The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-29 00:00:00

THE FRENCH ORPILEONISTS AT THE
CRYSTAL PALACE.

It is more than probable that if the French singers
could be persuaded, or if their home avocations
would permit them, to give a second series of per-
brmances next week, the Crystal Palace would be
literally besieged day after day. The announce-
ment that yesterday's concert was to be the last ex-
ercised a very material influence, and the attend-
ance numbered some thousands in excess of the pre-
vious days. But this was not all. In proportion
to the increase of public interest was the increase
of zeal on the part of the Orpheonists. They had
felt their way, and discovered that a genuine and
hearty sympathy awaited all their efforts. Their
English hearers were not so much critics as friends
—brothers in the great struggle which has for its
end to render music an instrument of social pro-
gress throughout the length and breadth of civi-
lised Europe. Thus encouraged, no longer appre-
hensive, no longer timorous of the presumed phleg-
matic apathy of " Johil Ball," they gave the reins
to their enthusiasm, and the result declared itself
yesterday afternoon in a performance superior to
any that had previously taken place. At about a
quarter past-3, when nearly, 17,000 visitors had
occupied their apportioned places, the indefatigable
M. I)elaporte waved his baton, and the Orpheonists
—led on by the accomplished organist of St. Eus-
tache—gave out " God save the Queen" with such
ardour and unanimity that one might have ima-
gined it was their own notional anthem, instead of
that of their ancient and persevering enemy.
The following selection was then gone through :

FIRST PART.
Fantaisie sur— " Moise en Egypte" Rossini.
" Veni Creator"
" Depart du Chasseur"

" La:Retraite"
Ouverture—" Guillaume Tell"

`• La Nouvelle Alliance"
Septuor—" Huguenots" Meyerbeer.

SLCOND PART.

Air vari6
" Les Enlans de Paris"
" La Chapelle"
" Le Chant du Bivouac"
"Marche aux Flambeaux"
_ _

- -
Chorus of Priests, " 0 Isis :" Mozart.
" France ! France 1"

In the above programme the "Guides" again
figured conspicuously. So universal has been the
interest excited by this superb body of instrumen-
talists that it may not be out of place to present our
readers with some particulars connected with its
formation. The band of the " Guides" comprises
fifty-seven executants—two flutes, five saxophons,
fifteen clarinets, three horns, two trombas, three
barytones, two oboes, three saxhorns, three cornets
(a pistons), four trumpets (a cylindres), four trom-
bones, five basses (a cylindres), five double basses
(a cylindres) and one pair of drums. The chief, M.
Mohr, besides being a thoroughly competent direc-
tor, is a composer of remarkable talent, and writes
for military instruments with the experience and
facility of a master. The principal solo performers—
all musicians of note—are M. Ory, cornet (also sub-
director) ; M. Fabre, clarinet ; M. Landzerini, se-
cond solo cornet; M. Francois Lepine, saxophon;
M. Alexandre Lepine, small clarionet ; M. Masset,
trombone ; M. Duverger, flute ; M. Dubruck, oboe ;
and M. Dunckler, saxophon. How admirably these
gentlemen play has been repeatedly shown during
their recent performances at the Crystal Palace.
Perhaps the overtures to Zampa (Herold) and
Zanetta (Auber)—the last a model of grace and re-
fined invention—and the variations by M. Mohr on
a Bohemian air (introduced at the first and thi▪
rd
concerts) are better calculated to display to ad-
vantage their respective merits than any other
pieces with which they have hitherto favoured us.
At all events, combinations more perfect, or solo
exhibitions more striking, have rarely, if ever, been
presented by a military band. The overture to
Guillaume Tell (given yesterday) would be entitled
to no less unqualified praise, but for a liberty taken
by the author of the arrangement (we hope it is not
M. Mohr himself) as unwarranted as anything in
the late Royal Italian Opera version of Don Gio-
vanni. The movement of the ranz des vaches, whi▪
ch
follows immediately upon the abatement of the
storm, is not merely given in a different relative
pitch to that which Rossini has adopted, but the
change is prepared and the return to the original
key, when the martial allegro begins, effected in
such a manner that the ear is shocked by the
transitions to and fro. We have heard this over-
ture from the military bands of Prussia, Aus-
tria, and England, but in no one in-
stance can we recall the fact of so unmusical
an expedient being resorted to. If to the instru-
ments of M. Sax (of which the band of the
Guides" is, we believe, exclusively composed)
shifts of this kind are indispensable, it would be
better to provide music expressly for them than to
expose the masterpieces of art to such cavalier
treatment. Before taking leave of the band of the
" Guides," we must mention their execution of
Meyerbeer's graphic and spirited Marche aux
_Flambeaux (the one, if we are not mistaken, written
for the wedding of the Prince of Prussia with the
Princess Royal of England), as a truly magnificent
performance of a magnificent piece.
There was little novelty in the selection of cho-
ruses allotted to the Orpheonists ; but, though most
of them had been already heard at one or other of
the preceding concerts, they were, without excep-
tion, so admirably given as to be just as welcome as
if they had been wholly new. Besozzi's " Veni
Creator Spiritus," with its imposing alternations of
unison and harmony, pleased much more than on
the first occasion, when it can hardly be said to
have received a fair chance. Mendelssohn's genial
and beautiful, part song, " Lebe wohl" (" Depart du
Chasseur' ) also exhibited a marked improvement,
although again taken somewhat too slowly.
Becker's " Chapelle," in spite of its characteristic
episode,—

