Messiah Annual Performance: 16th

“The appropriateness of the occasion and the work will suggest itself to every mind.  We need only add that this year Handel’s superb oratorio will be given under peculiarly favorable circumstances.”

“The performance of the Messiah at Steinway Hall last night attracted an immense audience.  The soloists were Madame Parepa-Rosa, Miss Hutchings, George Simpson and J. R. Thomas.  The Harmonic Society was aided by Thomas’s full orchestra, and the performance was in every way satisfactory.

“We are glad to hear that the old Mendelssohn Union, which has done good service in past years, has been again put upon a secure footing, and is to produce some good oratorio music.”

“a PERFORMANCE OF Handel’s ‘Messiah’ by the Harmonic Society is as essential a part of the Christmas festival in New York as the turkey or plum-pudding itself; and certainly there could be no more glorious close of the festival than this monarch of oratorios, in which are expressed all the pathos, the solemnity, the divine beauty, the supernal majesty, and the happiness and triumph of Christian faith. We have not heard for years a more enjoyable performance than that of last night. The choruses, and who is insensible of the grandeur of the gigantic choruses of ‘The Messiah!’—were given with the precision which comes of long practice, and the spirit and truth of expression which are born of true musical intelligence and musical enthusiasm. The Harmonic Society has rarely done itself more credit. We commend especially the singing of ‘For unto us a child is born,’ ‘All we like sheep’ (notable for the excellent diminuendo), ‘Lift up your gates,’ the grand ‘Hallelujah,’ which was almost faultless, and that wonderful closing chorus which we regret to say a hundred or so of the audience were foolish enough to lose and ill-mannered enough to disturb, by going out in the midst of it.  Mr. Simpson’s ‘Comfort ye my people’ was excellent, and his air immediately following it ‘Every valley shall be exalted’ was likewise given with taste and correctness. This gentleman is always welcome in oratorio, because his voice has that pathetic quality which counts for more in this style of music, perhaps than any other. Mr. Thomas, who took the bass parts, made good use of his agreeable organ, but he has hardly the necessary robustness and animation and consequently was often tame. But his recitative. ‘For behold darkness shall cover the earth,’ deserves warm and unqualified praise. We wish to be understood literally when we confess that we are at a loss to determine whether the honors of the evening belong to Madame Rosa or Miss Hutchings. Madame Rosa is admitted to be the first of living oratorio singers; and we have seldom heard her in better voice than last night. Her first recitative, ‘And lo! The Angel of the Lord,’ was a little gem of vocalization; all her subsequent airs were superbly rendered; and ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth,’ made a profound impression by the delicacy of the phrasing and the general correctness of the conception—this latter part, ‘For now is Christ risen,’ being especially instinct [sic] with dramatic passion: due praise for all this belongs to Madame Parepa-Rosa, and hearty applause she got for it; but Miss Hutchings received abundantly the most eloquent testimonial which an audience can bestow, their tears. There is an exquisite pathos in her voice, and her singing of that most pathetic of airs, ‘He was despised,’ seemed to stir the depths of feeling in hundreds of hearts, until the sensation became absolutely painful. When she repeated it, in obedience to demand, there was many a bowed head and moistened eye among her listeners. It is no slight compliment to the young lady that this air should have made such a profound impression, when it is remembered that it occurs immediately after Madame Rosa’s ‘He shall feed His flock.’

The orchestra was better than it was at either of the preceding oratorios this season, but the fault which we have before indicated is still apparent. There is a lack of delicacy. There is little inspiration in the playing; it is too much like job-work.  The accompaniment to ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth,’ for instance, was very coarse. There is deep feeling in the music, but the instruments did little or nothing to interpret it; yet all the members of the orchestra are nearly all good players. The fact is, and orchestra must always take its inspiration from the conductor; if he does nothing but mark the time and give an occasional signal, the performance will inevitably be mechanical. Mr. Ritter is a capable musician and a good chorus leader; but with every disposition to be kind and just to a gentleman who has received more than his share of censure, we must admit that an orchestra is beyond his control. He has now had Mr. Theodore Thomas’s forty men under his direction long enough to imbue them with his spirit; he has made them precise in their time and intonations, but that seems to be as far as he can go. The orchestra in his hands has a good body but no soul.

The organ-playing, by Mr. E J. Connolly, was in good taste and added a great deal to the general effect.  The Hall was densely crowded, and several ladies were removed fainting.”

“It seems as though history were likely to repeat herself in the matter of Oratorio. We all know that HANDEL started in life as an opera composer. He was also a manager, and imported artists into England, and we know what it was to encounter hostilities, and the fierce partisanship of stockholders. The opera went to the deuce, as it is constantly in the practice of doing. Singers formed themselves into little gangs and went to the limbo known as the Provinces, hoping to become happy and prosperous managers. There they scratched out each other’s eyes, cheated the landlords, abused the public, and speedily returned to a normal state of mingled misery and macaroni. This is the story of Italian opera more than a hundred years ago, and it is the story of to-day. When opera had failed for the hundredth time, and ruined all its best friends, HANDEL, sobered perhaps by adversity, took to writing oratorios and swearing less frequently than was his habit in the coulises. The new form entirely supplanted the old. For several years Italian opera went to the dogs and remained there. It seems as if something of the same kind is happening now. At all events there is every indication of a prosperous state of the public mind on the subject of Oratorio. On Wednesday night, when the ‘Messiah’ was played, at Steinway Hall, there was not even a standing-room, although it was stated that this could be had ‘only.’ It must have meant only—if you could get it. The audience was composed of a better class than we remember to have seen at any similar gathering, and was remarkable not only for its attention but for its discriminative appreciation. The performance merited consideration. It was by far the best that has been given in this City for many years. In the important masses of the orchestra and chorus there was symmetry and polish. The Harmonic Society turned out in full force, and there was in consequence a better balance of parts. The society is still deficient in female parts, and it is to be hoped that its new fortunes will lead to a livelier desire for membership among the fair sex. Mr. RITTER, the conductor, took the choruses somewhat slower than usual, but the parts came in with considerable precision, and the whole effect was unusually clear and grand. The orchestra too, did not dawdle in the background, as is too often its wont, but played vigorously, and with popular observation of the conductor. The ‘Hallelujah’ chorus was of course the most attractive of the choral pieces, and fully merited the applause with which it was received. We were glad to notice that the audience accepted the suggestion of the management, and ‘stood up’ during its performance.

“The soloists were Mme. PAREPA-ROSA, Miss C. V. HUTCHINGS, Mr. GEORGE SIMPSON and Mr. J. R. THOMAS. We have repeatedly had occasion to express the opinion that there is no one living who can sing Oratorio music better than Mme. PAREPA-ROSA. It is not merely that her voice is powerful and extensive, but her exhaustive knowledge of the vocal art renders many an awkward passage graceful, and the clearness of her enunciation imparts an earnest intelligence even to the text. In the opening bars of the great aria, “I know that my Redeemer Liveth,” the lady seemed to be somewhat fatigued and unsteady, but she quickly recovered and thereafter sang with an exquisite sense of coloring and a beautiful limpidity of tone. It is needless to speak of the other artists, who are well known and reliable, and without whom it would be difficult, if not impossible, to give an Oratorio performance in New-York. It is proper, however to add that Miss HUTCHINGS shared with Mme. ROSA the applause of the evening.”