Festival Week of Grand Oratorios and Concerts: 2nd

Works to be performed for the first two concerts; participation of Anton Rubinstein and Henryk Wieniawski in later concerts.

“All the characteristics of good chorus singing are illustrated in the Handel and Haydn Society far more perfectly than New-York has ever known them to be illustrated before. The quality of the tone is as remarkable as its volume. This is partly because the voices are very carefully selected, none being admitted to the Society until their fitness has been severely tested, and it is partly owing to the excellent training which the singers receive from Mr. Zerrahn. They sing with open mouth and perfect self reliance. They never ‘feel for the notes,’ as if they were not sure of their parts. They attack with extraordinary precision, and give every note its value, not a fraction more nor a fraction less. Thus their singing is marvelously clear, and in the perfect blending of voices all the roughness of the individual organ is obliterated, and the tone comes out exquisitely sweet and beautiful. When the utterance is so exact, it is of course much easier to secure a fine shade of expression. The soft passages are given by these 400 ladies and gentlemen with an effort entirely indescribable. The celebrated passage in the ‘Elijah’ the other night, ‘And in that still voice onward came the Lord,’ and the closing portion of the Chorus of Angels, ‘He, watching over Israel, slumbers not nor sleeps,’ with the delicious retardando and diminuendo, deserve to be mentioned as examples of the very poetry of chorus singing. The music itself is full of feeling; but even if it had been less refined and tender, the delicacy of the execution would have made it seem pathetic. In the great work of Handel’s from which selections were given last night, the power and grandeur of the chorus were more frequently called out than its greater beauties. ‘Elijah’ is perhaps the most beautiful of oratorios; ‘Israel in Egypt’ [illegible] the most majestic. It has been well described by John S. Dwight as ‘almost exclusively a mountain chain of choruses connected by some rugged passes of recitative and a few green vales of song.” In the loftiest regions of song Handel is unapproachable and he never reached a grander height nor sustained himself longer on dizzy elevations with unflagging strength than in this colossal work, one of the most sublime and most difficult in the whole range of sacred music. The choruses are mostly in eight parts,--that is to say, there are two bands of singers answering each other from opposite sides of the stage. Four of these double choruses were chosen for performance last night. The concert began with the tenor recitative, which opens the oratorio, ‘Now there arose a new king over Egypt.’ Mr. Varley delivered it in good taste, with an admirable style, and with much better voice than he displayed on Tuesday, and Mr. Lang accompanied him on the organ. Then followed, in the concert programme as in the oratorio, the grand chorus, ‘And the children of Israel sighed.’ The tenor solo, ‘The enemy said, I will pursue,’ is taken from the second part of the oratorio. After that was placed the famous Hailstone Chorus. How superbly it was sung, and how wonderfully it was played! It had to be repeated, of course. The duet for two basses, ‘The Lord is a man of war,’ was placed next to it on the programme, but it was omitted—wisely, perhaps—for at the morning rehearsal it proved rather too much for Mr. Wilde. Then came the closing numbers of the oratorio,--the grand chorus, ‘The Lord shall reign forever and ever,’ with its recitative, ‘For the horse of Pharoah,’ and the jubilant song of Miriam the prophetess, ‘Sing ye to the Lord,’ leading into the final chorus, ‘The horse and his rider.’ All the praise that we have given to the Handel and Haydn Society in speaking of the ‘Elijah’ we can apply with equal truth to the much more difficult task which they performed last night. Their singing was almost overpowering in it magnificence, and it would have been no easy matter to find any fault in it. And the orchestra, which seems to have been admirably proportioned to the number of voices, supplied as before a most brilliant accompaniment.

Mendelssohn’s ‘Hymn of Praise,’ which formed the second part of the programme, brought out still more beautifully the high finish of the instrumental forces. The two symphonic movements with which it opens were delightfully given under the baton of Mr. Zerrahn, the allegretto especially stimulating a great deal of quiet enthusiasm. If we attempted to indicate whatever was especially good in the cantata we should have to mention every number. From the joyous outbreak, ‘All men, all things, sing to the Lord,’ to the triumphant close, ‘All that has life and breath,’ the performance rivalled the ‘Elijah’ alike in tender meaning and in glowing splendors. The deepest effect was no doubt produced by the duet, ‘I waited for the Lord,’ with the chorus echoing the solo voices in the exquisite manner which Mendelssohn so often employed. The duet was good, but the chorus was heavenly,--so beautiful that it became almost painful to listen to it. Nor was the great dramatic scene, ‘Watchman, will the night soon pass?’ unworthy of the rest of the performance. Mr. Nelson Varley did his share of it with excellent emphasis and abundant voice, and Mrs. West delivered the electrifying answer, ‘The night is departing,’ not indeed in tones so fresh as one might have desired, but with a force and dignity that fell little short of grandeur. She certainly deserves warm praise for her correct readings, her intelligence, and her evident sympathy with the composers whom she interprets. Except Madame Parepa-Rosa, we have heard no singer of late years with a better oratorio [style?].

