singers in Handel's 'Esther,' in 1731; he after- engaging Dr. Prout they have secured the serwards officiated as viola-player in Handel's vices of the man best fitted to accomplish this orchestra. He therefore was very familiar with most difficult and delicate task. Dr. Prout's Handel's methods and wishes, and it is of great knowledge and memory of Handel's scores, and importance to remember that the Handel of their individual ramifications, surpasses that traditions were personally transmitted by him of any living musician. His expert skill also to Dr. Stephen Elvey and to Dr. Crotch. Their qualifies him to solve with certainty any occatestimony will be referred to later. sional knotty or doubtful point. We must not Handel died in 1759, and the score of the forget, however, that there are two classes of 'Messiah' was first published in 1767. Unfortu- musicians, one comprising those who cry aloud nately, Handel's autograph manuscript is none for a revival in every respect of the Messiah' as too clear; it therefore needed an expert musician performed under the composer himself. They to correct the printed proofs. This evidently would have every note and every bar exactly as was not done, and the resulting serious mistakes they appear in Handel's manuscript, and would are very numerous and greatly to be deplored. flatter themselves that they had then secured Naturally, they passed without question into what they asked for. I have already shown that the various editions of every subsequent editor Handel did not write with exactitude all that he and printer. The most notable edition of the required, but obtained his wishes by personal 'Messiah' was that prepared by Mozart in the communication with the performers. It has year 1789 for the Baron von Swieten. For been well said, 'The modern system of literal the exigencies of performance, Mozart added exactitude, at the cost of spiritual fidelity, ignores various orchestral accompaniments: he had only tradition, and stiff and clumsy are the results.' the defective printed score above referred to as Moreover, there were certain features of Handel's a guide, and as a matter of course copied the performances which it would be impossible to impure text. It must, however, be remembered reproduce to-day. Handel had no female conthat at the present time we are not able to tralti in his chorus, they were all male altos; the determine with accuracy how much of the reverse obtains now. Handel's orchestral inadditional accompaniments now attributed to struments were all (excepting the trumpet) of a Mozart were actually his; certainly many of coarser quality than those at present in use; his their worst features must be credited to the harpsichords are gone for ever; his organs with less-gifted head and hand of Johann Adam Hiller, Mozart's contemporary.

The only important full score for performance of the Messiah' published since Mozart's is that of Robert Franz, issued from the press in 1885. In his preface he alluded to the numerous imperfections and deficiencies of the Mozart edition, and assumed that he had rectified these. How signally he failed in his purpose need not further be discussed here; readers of THE MUSICAL TIMES will find the subject fully investigated by the present writer in the issue of December, 1885.

few stops and no pedals have also disappeared. The places in which he performed the Messiah' were mere drawing-rooms when compared with the Albert Hall, the Queen's Hall, and the Crystal Palace.

The other class of musicians comprises those who desire a pure text, with such filling-up of the harmonies as Handel intended should be so filled; they also recognise the fact that as some of the instruments used in Handel's day are no longer obtainable, their places must be judiciously supplied by the most appropriate and fitting instruments of the present time. To this class The score of the Messiah' just published by Dr. Prout's new edition will give ample satisthe German Handel Society, edited by Dr. faction; he has not only replaced the wrong Chrysander, is welcome as a volume for the study, notes by the right ones, but he has also restored but is in no sense an edition for performance, Handel's marks of expression, and has revised being an exact reproduction, barring numerous the time notation in accordance with the Handel typographical errors, of Handel's manuscripts. traditions which have come down to us through That these did not fully represent the composer's Randall and Crotch. The notation is a most intentions was well understood by Dr. Chrysander, who had prepared for publication an edition which would embody the necessary revisions for public performance.

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important matter. It is well known that composers of Handel's and of Mozart's time were not in the habit of writing double-dotted notes or double-dotted rests; when they were required they were supplied by the performers in accordance with long-established tradition. This fact is noted by Leopold Mozart, father of the composer, in his 'Violin School.'