" La cloche, ;I la priere,
" Invite le vallon,"—
where the bass voices are supposed to imitate the
monotonous " ding dong" of the church-bell, is, we
are still persuaded, better suited to the Cologne
Mannergesungverein than to the Orpheonists—why
it would probably take a column of German reason-
ing to explain. Nor is the chorus of priests from
the lilysteres d'lsis, one of Mozart's most grave and
solemn inspirations—(inadvertently described in a
previous notice as an arrangement of one of the airs
of Sarastro)—much more congenial to the French
choristers, who, nevertheless, on the present occa-
sion, sang it with undeviating correctness. The
famous septet from the Huguenots was given with
far greater precision than on Monday—so much so,
indeed, as to warrant belief in the extraordinary
sensation it is said to have created at the gnat
meeting of the Orpheonists in the Palais de rln-
dustrie (1859). At the same time, the most
striking points are those which in the original text
appear as solos (for example, the exclamation of
Raoul—" ,En mon bon drat j'ai confiance"—and,
again, the complaint of Marcel—" Ah ! quel
chagrin pour ma vielliese") than in the passages of
combination. Those who are enthusiastic about
the gull
uenots will derive an additional gratifica-
tion from this performance of one of its most splen-
did concerted pieces, which includes a considerable
portion of interesting matter that is wanting in the
Royal Italian Opera version. M. Hale vy's "Nou-
velle Alliance" improves on more familiar acquaint-
ance, and indeed is a remarkably ingenious and
spirited composition, although we cannot but think
that the twelve harps are assigned a somewhat
insignificant share in the accompaniment. A part
of this chorus was omitted yestrday, but for what
cause we arc unable to say.
Of Adolphe Adam's " Enfants de Paris," and
M. Laurent de Rille's " Retraite"—both of which
were judiciously repeated, and both rapturously
encored—we can only say what we have said be-
fore, that they attain in their way the beau ideal of
perfection. It was almost impossible to execute
tbem with more "verve," " elan," esprit," and ir-
reproachable " ensemble"—(we employ the French
epithets advisedly, as conveying more expressively
than any English equivalents that occur us the
precise characteristics of these unique and thoroughly
captivating performances). A third encore was
awarded to the ." Chant du Bivouac" of Kucken,
one of the most eminently French effusions of a
popular German composer who is nothing if not
French, and who might have written an act of La
Promise, or Le Postillon de Lonjumeau, and no one,
however well acquainted with the modern reper-
tory of the Opera Comique, has detected another
hand than that of M. Clapisso4 or M. Adam. This,