Hasse’s fine Bravura was sung with a neatness of execution which none ever yet exceeded. The most difficult passages proved mere playwork to Mad. Cinti, and she added to them others of her own,—very appropriate ones though,—to show how much more than equal she is to the task assigned to her. Her strength is not great, but the flexibility of her voice is surprising; and her knowledge, not merely of her own part, but of the whole of the score, is apparent in whatever she performs.
The Chorus from Jephtha wanted more support from the trebles. We advise the conductor in future to break through the trammels of custom, and accompany the point of the fugue, ‘They now contract,’ with the diapasons and principals only; that is, to spare us the mixture stops, which scream most abominably when only covered by a few sopranos.
Mr. Parry’s song from Samson was quietly and delicately sung. The glee, ‘O’er desert plains,’ could not have had more justice done it, but this really is little better than a psalm-tune. What a pity that the beautiful verses of Shenstone have never yet been wedded to more congenial music! The Recitative, ‘Ye sacred priests,’ was delivered with great judgment, and the following air, ‘Farewell!’ could not have been more delicately sung: it were, however, to be wished that the shakes, transmitted from one singer to another, could be lessened in number as they pass. And the cadence, another incumbrance, had better be at once repudiated; it is an ancient abomination, which now the English alone practise. Morley’s Madrigal is, both in melody and harmony, free as air—all hilarity, and not a glimpse of pedantry. The chorus should have repeated each stanza, and not, as on the present occasion, have been employed only in the last. Mr. Phillips, in the song from Deborah, was very nearly perfect. Bartleman in this was perfection itself; and so will our excellent living singer be, when he has acquired the deep pathos, the experience of his predecessor. In voice he has a manifest advantage; and this is not his only superiority. The aria, a bravura of John Christian Bach, (the Christian names should have been added,) has all the prettiness, and not a little of the weakness, of the composer, who, of the many sons of John Sebastian Bach, is least worthy of the name. It was executed with the utmost neatness, but not sung con amore. In fact, it has nothing in it to excite any ardour in a singer possessing Mad. Cinti’s knowledge and taste.
EIGHTH CONCERT,
Under the Direction of the Earl Fortescue, Wednesday, May 8, 1833.
ACT I.
| Overture. (Esther.) | HANDEL. |
| Madrigal, ‘The silver swan.’ | GIBBONS. |
| Recit., ‘Be comforted.’ Song, ‘The Lord.’ (Judas Maccabeus.) | HANDEL. |
| Concerto 2nd. | CORELLI. |
| Recit., ‘If I give thee.’ Song, ‘Let me wander.’ Chorus, ‘And young and old.’ (L’Allegro.) | HANDEL. |
| Quartet, ‘Sing unto God.’ Chorus, ‘Cry aloud.’ | CROFT AND GREATOREX. |
| Glee, ‘As now the shades.’ | DR. COOKE |
| Double Chorus, ‘Immortal Lord.’ (Deborah.) | HANDEL. |
ACT II.
| Chaconne and Requiem | JOMELLI. |
| Recit., ‘No more in Sion.’ Song, ‘Wise men, flatt’ring.’ (Judas Maccabeus.) | HANDEL. |
| Madrigal. ‘Dissi all’ amata mia.’ | LUCA MARENZIO. |
| Chorus, ‘Let none despair.’ (Hercules.) | HANDEL. |
| Concerto in G. | AVISON. |
| Quartet and Chorus, ‘Then round about the starry throne.’ (Samson.) | HANDEL. |
| Recit., ‘Justly these evils.’ Song, ‘Why does the God.’ (Samson.) | HANDEL. |
| Chorus, ‘Sing unto God.’ (Judas Maccabeus.) | HANDEL. |
The overture to Esther and Corelli’s concerto belong to a school which has always been protected and exhibited to the best advantage in these concerts; both were now performed in their true spirit. The immortal chorus from Deborah is a composition which can only receive justice in this orchestra: the great number of vocal performers collected at our grand provincial meetings certainly give more force to it, but are unable to perform it with that precision, that nicety, on which its effect so mainly depends. We never hear the passage where the voices take up the point, ‘to swift perdition,’ accurately executed but at the Ancient Concerts. The song from Judas Maccabeus is generally considered to be one of Handel’s happiest thoughts; but it rolls and rumbles so much, and the base instruments are so continually in unison with the voice—a defect not peculiar to this composer, but to the period in which he wrote—that the only pleasure which it affords us is entirely attributable to the singer, provided that singer be Phillips. Dr. Cooke’s lovely and most masterly glee was a decided failure: it is not at all suited to Mrs. Bishop; her school is of a totally different kind. To Mrs. W. Knyvett this should have been assigned.