The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-19 00:00:00

THE MUSICAL PERFORMANCES.

The inauguration ceremony having concluded, the musi-
cal performances commenced with the oratorio of the
" Messiah." Sir Henry Bishop acted as conductor, and
Dr. Wesley presided at the organ.
Judging from this, the first musical performance that has
taken place in the hall, we have some misgivings as to its
fitness for such purposes. Grand and unique as the place
certainly is in an architectural point of view, it does not
appear well adapted for musical effect. Some of the short-
cowings on this occasion may, however, be accounted for
in other ways.

Before proceeding with a detailed notice of the perfor-
mance of the oratorio, we will give a few particulars re-
specting the orchestra and the general musical arrange-
ments. The principal vocal performers engaged for the
festival are—Madame Clara No6ello, Madame Castellan,
Madame Viardot Garcia, Miss Dolby, Mrs. Lockey, Mrs.
Weiss, Signor Gardoni, Mr. Sims Reeves, Mr. Lockey,
Signor Belletti, Mr. Weiss, and Herr Carl Formes, assisted
by a few of the leading local vocalists.

The band consists of about 100 performer*, the Liverpool
Philharmonic Society making up the greater part of the
number, the remainder being obtained from London and
other places. The distinguished names of Sainton,
Bla-
grove, and Lucas appear in the list of metropolitan en-
gagements. Altogether the band may be considered
an effective one. The monster organ seems destined
to take a prominent part in the accompaniments.
Whether this is a judicious arrangement or not is a
matter about which people differ. Our own opinion
is that the effect of the intrusion of such a formidable in.
strument, although sometimes productive of grand results,
is more frequently calculated to smother the voices and to
create utter confusion in the general effect. The chorus
numbers 300, comprising 85 trebles, 60 altos, 70 tenors,
and 85 basses, all of whom are residents in Liverpool. It
says much for the choral resources of the town that so
fine a body of singers could be got together without
foreign aid. If the effect produced is not always what
might be expected, we are convinced the chorus itself
not to blame. But Liverpool chorus singing does not re-
quire any praise from us. The defects we shall presently
complain of arise partly from the general arrangement of
the orchestra, partly from insufficient rehearsal, and
partly, also, we fear, from the conductor himself. The
orchestra stands at the north end of the building. Archi-
tecturally considered it must be pronounced an abomi-
nation. It is of immense width, being carried into the
remotest corners of the building on either aide. The organ
occupies the larger portion of the centre area, whilst the
band fills up the whole of the centre space immediately at
the front of the organ. The effect of this disposition of
the forces is completely to separate the two divisions of
the chorus, which stand isolated from each other at ex-
treme points, trebles and altos being on one side, and the
tenors and basses on the other. Consiaering the time ne-
cessary for the sound to travel from one extremity to the
other, this is a most injudicious arrangement, and much
of the occasional unsteadiness of the chorus may be
attributed to this cause. It must also be conceded that
the appointment of Sir Henry Bishop as conductor was not
the best that might have been made. However distin-
guished as a musician he may be, he is clearly not at home
as a conductor of oratorios. We have serious misgivings
as to the success of Elijah and the Last Juclgmentt if per-
formed under his direction. Much of the unsteadiness and
want of precision in taking up the bads, which we shall
presently have occasion to notice, was clearly owing to
a lack of the requisite assistance on the part of the con-
ductor.

We will now proceed briefly to comment upon the lead-
ing points of the performance. Mr. Sims Reeves and Mr.
Lockey divided the tenor solos between them. Both were
in good voice. The former sang "Comfort ye" in his very
best style, eclipsing, if possible, his former efforts. In
" Thou shalt dash them" he was equally good. Ur.
Lockey's rendering of " Behold, and see," was exceedingly
chaste and finely expressed throughout. "Rejoice greatly,"
" Come unto him," and "I know that my Redeemer
liveth," were all charmingly sung by Madame Clara No-
velle. Some will no doubt find fault with the number of
cadences introduced into the latter solo, but with the ex-
ception of the addition made to the finale of " Rejoice
greatly," which was decidedly in bad taste, none of these
embellishments are open to very serious objection. Madame
Viardot was not at all successful in the alto solos, " 0,
thou that tellest," and " He was despised," this kind of
music being quite unsuited to her. The first-named solo
was quite a failure. If it was necessary to allot these pieces
to a female voice, a much more judicious selection might
have been made. But we are convinced that if efforts were
made male voices competent to sing the music as the com-
poser intended it to be done might easily be procured.
Miss Dolby's delicious rendering, of " He shall lead his
flock," was a striking contrast to the songs just aotioed. The
bass solos were divided between Herr Carl Formes and Mr.
Weiss; the former taking " For behold darkness," and
" The trumpet shall sound ;" and the latter, "Thus saith
the Lord," and " Why do the nation." Herr Formes,
though occasionally coarse in his style, was very effective
in both solos. Mr. Weiss is now acknowledged to be one of
the very best living oratorio singers. He was not in such
good voice to-day as we havehearci him ; but, notwithstand-
ing this, his solos were amongst the most successful per-
formances of the morning. Smile of the choruses were
magnificently given, and with delightful precision, in spite
of 411 dindypalopp• the glory of the X4ozd,"