choruses from the
mighty masterpiece of " Israel in Egypt,"
with the selections from which most wonderful
Oratorio the Grand Full Rehearsal was brought to
a glorious and affecting conclusion. Beyond the
reverent, almost•exultant, chorus, "He spake the
words"—beyond even the impressive "He gave
them hailstones"—far beyond them all, to our mind,
was the sombre, muttered, terror-stricken, "He
sent a thick darkness !" Altogether yesterday at

the Crystal Palace was a noble and more than
simply auspicious, as it was a signally trium-
phant, inauguration of the Handel Festival of 18G5
—a Festival marking, we will hope, an epoch of in-
creased and still increasing prosperity to the grand-
est Home of the Arts in England.

child ; 3d battalion 60th Foot, Lieut. Croft and 31
men ; 76th Regiment, the bandmaster, and wife,
and 1 man ; 105th Regiment, Capt. Higginson,
Lieut. Raikes, Surg. Macbeth, 158 men, 4 women,
and 4 children. The Middlesex will call in at Queens-.
town, and there embark Lieut. Barclay, wife, and
child, Lieut. Rainsforth, Ensign Harvey and 123
men of the 2d battalion 24th Regiment, and Ensign
Weigell and 12 men of the 76th Regiment.
The labours of the Turret Ship Committee, now
sitting, under the presidency of Admiral the Earl of
Lauderdale, K. C.B. , are,we understand, in danger of
being brought to a dead lock from some miscon-

ception on the part • either of the Admiralty, the
committee, or of Capt. C. P. Coles, R.N. It ap-
pears that the committee, on the evidence given
before them for and against the turret principle,
have raised 36 objections to it, which they forwarded
to Capt. Coles, and requested him to furnish replies
to them. In acknowledging the receipt of this com-
munication from the committee, Capt. Coles demurs
to the course proposed, referring to the very vague
form of the objections that have been thus raised on
the evidence, and requests permission to read the
evidence itself (which has been printed daily), in
order that he may be enabled fully to meet evidence
unfavourable to his invention, in accordance with
the Admiralty instructions on the subject, " that
every facility shall be given Capt. Coles to fully
meet and answer any questions," &c. The com-
mittee, in reply to this request of Capt. Coles, state
that they must decline to allow him to read the evi-
dence, as they considered it confidential until pre-
sented to the Admiralty in a completed form with
the committee's report. They further observe that
" Capt. Coles could gain no information from seeing
the evidence." The latest communication is a re-
joinder from Capt. Coles to the committee, calling
their attention to the fact that both the turret prin-
ciple and his own reputation are on trial ; that for
him to reply to objections created from evidence he
had never read would be unwisely defendinghis case
at a great disadvantage; and that the turret ques-
tion being essentially national, should be tried in
open court ; and that he should, on principle, de-
cline to entertain any consideration of objections to
the turret principle " raised ou evidence" that had
been given in secret committee.
The Royal Sovereign, 5, turret ship, Capt. Her-
bert, was placed in the Warrior dock at Portsmouth
yesterday, to clean copper and repair the slight
damage to its false keel caused by striking on the
Princessa shoal.
The Wivern, 4, iron turret (2) ship, 1,857 tons
and 350 nominal horse-power of engines, one of the
celebrated "rams" built by Messrs. Laird, of Birken-
head, and subsequently purchased by the Admiralty,
arrived at Spithead from the Mersey on Wednesday
evening, in charge of Capt. Paynter and a party of
officers and seamen from her Majest's ship Donegal.
The vessel is reported by Capt. Paynter to have
behaved exceedingly well during the passage round,
and to have made an average speed of ten knots.
Yesterday morning she steamed into Portsmouth
harbour from Spithead, and will be at once taken in
hand by the authorities of the port to prepare for
trial and commission. The Wivern is bark-rigged,
• with the fore and main masts on Capt. Coles's tripod
principle, this being the first introduction of the
• tripod mast into her Majesty'snavy. The vessel will
• spread a large area of canvas. Her hull and spars
above the water line have an appearance that cannot
fail to modify the opinion of those who have hitherto
contended that turret vessels cannot be made ocean

