WORCESTER FESTIVAL.

THE Worcester Festival, ever since it has been under the direction of Mr. CLARKE, the Organist of the Cathedral, has been emi- nently distinguished for the excellence and good taste of its ar- rangements, and for the high character of its band. It yields to that of Birmingham in numbers, but it yields in nothing else. The mind of a conduc'or is eminently displayed in the selection and arrangement of his music : here we distinctly trace his own hand,- his own resources, his own taste—good or bad. The machine is worked by other hands, but he forms it into symmetry or gives it distortion ; it is either impressed with the features of grace and beauty, or of disproportion and vulgarity, as he chooses. The mind, for example, which could prelude HAYDN'S Creation with a Coronation Anthem, or disturb the order in which SPOLIK has arranged the Last Judgment, must be wholly incapable of discerning or understanding the power that music exerts upon the mind and the affections. No such blemishes offend us here, no insult is offered to our understandings, no outrage against good taste is perpetrated. The works of the great masters are treated as they deserve—with the devotion and reverence which works of genius in any art ought always to inspire.

The band here, we have said, is less in number than that of the neighbouring Festival, and consequently far below that of Norwich ; but nothing can be more perfect as far as its numerical strength goes. In looking around the orchestra, we can scarcely discern a face among the instrumentalists that we are not accus- tomed to see in the best London orchestras. The result is perfect precision as well as power. Worcester, to its shame be it spoken

as a cathedral town, supplies but an inconsiderable fragment of the choral band ; one proof this, among a thousand, to how little practical good the expensive machinery of the Church really turns. In former times the members of the three Choirs, Wor- cester, Hereford, and Gloucester, formed almost the staff and strength of these triennial meetings. What a wretched and scanty array of singers would they now make up I We were in Worcester Cathedral on Sunday, and were told, on inquiry, that it is not the custom there for the Minor Canons ever to sing ;- that is, they never do that which the statutes of their Cathedral require them to do twice every day I The Chorus of the Wor- cester Festival, therefore, is brought from London, Liverpool, Manchester, and Norwich; and a most admirable and effective choir it is.

The Cathedral is a splendid building for the purpose of' a festi- val—spacious, lofty, noble in design and execution, yet not too large for the power of most voices. The solos are not, as at York, inaudible, but every inflection of the voice is distinctly heard throughout the building. The organ wants power for its present purpose ; and we especially missed the magnificent pedal pipes which had so lately vibrated in our ears and shaken our nerves at Norwich. A spacious gallery, capable of containing five hundred bearers, is built over the altar; the only fault of which (one not easily remedied) is that it cuts off half the beautiful Eastern window. The Festival began on Tuesday morning; but the music on this day was only an incidental part of the Church service. The Dee tingen Te Deans is the one always chosen ; and, unquestionably, it is the finest composition of its kind that HANDEL produced. Not a weak movement or an uninteresting part occurs from begin- ning to end; and although it ought to be called a compilation rather than a composition of its author, no marks of dissinailtude of character are discernible: throughout. Boyee's Anthem, "Blessed is he is also uniformly given on this morning; certainly not the most favourable specimen of his powers as a church writer that could be selected. Here a deviation from established custom would be advantageously felt. There is no need to ex- hibit weakness where we possess such gigantic strength as in our Cathedral music. One exchange has been made for the better— one which we advised, in our review of the last meeting,—the sub- stitution of HANDEL'S best Coronation Anthem, "My heart is intliting," for his worst, " Zadoc the priest :" it was finely performed. Wednesday morning was devoted to the Messiah. We have seldom heard the choruses better, or many of the songs worse sung. If our English singers of the present day were wise, they would not compel us to provoke comparisons which must be so much to their disadvantage. BRAHAM, KNYVETT, and VAUGHAN, should not force us to measure their singing in this oratorio with what it was twenty or thirty years ago ; nor should we be under the necessity of slating that Mrs. Katyveris claim to "I know that my Redeemer liveth " is founded solely on her age. The foolish pertinacity with which these singers cling to this oratorio, forces these remarks from us : for their sakes as well as our own, we counsel them to give the Messiah a little repose. Thursday morning opened with Redemption. The principals in the band were nearly all the same as at Norwich; and if the

chorus wanted the gigantic power which was there displayed, it could not be exceeded in compactness and correctness. Chorus- singing is immensely improved within the last dozen years. Till then it was scarcely any thing besides an exhibition of noise ; the loudest, the most stentorian brawler, being regarded as the best man. The alternations of piano and forte are now attended

to, and at Norwich we heard the effect of sforzando admirably marked by the whole choral brigade. But there is still much room

for improvement : one ethe finest effects in music—the murmur of a large number of voices and instruments—we have yet to hear. The performance of the solo and concerted pieces varied sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse, as compared with that

of Norwich. CARADORI, PIIILLIPS, and E. TAYLOR, retained the same pieces. in the declamatory part of the Recitative," I looked and beheld," BRAHAM sung magnificently : here he was the BRA- HAM of 1810. Mrs. KNYVETT gave the beautiful solo, "There like streams that feed the garden," chastely and purely. At the

request of the Stewards it was repeated—a well-meant but ill-

'udged compliment, inasmuch as it interrupted the connexion of the piece, the request not having been made till two subsequent movements had been performed. VAUGHAN and Miss Hawes

