The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-15 00:00:00

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41, n TAMPED 5 •]

was the counter-theuie, introduced by the tenors
(" And the g.iverninent he upon His shoulders''),
distinotly audible ; or, ind-e 1, anything until the
arriv.il of the fortissimo ou the. word " wonder:n.l
which was the first indieati. n to many not intent
up' nth in,tve n-s oft C cundustor's sii,•k that
any sinti:ig or playin:.T was going on; -It is eisy
to a ljust this misconcer t. on (to which, 14-was sliowit
at Exe'er-hall on Frid.y night, thn--- pro cin ial
sing rs were evidently unao.mstom d). and thus
prevent. one of ths fiuett pieces in 'he "-Messiah"
from losing a grew- pat of its inpressivene.o.
Alter the "Mess ah" se so-- 1 ,roses from "Jn•las
Maocabmus" ware rehetrscd. a' d to "itch goo t
purpOse as to encourage the b _lief that W:.d.le:.'day's
performance wilt be as musii ally attia••tive as any.
Among others must bs m'ted as pat -ray suc-
• cessful the patheTic -nt ,tion for MatrAt`iias—
" Mourn ye afflicted chil Irsti"—with which tnis
it- ble orat,Tio .s inaugurated ; " da-.
ger," and " We never will bum dow•i," hoih mae-
terpieces of euerge ie choral ileelainal: n ; as d. list
and. hest, the rnsgnifie.,nt " Fall -n is the foe," at
the opening of Pitt 11. which even the composer
of th " eisiah" a:d "Ise ter hto never surpassed.
"See the conqne.itig hero cones" (appropriated by
Handel himself from the oiatotio of "J shua"),
and tie march that follows it, so oictUr.-sque and
fu lof character, were also among the pieces rrie $,
and were list--ne I to wth eager attention by t! e
audi -nce, which at this peri -d had swelled into a
veritable multi u. I e—greatly in fav lire by the way,
of th • musical effect. The reliearP-al of " Juda, '
was ren lered addigotally agree ble by the appear-
ance of two of the pTincipal solo sinitys, Madaine
Clara Novello and Mr. Sims Reeves—the former
of whom sangthe t ecita' ive and air, " Oh Liiierty,"
and the lake, the fiery wsr s•ing of Judas_, soutrd
au alarm." The e h-ghly esteemed artists wore
teceivedwth due honours. Tiie rec.-Fion accorded
to Mr. Sims Reeves, however, boll by the orches-
tra and the audience, was overWthe!ming ; and Viis
no doubt urged h m to unwonted enthusiasm, s:nee
on no previous occasion have we beard h m sins,
either "Sound an alarm," or anything else, with
such splendid energy and dramatic power (for the
air in question is d. anatic to al intents and pur-
poses). It was surprising ro less than gratifying
to witness so lively an impression produced by our
English tenor, after the unwonted displays of
choral grandeur that had gone before. • Not the
least interesting fe tture in the -pe;f.irmance of
"Judas Maceabazts" will be the extra• orchestral
ace tmpaniment 8 supp it'd by the experienced pen of
Mr. Costa, of the merits of which—as they were
doubtless writt -n with a special view to the dimen-
sions of the Crystal Palace—we shall not pretend
to judge until we hear them in a more circumscribed
arwia.

_
After the interval of an hour—during which Mr.
Staples and his nntiter,us staff were busily em-
ployed, and apparently to the sati-faction itf every
one who had recourie to' their ail—the vast or-
cht stra (which had I.e .n emptied with great expe-
diti,ni) was tn:te mote tenanted—the i.ame orofer
and precision b ing observed as at the commence-
ment of the rehearsal. S-veral pieces, chiefly
choral, from "Lra 1 in Egykt" were now tried,
incluiing the opening chorus, "And the chi l from
of Israel :sighed ;" "He spake the word, an there
came all ma'tner of file-, ;" "lie gave th,tm h
stones ;" " Lie sent alltickdaikne,s ;" " Hem. to
ell the fir tborn of Egypt ;" "Held them through
the deep ;" " But the waters overwhelmed th-m ;"
"The depths have covered them ;" " Thy right
hind 0 L 's Ebodel h4s alcentuat-d

