The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-11 00:00:00

GLOUCES7ER MUSICAL FESTI VA L.

GLOUCESTER, Sept. 10.
To-day the longest of all conceivable programmes
of sacred music was gone through at the Cathedral,
to the apparent satisfaction of those whose un-
flinching endurance enabled them to remain till the
very last note. Nevertheless, that programmes
chiefly composed of excerpts from various works,
which have little or nothing in common, are by no
means so generally attractive as programmes de-
voted to a single and complete oratorio, as happened
yesterday and is to be the case to-morrow, was evi-
dent, the attendance being not nearly so large as
on the day of Elijah. And yet the town is so full
that it is difficult for new-comers to find suitable
accommodation, while the weather continues superb.

The performances commenced with a short but
interesting selection of pieces from Spohr's third
oratorio, Des Ileiland's letzte Standen (" Calvary,"
or " The Crucifixion," as we in England are
variously accustomed to entitle it). Finished in
1835 (the same year as the Historical Symphony,
and a year before Mendelssohn's Paulus), this
oratorio was produced at Hesse Cassel, Spohr's
habitual residence, when Concert-meister to the
Elector. It was first performed in England in Sep-
tember, 1839, at the Festival of Norwich, where his
other great oratorio, Die letzten Dinge,—or Ihe
Last Judgment, as christened by the late Professor
Taylor, who is also answerable for calling Die
Weihe der Tone symphony, the " Power of Sound"
—was already well known. Despite its great
beauties and its lofty tone of sentiment, Calvary,
like The Fall of Babylon, has not retained its hold
upon the musical public of England, with whom
71w Last Judgment alone among Spohr's oratorios
preserves in some degree its popularity. The reason
of this is not, as some are inclined to argue, that
the peculiar charm of Mendelssohn's music has for
a time cast that of his predecessor, contemporary,
and survivor into the shade ; it is to be sought for
and found in the oratorios of Spohr themselves.
Yesterday's selection, though made up of some of
the most admired pieces iu Calvary, was quite
enough for the purpose. True, every one of the
five " numbers" chosen by Dr, Wesley was in slow
time ; but the monotony thus created would hardly
have been neutralised by the intermixture of just as
many of the quicker movements, which for the
greater part exhibit the same signs of labour
and the same lack of spontaneity. Indeed
Spohr never seems to have written with so
little genial freedom as when engaged in the
composition of his oratorios allowing, of
course, for exceptions to the contrary in each,
and for many and striking exceptions in The Last
Judgment. Among those exceptions must in fair-
ness be cited the lovely and reposeful chorus,
" Gentle night," interspersed with solos for soprano
and bass (Mdlle. Titiens and Mr. Lewis Thomas),
and the still more lovely soprano air; with chorus,
"Though all thy friends prove faithless"—both of
which formed part of the selection from Calvary,
and the execution of the solo part, in the last of
which by Mdlle. Titiens was absolutely perfect.
So also, and perhaps in a scarcely less degree, the
trio for women's voices, " Jesus, heavenly master"
a smooth and masterly piece of vocal harmony, the
delicate effect of which is enhanced by the violins
having the mutes applied throughout the accompa-
niment. This trio was admirably given by the same
lady, in association with Mdlle. Drasdil and Mde.
Saiuton-Dolby. The other pieces from Calvary were
the overture in C minor, as solemn and at the
same time as uninteresting a piece of fugal writing
as could readily be named, and the ingeniously
worked out chorus, " Beloved Lord, Thine eyes we
close," which brought the selection to an end. The
effect of the whole, admitting that almost every one
of the pieces is beautiful per se, was, nevertheless,
a thought soporific. Dr. Wesley held the
" baton."