cruisers.
The following appointments have been made at
the Admiralty :—Staff-Commander J. G. 11. Thain,
to command the Hesper, vice Boxer ; the appoint-
ment of Mr. C. Fox, master, to command the
Hesper, has been cancelled ; Lieut. Rodney M.
Lloyd, to the Impregnable ; Lieut. Howard Kerr,
to the Wellesley, vice Gayer ; James Carlisle, chief
engineer, to the Indus, additional, for the Amazon ;
W. Smiley, chief engineer, to the Asia, additional,
for the Rinaldo ; W. F. Capps, chief engineer, to
the Cumberland, additional, for the Foxhound ;
Philip Thomas Gruchy, chief engineer, to the Cum-
berland, additional, for the Barracouta ; and G.
Mackney, acting 2d-class assist.-engineer, to the
Sphinx.

MARKETS--This Day.

COVENT GARDEN.

The supplies of fruit and vegetables aro seasonably ex
tensive. In most kinds of produce a fair amount of bug.
'less has been transacted, as follows :

FRUIT.

s. d. s. d. S. d.
Pine apples 8 oto 10 0 berries,pr pt 0 oto 0 0
Foreign do., each 0 oto 0 0 Cherries, per lb. 0 4to 0 9
(rapes,per lb 6 oto 10 0 Foreign ditto, pun° oto 0 0
Foreign do 1 6to 2 6 Filberts. per lb .. 0 9to 1 0
Aleions 0 oto 0 0 Walnuts, per 100 0 oto 0 0
Nectarines, per dz 0 oto 0 0 Cobnuts, per lb .. 0 oto 0 0
Apples, per hf-sv. 2 oto 3 6 Almonds, per bus 0 oto 0 0
Pears, per do
Oranges, per 100..6 oto 12 0 Peaches, per d 0... 0 oto 0 0
Lemons, per 100 4 oto 8 0 Currants, per h.sv 4 oto 4 6
Gooseberrieshi sve2 oto3 01 Plums, per db. 00to 0 0
Strawberries pr pt 0 6to 2 0 Damsons, pr d 0... 0 oto o 6

VEGETABLES.
Greens, dz bunch 2 oto 2 6 Shallots, per lb .. 0 oto 0 0
Cabbages, pr doz 0 9:0 3 Horseradish, pdo 1 oto 2 0
ti 4d ditto 0 oto 0 0 Parsley, per ditto 0 oto 0 0
Savoy do., pr dz 0 oto 0 0 Celery, per ditto 1 6to 2 0
Cauliflowers, pdz 1 6to 3 0 Beet, per doz. .. 0 oto 0 g
Brocoli 0 oto 0 0 Parsnips, per do. 0 oto 0
Potatoes, per ton 60 oto 120 0 Small salad, p. pn, 0 oto 0 0
New ditto, pr lb. 0 2to 0 6 Mushrooms, p pt. 0 oto 0 0
Turnips, dz bunch 3 oto 3 6 Artichokes, each 0 oto 0 o
Carrots, pr d 0.... 5 6to 6 6 , Cos lett, score .. 0 Bto 1 3
Cucumbers 0 3to 1 6 Mint and savory..o oto 0 0
Garlic, per lb
Sorrel, per sieve 0 oto 0 0 Turnip Radishes 0 Bto 0 1U
Green peas, h.-sy. 1 3to 1 6 I Tomatoes, doz... 0 oto 0 0
Wrench beans,h.s. 0 oto 0 0 I Chillies, per ditto 0 oto 0 0
Onions, doz. h.s. 1 oto 1 61Capsicums, per do 0 oto 0 A
New Do., dz bun 010 to 1 6 Rhubarb, per bun 0 3to 0
Spinach .. 0 oto 0 0 Asparagus, pr do. 2 6to 4
Brussels sprouts 0 OSo 0 0 Seakale, per bun. 0 oto 0 "
0