it) gloriaus in power ;". " The people shad bear ;"
and ,he "Horse and his rider." F r more reasons
than one the choruses fr °in " Israel" were tire most
sa isfaetory essays of 'h. morning. This ast,
ing work—. he choral trasterprece of Handel, com-
pose 1t .e same year as "Soul," jtist aft-r his failure
as mar,ager of the Italian Opera, when lie was
honourably bent upon defraying the debts he had
intoned, and in the incr-dibly brief space of 27
days !—or rather so mu,-11 of it-as was given on
Saturday, has never before been heard to such ad-
vantage. The well-known " Hailstone" chorus
literally "electrified" the audience, who, forgetting
it was only a retie 'real at which they were pre-
siding, insisted with such unanimous t,erseverAnce
upon a repetition, that, in order to btain alence,
and be ena led to proceed with his du ies, Mr.
Costa was compelled to accord h;s assent, and so
the piece was gone through again, to the great
deligl.t of all. present. The double chorusses in
which " Israel in Egypt" abounds came out with
erraordinary power. But—what was still
more gratifying—the two pieces where false or
wavering intonation has almost passed into a tra-
dition, or at least been overlooked as inevitable,
" He sent a thick darkness" and "The people shall
hear," were snug by -o,e mnl,itud.t of voices per-
fectly iu tune fr.nn end to owl. Nevertheless, we
must slain object to the accomplished Ne tpoliran
c-nductor's reading of a very important point.
We allude to the termination of the choral recita-
tive, "He sent a thic'r darkness," which was
robbed of its awfully impressive character by
slackeninv, the time on the words " which might
be fel,," and especially by dwelling longer than
the compser has indicated ou tuon,.syllai ie
" he." This impatted alheatrical character to one
of the most solemn passages in the whole of
"Isra.er —,he least theatrical and most uncompro-
mising of all the oat,rios of Handel. Solo singers
will take such lil.ertiee, and no one can prevent
them ; but we should regret to. see the system even
tolera ed, much more Inculcated in choirs that have
to deal with sacred music. Anoth-r of the prin-
cipal singers—Miss Dolby—cane forward at this
period of the rehearsal, an I tried, with eminent
success, the peculiar ;nd not over grat-ful air,
" Their land brought fo,th frogs." Much disap-
pointment was felt tha' the fam 'us duet for basses,
" The Lord is a min of war," was not rehearsed
by Herr Forrni-s and Mr. Wei4g, who were b ttn
prevent, and whuse flue voices everyone was anxious
to hi-ar.

This rirob itionary perf irrnanc- terminated with
the national anthem, the effect of which from
such a congregation of vocal and ins•rutnental
perfor tiers may be well imagined. Mr. Co •ta then
summoned the superintendents of the varilus
London and provincial part of the chorus, with
whom it was arranged th it the sopranos arid al. os
should change places with the tenors wad bases in
orchestra. The idea was happy, since the fairer
members of the chorus will now he staton-d in
the centre, which must certainly prove ad vant igvus
to the general effect, since during the rehearsal it
was more than 011C3 remarked that the m le voices
were heard with much greater distinctness
thae the itt,mrs. Moreover the aspect of the or-
chestra will derive an addit o al g, ace from the
f act of the 750 ladiss of the cher ua being so placed
as to be visible from all parts of the area gailerie4.
We need scarcely state th it the perform" rici.s
come off to-day, Wednesday, and Frid ty. and th it
the oratorios selected are the " Messiah," "Judas
Maccabeeus " and " Israel in Egypt." After
rt Judas liacc,baaus '' on Wedrie,dly it is in-
intended that the Old- Hundredth Psalm—which
made so profonnd an imp es,ion at the inaugura-
ti nof the Crystal Palace in 1854-shall b- sung.
One verse will be given in unison by the whole of
the 2,000 voices.
The financial success of the Handel Festival is,
we have good reason to believe, placed beyond• a
questiun. By agreement with the Crystal Palace
Company the commitee of the Sacred Harmonic
Society bound them-elves not to exceed. a stated
outlay, and the-limits proposed and adopted have
not been transgressed. Previous to the rehearsal
on Saturday it was calcula-ed that a profit of be-
tween. 3,0001. and 4,0001. over and above expenses
had already bean realised ; and, as on such occa-
sions a large number of- persons invariably defer
smiting places until the eleventh hour, a material
addition may rea-onably be counted on. It 5.5
web to seggest, for the benefit of the public, tLal
although tickets for the performance may b
ob-
tained as usual, at the entrance of the Crystalo
Palace, it will save both time and troublef,,r them in advance, either at the centralin
Exeter-hall, or.at the branch office, 79, Lombard-
sireet, both of which are open at 8 a.m.
The numbers of pi rsons who have come to Lon-
don on purpese to attend the. Hand,--1 Festival will
doubtless exereise a
tierreficiatinfluence elsewhi re.
Not to name the Opera and other theatres, we may
point to places which it, is more edifying to see
crowded. Westminster Abby, for example, was
filled to ovetflowing yesterday morning an at-
tentive and devout congregation, consisting in a
large measure of provincia,s.
To conclu,le, if the accummodatiora ar visit .rs by
rail be as we and expeditiously conclude 1 as on
Saturday, th-re will be no reetson t a apprehend the
slightes, difficulty in appro rehiug Ctys al Pa-
lace by that method of conveyance • while, on the
otter Irani, the wealthy own rs of carriages and
broughams. togetlia r wiih the less pr- t nding
tere,s of cats and otl•er velyeles on lei e, will be
pleased t • learn that a good deal of the dust has
been laid on the read le f om Dulwich to the
Palace, so that the extra halfpenny exported at the
turnpike will be no knger aggravated by the incon-
venience of a Limoona.