Musical.

Southern Cross, Volume 7, Issue 38, 16 December 1899, Page 5

Musical.

[By “Staccato.”]

“ THE MESSIAH.”

A numerous audience gathered in the Theatre Royal on Friday evening, Bth December, the occasion being the production of Handel’s great work by the combined choirs of the local churches. All engaged acquitted themselves most creditably—in fact, the oratorio was given with better effectthan has sometimes been theca.se in northern centres, with apparently greater musical resources. The performance of the overture by the orchestra was, all in all, a good piece of work. The opening movement was in places a trifle unsteady, but the players soon settled down when they entered the second movement. Here the different entries of subject and answer were promptly and confidently taken up in turn, and the whole fugue was played with precision. The fact of the euphonium being very flat all through naturally detracted very much from the performance, but apart from this weak point, the orchestra are to be congratulated on opening the oratorio in such a masterly manner. The second and third numbers were sung by Mr Eagar. In the recitative he did not seem altogether at ease, and gave one the impression of singing with great effort; but in the air, ‘ Every Valley,’ he was much more at home, and sang with more confidence and effect. The semiquaver passages were done with excellent intonation. The orchestra paid much attention to light and shade throughout this number, but rather dragged the tempo where the voice, has the semiquavers. In the chorus which followed —‘ And the Glory of the Lord’ —both the chorus and the orchestra did exceedingly well, the different parts being taken up very firmly, the result being highly creditable to all. The manner in which both chorus and orchestra finished as one performer at the end of the allegro, and then, after three silent beats, attacked the final adagio bars, must have been keenly appreciated by the audience. What a pity the euphonium was still flat all through—indeed, to put it shortly, this pitch became very monotonous by the end of the first part, and always detracted from the player’s excellent work in all other respects. In the second part things were much better, and the orchestra was well in tune to the end of the evening. Mr Taylor, who undertook all the,bass solos, was in great form, and it was generally admitted, and justly, too, that he never rang to such advantage before. There is some little difficulty in saying which was Lis most successful effort, but we may be pardoned if we single out the air, ‘ WEy do the Nations ?’ as one in which he fairly revelled. The number, ‘ The People that Walked in Darkness,’ is a very taxing one indeed. The solo has an abundance of difficulties in respect to phrasing, enunciation, and especially intonation, and Mr Taylor cannot be too warmly cohgratulated on the excellent manner in which he overcame them all. In the recit. just proceeding this, the orchestra was very fair up to the last four or five bars, when an unsteadiness in both time and tune set in, and the finish was altogether a poor one. Miss Winnie Royds was the first lady soloist to appear. She sang the airs, ‘ 0 Thou that Tellest ’ and ‘ He was Despised, the intense silence of the audience during the singing of the latter being , the highest tribute possible to the vocalist and to the pathetic sublimity of the number. Miss Royds was very successful in each, but especially so, we t'-iink, in the lovely air, ‘ O Thou that Tellest,’ which she sang with fine expression and appreciation. In this number, too, the orchestra deserve special praise for their work, the first violin and flute being very good indeed. To Mrs Forbes-Wiliiaras was allotted the air, ‘ He Shall Feed His Flock.’ The setting of this number was clearly too

