The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-18 00:00:00

THE HANDEL FESTIVAL.

THE " SELECTIONS "—YESTERDAY.
The attendance yesterday of upwards of twenty-
one thousand visitors beneath the arch of the Grand

Central Transept of the Crystal Palace at Syden-
ham, evidenced in a striking manner the extraor-
dinary popularity and paramount attraction of the
Second of the three Grand Days of these Triennial
Handel Festivals—the day of the " Selections."

They are selections, as all the world knows, from
several of Handel's Oratorios, and from other works

of that Master of Masters in the divine art of

Music.

Opera, Oratorio, and Cantata—Chorus

and Double Chorus—Duet and Trio—Air and
Recitative—March and Overture—alternate in

this wonderful display of the diversity, the
variety, the versatility of thii astounding genius,
this Shakspere among musical composers. No marvel

is it, therefore, that while thousands throng to any one

of the grandest of these colossal oratorios, that yet
more thousands should crowd the Great Hall of
luminous glass and delicately-traceried iron, dedi-

c4ted especially to his memory, as immediately con-
fronting what is now known far and wide as
the Handel Orchestra ! The Orchestra the

diameter of the exquisitely proportioned roof
of which is actually twice that of the dome

of St. Paul's Cz.,l!)edral ! The Orchestra—the

stringed instruments in which exceed four hundred
--the entire occupants of which, counting vocalists
and instrumentalists together, number up the enor-
mous aggregate of fully four thousand souls ! That
majestic and altogether matchless Orchestra, the
central portion of which is of itself about the
grandest and most appropriate monument ever
erected in honour of a great musician—meaning the
glorious organ inscribed with the name of HANDEL,
and having also incribed, there, upon either side of
that great name, as dates worthy of being held in

ever grateful and reverential remembrance, the
year of the giant composer's birth and of his death.

Emblazoned in panels around the inner circumfer-
ence of that immense Orchestra are, among others,
the names or titles of the magnificent oratorios

'rom which the principal solos and choruses which

were performed yesterday had been selected--
" Saul," "Joshul," " Samson," " Jephtha," "De-
borah," "Solomon," "Judas Maccabeus" ! Bear-
ing in mind alone those marvellous masterpieces,
any one with an ear for music can appreciate upon
the instant the astonishing treat provided for them
on the Day of Selections, more particularly when
the soloists entrusted with the task (that labour

of love), of interpreting the recitatives
and airs (in among the colossal choruses), are such
artistes as Titiens, Nillson, Kellogg, Carola, Sainton-
Dolby, and Lemmens•Sherrington, as Santley,
Cummings, and Sims Beeves. As a matter of course
the vast area was filled therefore. As a matter of
course the aggregate of visitors exceeded 21,000.

The Palace, crowded at the commencement of the
performance, namely by two o'clock in the after-
noon, remained so up to the close of this second
celebration, namely, until six o'clock in the evening.
During those four hours, nineteen grand choruses,
nineteen exquisite solos, one delicious duet, and one
crowning or culminating trio, constituted, together
with a noble overture, and an immortal march,
at once the soul and substance of yesterday's
memorable performances.
The selections from Saul led off punctually at
two o'clock the demonstration of the splendour and
diversity of the gifts of Handers incomparable
genius as a composer. And nothing could very
well have struck more majestically the keynote, as

it were, of the whole performance, than the great'
chorus of adoration " How Excellent Thy
Name !"—the antiphonal grandeur of which
hushed the immense audience at once
into an attention that, from that moment
until the close of the whole diversified perform-
ances, four hours afterwards, it may ba said with
perfect truth, never for one instant flagged. After
Madame Lernmens-Sherrington's voice, clear as a
bell, had given the air, "An infant raised," fol-
lowed immediately by the appalling semi-chorus,
" Along the monster Atheist trod," through which
the footsteps of Goliah are audible through the con-
cordant clangour of the basses, the five great choruses
followed one upon the other in rapid succession—
rising as by a marvellous crescendo through " The
youth inspired by Thee," and " Our fainting
courage," and " How excellent Thy name,"
to the " Hallelujah " (it is Saul, remember,
that wo are still speaking of) up to the climax of
them all—one of the grandest choruses ever com-

posed by Handel, and consequently one of the
grandest ever composed by any one,--" Envy,
Eldest Born of Hell." It was at the conclusion of
that chorus that came, what according to our
notion was, of all, the great sensational performance

