The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-16 00:00:00

THE JRNDEL FESTIVAL.

" The rdcssiah"--Yesterclay.

It is no exaggeration to say at once that our
loftiest anticipations in regard to the Third of these
Grand Triennial Handel Festivals—high though
they undoubtedly were —have been utterly sur-
passed. The Festival of 1868, judging of it merely
from the first of the Three Days' Performanu, will
henceforth be regarded as the standard of excellence
:n respect to these colossal and majestic exhibitions.
ft as completely surpassA the Second Festival as
that Second Festival surpassed the First, or as that
irst surpassed all other kindred demoustratioLs then
)n record. Much of this advancement or pro-
gression is, of course, attributable to the
:were effects of practice, of experiment, of
experience. A great deal, moreover, is traceable
o the steady and instantly appreciable improve-
oents of an acoustic kind achieved upon each suc-
cessive occasion, in the structure of what is teclini-
;ally termed the auditorium of that gigantic hall of
11usie, the Grand Transept of the Crystal Palace—
he Palace of the People of England—down at
:yde,nham. It is just possible, of course,
;hat some additional contrivance may even yet be
nit upon before the Fourth Triennial Festival
honourof George Frederick Handel in 1871 shall
nave arrived. It is possible, we say, but it is barely
probable. For, so far as we can conceive, these
Acoustical arrangements which have been growing
up, three years by three years, we had almost said
year by year, in the Crystal Palace, over and around
that marvellous Orchestra, have already attained a
legree of merit, or we should prerer to say a tho-
ungliness of efficiency, such as leaves nothing
whatever (that we ourselves at any rate could sug-
;est) to be desiderated. The screening off of the
ached portion of each of the naves—the screening
off of each from the spring-point of the arch—so
:ffectually retains the sound within the range of the
auditorium without allowing it to escape, or so to •
speak evaporate in the immensity of that great sur-
minding edifice of iron and glass, that the most
delicate pianissimo of a tremulous: violin-string,
the faintest articulation of a pathetic soloist, when
he notes warbled forth are allowed almost, one
:night say, to die out into silence, can be dis-
cinctly heard, can be heard without an
effort, in any portion of the vast area allotted
:o the audience. We speak after a very carefu
examination or rather after an elaborate testing
of the audience-part of the grand transept, whether
from the floor of the building where the seats are
portioned out into blocks, or from the several gal-
leries on either side of the transept, or immediately
fronting the gigantic orchestra. From the upper-
most gallery of all, upon a level with the rail of
which the high rope of Blondin, the acrobat, was
stretched from end to end a few years ago, when
that most daring of del-jai dancers played
such " fantastic tricks before high heaven"
—from that " coign of 'vantage," the uppermost
gallery of all, we " listened delighted" to the chief
part both of the " Grand Full Rehearsil" of Fri-
day last and of the " Messiah" yesterday. II raring
everything at that giddy altitude with the greatest
ease, and again we say it, listening delighted. Up-
wards of 18,000 attending on the Full Rehearsal
Day, that is on Friday last, we are not surprised
co observe that more than 19,000 were assembled
:ogether yesterday in honour of the first of the Three
Grand Days—constituting an integral portion of
die Festival itself—to witness the performance, then
and there, upon the grandest scale ever attempted,
of Handel's capo d'opera, the 111Essratt. Tne mere
Sight of the Orchestra, when filled with the four
thousand performers, vocalists and instrumentalists
—the mere sight of these serried ranks of musicians,
banked up, row above row, on either sine of the great
organ, and in unbroken semicircles bel 1w the great
xgan down to the cushioned stool and music desk
the Conductor in the foreground—where there is
set apart a little open platform as the stand-
„Joint of the half-dozen soloists—the mere sight of
:his giant Orchestra when filled, to say nothing of
the sounds flowing from it afterwards, has about
it a wonderful impressiveness. It is worth tra-
velling some distance merely to look at it. But—
;o hear it ! It is like the acjuisition of a new sense,
at any rate, like the glorification or beatifica-
:ion of one of the subtlest of the Five with
.which 'lnman Nature is so wonderfully endowed.
Any one who may have attended yesterday fur the
irst time since the conception of these Grand
rriennial Festivals, must have realiz-,:d thus much
before a note of the music of Hand ta Messiah '
tad been given forth by that array of musical in-
strunientsof all kinds gathered together, there, under
the shadow -of the glorious organ. Doctor Joh❑
3uli's anthem of " God Save the Qteen"—
.nore strictly speaking the National Anthem
England than even the h.Toic and patrio-
ic air of " Rule Britannia " was enougl;
of itself to stir the soul and heart of the most
phlegmatic person there present, as the soul of
t knight or as the heart of a war horse is stirred at
the sound of a trumpet. Upstanding, uncovered,
hushed into attention, the audience of twenty thou-
sand listened to the four thousand voices
And instruments pealing forth that simple but
majestic and spirit-moving benediction upon the
eigning Sovereign. Immediately before this the
group of soloists, engaged for the occasion, had,
❑pon their appearance together, been welcomed
with signal cordiality by the assembled multi-
tude. Madlle. Titiens as the soprano, Madame
Sainton Dolby as the contralto, Mr. Sims
iteeves as the tenor, and Mr. Sautley as
the bass of the occasion, receiving, as they were
each entitled to do, a grand reception. Yet shar-
ing that cordial reception of theirs with the hardly
;ess cordial reception given to the two eminent singers
.vho were associated with them yesterday—namely,
\lr. Cumming and Madame Ruderslorff. When
noreover, at the very last moment, that is, imme-
liately upon the stroke of two o'clock yesterday
afternoon, the Prospero of the day, wand in hand,
made ibis always welcome appearance—Michael
Costa to wit—as Leigh Hunt has it in his won-
derful little:poem on Paganini—