low a pitch for this lady. She evidently felt this, too, and naturally suffered somewhat from nervousness ; as a consequence she did not do herself full justice. Had the pitch been raised a tone it would have suited Mrs Williams’ voice perfectly, and would have shown more clearly her perfect understanding of the air. As it was, she sang with much refinement, perfect tune and true enunciation. The latter part of the number, ‘ Come unto Him,’ was undertaken by Miss K. Kirwan, who has a sweetly fresh soprano voice. Following immediately after Mrs Williams’ clear enunciation, Miss Kirwan. suffered in comparison in this particular, and notwithstanding an expressive rendering of the solo, it was extremely difficult to catch a word ; at times, too, her intonation was decidedly faulty, yet we hope to hear more of this young lady, when she has gone through a little more study, as we think her voice capable of much good woik. Miss Organ was entrusted with the air, ‘ How beautiful are the feet,’ and sang with good and true vocalisation, but, alas ! we failed to catch more than half the words. What a pity ! Miss Organ possesses a beautifully true voice, and we do hope to find her giving; a little more attention to that most important subject, ‘ speech in song.’ Mrs Blue received hearty applause at the conclusion of her number, £ I know that my Redeemer Liveth.’ Mrs Blue is an old Invercargill favourite, and this in spite of the fact thac the effect of her fine voice is neutralised by faulty phrasing and occasional mispronunciation, such as ‘ she-al,’ and ‘ fer-rom,’ instead of ‘ shall ’ and ‘from.’ As usual, the more florid soprano work was wisely allotted to Mrs Ross. Undoubtedly she was the most successful lady soloist of the evening - , and must be highly complimented on the manner in which she rendered her several recitations and the solo ‘ Rejoice greatly.’ In this number it certainly seemed as though she did rejoice greatly—in the florid melody at least. Nothing need be said about Mrs Ross’ very fine rendering of this number. That the audience thoroughly enjoyed her singing was manifest by their applause, and by the bestowal of a lovely spray of flowers at the conclusion of the solo. For the information of the first violins we might point out that their work was very good right through the number, with the exception ot a most unmistakable scramble in one place. The place referred to may be found on page 68 of the vocal score, the sixth and seventh bars. To come back to Mr Eagar, who undertook all the tenor solos. In the recit. ‘ Thy rebuke hath broken his heart,’ he was very unhappy. We are sorry to have to say that he got right out of the key, or keys, altogether. Certainly it must be admitted that it is a very difficult recit., and he did not get much assistance from the orchestra, the strings playing all through iu a very uncertain, not to say timid, manner. Had the different progressions of chords and the modulations been more firmly played, Mr Eagar would have had much more confldence, and would certainly have done better. In the succeeding air, ‘ Behold and see,’ he was much more successful, and was treated to a hearty round of applause at its conclusion. He sang in even better style, and with better effect in the following air, ‘But Thou didst not leave.’ Further on in the solo, ‘ Thou shalt break them,’ he sang with fine effect, with good phrasing, and true intonation, and his number was much admired. The only remaining soloist whom we must mention, was Mr Glennie, who played the trumpet obligato to ‘ The Trumpet Shall Sound.” Mr Glennie is to be warmly congratulated on the able manner in which he played this, difficult solo, which involves a great tax on the player’s strength and endurance. ~We should have' been pleased to see Mr Glennie take his place or* the platform -with Mr Taylor, instead of remaining in his place in the orchestra. As a whole,

the chorus work was one of the best features of the evening, the tenors, generally very weak, being heard to great advantage, as, for instance, at the end of the chorus, ‘ O, Thou that tellest.’ The choruses throughout were marked by both good attack and finish, and generally, a fine balance of tone, with only an occasional roughness in the heavier choruses. In the chorus, * For unto us,’ the effect was marred by some of the basses hurrying the time in the semiquaver passage, sung to the word ‘ born.’ The chorus ‘ Lift up Your Heads ’ was particularly well done, especially the question and answer, ‘ Who is the King of Glory ?’ ‘ The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory.’ ‘ The Hallelujah ’ was magnificently rendered, the sopranos deserving special commendation for their true intonation in the ascending passage of the sustained notes to the words ‘ King of Kings,’ etc. ‘ Worthy of the Lamb ’ was marked by good balance of tone and steadiness in the first part, the changes of tempo being thoroughly well understood by the chorus. In the fugue which concludes the number, the chorus was especially successful, the several entries being taken up firmly and Unhesitatingly. The closing number, ‘The Amen,’ was admirably given. The work of the orchestra, generally speaking, was distinctly good, and contributed not a little to the success achieved, although the absence ot Mr F. Lillicrap (clarinet) was noticeably felt. We must not forget to give warm praise to the orchestra for their very careful rendering of the beautiful Pastoral Symphony. The effect of the strings ‘con sordini’ was very fine. The symphony was just somewhat marred in the eleventh bar from the end through one of the brass instruments, when doubling the melody, playing a shade flat. With this trifling exception the item was a most enjoyable one. Mrs Wood occupied her usual place as leader of the orchestra, with Miss Findlay as pianiste, both discharging their duties most efficiently. Mr C. Gray, the conductor, spares no pains to attain the best possible results, and he should have been more than pleased at the way in which his hard-worked forces did justice to his training in the exposition of the oratorio under notice