of the day, a day full of supreme sensations of delight
and astonishment—namely, the rendering, as it never
until yesterday has been rendered not even at the
rehearsal of Friday last, the matchless rendering
of the pathetic, haunting, funereal " Dead March"
—the simplest and yet the sublimest burial march
ever written. It was played yesterday just abso-
lutely to perfection, and clings still to our remem-
brance with a haunting impressiveness. Madlle.
Nillson's "From mighty kings," out of "Judas
Maccabeus," and the same radiant soprano's " Wise
men, flattering," from the same oratorio, were
brought into striking contrast with Mr. Santley's
noble delivery, ore rotundo, in between them, of " 0
voi dell' Erebo," from " Resurrezione." Directly
after Maille. Nilsson's second withdrawal from the
platform, came the first though not the greatest of
Mr. Sims Reeves' two great triumphs of yesterday
—his rendering of the recitative " Deeper and
deeper still," and of the air " Waft her angels,"
both from the pathetic pages of Jephthah. By rea-
son actually of the exquisite refinement of his sing-
ing, our great tenor contrives somehow in the vast
aria of the Crystal Palace (admirable though the
acoustic arrangements of the auditorium are accord-
ing to their present construction) he contrives some-
how, we say, by the very perfection of his singing
(in its refinement) to militate against the effect pro-
duced upon a considerable portion of the assembled
multitude. Upon the occupants of the upper gal-
leries, the subtler beauties of his style were lost alto-
gether. The enthusiasm manifested, however, by
those happily placed within more reasonable range
attested to those others who were less luckily situ-
ated that if distance, according to the poet, lends
enchantment to the view, there are occasions upon
which it certainly does not to the heating.
Instead of pausing at the close of the First Part,
namely, at the conclusion of the bewitching chorus,
that chorus alternately awful, and pathetic, and ex-
ultant, "He saw the lovely youth," taken from
7 heodora, the theme of which is the raising of the
widow's son to life—M. Costa passed on, with
a merely momentary interruption, to the Second
Part, the opening piece of which was the masterly
and varied Overture from the Occasional Oratorio.
The great chorus, " May no rash intruder,"
from Solomon, preluded, in a manner, most effec-
tively the appearance of Madlle. Titiens, who gave
as none other could give it more brilliantly,
" Lascia oh' io pianga," from Rinaldo. And then
came Mr. Santley's grand triumph of the day, the
one only encore, his unsurpassable rendering of the
love song of the amorous giant Polyphemus, " 0,
ruddier than the cherry," from Acis and Galatea.
Often and splendidly as he has sung it before
now, he never sang it more splendidly than he did
yesterday. And he was rewarded accordingly,
being compelled by a burst of acclamations that
there was no withstanding (even by that arch-
enemy of encores, Mr. Costa) to repeat it, as he did
in consequence repeat it—singing it again just as
splendidly, and being rewarded at its close with an-
other thundering burst of applause. " Where'er you
walk," from Senzele, having been given excellently
well by Mr. Cumming, was capped by the sequent
chorus, "Now Love, that everlasting boy," finely ren-
dered by the four thousand musicians in the orchestra.
Then followed the delicious duet already alluded to,
" 0 lovely peace," from Judas Maccabeus, in which
Madlle. Christine Nilsson's young soprano and
Madame Sainton-Dolby, still fresh though more
matured contralto, vied with each other, and, in
vying, so. exquisitely harmonised. The trilling
" Sweet bird," from L' Allegro, was- immediately
tit ii given with citaciAtiguis effect by the