Lovers of music, especially Handelians, have for many years entertained the hope that a committee of experts would take the Messiah' in hand and put forth a version of the text which should not only be accurate and reliable as It will be well now to make one or two regards notation and other technicalities, but comparisons of the orchestral scores of Mozart should also be made available for public per- and Prout, when it will be seen that the formances, and at the same time include and former, who had a defective copy to work from, exhibit sympathetically genuine Handel tra- and, moreover, was not very familiar with ditions. The spirited enterprise of Messrs. Handel's works, failed in realising the nobility Novello has now rendered this unnecessary. By and perfection of Handel's composition; whereas

in the case of Prout, he had a wealth of material Hospital there are special copies for bassoons for reference, and a most intimate knowledge of and oboes, in addition to the strings. Professor Handel's style and manner, and could therefore Prout has rightly incorporated these in his bring his labours to a most successful issue. score; of course they do not appear in Mozart's In the Mozart score, at the end of 'Comfort copy. The trumpet shall sound' was ruthlessly ye,' we find the following passage which, though cut up by Mozart; it has now been restored ingenious, is most un-Handelian, and worst of all to its original proportions by Professor Prout. almost impossible of performance :

In conclusion, a few words may be said respecting the use of trombones in the Messiah.' It is extremely probable that Handel, when he could get these instruments, was only too glad to be able to make use of them. It was not customary then, nor indeed long after, for composers to write the trombone parts in the score; they were written on separate sheets. We find this in the works of Haydn, Rossini, and others. The full score of Haydn's Creation' was published in 1800, and we find the trombone parts printed separately and bound up at the end of the volume, where they would be useless to the conductor in performance, but of course valuable to copy from for the trombonists.

estimation in which Handel was held by the King, it is very probable that on occasions he would ask and receive permission to employ his Majesty's players. There is an interesting autograph of Handel's in the British Museum, in which he requests delivery to the bearer of the Large Tower Drums, he having permission to use them in his oratorio performances.

At the commencement of the chorus And He shall purify,' Mozart has for several bars left the voices wholly unsupported, although Handel's It is likely, therefore, that Handel's trombone figured bass demands harmony; this Prout has parts were either written on loose sheets, or that supplied in a sympathetic organ part. Similar the players were supplied with vocal parts restorations will be found in later numbers of specially marked. Handel could not have had the work. All musicians remember and admire trombones in Dublin, there were none; but in the exquisite additional accompaniments written London he could, if he wished, get them from by Mozart for the air The people that walked the King's Band, and considering the high in darkness.' Beautiful though they are, it cannot be denied that they are not Handelian; Prout has therefore given the whole movement with Handel's original accompaniment, printing in a small type the Mozart additions. It is to be hoped and recommended that, as a general rule, the original version will be adhered to in public performance. In the 'Pastoral Symphony' we find the essential F sharp which belongs to Handel was a great man with grand ideas, the bass passage leading from the first to the and approved of performances on a grand scale; second parts of the movement duly inserted in but he was emphatically a man of resource. Prout's edition. Of course it is required for the If he could not have all he wanted, he was modulation from C to G; but the first printed content to make the best and most effective copy left it out, and so did Mozart and every use of what he could get. The absence of editor since. We therefore recover an important instrumental performers or solo singers did not sharp which has been missing for more than a disconcert him. He was ready to transpose or century. A careful and minute inspection of re-write an air intended for any particular class Handel's autograph will show that he intended of voice to fit it for some other wholly dissimilar the passage as now restored. The additional accompaniments to the chorus' All we like sheep,' to be found in the Mozart score-probably they were not his-have always seemed to me (I have heard them played many hundreds of times) like a lot of worried sheep trotting into the market-square-indeed, almost comic, and quite opposed to all Handel tradition. These blemishes Prout has removed, and instead supplied dignified chords in consonance with the vocal parts and the figured bass.

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he would cut out an air and substitute a recitative or turn a chorus into a solo; indeed, he would submit to any change in order to produce his work effectively. All these statements can be verified by an examination of the scores of the Messiah' which Handel wrote and used. The vitality of the Messiah' is wonderful. The music has been persistently incorrectly printed and performed, but in spite of this it has never failed to awaken the deepest and best emotions of the souls of those who have listened to its The chorus He trusted in God' presents inspired strains; these may have been performed important evidence that Handel's autograph by a limited cathedral choir of six men and eight score does not contain all the instrumentation boys, or thundered out by the stalwart thousands he employed in performances of the work; the at the Crystal Palace. Let us hope that the manuscript gives only parts for strings and new edition just published will stimulate more organ, whereas in the separate instrumental patient study and more perfect performance of parts supplied by Handel to the Foundling the masterpiece of the giant Handel.

January 5.

