" DEBORAH " AT EXETER HALL.
OF all the works which compose the classics of the musician's art, and of which, by dipping into them occasionally, he entertains a correct general notion, there is scarcely one that will so modify his previous impressions, when subjected to performance at length, as HANDEL'S Oratorio of Deborah. Fragments of that great work, the stock pieces of the Ancient Concerts and in general circulation at the Provincial Fes- tivals, were vouchers for the quality of the music ; and we were pre- pared to find in the Oratorio as a whole, that complete and original con- ception of the subject which should place it in that respect by the side of the Messiah or the Israel in Egypt. But the length to which the master had proceeded in Deborah, with more or less success, in adaptations from his own previous works, and the propriety of the music in two entirely distinct situations, in some sort divided our attention with the interest- ing performance given by the Sacred Harmonic Society on Wednesday. We heard with great delight choruses which we recognized as con- spicuous features of the Chandos Anthems, either transcribed note for note or rearranged with different parts. There are even phrases in the songs which come from the same quarter. The beautiful air, "Tears such as tender fethers shed," derives one of the most melodious passages of its accompaniment from the tenor solo, "One thing have I desired of the Lord. The Coronation Anthem, too, "The King shall re- joice," furnishes its quota to Deborah, in three noble choral movements : but here, certainly, they are less strikingly appropriate than in their original situation.
These repetitions of a great master, inasmuch as they diminish the amount of our musical possessions, are to be regretted; and yet under another aspect they are interesting, from the train of speculation which they open. Recurrence to a subject announces the predilection of an author ; and that which HANDF.I. has thought fit to give twice—which is, in truth, a good deal—may be supposed to have the warrant of his special approbation. The readiness, moreover, of a composer in the application of existing materials to a new subject, is not one of the least tests of his power. With the habit of writing there is imbibed a sense of propriety, and an insight into the correspondence of things, which are constantly heightening as the musician advances in age and expe- rience. Thus, in the latter days of Berrnovzsr, we find bins musing over an old sonata, and then sending to Ries a note or two to place at the beginning to give it effect.
That HANDEL, on receiving the lofty and poetical theme of Deborah, felt that he had not been strange to kindred musical emotions, there can- not be a doubt: but yet the resort to his portfolio on this occasion will be best explained by some historical recollections. The commencement of oratorio-composition forms the second sera in the life of the com- poser, and distinguishes clearly as in a map the boundaries of his holy and profane state. It was after his return from the baths of Aix- la-Chapelle, cured of a violent attack of paralysis, and restored to rea- son, which had well nigh been overthrown by the ruin in which he was involved through his contest with the nobility, that this new existence of the great devotional musician may be dated. For a time, indeed, he returned to his old business of opera-writing, and found for the first year, under the patronage of Lord bilinmessx, some pros- pect of returning fortune. But the hard lesson that he had learned of the uncertainty of the favour of the great—the impediment to con- cession which he found in his own nature, and sternly refused to his oppressors—together with the religious feelings which be had imbibed or perhaps renewed in his adversity—conspired to direct him into a new path in music. Esther, Deborah, and the Messiah, were the com- panion-pieces of his first season and adventure in the school of oratorio- composition. These were the productions of a man commencing the world afresh at little short of fifty years of age, who, besides composing, was compelled to be a principal actor in his own performances, and to attract the public by his organ concertos between the acts. The intel- lectual activity here displayed is scarcely less remarkable than its conse- quences. We find a great fame founded by accident, and a pen forced into such undue activity as to be compelled to resort to its old creations, still scattering immortal works, and such as " posterity will not wil- lingly let die." Thus goaded by necessity, and deprived of the con- templative leisure in which great designs are ordinarily nursed, a few and but a few only of the first-rate musicians have been rewarded by fame as a compensation for the hardship of their personal fortunes. The choral department of the performance of Deborah, the utter novelty of a large portion of the work considered, was most creditable. The Society have made a decided advance in the mechanism of choral singing: the time of the whole is generally more crisp and precise, wrong notes are less frequent than they were wont to be, and the com- binations are often grand. But, with this improvement in precision, many beautiful effects are still wanting, that are gained in perfection from smaller choirs. Every thing in which there is a strongly-marked rhythm to be beat out by the conductor's baton goes well ; but in the long-noted choruses, in which we look for the amplitude of the com- poser's soul and care to hear as little as possible of the mechanical divi- sions of the bar, much is wanting. Literal correctness acquired, it is to be hoped that refinement and expression will follow. Mr. PERRY'S new accompaniments to Deborah are perhaps well enough adapted for the meridian of Exeter Hell, where the finest cho- ruses often pass without a hand while bursts of applause attend a shake or a tasteless cadence. The fault of these accompaniments is that they are anomalous in point of style, and totally change the school of HAtF• DEL. Holding-notes on horns, and parts doubled on bassoons and cla- rionets, are features of modern instrumentation that assort ill with the old master, unless the arranger, like MOZART, knows how to do that and something more. Mr. PERRY'S additions remind us of the work- manship of a leader of a theatrical orchestra, who knows how to "bring in the wind " : there is an air of professional routine about them, and an absence of fine taste. We except from this censure, however, the judicious employment of the trombones at the close of the chorus, "See the proud chief," and the equally striking and effective trumpet parts in the chorus of Baal's Priests, "Doleful tidings."
The prevailing character of the solo-singing was commonplace. The only truly charming thing of the evening was PHILLIPS'S "'rears such as tender fathers shed" ; which he gave in so chaste and pure a style as well to merit its encore. Miss RAINFORTH appeared to have made a careful study of the part of Deborah, and acquitted herself in it meriw toriously. Miss DOLBY altered much of the text of her recitative for the better display of tha strong notes of her voice, and indulged in several second-hand graces of the Rossinian opera style, of very ques- tionable propriety. Miss Cnisrrr sang to the acclamations of numerous admirers ; and GIUBELEI, as Sisera, produced a profoundly guttural E, which found current acknowledgment. A performance of more level mediocrity than the solos we never encountered. The chorus, however, in the two Hallelujahs, and a variety of other fugued and canonical movements, made ample amends—they were stupendous.
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