New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-05-04
THE MUSIC FESTIVAL
snrcrssEIrL OPENING.


=. !, .ha MpSic Festival, which took place last
cs.s,t A the I'll, REGIMENT Armory, must have gone
- 80 rep.y Dr. Damrosch and his associates for the
.orths Of arduous labor and unceasing anxiety
k,.b 4,ev have gone through In the organizatonoI
az. Undertaking and In bringing 1t to succeSuu
s.~..,rat,ou. The immense drill-room of the reg-
ss..,t vas crowded, and with an audience when
~ come in no unfrendly spirit, but was reaoy 10
TO- and be grateful for what had been prepared
-, 4 and hich il its attitude toward the per
s,nars was at frst somewhat cold ana cons'Iaineu'
,varmed up as the evening went on ana az iaS' to
$3.50 their efforts with generous and hearty APP
tn oborns too was out in full force and
hos. of spirits and it received DIR. Damrosch
in ~ .,r.aranoe with welcome which showed
. oor,ial was its feeling for him, and how hearty
-. .,,roeiation of the energy and diligence winch
he has displayed. ,,.,o.
The stage for the chorus and orchestra Is piceu az
. -. "a ~ the large drill-rO0m, and rises In the
-. 90 AN amuhitheatre rather more than half way
A. ar ION Of the roof In front OF the conductors
sond and inst back of the seats OF the solo singers
!. small semieircular space In which the VioiaS
and volopoeos are placed, and the rest OF the or
sst,a stretches away in two long, narrow lines 10
tbe extreme outer limits OF the stage De-
ginning on each side with inc Nionis'
So. 20 which comes the wood wind,
A.au
49, Retween these long lines of instrumental
I;ob may be likened TO the outer sticks of an
o,,tsnroad fan. sits the chorus, rising rank above
IL from the small space in which sit the Violas
80 icelos and filling the amphitheatre com
hnetely. In the centre, against the west
wall stands the organ, directly OPP
osite the conductors stand and far up in the left
hand corner is perched the boys choir which Rubin
stein uses in the Tower of Babel" On each side OF
the organ are two immense sOundinG-boards' when
fill up the corners, and which have proven extremely
valuable in throwing out the sound, which was al
first lost in them.
This was last nights programme:
Dettingen TIE Deum ............-.-:: hanuet
The Tower OF Babel .- h"Diii9'o1N
THE DETTINGEN TIE DEUM.
II ,vopid have bean difficult for DR.. DamrOsch 20
make more appropriate selection for the opening
of the Festival than Handles TIE Deum. Composed
in honor of the famous victory of Dettingen III
l743 the work has a splendidiy bright ana Juhllan'
character which has peculiar fitness for such an
occasion. in spite of the somewhat martial spirit
which Handel gave it, and with which the greater
mart of il is irnbued. Except for this semmiitary
tone, which is impaired by liberal use of trumpets
and kettledrums, the work has few peculiarites to
distinguish it from Handel's other sacred compost
tions and those who arc familiar with the Messiah
and who is not twill fnd little in it that is new
or strange The ehOruses have the same grandeur
and majestic dignity, the same vigorous swing and
unhagging spirit, that are accustomed TO In
Handeps other compositions and the solos-whch
are few in number and allotted principally to the
bassare as strongly marked by his peculiar chaiac-
teristies as the choruses The resemblance, too be-
tween individual phrases in the TIE Deum and Others
In works of Handels which know more init
mately is very striking. and, in some cases
"a in the chorus An the earth shall wor-
ship Thee' which is curiously lire the
"And the glory of the Lord in the Messiah the
likeness is so strong that we are almost tempted TO
believe that the music is not new to u.s. but that we
have heard it all before. This strong family like
ness Of the TIE Deum TO his other works gives it q
curious interest. So much has been said about
Handles pilfering from his predecessors and con-
temporaries that be has come to be regarded as
sort of musical freebooter who went about pilagng
with high hand everyone who had anything
worth stealing and his works are looked upon "a
kind of patchwork, made up in great part Of the
stolen materials. The Dettingen TIE Deum is a
peculiarly good example of this, for II
IS said that less than nine of
Its movements are founded wholly or III
part on themes and certain long passages
taken from TIE Deum by Francisco Antonio DUro,
and its intensely characteristic style shows how
little the accusation of plagiarism amounts
to, after all, and proves conclusiyely enough
that even if Handel did sometimes borrow
his themes instead OF inyenting them, the
beauty and power of his works came only from the
force Of his own genius A distinguished writer on
music has said with absolute truth: " The genius
and science of a great master are exhibited 50
much more signaiy in the treatment of
the subjects of large movement than in
the subjects themselves, that musicians have
ut all times felt themselves justified not
merely in making the same passages the subjects of
different compositions, but in using as subjects pas
sages not Of their own invention" Both Of these
things Handel was in the common habit of doing,
and he was by no means alone in the practice 1t
was the rule not the exception, in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, ami we find it even in Mozart
who certainly was not open to the charge of lack of
fertility OF inventive power for the principal sub
jects of the overture 10 the Magic Flute" and the
theme of the last movement of the Jupiter Sym
phony are to be found in Bach's " Well Tempered
Clayeir," There is one other point about the TIE
Deum which is worthy Of notice, and that is
that in the passage ITO Thee all angels cry
aloud" the expression is of pain and
not Of jubiation. which Chorey thinks
crises from Handles misunderstanding Of the
meaning Of the verb cry" According to the pro-
gramme book Dr. Damrosch does not agree with
tnls Interpretation, Dut thnkb tnat Hhhuei ulu MOI
intend 10 continue in this number with shouts OF
praise. but made il rather an introduction to the
next movement, " Holy, holy, holy" AS it has been
remarked, however, that in all the five settings
which Handel has made of the TIE Deum he has put
these words to plaintye music this latter view is
least open to question.
The performance Of the TIE Deum was somewhat
Uneven as was to be expected with so large chorus
II 200 notes.-the constituent parts of which had
had but little opportunity to practice together Ger
tain Of the ehoruses went with abundant spirit and
theinnnense volume of tonewas extremely impressive
but some Of them were rough, and the uncer-