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6 p.m. After singing last of the seven choirs, they awaited the tediously delayed adjudication, and then left St. Pancras at 12.15 midnight, arriving at Southport at 6.30 a.m. A week or so later the choir united with their better halves to give a highly creditable performance of The Golden Legend'; so practice for the competition cannot be said to have starved the choir musically. We have singled out this instance of the bracing effect 15. of competition as typical. The members of the 17. Southport Union were prepared to make a pecuniary 23. sacrifice equal at least to a season's subscription to a 25. fashionable' choral society in order to prove their ability, and at worst learn a lesson. But the other provincial societies represented on this occasion, front Swansea, Cardiff, and Oxford, deserve quite as mucli credit for their courage and enterprise. They may return to their furrow poorer in money and perhaps sadder in spirit, but yet they have gained an abiding lesson. Defeat to the best spirits is the path to victory.

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The recent visit of the King and Queen and Princess Victoria to Gopsall Hall, Leicestershire, as the guests of Earl Howe, has brought that Leicestershire mansion into special prominence. Built by Charles Jennens, the friend of Handel and compiler of the words of the Messiah,' Gopsall welcomed the great composer on more than one occasion. On the Sunday of the Royal visit last month divine service was performed in the private chapel, with a choir of six voices (three boys and three men) from Lichfield Cathedral, and Mr. C. W. Perkins, of Birmingham, at the organ. Lichfield is only about twenty miles from Gopsall, and is it not quite probable that Handel may have visited the stately Cathedral of the Staffordshire city? If only some of the predecessors of Mr. John B. Lott had been of the Pepysian cult, and their diaries had been preserved, we might be in possession of some interesting reminiscences of the great composer.

The prospectus of the thirteenth Morecambe Musical Festival and Competition - to be held between April 29 and May 2-has been issued. The document shows that the spirit of enterprise which so eminently characterises the efforts of Canon Gorton and his excellent colleagues is well sustained. The conductors and adjudicators include the names of Dr. Elgar, Dr. McNaught (a well-tried favourite, although a judge, at Morecambe), and Mr. Percy Pitt. All particulars of this valuable educational institution may be obtained from the secretary, Mr. H. Powell, Euston Grove, Morecambe.

Welcome to another Festival Middlesbrough! This music-making is announced to be held on April 22 and 23, the orchestra to consist of members of Dr. Richter's Manchester band, and eminent soloists with Madame Albani at their head have been engaged. The enthusiasm and enterprise of many provincial The chief features of the scheme up to the present choirs are among the most gratifying features of our are Elgar's Dream of Gerontius,' Bach's 'Sleepers, national musical life. It is easy to adopt a superior wake,' Sullivan's Golden Legend,' and the first pose and to depreciate the value of much of this performance in England of Fritz Volbach's cantata activity on the ground that it appears to be 'The Page and the King's daughter,' a work to which stimulated only by competition and prizes. But the reference was made in our biographical notes on the ndeniable excellence of the artistic results so composer in THE MUSICAL TIMES of October last. frequently achieved in this way do not suggest either We shall watch the development of this Festival sordid motives or vanity; rather, they display a new-comer with interest; in the meantime we wish laudable desire to attain a high ideal in execution, it all the success it deserves. The fact that so a willingness to submit to the disciplinary pains and competent an enthusiast as Mr. Kilburn will conduct penalties essential to this end, and a perfectly is a sufficient guarantee that everything will be legitimate pride in publicly exhibiting the results of carried out in a manner both thorough and artistic. Skilful and strenuous endeavour before a responsive and critical audience. This appreciation is suggested An interesting Weber manuscript, from the Sir by the recent visit of several provincial choirs to the George Smart collection, was sold by Messrs. Queen's Hall on the occasion of a competition of Sotheby last month. It is Weber's last composition male-voice choirs, reported elsewhere in our columns. -a setting of Moore's words From Chindara's The prize of £50 fell to the Southport Vocal Union, warbling fount I come' ('Lalla Rookh'). Weber who, under their highly capable conductor, Mr. J. C. composed the music in London for Miss (Kitty') Clarke, gave excellent performances of the test- Stephens, who sang it at his benefit concert given at pieces. Some particulars regarding this choir and of the Argyll Rooms, Regent Street, May 21, 1826. It the arrangements made for their brief visit to the is said that a Mr. Ward, a Member of Parliament metropolis will serve to illustrate the spirit with which for the City, gave the composer £25 for this song. the organisation is worked. The choir is drawn from Weber did not write down the accompaniment; this the middle and working classes, the latter predomi- was subsequently supplied by Moscheles. He, nating. The expense of conveying the fifty or so however, feebly accompanied the song at his concert, members to and from London was £70. Each and after he had played it he was so exhausted that member contributed 22s. on the condition that a his friends had to lead him to a sofa in the return was to be made if the choir won the prize, and the remainder was made up by local friends. All the wage-earning me.nbers also gave up a day's pay and their out-of-pocket expenses. The choir left Southport at 8.50 a.m., and arrived at the Queen's Hall at

ante-room. Fourteen days later he was found dead in his bed at Sir George Smart's house, now numbered 103, Great Portland Street. The manuscript realized £13 5s., and was bought by Mr. E. Speyer.

