New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-02-26
MITSIC AND THE DRAMA.
ISRAEL IN EGYPT.

list of acauirel works this season AH0 ~
WAS snnc for the first time at the puoiIc i0 -
on Friday afternoon and again laSt nIe"' -
disnce that showed its interest IN the ma ,teip'oo
'. ottan.;o,, ord an enthusias,icp performance
:! 49, ut a potable one 1t was, besides the
ers, i,,c 60 far rs we know that an eNiehueu "''N
su,,d ~, hos been gwen i'm tins city III its "is'-
f,r,, - Cor as the orchestral accompammen's
- oo,c,rred Heretofore the au Iuol'h "''oin-
,or;ueuts of Mozart and Franz nave pecr use"
r.. i,,,t Dr Damrosch used the edltlon pnplshcu
- tbs Handel Society OF London III loif ana
o5;tod by Mendelssohn. In tins not only was inc
~ s.oro as it came from Handels hand preserved
:. mrity. but also the orchestral
norts were left untouched. Mendelssohn
1ofr.ed TO supply more tlan organ part. Suisse
ouentlv Dr. Chrysander the most erudite of Handel
a,tiouarians. found original parts for three from
homes and published them i'll the edition
of the German Handel Society; these were
employed last night. So that excepting
the changes which have come over the
composition of the orchestra and the tran storma-
fions which have taken place in the instruments,
the music was heard substantially as it sounded
ceptur. ago before the age OF revisions and reor-
cheStratlons.
The performance was onethat reflected credit upon
the Oratorio Society. Perfect it could not be in the
nature of things; its demand for great masses could
not be answered fully by choir of three or four
hundred voices. Besides, its colossal difficulties
forbid the expectation of an entirely sails
factory performance until all newness shall
be worn off the work and the singers
emancipated from the thraldom OF the printed
page Then, with the present spirit of enthusiasm
pres .rvel a better balance established between the
two choirs the spirit of the work understood and
felt by every chorster, the cooperation of more
equal and capable company of solo singers, and
larger orchestra secured may expect from the
excellent Oratorio Society a splendid performance
of the work. TO have technically mastered
which is now its GROWING glory. AS II
was. the principal Choruses were gwen with
telling effect. particularly tlose winch called
for animated and vigorous singing ana
none were treated otherwise than III spirit OF
sincere devotion aud manifest admiration. The Hail
storm chorus was unanimously redemanded 1t
aspan that the singers felt Of the conscious
ness and pride which animate pioneers leading the
way to sources of vast profit ami boundieSS posi-
bihtes.
The height of the choruss ACHE vement was not
reached by the other factors in the performance
The solo singers were Miss ida Iiubbell, Miss An
tonia Henne, Theodore J. TOedt Franz Remmertz
and john f. Winch, the last-named gentleman one
of Boston's admired oratoriO singers. AS rule
their singing deficient in irmnasS ana spirit
and they did not save the work from the charge OF
made. however, for Miss lubbell's singing
of the solo which altcrnates with the chorus
in the last number, aud Of the work Of
Mes,rs Wiach and Remmertz IN the stirring bass
duet " The Lord is a Man of War which had ire
mendous vigor and an inspiri ing martial ring. 1t
was greeted with deafening applause. The work OF
Miss Henne and Mr.. TOedt also received KIND recOg-
uition.
The orchestra was inadequate in size. When
tonal thunderbots, the voices of the in
gtruments dwndled out of hearing. 1t
seemed as if n mistake had been made for such
discrepancy between choristers aud instrumental
lists deprives the adherents of the old unchanged
Accomplishments of all pretcnce of argument
Handel had an instrumental basis for his chorus
as full and the chorus itself;
the musicians often were rs numerous as the
singers: the woodward instruments were
used collectively like the vioins. Surely
then the ACCOMPANYING at did not sound so
thin and dry as at these performances. 1t is
not modern feeling alone that suggests this
discrepancy. glance at the old records Of the
bands employed by Handel in the performances
which he directed, and at the great commemorative
celebrations after his DEATH viii show that the old
effects must have been very different from those
which have heard.
To the people who heard the Israel Tor the
first Ia u night OF OH II.tliN lHtlt mus nav
come an increased iousnes- OF Ilandels power
In some respects it was the familiar voice whose &C
cents had been heard often in The
Messiah but still there were new ele-
ments in il. Of some of which faInt
premonitions might have been perceived III the two
secular works which we heard last winter
L. ALLEGRO" and An Ode on Saint C8cIla's
Day." From the spirit which filed them it seemed
as though some OF the picturesque elements III the
music might have been doduced. The humor which
6U.d those pieces with bits Of descriptive music,
toa-pqnting was given sway III the plague cho-
FUSES bat with such digniGed res amt that neither
hopinr rog, nor buzzing insect, detractcd from the
awful ,ole,nnity of the recital The all-pcryading
expressv.ne,s Of the mnsic kept the mind fastened
upon the serious subect-mat,er, and in the brief
rests between the acts of the awful tragedy there
was time only TO marvel al the great results pro-
duced and the simple means employed.
1t was not until the second part of the OTatorio
was reached that one began TO note the things
which old and to pick out numbers which fell
behind Others III living interest. Then rcc0ilecnOns
would arise Of the hasty manner in which the work
had been constructed and the fact woull become
patent that, with all its learning there was some
perfunctory work even in " Israeli
The fact hat Handel after reaching the fulness
Of his power as a composer, practsed habit of not
only rtvanI ing the melodies OF his study years. but
also of pailoming with amazing nonchalance the
thoughts of his contemporaries, has often been men
toned and commented on. There is an interesting
phase in this phenomenon, however, which has not
been groanded. We refer TO the influence and effect
which these purlOined thoughts have upon the
works into which they were taken up. How do
they affect those great works in which enthusiastic
admirers, English rhapSodists particularly, see so
many evidences of direct inspiration? THE Mes
slah /" has been celebrated for a century preemi