always welcome voice of Madame Lemmens-Sher-
rington, accompanied, interwoven one might sat,
with the rebec of the flute obbligato of Mr. Radcliffe.
Then at last came the pause in the day's programme
after the pealing forth of the grand chorus from
Alexanders Feast, in which the kindred geniuses of
Dryden and Handel were knit together—" The
many rend the skies."
As a noble signal of commencement for the
concluding portion of the day's performances
after a not unwelcome interval for refresh-
ment and chit chat, came the double chorus from
:-)eborah—" Immortal Lord"—mainly remarkable
for the marvellous massing together of concordant
sounds. Immediately upon its completion followed
the final selections from Judas Maccabeus. Madlle
Titiens' " Pious Orgies"—Mr. Sims Reeves mag-
nificent " Sound an alarm," in the delivery Of
which our great tenor is simply peerless and unap-
proachable—and, to crown all, the choral outburst
of " We hear, we hear," which, as given yesterday,
was nothing but electrifying. Madame Sainton-
Dolby's " What though I trace," from So/onzon,
oddly to our thinking preceded Madlle. Carola's
radiant rendering of " Let the Bright Sera-
phim," from Samson, made more radiant still by
Mr. Harper's trumpet übbligato—instead of that
previously mentioned air being grouped with the
other airs and choruses, selected immediately after-
wards from the same oratorio of Solomon. The
choruses were especially fine and the airs superbly
delivered, all but one of them, by Madame Sainton
Dolby. That one exceptional air being allotted to
Madle. Kellogg her one, and most lovely per-
forolauce of the day, " 0 had I Jubal's lyre." As
a fitting climax to the whole of these magnificent
performances of yesterday came, almost simul-
taneously with the stroke of six o'clock in the
evening, the trio (sung by Madlle. Titiens, Madlle.
Carola, and Madame Saintun-Dolby), together
with its astounding chorus from Joshua, " See the
Conquering hero comes"—the indescribably ma-
jestic effect of which we referred to in the strongest
terms we could apply to it in our notice of last
Friday's Full Rehearsal. Yesterday it was given
just as astonishingly, just as magnificently. And
so the Day of the Selections came to its conclusion.
To-morrow we have in prospect the grandest
choral day of all—namely, the day of the Israel
in Egypt, by many regarded as Handel's master-
piece.

--ng,--
&nil ----" irtn, Tar .

HER MAJESTY.

WINDSOR CASTLE, Jane 17

The Queen, accompanied by Princess Louise,
Princess Beatrice, Prince Leopold, and suite, ar-
rived at the Castle this morning from Balmoral.

The
,Princess of Wales drove out yesterdsli
attended by Viscountess Walden.

NAVAL AND MILITARY IN7ELLIGENCE

Colonel Milward, of the Royal Artillery, Nvil°
was sent home in charge of despatches and the pre'
sents to the Queen by General Sir R. Napier, Coal"
mander-in-Chief of the Abyssinian Expedition, ar-
rived at his residence, on Plumsted-common, oe
Saturday last.
Brigadier-General Little, C. 8., commanding the
Cavalry in Ireland, made his inspection of the 14th
King's Hussars in the Curragh on Monday. The
General expressed himself much pleased with the
appearance of the regiment, the precision with
which it manoeuvred, and the first-rate condition of
the horses. He afterwards visited the barracks at
Newbridge, and made the usual inspection of the
rooms, stables, hospital, schools, remount horses,
recruits, and regimental and troop books, the whole
of which appeared to give the General entire satis-
faction.

The annual Volunteer review by the Lord-Lieu'
tenant of the county of Kent, Viscount Sydoeio
G.C.8., will be held this year on the 4th of JO'
on Woolwich Common. The Secretary of State for
War ha 3 given his sanction to her Majesty's troops
taking part in it, and the whole will be uader tt-e
command of Major-General E. C. Warde,

the coturnandant of the garrison. There are UP'
wards of 5,000 Volunteers in tht county, and it ie
expected that a large force will assemble on the oc-
casion.
On Tuesday the Ist Battalion 20th Regiment
vas inspectel at Aldershot by the General coin'
manding the brigade on the Clubhouse-green. The
regiment having marched past in a manner sates'
factory to the General were put through various
battalion movements, which were performed 'with
great steadiness and precision.
The Elk, 2, twin-screw (unarmoured composite:
built) gunboat, 465 tons, 120-horse power, Pe"
completed in her outfit by the Portsmouth stese/,
reserve for her first commission, was put throng':
her light draught trial of speed over the measured
mile in Stoke's Bay yesterday, drawing Bft. sin. °f
water at the stern, and 7ft. at the bows. Six 00
over the mile with the engines condensing gave her
a mean speed of 10.069 knots per hour, and the
same number of runs non-condensing gave her lk
mean speed of 10.137 knots per hour. She is er
petted to be immediately commissioned.
The following appointments have been made
at
the Admiralty :—Commander W. S. de Kantzow to
the Star, vice Bradshaw ; Commander P. R. Sharpe'
of the Waterwitch, to the Lapwing, commissioned
the officers and crew of the Waterwitch are to be
turned over to the Lapwing.