, "The thunder of the applauding housa came dawn,
And bowed the breathing sorcerer into smiles."
Dien came the National An th ern,and directly upon its
conclusion, the "Messiah" began with the Overture.
Our great tenor, Mr. Sims Reeves—facile priizceps
among all living saerel-music solo-singers--by his
;lorious delivery, so familiar to us all, of the reci-
tative " Comfort ye, my People," followed
by the air, " Every Valley," first kindled
the enthusiasm of the audience yesterday-7
an enthusiasm that was often afterwards rekindled
sometimes with a burst of acclamation not only in -
answer to his kolos and those of his associates, espe-
cially in the instance tim3 and again of Madlle.
Pitiens and Mr. Santley, but again and again, and
yet again, at the close of many a marvellous Chorus,.
the first of these choruses, that is the first in order,
had a thrilling effect—" And the glory of the
Lord." As a matter of course, however, it was
immeasureably surpassed by three or four of the
choruses coming afterwards in their appointed
places. The' Hallelujah" being just simply elec..
crifying ! Not that we regard that sublime pro-
duction as the choral chef d'oeuvres of Handel, or
even of this Oratorio, of which it is, no doubt, one of
the most majestic portions 1 " For unto us a Child
is Born," being; to our notion, far beyond
the " Halleluith"—as, indeed, who will gainsay it,
when remembering—" Wonderful! Counsellor!
the -Mighty God ! the Everlasting Father I the
Prince of Peace !" Even as a " Hallelujah" we
;lave the temerity to accord precedence and sune-
,•iority, and honour, and glory, by preference to the
Hallelujah" of the Mount of Olives by Beethoven
—a song of adoration worthy of being pealed forth
in the heavens themselves to the treble of the
:herubitn and the diapason of the thunder,' to
he harps of the seraphim and the trumpets
,f the archangels. But, as peerless and unsurpas-
sable in its way as that " Hallelujah Chorus" of
3eethoven, is Ilandel's magnificent and inimitable
vuasterpiece, "For unto us a Child h Born." Yes-
terday it was performed just simply to perfection.
immediately preceding it, had been given with
admirable effect, respectively, Madame Sain-
,on Dolby's rendering of "O thou that Wiest "
and Mr. Santley's noble articulation of the reci-
tative " For Behold Darkness," followed
.by the