The applause during the evening was abundant, but the triumph of the Handel and Haydn Society and of Theodore Thomas was recorded rather in the faces of the audience than by the clapping of hands and stamping of feet. That the music went home to the people’s hearts, that it touched their feelings, that it by turns surprised them with new revelations of grandeur, and aroused the tenderest chords in the breast, must have been evident to anybody who watched the assemblage. The hall was not so full as on Tuesday (the receipts for the first night having been about $4,500), but there was still a very large audience, and there was a large one also in the afternoon rehearsal.”

“The Handel and Haydn Society are pursuing their way with credit and renown, notwithstanding the attendance was less numerous last night than on the previous evening. The performance of a selection from Handel’s ‘Israel in Egypt’ and Mendelssohn’s ‘Hymn of Praise,’ though in many respects open to criticism, were given with marvelous precision and telling effect.

The choruses in ‘Israel in Egypt’ have long been regarded as works of profusion, succeeding one another uninterruptedly, and of extreme difficulty, and interspersed with vocal solos, airs and duets, accounted inexpressive or too few. All such criticism is now beginning to vanish from the minds of good judges and musical amateurs. This masterpiece stands at the very pinnacle of art, and is, perhaps, the most transcendent example of choral writing extant. Through the influence the good singing of the Handel and Haydn Society has had upon the public in Boston and elsewhere, ‘Israel in Egypt’ is beginning to rest upon the same basis as the ‘Messiah’ and the ‘Elijah.’ The choruses selected and sung last night were given, generally, with precision, but the light and shade only to be produced by years of continuous practice had, it was evident, not yet been arrived at, although the effect of the singing of the ‘Hailstone Chorus’ was so great that the audience encored it. Indeed it was plainly observable that choruses in which the voices moved together in masses, the majesty and grandeur of singing was most imposing; but, in other choruses, where there was much imitation or fugue, the swiftness with which the movements were taken by the conductor rendered it almost impossible for them to keep the counterpoint clear or for the chorus to enunciate the syllables; or to give due point and expression to the sentiment to be conveyed by the words as we, in English, understand it.

Mr. Varley sang the recitative, ‘Now, there arose a new King,’ and the aria, ‘The enemy and I will pursue,’ with a great deal of vitality. The latter, however, requires a tremendous energy, a force not, it appears, within the scope of that gentleman’s physical means.

The duet for two basses, ‘The Lord is a man of war,’ attempted at rehearsal in the afternoon by Mr. Hiram Wilde and Mr. Myron W. Whitney, was wisely withdrawn in the evening; the former gentleman appearing not quite at home or at ease in his part. Unless this duo can be sung without straining after a violent effect, the piece becomes a shouting match rather than a vocal performance.

The ‘Hymn of Praise’ was, unhappily, the first and last of three great works which Mendelssohn had projected under the title of ‘Sinfonia Cantata,’ and was originally produced at Leipzig in 1840, at a festival commemorating the discovery of printing. For many years it has enjoyed much success in England, and is beginning to achieve a success in different parts of the country on this side of the Atlantic. The performance of the work is not always commensurate with its merits; and this is due in a great measure to the immense difficulties, which tax singers and players to a much higher degree than any other works by the same composer. Repeated performances, however, and especially that of last night, will help to render both performers and the public more familiar with its beauties.

The ‘Sinfonia’ was not remarkably well played for an orchestra usually so excellent. In some parts, it was feebly rendered, the attention to the numerous marks of expression being in a great measure unheeded, and the beautiful and delicate phrasing almost entirely lost sight of. Of course the exquisite loveliness of the various movements is sufficient of itself to enlist the sympathy of almost any audience; but when given in the time and expression intended by the composer, the effects are ravishing. Mr. Carl Zerrahn’s tempi are, however, in many cases so hurried, so precipitous, as to rob the three movements preceding the cantata of half their force and beauty. The same remark may also be made with reference to some of the vocal portions of the work, especially so when referring to the opening chorus, ‘All Men, All Things,’ and the last chorus, in the piu vivace, ‘O Give Thanks To The Lord;’ in both of these it was almost impossible for the singers to enunciate either words or syllables. There has been, and perhaps always will remain in certain minds, a desire to run choral works with the same speed as an instrumental symphony. It is this tendency on the part of our German conductors which injures the effect of most of the oratorios and cantatas, and takes from them their point, weight and dignity.

Mrs. J. Houston West, who, by the by, appeared last night in much better voice, sang the air, ‘Praise Thou the Lord;’ the short solo, ‘The Night is Departing,’ the duet ‘I Waited for the Lord,’ with Miss Carrie A. Bracket; and the duet with Mr. Varley, ‘My Song will always be Thy Mercy’—if not with the highest comprehension, yet with ability and satisfaction.

Mr. Varley sang the first plaintive air, the picturesque solo, ‘The Sorrows of Death,’ in which occurs the wonderful passage, ‘Watchman, will the night soon pass,’ and made for himself a more favorable impression than he has hitherto been able to create.

