The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-26 00:00:00

PART I.

Hymn—" Veni Creator"
" Chant de Bivouac"
" Depart du Chasseur"
Septuor (" Huguenots")
PART 11.

Chorus—" Les Enfaias de Paris Adam.
Chorus—" 0 Isis"
Mozart.
Part-song—" La Retraite" Laurent de Lille.
Part-song—" Le jour du Seigneur" Kreutzer.
" France! France !"
The hymn, " Veni Creator," was a good specimen
of smooth singing—nothing more. The sonority
rather than power and depth of the bass voices, the
perfect balance of the different vocal parts—not one
unduly predominating over the rest—and the essen-
tially musical tone of the " ensemble," could not,
however, escape remark. In Kucken's lively
" Chant du Bivouac" (a choral arrangement of an
air known in English as "The Young Recruit,"
which Mademoiselle Jetty Treffz introduced so often
at Jullien's concerts), these qualities were more sali-
ently brought out; and this was followed by an
encore, to which the Orpheonists answered by re-
peating the last verse. The " Depart du Chasseur"
(Mendelssohn's exquisite " Lebe wohl"), was
given with delightful softness and faultless in-
tonation. The duel scene from the " Huguenots"
—which (with 4,000 more voices) is said to have
produced such an electric effect at the Palais
de l'lndustrie on the occasion alluded to—was
by no means so successful as had been anticipated,
the only striking passage being Marcel's solo
—" Ah ! quel chagrin pour ma vieillesse"—allotted
to the basses. That this elaborate and eminently
dramatic concerted piece should by any device be
brought within the sphere of a multitude of voices,
seems very improbable; nevertheless, we shall be
glad if the Orpheonists will afford us another op-
portunity of correcting the unfavourable impres-
sion elicited by yesterday's attempt. In the second
part there was another failure—" 0, Isis" (an ar-
rangement of Sarastro's first air, with chorus, in
" Die Zauberflote"—an opera only known to the
French by a pasticcio, entitled " Les Mysteres
d'lsis," upon which the late Sophr is so severe in
one of his letters from Paris.) In the middle of this
our worthy friends " broke down," and were com-
pelled to recommence, taking, however, a noble re-
venge by the unqualified sucsess of their second
essay. Conradin Kreutzer's part-song, "Le Jour
du Seigneur," is a sombre affair at the best; but
the remaining three pieces in the second part
were perfection in the fullest sense of the word.
These, too, were the more welcome, inasmuch as of
all the pro gramme contained they most completely
revealed the French type and attained the French
ideal. " Les Enfans de Paris" (improvised by the
late .Adolphe Adam, in the stormy period pf li3oll
and first performed at the Porte Bt. Martin),
is, though simple and unpretending, a master-
piece of character and expression. This, and "La
Retraite" of M. Laurent de Lille—in its way no
less thoroughly characteristic, original, and
striking—won rapturous encores. Both were
triumphs of choral execution, displaying a com-
mand of light and shade that we have rarely heard
equalled, never surpassed, combined with " pAigtiOn
(the term may here be allowed to pass)- pf
which the French alone have the secret. In
the " Retraite" a gradual progression (crescendo)
from the softest "piano" to the loudest "forty",
and subsequently of a retrogression ("diminuendo")
from fortissimo to pianissimo, produced an effect
little short of magical. The close beat of a receding
corps of drums was imitated by the voices to admira-
tion ; and as the sound died away into something so
nearly approaching silence that the ear was on the
stretch to apprehend it the illusion was perfect.
" France ! France !"—set to some stirring patriotic
words by M. Vaudin (principal editor of the journal
called the Orpheon), and composed expressly for,
this festival—M. Ambroise Thomas (t.tg whom
are indebted for Le Caid and other popular operas)
has succeeded in producing a chorus not only strik-
ing in itself, but eminently fitted
occasion. This, too,-.—admirably executed, like
its predecessors —was received with the liVeliPSt
tht;sia.sna. Touched, no doubt, by such a frank
manifestation of sympathy on the part of their
English hearers, the Orpheonists again upelcriee..l
telly broke next into ,‘ God save the queen ;" and as
one good turn deserves another, the audience, on
their side, shouted for " Partant pour la Syrie,"
which was sung and played as only the French
can possibly sing and Play their own national air.
Then followed cheers and counter-cheers, waving of
}cats and handkerehiefs _,
and other manifestations of
goodwill, which brought the first day's perfor-
mance of the Orpheonists
ists in England to a conelu-...
sion flattering alike to
whose gratification they had so
zealously and suc-
cessfully labo •
ui• ed . Nothing, in fact, conld have
been more hearty and spontaneous on both sides.