"THE CREATION."

Star (Christchurch), Issue 403, 28 August 1869, Page 2

"THE CREATION."

"f-Tliis was the oratorio which the Christchurch Musical Society selected for its debut under present auspices; and, as was confidently anticipated, the Town Hall was crowded to overflowing last evening — 250 even, or more, having been unable to obtain admittance. /In order that they may not be disappointed however, and in consequence of a generally expressed desire, " The Creation" will be performed for a second time on Monday evening nei&. Such a peforiuance as this for an amateur society to undertake deserves a great deal more than a passing notice at our hands, and we will preface the remarks we have to make upon it by a few general observations upon the degree of success which characterised the various departments, vocal and instrumental. _ To begin with the instrumental accomjiifniments, we can safely say that, throughout" 'the oratorio, the band was uniformly successful, when we take into consideration the difficulties under which the performers were brought together. The violins were not so throughout the evening, and the want of a double bass was very much felt ; but all things considered, their, performance was most creditable. \llerr Biinz, as leader, was unwearied in his exertions, and led with much spirit. Mr Packer, who conducted at a very short notice— far too short for the arduousness of the task which he was called upon to discharge — was slightly mechanical, and somewhat lacked energy. In addition to this, his position was a bad one, because the vocalists in front could not see him without putting themselves to the-_very great inconvenience of turning routidi Moreover, he took many of the movements, especially the recitatives, much too slowly. Altogether, however, he discharged his duty with care and considerable efficiency. The gem of the solos was sung by Mrs Lloyd, and that of the j duets most undoubtedly by Mrs Charles I Harper and Mr Lee. The voices in the choruses were, unfortunately, not well balanced, the sopranos and basses being very effective, while the altos aud tenors were correspondingly weak. We will now notice the oratorio in its regular order. The overture " Representation of Chaos " was somewhat out of tune, and wanted more bass to make it sufficiently effective. The opening recitative "In the beginning," by Mr Rutland, was very good, as was also the succeeding chorus " Let there be light." In the tenor solo " Now vanish before the Holy Beams," by Mr Price, |was not successful, but the chorus " A new Created World " was capitally done. The fiuie bass air "Now furious Storms," by Mr Rutland, was carefully sung, but with hardly sufficient animation. The succeeding solo and chorus (< The Marvellous Work " (solo by Mrs Lloyd) was performed in splendid style, the solo notes ringing above the chorus with brilliant effect. The bass #fr, " Rolling in Foaming Billows," by Mr Rutland, was very good, and an improvement on his first. .Mrs Charles Harper sang " With Verdure Glad " sweetly , and with great taste. The chorus "Awake the Harp " was steadily done; -Mr Appleby, from a cause -which was explained, unfortunately broke down/in the exceedingly fine recitative "In Splendour Bright." The succeeding chorus " The Heavens are telling " was begun badly^ but soon improved, and -the climax was very effective. We would remark that in this, as well as in the other choruses, ther j was an absence of body of tone. After an interval of 15 minutes, the second part opened with the solo gem of the evening, "On Mighty Pens," beautifully sung by Mrs Lloyd. Mr Lee was not in his best voice, but sang the two next solos, " Aud God said let the Earth bring forth," and " Now Heaven in fullest glory shone," with care and expression. Mr H. Thompson sang •'ln native worth" very carefully, and with good taste, but he was scarcely equal to such an important solo. The short chorus " Achieved is thy Glorious Work " was followed by the trio " On Thee each living soul awaits," which was very well sung by Miss A. Loughnan and Messrs H. Thompson and Rutland, Mr Rutland's solo part being especially good. This was followed by the second chorus, "Achieved is the glorious work," which, to our mind, was by far the best of the evening. It was sung with great spirit and precision, and with the exception of that want of body of tone before mentioned, was almost irreproachable. Part three opeued, after a ten minutes' interval, with Mr Price's solo "In Rosy Mantle," which was very carefully done, but without animation. Then came the duet and chorus "By Thee with Bliss," the solo parts being taken by Mrs Leonard Harper

and tlie Rev E. A. Lingard. Mrs Harper, as she invariably does, sang in exquisite time, aud with almost faultless expression, and Mr Lingard did his part very carefully. The duet and chorus '• Of Stars the fairest " was sung by the same vocalists. In this the two voices were more happily blended, and the chorus, which enters at intervals, was exceedingly effective. Then came what we can safely call the gem of the evening, the duet " Graceful Consort," by Mrs Chas. Harper and Mr Lee. This was really well sung, and it was with difficulty that the audience were restrained from applauding it. The final chorus, " Sing the Lord ye Voices all," with solos by Mrs C. Harper, Mrs Matthias, Mr Thompson, and Mr Lee, brought the oratorio to a very successful conclusion.