Litchfield enquirer., 1868-05-21
THE BOSTON MUSICAL FESTIVAL.

Wo extract the following account of thi grand musical entertainment from MT John R. G. Hassard's letters to the. N. Y THE OPENING
 The great festival about which all New England, for months past, has been agog has opened under the most promising aus pices, and if the rest of the week prove as brilliant as to day, the celebration will be { magnificent success. Thelexample of Leeds Birmingham, Hereford, and London, was caught up here among the children of the psalm-singers long before we tried to copy it, and while New York has had only one small festival, Boston is already holding it's third great one, and bestowing upon il ! an amount of care, intelligence, enthusi asn1, and money in which we are far, far behind In musical appreciation New England is unquestionably superior to all other parts of America. All it's respectable cities have their choral societies which are we'll drilled, industrious, full of the spirit of art, and imposing in their numbers. Hence, when great occasion like this is presented, there is no difficulty in bring ing together seven or eight hundred sing CTS who understand their work and will not shrink from the fatigue of hard drill ling. We have our singing societies in New York, to be sure. They are as large, perhaps, as any in Boston. They contain good material Some of them have all the needed enthusiasm. But they are not well-trained; they want better conductors; and it is mournful fact that good choral 1 singing ill New York is almost unknown. Thn fo-. hox :c ing with us rapidly. MT. Harrison, with the aid of Parepa- Rosa, has given it won. derful impulse; and hope that as the de mand for better work becomes more en- phatic we shall not be long in trying to satisfy it.
 l The first two festivals in Boston, like the | first of the great Crystal Palace festivals in London. were isolated celebrations, given either by way of experiment., or to com memorate some great event in musical his tory. But to day the Handel and Haydn Society inaugurates Q series of triennial gatherings which, as time goes on and cul- ture becomes more and more extended will probably steadily increase in excel lence and importance. At present it is of | course the leading sensation of New Eng land. The railways are running special trains at all sorts of uncomfortable hours, and the streets are lively with eccentric looking persons from all the remote coun- ties, As the hour for the performance ap- proaches, you may see every hotel send forth stream of these strangers. As a rule, l observe that the father of the fam fly always comes bringing small carpet bag large music book, and generally @ pretty young daughter. They have hard work to find their way about these people, and they are not dressed in the latest fash ion; but they know the music we'll, though they have queer ways of listening. There me this morning, who got so escited wnen Madame Rosa sang that he used to stand up and lean both his arms on my shoulders and stare at her, open-mouthed over my head.
 The performances take place in Music Hall which is the best place Boston can afford, and better than anything in New York except Niblo's or the Academy. It holds, I believe about 1000 people, per haps more, and is a marvel of discomfort and ugliness. Hard to find, hard to get iuto when you have found it, very hard to stay in, and harder to get out again, it nevertheless contains the great organ, and therefore I try'to forget that it is dismal and dingy, and that the seats are instru- ments of torture, and to speak of it with becoming respect. The organ forms ma jestic background to the stage. In front of it is the orchestra, sixty players, belong ing to Boston, and forty borrowed from the Philharmonic Society of New York. On either side rise the banks of singers, up almost to the very roof, flowing over the first gallery, and even into the second. By this capital arrangement the organ and chorus together form deep amphitheater, and the orchestra occupy the basin of it. The singers number We are told, 747.
 The lady singers have fondness for stri king colors, and wear gowns of the most emphatic shades of red, blue. green, and brown. Massed together on their rising benches. they give one the impression of U gay patchwork bed-quilt. 4 a<
 The organ IS under the management of Mir. B. J. Lang.
 MENDELssohN's HYMN OF PRAISE
 The second part of the concert was that master piece of Mendelssohns the Loboe- sano, or "Hymn of Praise" In the three symphonic movements with which it opens the majestic nadestoso con naoto, the ale gretto ,as poco agitato with its ravishing bit of melody. repeated between choral inter iudes, and the serene adayio religioso-we had good opportunity for measuring the capacity of Mir. Zerrahn as a conductor, and contrasting his force, delicacy and in telligence with the, weakness of some of the conductors to whom we are accustomed in New York, and the coarseness of others. Bergmann would have managed to draw more expression out of the violins. but we have no other leaders to compare with him. When the symphony ceases, the cantata properly begins, with Q superb chorus. "Ail men, all things sing to the Lord j The voices attacked it in splendid time: the glorious harmonies rolled together and ;gathered in massive force, and heaped strength upon strength; the hundred in struments and the deep organ pedal pour ed forth their stupendous power; then sud ly out of the cloud broke Parepa's silyery cry, " Praise thou the Lord, O my spirit. j The beautiful effect of this passage was q fitting introduction to what was to follow. for the whole cantata was so admirably done that I cannot hope ever to hear it better. It is hard to say what part was the
 best. The grandest single phrase was Mad. ame Parepa Rosas "The night is depart. ing'-one of those magnificent outbursts of song which are so characteristic of her
 and which at times seem almost like inspi.
 ration. Yet equally fine, in different way. was har dnat with M;sa Dh .1I:..--..