Festival Week of Grand Oratorios and Concerts Public Rehearsal

“The second of the too-brief series of entertainments commenced on Tuesday at Steinway Hall, and to terminate with the present week, occurred last evening, when most of the soloists who had already been heard in ‘Elijah’ recited, with the aid of the Handel and Haydn Society, several numbers from ‘Israel in Egypt,’ and the whole of Mendelssohn’s ‘Lobgesang.’ As on Tuesday, the recital left no opportunity whatever for fault-finding, and was very impressive, and, it is gratifying to add, heartily appreciated. The principal solo vocalists were Mrs J. Houston West and Mr. Nelson Varley. Our estimate of these artists, printed in yesterday’s Times, needs no revision; though we may note that as Mr. Varley’s share of last night’s work was more exacting than the part allotted to him in ‘Elijah,’ its intelligent and finished performance increased the favorable character of the opinion derived from the gentleman’s earliest appearance. Mr. Varley delivered, in a masterly style, the tenor music in ‘The Hymn of Praise,’ but he fairly won his spurs at the outset of the concert. He then sang admirably the air from ‘Israel in Egypt,’ commencing ‘The Enemy Said,’—one of the most florid of tenor pieces, and one requiring, with an unusual flexibility of voice, exceptional endurance—the fluent execution reminding one forcibly of the matchless ease of Mr. Santley’s rendering of another Handelian air of kindred difficulty and interest, the famed ‘Ruddier than a Cherry.’ Mrs. West, the soprano, acquitted herself of her task in both selections with her wonted conscientiousness, and more than this we cannot say. It well-nigh superfluous to record that the Handel and Haydn Society interpreted the choral portions of the programme to absolute perfection. The grand choruses of ‘Israel in Egypt’ and the Mendelssohnian pages of ‘Lobgesang’ were splendidly delivered by the Boston forces, who gave such vividness to the highly pictorial ‘He Gave Them Hail-stones,’ that they could not escape repeating the chorus in deference to an enthusiastic encore. As on Tuesday, Mr. Thomas’ largely-augmented orchestra supplied accompaniments, the like of which are very rarely enjoyed by New-York audiences. The proficiency of the band, last night, was further demonstrated by their precise and expressive delivery of the sweet and rich music of the three movements prefacing the Cantata proper. Mr. Carl Zerrahn conducted.”

General article on the appeal of oratorio to the masses; the antithesis of opera; religious and emotion impression produced by this week’s concerts.