To the music from Calvary succeeded a very long
selection from Herr Joseph Rodolph Schachner's
oratorio, Israel's Return from Babylon, consisting
of several choruses, airs, recitatives, &c., for soprano,
contralto, tenor, and base, a duet for soprano and
tenor, and two quartets with chorus, the last of
which is also the last piece in the oratorio. That
Israel's Return from Babylon has been twice given
in London (at Exeter-hall), and once at the Wor-
cester Festival, those who are in the habit of watch-
ing the progress of musical vents can hardly have
forgotten ; nor will they fail to bear in mind
the opinions with regard to its claims to consider-
ation as a work of art which were pronounced with
singular unanimity on each occasion. A fourth
nearing of a considerable portion of the oratorio
merely strengthened the impression left by the third,
just as the third bad strengthened the impression
left by the second, and the second had strength-
erred the impression left by the first ; nor is it at
all probable that any number of hearings, under
whatever circumstances administered, would serve
to reverse, or even to modify, the opinions
formed in the beginning. To enter upon any
new critical examination of Herr Schachner's
music would, therefore, be supererogatory. Enough
to add that he himself wielded the conductor's
stick ; that the greatest pains were taken alike
by the members of the chorus and of the orchestra
to do him all possible justice; and that the four
leading singers —Mdlles. Titiens and Drasdil,
Messrs. Vernon Rigby and Lewis Thomas—ac-
complished the tasks respectively assigned to
them in a manner that would have given entire
satisfaction to any composer, however difficult to
satisfy. Mdlle. Titiens had more than enough to
do, besides three long solos in immediate succession,
a share both in the duet (the duet in canon,"
Hark ! 'tis the breeze") and in the two quartets
being assigned to her ; but, like her companions,
she passed triumphantly through the ordeal.
The second part began with the splendid Lobge-
sang, or Hymn of Praise, which would have been
tistened to with even more undivided satisfaction
had there not been already two hours and a half of
music, very much of it by no means of the lightest
or most exhilarating. Dr. Wesley here once more
sat in the conductor's chair, and on the whole
may be complimented on a performance of Men-
delssohn's sir fonza cantanta— oue of three works of
the kind which he had projected, and unhappily
the only one he lived to accomplish—very far
beyond the average. The four instrumental move-
ments, monuments of the great musician's genius
as an orchestral writer, were admirably played, and
in the cantata that ensues the members of the
chorus, one and all, seemed to take real delight in
their tasks, singing with a vigour, precision, and
good will that brought the happiest results. The
magnificent chorus, " The night is departing," the
richly harmonised chorale, first in harmony, then in
unison, with elaborate orchestral interludes, and the
inspiriting final chorus, " Ye nations offer to the
Lord glory and might," with its glorious sequel,
" 0 give thanks to the Lord," the worthy climax to
a noble work, were almost everything that could be
desired. The solos were allotted to Mdlle. Liebhart,
Miss Edith Wynne, and Mr. S. Reeves. Mdlle. Lieb-
uart gave the utmost satisfaction, alike in the air,.
Praise thou the Lord" (tit pendant to " Jeru-
salem ! Jerusalem !" in St. Paul), the melodious
duet, with chorus, " I waited for the Lord," one of
the most beautiful things in a work that is beautiful
from end to end; the duet with tenor, "My song
shall alway be Thy mercy," and the unaccompa-
nied sentence, "The night is departing," which
ushers in with such marvellous effect the grand
chorus already named. In the first duet Mdlle.
Liebhart was associated with Miss Edith Wynne,
whose genuine and rare ability was entitled to
a more important share than has been con-
fided to her in the week's proceedings, and
in the second with Mr. Sims Reeves, whose
singing, as usual with him in the Lobgesang,
was of the highest order. Not to dwell upon
the plaintive recitative and air, " He counteth all
your sorrows," for which it would be impossible
to conceive a more pathetic reading. It must suffice
to refer to the air, " The sorrows of death had
closed all around me," and the wonderfully sugges-
tive recitative to which it leads—" We called
through the darkness, Watchman, will the night
soon pass ?' "—as unrivalled examples of vocal de-
clamation. Mendelssohn has imagined nothing
finer than this passage, nothing, if the phrase be
not irrelevant in speaking of rallsio allied to a sacred

theme, more dramatic-; and he might have searched
Europe in vain for a singer able, like Mr. Reeves,
so thoroughly to grasp his idea, so eloquently and
sympathetically to realise it.

The Lobesang was followed by a selection from
Handers oratorio, Samson, including so many pieces
that it was nearly half-past five before the day's
performances were over. Nearly six hours of music
at one sitting is too much even for a musical
fanatic—and this, too, with the prospect of three
hours more, if a different sort of entertainment, it
is true, but still again of music, in the evening !
The singers and players were to be pitied, and their
hearers quite as much. Whether the extreme
length of the programme may have ruffled the
tempers of many of the benevolently inclined is a
question worth considering, the more especially in-
asmuch as the whole collection at the doors of the
Cathedral to-day amounted to no larger a stun than
£BB ss. 7d.

The miscellaneous concert in the Shire-hall to-
night, the illcssiali to-morrow, and the dress ball
to-morrow evening will bring to an end a festival
the results of which promise to be more harmless to
the stewards than beneficial to the charity.

Trani eirmbt