The titles of Nos. 3 and 4 fully describe the nature of the two publications, which, we will add, display great industry and no little ingenuity.
ANCIENT CONCERTS.
SEVENTH CONCERT,
Under the Direction of the Duke of Cumberland, Wednesday, May 1, 1833.
ACT I.
| Introduction. Chorus. ‘O come, let us sing.’ (Anthem.) | HANDEL. |
| Air, ‘O come, let us worship.’ Mr. Vaughan. Chorus, ‘Glory and worship.’ | HANDEL. |
| Frost Scene, ‘What ho!’ (King Arthur.) | PURCELL. |
| Concerto 5th. (Grand.) | HANDEL. |
| Cantata, ‘From silent shades.’ Miss Stephens | PURCELL. |
| Madrigal, ‘Let me, careless.’ | LINLEY. |
| Song, ‘Sorprender mi vorresti.’ Mad. Cinti Damoreau. | HASSE. |
| Chorus, ‘When his loud voice.’ (Jephtha.) | HANDEL. |
ACT II.
| Overture. (Samson.) | HANDEL. |
| Song, ‘How willing my paternal love.’ Mr. Parry. (Samson.) | HANDEL. |
| Glee, ‘O’er desert plains.’ | H. WAELRENT. |
| Recit, ‘Ye sacred priests.’ Song, ‘Farewell, ye limpid.’ Mrs. Knyvett. (Jephtha.) | HANDEL. |
| Madrigal, ‘Now is the month of Maying.’ | MORLEY. |
| Recit. ‘My prayers are heard.’ Song, ‘Tears such as tender.’ Mr. Phillips. (Deborah.) | HANDEL. |
| Chorus, ‘Fall’n is the foe.’ (Judas Macc.) | HANDEL. |
| Song, ‘Confusa, abbandonata.’ Mad. Cinti Damoreau | BACH. |
| Chorus, ‘The many rend.’ (Alexander’s Feast.) | HANDEL. |
Vain the search after the name of Haydn or Mozart in a concert selected by his Highness of Cumberland! And as to Beethoven’s, the mere sound of it in the royal director’s ear would be as the piercing, the threatening din of the revolutionary tocsin. The illustrious Duke is perhaps quite right—we, possibly, quite wrong; but it seems to us that a discreet mixture of modern music (not by living composers) with that of older date, would be highly to the advantage of both, particularly in a programme consisting of from eighteen to twenty pieces—a number which almost unavoidably must be felt oppressive, unless that variety, which can only be found in composers of widely-distant periods, is as much an object of attention as contrast in the species, sentiment, and keys of the pieces brought together.
But though there was a want of a due admixture of schools in the present concert, the music was the choicest of its kind. The Anthem composed for the Duke of Chandos (Pope’s Timon) is one of Handel’s best, the only weak part being the overture. The lovely air, ‘O come, let us worship,’ is rather beyond Mr. Vaughan’s voice, as it now is: with a note or two more in compass, and a small increase of strength, he would have rendered it more effective. We felt some regret that the melodious fugue, ‘Tell it out among the heathen,’ and the gentle, the charming air, ‘O magnify the Lord,’ so well adapted to Mrs. Knyvett’s powers, were not included. The vocal parts of the Frost scene were taken rather too slow: and a little more point, more emphasis, in the chiding air, ‘Thou doating fool!’ would much have improved it, otherwise this fine specimen of the great English master’s dramatic music was very successfully performed. The Concerto was executed in a manner peculiar to the Ancient Concert band, the conductor and leader of which, and a few others among its members, possess the true tradition of the author’s times and style. We would not exchange one bar of the largo in B minor, as played by F. Cramer, for all the Friars’ Chants and Witches’ Dances that adroit charlatanerie can produce, or good-humoured credulity applaud. Mad Bess pleased us much, both as part of the present concert and by exciting agreeable recollections: we admire Miss Stephens as she is and remember, with unalloyed satisfaction, what she was. The piano-forte accompaniment, too, deserves honourable mention,—so modest, so judicious! The Madrigal is a chef d’œuvre; it was sung by Mrs. Knyvett, Messrs. Terrail, Vaughan, Phillips, and Sale, in the chastest and most perfect manner. Warm as we are in our admiration of the madrigalists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, we still must acknowledge that this lovely work of the elder Linley, by surpassing all that preceded it, proves the advance of the art; though, unfortunately, the kind of composition not having been encouraged, little has been gained by the exertion of his genius.