ACT I.
| Overture. (Ariadne.) | HANDEL. |
| Recit., ‘Brethren and friends.’ Recit., acc. ‘O thou bright orb.’ Chorus, ‘Behold the listening.’ (Joshua.) | HANDEL. |
| Song, ‘Tyrants would.’ Chorus, ‘Tyrants, ye in vain.’ (Athalia.) | HANDEL. |
| Recit., ‘Now strike.’ Chorus, ‘Break his bands.’ Recit., ‘Hark! hark!’ Song, ‘Revenge! revenge!’ (Alex. Feast.) | HANDEL. |
| Concerto 11th. | HANDEL. |
| Song, ‘Di quel sublime.’ | GLUCK. |
| Glee, ‘See the chariot.’ | HORSLEY. |
| Recit, ‘Chi per pietà.’ Song, ‘Deh! parlate.’ | CIMAROSA. |
| Chorus, ‘Gird on thy sword.’ (Saul.) | HANDEL. |
ACT II.
| Symphony. (Jupiter.) | MOZART. |
| Recit., ‘Ecco il punto.’ Song, ‘Non più di fiori.’ (La Clemenza di Tito.) | MOZART. |
| Glee, ‘Chi mai d’ iniqua stella.’ | BONONCINI. |
| Movement from the Lessons. | HANDEL. |
| Recit., ‘’Tis greater far.’ Song, ‘Pluck root and branch.’ Recit., ‘Our souls.’ Chorus, ‘Shall we the God.’ (Esther.) | HANDEL. |
| Song and Quartet, ‘Fairest isle.’ | PURCELL. |
| Anthem, ‘My heart is inditing.’ | HANDEL. |
The overture to Ariadne owes its chief attraction to the graceful minuet with which it concludes, and this we cannot but think is commonly played too slow at the Ancient Concert. Andante in Handel’s time was a term indicating greater quickness than it is now understood to imply. The recitative, ‘O, thou bright orb!’ contains that risible attempt to describe the arrest of the sun’s course by a long holding note. The chorus, however, is a masterly work, but the voices were not now very firm in it. Mrs. Bishop succeeded well in the air from Athalia. The accompanied recitative, ‘Hark! the horrid sound!’ was delivered in Mr. Braham’s energetic manner; and the following song, one of the most striking proofs of the composer’s genius, is foremost among Mr. Phillips’s triumphs. The air of Gluck was a novelty, and of no ordinary merit. Set to the same words that afterwards exercised the genius of Mozart,—in La Clemenza di Tito—it not only bears a comparison with an admired air of the latter, but in our opinion was superior to it. Mr. Braham, at whose recommendation we believe it was introduced, entered thoroughly into the composer’s design, and gave the true effect to this. But, having an unquenchable antipathy to concerted cadences, we would willingly have spared the two, between the voice and trumpet, added on this occasion. The glee, ‘See the chariot at hand,’ was sung with great correctness. Madame Malibran’s scena and aria of Cimarosa was a most unequal performance: some parts were beyond all praise; others proved the uncertainty of her judgment. Her semitonic passages, neither to be found in the author nor in any way in keeping with his style, were a most unhappy evidence of her occasional want of taste and discrimination; and the broderies she introduced, though not so abundant as is common with her, were misplaced: but her recitative was admirable, and, with the exceptions we have mentioned, the aria was not less splendidly sung. We have heard ‘Gird on thy sword’ better executed: there was a want of shortness in the staccato passages; and in some others the whole band seemed deficient in confidence. The concerto of Handel—a composition which might furnish ample materials for half a dozen of modern growth—was the most perfect performance of the kind we ever heard. This is in fact a violin concerto, and Mori (who led for F. Cramer) played it in a manner that words cannot describe or do justice to. His two cadences, of modest length,—in one of which was an arpeggio, that Paganini, whose chief excellence is in arpeggiando, could not surpass—moved even this audience to a general expression of applause.
In the scena from Mozart’s Tito, Madame Malibran again exhibited her vast powers and unrestrained confidence in her own opinion. The declamatory part of this was superb, though a little hurried; and the immense compass of her voice gave an effect to the air, that, we are almost inclined to say, has never been equalled. But though the conductor took care that the latter opened in the exact time, the singer thought fit to change the movement, and most injudiciously to convert a larghetto (as marked) into an andante. Mr. Knyvett should have shown his independence by checking this, and his respect for the author by insisting on maintaining the time in which he set out. Who, in the name of reason, metamorphosed the round for three voices, ‘Chi mai d’ iniqua stella,’ into a glee for four? This should, of course, be sung by equal voices, one coming in after the other, as the author intended, or else the original design is entirely defeated. The ‘Movement from the Lessons’ is a charming orchestral arrangement of Handel’s lovely air in E, (vulgarly called The Harmonious Blacksmith,) made in excellent taste by the late Mr. Greatorex. The selection from Esther was not interesting, and the remainder of the concert demands no further observation. The room was much fuller than it has hitherto been during the present season.
PHILHARMONIC CONCERTS.
FIFTH CONCERT, Monday, April 29, 1833.
ACT I.