The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-07-29 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL CHORAL SOCIETY

This society held its first public meeting on Tuesday evening
last, at the Amphitheatre, when a selection of sacred music,
from Handel and a part from the oratoria of Judas Maocabmus,
was performed. The house was crowded to excess and present-
ed a splendid appearance, boxes, pit, and gallery being quite
full, anti-the audience most respectable. The stage was fitted
up -as an .orchestra, with seats tier above tier, facing the
house, and there were, including the chorus, upwards of 150
performers. Mr. George Eyton acted as leader, and Messrs.
Maybrick and G. Holden as conductors. The oratorio opened
with Handel's splendid Corronatiou Anthem. This was per=
formed with good effect, the orchestra playing with. pieci-.
sion. • The violins were, scat cely powerful enough, being com-
pletely drowned by the chorus. This was followed by a selec-
tion from Judas Maccabasus. The " Recitative" by Mr. Pem-
berton, " Not vain is all this storm and grief," was well sung.
This gentleman has a very fine bass voice, of much sweetness
of tone, but it wants volume to produce effect in so large an
audience. The air which followed by Mrs. Brand, " Pious
orgies, pious airs" is perhaps one of the most beautiful parts
in the oratorio, and it was done full justice to, being sung with
much sweetuess and taste, and the intonation was very distinct
and correct; it was loudly applauded. The fine chorus which
followed, " 0 Father, whose almighty power," was extremely
well given, and was most effective, .and told the best of any
during the evening. The weakness of the stringed instruments
was perhaps the only drawback, producing rather a squeaking
effect than adding strength to the chorus: Their force, too, in
one or two instances during..the evening was weakened from
their not being sufficiently instantaneously simultaneous in
time. This precision in a large orchestra who have not prac-
tised much together is a most difficult point for the leader to
attain. On the whole, however, we have not much fault to find.
The air " 0 Liberty" was very sweetly sung by Miss Wilson,
and was encored; and the duet which followed by Mrs. Brand
and Miss Wilson was deservedly applauded. The trio in the
first part by Messrs. Stott,. Dutton, and Andrews was extremely
well sung, some of the chords being very beautiful; and the
chorus
,which followed, " Hear us, 0 Lord!" was most effective.
and was loudly applauded'. in the second part, the recitative
by Miss Leach, " 0 let eternal honours crown his name," fol-
lowed by the air " From mighty kings he took the spoil," was
rapturously encored. This lady's voice is exceedingly sweet and
chaste; devoid of superabundant ornament, it is. particularly
qualified for this style of music. The duet by Miss Leach and -
Mr. 1. Stott, which followed, was also encored. Mr. Davies
sung the recitative " Be comforted" in a fine, bold, full toned
voice, and was well received, as were also
..one or,two more
pieces sung by him. Mrs. Dutton and Miss Wilson also each
met with loud applause in a duet and recitative. A duet by Miss
Leach and Mrs. Hiles, " 0 lovely peace !" was an extremely
pretty thing, full of chaste ornament, and met with an encore.
We have seldom heard more sweetly modulated tones than the
• are noteiproduced by Miss Leach, and the admiration of the audi-
ence might be gathered from the breathless silence which prevail-
ed. Mr. Andrews sung the air, " Rejoice, 0 Judah," with a fine-
deep bass voice; his voice, however, wanted volume to fill the
theatre and be effective. One or two of the-pieces were not so
well received, but, upon the whole, the oratorio passed 'off ex-
ceedingly well. There is one great disadvantage under which
an oratorio labours—the gene.ral uniformity of the-style of music.
,
However beautiful, it is scarcely able, for want of striking va-
riety, to fix and arouse the attention of any but amateurs for
three or four hours, and the audience is apt to listen with a
dreamy inattention. In a concert this is not the case; we have
an agreeable admixtnre of grave and gay, vocal and instrumen-
tal, and the attention is kept alive by the continual novelty ;
for that reason it is more calculated to please the mass of the
concert-going public. We hope that this auspicious public
opening of the Choral Society will be successfully followed up,
and that it may also urge on the establishment of other musical
societies, and tend to the diffusion of the humanizing and Moral
influence of music. We scarcely know an example of a town
of anything like the extent of Liverpool where the science of
music is so- little cultivated and encouraged. In almost every
other large town public concerts are held, sometimes weekly,
and it is seldom that two or three societies, similar to the Choral
Society, and calculated for different grades, are not in existence.
In this town, public concerts, excepting those given by private
individuals for their own emolument, • are seldom heard of ;
and we believe we are correct in saying that the Choral Society
is the only public musical body in.the town. We hope that the
example it sets will be followed.