acquitted themselves admirably in whatever was here allotted to them. On the whole, our impression of the grandeur and beauty of this work was heightened by a second performance ; and we feel assured that English hearers will soon grow familiar with it in a form which appeals to their hearts as well as to their ears, to their understandings as well as to their senses. There is one, though a minor raison, fur the performance of this glorious composition in English, rather than in Latin, which this Festival has forced upon our notice. Our singers, the ladies espe- cially, have become critics in Latin pronunciation, and have all agreed that the pronunciation of Eton and Westminster is barba-

rous and bad : here "their unanimity," as Puff says, "is wonder-

ful :" but it extends no further; having disowned all allegiance to our schools and Universities on this point, each has fixed on a sepa- rate rule and standard of pronunciation, so that we hear every

possible change that can be rung on the sound of vowels and con- sonants, and often in the same concerted piece. No aptcr resem- blance of Babel could be devised than to perform MOZART'S Requiem in Latin with the singers here present. Most of these are engaged at different Catholic chapels ; and we can pretty well trace at7which, by thefdiscordant variety of their pronunciation : we have Bavarian Latin, Spanish Latin, and French Latin, some- times a nondescript linguaccio compounded of the Piedmontese and Sicilian dialects—in short, no two alike, nor like any language under heaven. From this hideous jargon we are glad to escape, and take refuge in English, until our lady and gentlemen singers shall have become either more ignorant or more learned. The other principal features of the Festival were The Last Judgment and The Seventh Day. No barbarous hacking and hewing, as at York, was inflicted on the first of these compositions; which now takes, and will continue to take its proper place among the highest efforts of musical genius that the world has produced. Repeated performance has familiarized the orchestra, not only with the passages but with the style of the oratorio, which at first trial, six years since, was but imperfectly understood. Every player and singer is now mellow in his part ; he discerns where a new beauty may be developed, or an effect, hefore undetected, brought out. The tact of such players as BLAGROVE, LINDLEY, WILLMAN, DENMAN, COOKE, and others, who are familiar with SPOHR'S in- strumental compositions, enables them to seize these opportunities and avail themselves of them Hence cydry performance of this work unfolds to us some new gratification. It is well known that SPOHR has completed another oratorio, entitled Das Heiland letze Standen, (" The Last Hours of the Holy One,") of which the German critics speak in terms of the highest praise, and from which we look forward to a renewal if not an increase of that gratification which his first oratorio has so largely imparted.

Bishop's Cantata was admirably performed, although on the whole not so well as at Norwich. In the delivery of the recita- tive, there were some passages to which BRAHAM gave the most perfect expression, but the superiority in others must be awarded to Howls. It must be gratifying to BISHOP, that, notwithstand- ing all the attempts which professional jealousy dictated to run down this masterly composition, it has found its way, not by in- trigue or favour, but by its own intrinsic merit, to an association with the greatest effals of this and former ages, and come triumphantly forth from an encounter in which mediocrity must have sunk.

The Selections scarcely deserve any notice: they were evidently the makeweights of the morning's performances. Some pieces of the highest character occurred, and compensated for the wea- risome reiteration of "Angels ever bright and fair," " From mighty kings," and such like trite and hackneyed pieces. Among these were the charming Quartet and Chorus from HAYDN'S Passione, " Tu di grazia ;" the concluding Chorus from DRYDEN'S Ode; and last, though not least, Caoris noble Anthem, "Cry aloud-and shout."

The Concerts were an exhibition of instrumental strength and vocal weakness. The noble orchestra which the Conductor had engaged was employed on music befitting their talents: the Sin- follies being BEETHOVEN'S Pastorale and his C minor, and MOZART'S in E Hat. But these divine compositions were regarded and treated by the audience like the act-music of a play ; most of them not even affecting to listen, except to the sound of their own sweet voices. Were we not right, last week, in saying that the weavers and shoemakers of Norwich had a more refined enjoyment of music than many an aristocratical audience? The truth of this assertion is practically vindicated and confirmed by the singers here; nearly all of whom have endeavoured who shall sink the lowest in the scale of vocal degradation, and thus be level to the taste and secure of the applause of the multitude. The last night will serve as a sample. By way of compensation to the

audience, who had (though not without stout resistance) submitted to the infliction of the Pastorale Sinfonia, an act of ballads suc- ceeded—each more trashy than the last. With the orchestra

" 'twas dumb amazement all." CRAMER and LODER endeavoured to look grave and keep their eyes open ; LINDLEY and DRAGO- NETTI were unusually frequent in their interchange of pinches of

snuff, in order to keep awake ; but many of their rivals composed themselves to rest,—sleep having more charms for them than "I'm o'er young to marry yet," and "She wore a wreath of roses.'

BRAHAM alone asserted the dignity of his art and the true power of the English school, in his execution of PURCELL'S "Mad

Tom." The Glees were more numerous than at Norwich : most of them were sterling compositions, and when well sung, among the most effective pieces of the Concerts. The Worcester Festival is usually carried on with pecuniary loss to the Stewards, although with gain to the charity for whose benefit it is undertaken; and such is the result on the present occasion. It ought to have been otherwise. All the great out- lines of the Festival were admirable,—diligence, resdarch, and good taste, have been conspicuous wherever we could trace the Conductor's hand : but the Squirearchy of Worcestershire have not yet attained sufficient refinement to appreciate what is graceful or elevated in art, or public-spirit enough to patronize it.