The choruses, one and all, were given with a dash and precision, and, in some parts, an attention to light and shade far beyond any previous occasion that we remember. The orchestra, also, in many points showed to great advantage in the accompaniments, if we except the tone in which the trombones deliver the opening phrase of the symphony, and at various parts of the work introduce and re-introduce the same motive. Quantity of sound is not always attended with purity of tone; and if our brassy triad could be induced to bear in mind that it is to the embouchure and not to the mere force of lungs the artist must mainly depend for aesthetic effect, we should have been saved the pain of having to record blemishes which went far to destroy the beauty of the whole performance.” 

“The second performance of Thomas’ musical festival showed no diminution of public interest in the good work undertaken by the young pioneer of art. The hall was crowded and the enthusiasm even greater than on the preceding evening. The programme consisted of [see above]. The choral and orchestral parts in each were fully equal to the high expectations formed of them as far as the rendering is concerned. There was a feeling of disappointment in the minds of the hearers when the few selections from Handel’s work came to an end. This feeling was caused by the thought that, with the transcendent majesty of the five choruses sung and the finished rendering they received, the audience had not enough of the grand old master. The ‘Hymn of Praise’ is a gem of beauty which can never fail to have a host of admirers, but it is rather unfortunately located when it follows a chorus from what may be considered as the most sublime choral work that ever emanated from the human brain. Few people present at the performance, who were well acquainted with the King of Oratorios, but would have preferred to hear that grand chain of choruses commencing with ‘He Spake the Word,’ and ending with ‘I will Sing unto the Lord,’ to the ‘Lobgesang,’ charming though it may be. There is a rugged majesty and sublimity about ‘Israel in Egypt,’ which when interpreted by such an able chorus as that of the Boston Handel and Haydn Society carries everything before it. The selections were made in the following order [lists selections performed]. Both chorus and orchestra covered themselves with glory in the double or eight part choruses. It would be difficult to recall to memory such an effective rendering of the ‘Hailstone Chorus.’ The tempo was dangerously fast for aught but a well disciplined body of singers and instrumentalists, and yet not a point of the sublime phrases of the composer was lost. Words and music were clearly expressed with an unanimity of spirit and effect such as only many years of constant association and practice on the part of the singers could produce. ‘The Horse and his Rider,’ with all its enormous difficulties and grand ideas was equally effective. Mr. Nelson Varley displayed more animation and dramatic spirit than we gave him credit for in the air ‘The Enemy Said.’ It is a pity that this immortal work should be so little known to the public of New York. It is like the vertebra of the American continent, the Rocky Mountains and the Cordilleras, a grand unbroken chain of choral eminences soaring into heights which constitute the musical empyrean. England deserves praise for her fidelity to the teachings of the great apostle of music who came to her shores in the last century, for in no other country is the music of Handel so well known and so well appreciated. Shall New York, through the insincerity and apathy of a few vocal organizations, be left in an Egyptian darkness in regard to his works? We should certainly be able to organize a Handel Society in this city, as the materials for a chorus are abundant.

Mendelssohn’s work gave fresh evidence of the high training of the chorus and weakness of the soloists. The orchestra carried off the first honors in the delightful symphony which precedes the cantata. The three movements [listed]—were delivered with a spirit almost amounting to enthusiasm, an unanimity of tone and feeling, as if there was but one huge instrument combining every orchestral effect, and a promptness and distinctness in phrasing, reaching the regularity of clockwork. The opening chorus, ‘All Men,’ showed a slight weakness in the tenors of the society, enough to mar the nicety of balance of tone which should exist in such a joyous movement. Mrs. J. H. West then sang the spirit ‘Praise Thou the Lord,’ accompanied by the delicate choral passages that come in at intervals. She did not remove the unfavorable impression conveyed on the first evening of the festival, but rather confirmed it. The tenor air, ‘He Counteth All Your Sorrows,’ was sung by Mr. Varley with the ease and finish of a true oratorio artist, but the same ‘throaty’ defects in his voice were distinctly perceptible. Nothing could be more beautiful in rendering than the chorus, ‘All ye that cried unto the Lord.’ The duet and chorus, ‘I waited for the Lord,’ is, perhaps, one of the most attractive features of the cantata; but neither of the ladies who undertook the duet was capable of giving it the effect it demanded. It is singular that the leading soprano will insist upon constantly singing F flat. This note throughout the cantata seemed to baffle her. The chorus created quite a furor by their splendid interpretation of the concluding number, ‘Ye Nations.’

The orchestra was not behind the chorus in efficiency. In the stormy phrases of Handel and the full, rich harmonies of Mendelssohn, this admirable body of instrumentalists were equally efficient. Strings, reeds and brasses in this orchestra are so admirably blended that one can only hear the combined effect, without being able to detect a predominance in any one department. Mr. Carl Zerrahn, who conducted on the occasion, had an agreeable task to perform, and no small share of the success of the performance is due to him. It is no easy task to be pilot on such occasion, where rocks and shoals threaten the musical bark at every point.”