The " Musical Festival," as a pasticcio for sight - seers, performed
on Monday in 'Westminster Abbey, has been called by courtesy, was numerously attended. Of the performance itself we cannot speak from experience ; for, after reading the account of Saturday's rehearsal, in the Morning Chronicle of Monday, we had no inclination to buy a ticket.
It The music," says the competent critic alluded to, " consists of a selection of sacred pieces, in a great v artery of styles, and very abundant in quantity. We have no fault to find with this particular selection, which is, perhaps, as good as it could well be on such an occasion ; for a performance got up, as it were, extempore, and without preparation or rehearsal, must necessarily con- sist of things quite familiar to the performers; and the programme accordingly has been formed out of the must hackneyed materials of our festivals and music meetings. But selections, however carefully made, are necessarily unsatisfac- tory. They consist of fragments, torn out of the great works to which they be- long, and deprived of their effect and meaning by separation from the context. The ear is offended by the abrupt succeession of unielative keys, and the mind is annoyed by a seriesof incongruities in respect to style and subject. Ancient and modern—Italian, German, and English—the thunders of Handel and the graceful airs of Ciniarosa—the maternal agonies of Sarah and the exulting shouts of the Israelites when • the horse and his rider are thrown into the acs'—are all jumbled together in a way which, when all is over, leaves nothing in the mind but confusion and elms. • • • • The sound of the united voices and instruments did not till the building, but fell flatly and feebly on the ear ; a depict which was most remarkable where the greatest power was re- quired, as in the chorus • For unto us a child is born,' and the Coronation Anthems—no less dam e of which, by the way, were introduced into one per formance. The solo., and the concerted pieces sung by single voices, were better heard, and more effective than the choruses-1 fact which we mention without aecounting for it."
The affair was a splendid show, but rather dearly purchased with two guineas.
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