The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-23 00:00:00

THE HANDEL FESTIVAL.

THIS DAY.

The great musical even o the year which whe-
ther in respect to its fine art—or even national im-
portance—ranks second only to the more practical
display of the Exhibition--the triennial Handel
Festival . was inaugurated to-day under cir-
cumstances of the most favourable and gratifying
character. The weather, which in the morni •
ng
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 bad for
several weeks, lighting up faces and land-
scape with a congenial glow of brightness.
Accordingly the expected crowds were soon veer,
to begin assembling at the railway stations, and
by twelve o'clock the Crystal Palace was assuming
a very lively and elegant appearance. On reaching
our seat, the first thing that struck us was, of course,
the improvement in the orchestra, which is now
roofed 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, does
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 apace and elegance, if not
acoustic properties, would be one of the
finest in the world. The enlarged dimen-
sions of the choir at the present festival furnishes
another and distinctive 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 musical
force ever assembled in this country, and
we are 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 Sein-
ton Dolby, and Mademoiselle Parepe, 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 of pro-
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 railed
in the souls of the most indifferent. We shall allude
but to those which especially impressed us as the
most successful. 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 " His yoke is easy," which were each 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 rended with mare majesty. The
choruses of the concluding portion were all of the
same superior character. Of the solo performers,
as we have already noticed, Madame Dolby,
Mr. Simms 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 Titiene, whose
recent successful entrance into the field of Sacred
music, so worthily enlarged the public estimate of
her sympathies and talents. Mafame 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 dis-
plays in its employment. Her execution of the
two great airs, " How beautiful are the feet" and
" I know that my Redeemer liveth," were successes
so perfect of their kind, so true in expression, so
rich in tone, so impressive in sentiment, and
enrapturing in melody, that we despair of convey-
- ining their effect by any words at our command.
We were told on leaving the Palace that the
numbers present were 20,000.