New-York tribune., 1874-05-06
MUSIC.
THE HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETYs FES-
TIVAL.

OF the Handel and Haydn Society opened this evening
with Handel's oratorio Of Judas MaccsbGua' Tho
Socetys chorus numbers present about COO voices.
which are IN rather bettor singing condition than
at the previous festivals In 1909 and 1d1.
The festival orchestra Of SO players Theodore ThomaSs
orchestra forming the nucleus s better than that
has been heard In Boston. Upon the whole, Mr.. Carl
Zerrahn the Socetys conductor may DO congratulated
upon having this year thoroughly effective vocal
and instrumental force under his baton than ever be-
FORE Some notifications have been made
In the form of tho temporary smphishe"tef
Of seats that is always put up for the chorus Ino
singers sit nearly may be, IN two qusdrsnsA
each side Of the orchestra that they can directly
face the conductor. Quite full though not crowded
house came together Almost every musician or nota
bly, musical person In theCcity present.
At punctuay. the solosts for the evening" Miss Edith
Wynne Miss Annie Louise Cary Mr. Nelson variey ana
Mr. Myron W. Whitney. took their seats on the stage and
greeted with the faint apology for applause whoh
the un gracious Boston audiences seem to think IA all
that any reasonable artist expect before singing
At five minutes past Mr. Zerrahn raised his baton and
with the grand. tough sorrowli strains the opening
of the festival began.
"Judas Maccabaus" is Handels heroic orstorio par
excellence Moreover 10 really an oratorio written
to celebrate especial OCCASION and Is one OF the very
few great works OF this kind whose greatness lies prn-
cipaly IN themselves-not mainly in the commanding
conditions which called them into existence or merely
in their actual size the mere OF dotted music
paper they cover or the imposing number OF singers
and instrumental performers their first performance
called together. That work OF this sort.
which was In fact written 20 order.
and at very short notice, should have
in itself enough Of the essence Of Immortality to
keep 1t continually before the public for than
century without losing OF its power over the public
mind, after the charm OF novelty had long been worn
Off is remarkable and most rare. Who OF the present
day has ever heard expects to hear. note OF
| Anua
celebrate the Congress at Vienna in 1874 his Battle Of
yttoria" written honor Of WelliDgtons yctoryi THIS
last composition written at atinle when BeetnoVehs
productive faculty at ITS hight coming between his
pianoforte sonatas and his stupendous major sym
phony and yet it is principally TO be remembered
from the of its being mentioned by Thackeray IN
his VANITY Fair" While its companions In considera-
bic numbers bid fair still 10 ouve generations OF gen
era aons the Vienna canata lies IN all the glory OF uous
leaves on many library SHELF
Not So Judas Maccabaus." Handeltwas unquestion-
ably man great routine in COMPOSING The almost
ously short time in which he wrote some OF MS
very greatest choral works. shows him 10 nave Deen
OF astounding facility 10 bringing MS musical
conceptions to distinct focus The process OF intcl-
lectual capitalization was almost instantaneous with
him. and his ideas flowed so rapidly that the manual
process of committing them to paper was often nothing
more than the indication OF the completeness
of his scores musical compositions. IL Is not sur
| prising then that whose inspiration was thus
| perpeually pulling at the leash. whose Ideas ~oud
take shape at moments notice. should have been able
to produce a work fully worthy Of himself even under
conditions which might, by their suddenness scare
| other composers into a miscarriage.
"Tae War Of the Pretender," says schoelcher, IN
contestaby gave occasion Of the masterpieces OF
| this Vir probus, Judas Maccabaus," which was
written thrtytwo days. between the 9th OF July ana
the lth of August I7i6 and was produced at CoVen1
Garden on the Of April During the season ofli7 ths
| Sroupf fhor Frederick
Prince of Wales celebrate the return OF his not very
much beloved brother. the Duke OF Cumberland who.
on the 10th OF April 146, had won the decisive Date ot
Culoden. The political circumstances, as mucn Us tno
sublimity of the composition, obtained Tor tho
| new oratorio which has never deserted 1t.
Handel himself performed 3s times. and on the Soth
occasion the receipts amounted TO iOo Tho Jews con-
tribued greatly its popularity finding In 1t one OF the
| finest episodes In their national history They
| all went to hear 1t. 1t Is still ranked.
| and Justly So beside the greatest works OF
the composer"Israel" Samson" and the Messiah"
yet The Morning Herald Of the 10th Of February, 1852.
saws that the Of Judas Maccabaeus like those In
many other works OF Handel are occasionally feeble
and nspid; but two three exactly the reverse.
and in the hands Of singers Of ability become important
| and interesting"
II Dante had been acquainted with the author Of this
article II must be supposed he would have put hun
into the hottest place his Inferno The celebrated
chorus See the Conduering Hero" did not originally
| belong to Judas Maccabaeus," but to Joshua
| In q copy Of JUDAS" In the Smith coliec-
| tion, this chorus is omitted. Proof that ~
| did not form part Of the oratorio at
the beginning is printed for the first time by Walsh in
the edition of "Joshua" which appeared year after
that of Judas" Randall, IN engraving the two works
at later PERIOD exclusively attributed 1t to Joshua
| Arnold, who never discussed, extricated himself
from the difficulty by putting 1t into both.
| AIr. MacTarreu makes q great mistake when
| he affirms positively, IN the preface 10
his edition of Judas for the Handel Society that there
is no original manuscripts Of this chorus in existence
and all tho observations which he POUNDS upon that
error fall of their own accord There Is doubt that
" Sec the Conuuering Hero" Is in the manuscript OF
Joshua" 1t is not even Q subsequent sddi-
| tion, but is in Its proper place after tne
| recitatve, "In Bloom of Youth" IL
| addressed to the youthful Othmel when
he returns from tho conquest Of the city OF Debs.
Judas was revived the 26th Of February l4s ana
on the 1st Of April 1t was announced, with additions
This performance of the ls Of April 14s. perhaps
the anniversary Of the festival OF l74 and 1t may Do
that see tho ConQuerng Hero which had excited the
enthusiasm OF the audience in "Joshua" (Which had
been performed the 9th OF March, l74 was one Oh
the additions" 1t ever afterward LETT In Judas'
which never lost attractions for the musical pupc
It's much to be regretted that work OF such Trans
cepdent intrinsic qualities Judas. should never az
least since the composers DEATH have been presented
| 10 the public in q really worthy shape Handel was
notoriousy careless In writing out his scores, oien
| writing out nothing more than the voice part ana
parts for the first volins and double basses In many
parts Of the airs the voice part Is only susta'neo
| by a sparingy figured bar When the works were per-
formed under his personal direction he sat at tho
organ and improyised the filing out Of the harmony.
When Tie Messiah" was to be brought out in sala'
BERG Mozart rescored great part Of for full orches
fra principally because there was no organ in the ha