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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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: V This was a good deed ; almost worth another Reform Bill . It will mark an era in tjie tjistoiy of i ^ etropqlitam , a » d , i $ is to be hoped , in that of national enjoyment . There is an end of the
necessity for travelling to Norwich , York , pr Biraupgham , or else of submitting to the ^ bbey j obbery , in Q ^ der to enjpy £ he grandest musical effects . The voluntary principle Jxas triumphed in art , whatever it may do in theology . Exeter Hall is the jrirth-place of popular taste ; a strange cradle for such an infant to be rocked in : but miracles never cease . A muster of seven hundred
amateurs , vocal and instrumental , executing with precision , delicacy , and full effect , the noblest compositions of the greatest masters , is a revelation of power , from which the best results may be anticipated . We know not with what wand of Moses the c ^ ty was struck ; but certain it is , that there suddenly gushed forth a glorious stream of harmony . Let it flow on , creating the thirst it satisfies .
There is a balance of good and evil in the locality . Oratorio music seems to require arches , and pillars , and Gothic windows , for its appropriate visual accompaniment . It sorts not with the Presbyterian plainness and squareness of the large room at Exeter Hall : and , in the lighter movements , one likes sometimes to catch a stray sound , entangled amongst the delicate traceries
and fretwork of cathedral ornament , like a sylph that has lost her way in the intricate passages formed by the leaves of a halfblown rose . But still there were compensations . The orchestra itself was a beautiful sight ; so filled , we mean . The choristers had ' speculation in their eyes . ' They were no regiment of bawling
hacks , but intelligent men and women , who appreciated the best qualities of the music which they executed . And then , again , the flow of sound was unbroken ; the volume and proportions were just what was intended ; which is more than the most skilful calculations can realize in the complicated structure of a cathedral .
This is a paramount advantage . The earlier performances exhibited some defects , which were corrected in the later ones ; showing how rapidl y such a body of performers can profit by experience . On behalf of the last two or three performances , the gauntlet might be thrown down to the profession , which would gai ?} little by accepting the challenge .
But perfect co-operation , not rivalry , is the point % o be aimed at . The solos and duets , and the instrumental leading , must remain with professional performers . By the way , the amateur instrumentalists require more drilling : they marred the entire perfection of some of the choruses , by that tendency to accelerated execution which is so difficult to be repressed .
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THE AMATEUR MUSlcXt , FESTIVAL .
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983
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1834, page 883, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2640/page/65/
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