'A Recital of British-Irish Harpsichord and Piano- 'The Travels and Eccentricities of little Miss Boforte Music from the 16th to the present century,' peep: by C. W. C., Ch. Ch., Oxford,' is the title of a formed the scheme of the second Historical Concert jeu d'esprit by Dr. Corfe, known as the 'Corfegiven in the University Music Class Room, Edin-mixture' organist of Christ Church. This amusing burgh, on the 10th ult. The following comprehensive little skit, dated 'June, 1881,' when Dr. Corfe was in programme, drawn up by Professor Niecks, was admirably interpreted by Miss Fanny Davies :

about fagotto and bassoon, I thought they were the same, but I find in the Water Music (Handel) both altogether.' Another interrogation is very amusing: 'What is the difference between the hornpipe and the bagpipe?' The biographer of Handel adds: I will be very akknowledged for any answer to these inquiries.'

In the year 1840 Mendelssohn, who in 1829 had shown his reverence for Bach by the performance of the St. Matthew' Passion at Berlin, desired to raise money for the erection of a monument to the great master at Leipzig, in the neighbourhood of the now demolished St. Thomas's School, where Bach lived and laboured. Mendelssohn drew up a circular announcing his intention to give for that purpose a' Bach' recital in St. Thomas's church, and to play The volume containing the 'Proceedings of the some of the great organ works. Those who wished Musical Association'-the record of its achievements to purchase tickets were requested to add their during the twenty-eighth session has just been names, together with the number of tickets they issued. This collection of essays admirably fulfils required. The document, which has been discovered the objects and aims of this learned Society-'the in the archives of the Gesellschaft der Musik- investigation and discussion of subjects connected freunde at Vienna, contains over 120 signatures. with the art and science of music.' We give a list The amount subscribed was 235 thalers, 20 of the papers read during the session 1901-2, with groschen. Among the names we find those of four names of the lecturers:great publishing firms: Dr. Härtel and his brother Orchestral and Choral Raimund, C. F. Peters, Fr. Hofmeister, and F. balance Whistling; the composers, J. J. H. Verhulst and Kiel; C. Voigt, organist of St. Thomas's ; H. Schleinitz, for many years director of the Leipzig Conservatorium; Dr. Petschke, member of the executive committee of the Gewandhaus concerts; the famous writer Rochlitz, whom Beethoven on his death bed designated as the man whom he wished for his biographer; Robert Schumann; and L. Schumann, probably the composer's uncle. Mendelssohn mentions the concert in a letter written to his mother on August 10, 1840; also that after paying expenses he had 300 thalers left towards the monument, equal to about £50 in English money. It may be of interest to give the programme :—

Bells and bell tones
The philosophy of our
tempered system
The development of na-
tional opera in Russia
Sullivan as a national
style-builder-

Hamlet and the recorder -
Coronation Music

Mr. John E. Borland.
Mr. W. W. Starmer.

Mr. Joseph Goddard.

Mrs. Newmarch.

Dr. Charles Maclean.
Mr. Christopher Welch.
Mr. J. S. Shedlock.

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Sir Alexander Mackenzie's Scotch' Pianoforte Concerto was performed in Berlin at a concert given by Mr. Frederick Dawson on November 28, with the Philharmonic Orchestra, and conducted by Professor Karl Klindworth. The solo part in this fine work was splendidly played by the gifted English pianist, and the success of the important novelty was emphatic. A criticism on the event from one of the Berlin newspapers may be quoted :

The work appeared to us the best which we have so far heard of English music in Berlin. The opening Allegro maestoso produced a strong impression. mighty outlines of the Highlands seem pourtrayed in

The

Phantasie on Choral, 'O Haupt voll Blut und the powerful themes given to the strings. Horn calls

resound from the ravines and from the heights, and the mountains and the clouds passing over them are mirrored in the clear and lovely lakes. The Scottish Highlands as Ossian, Scott and Burns have described them, were brought vividly before our eyes. The movement gradually merges into a characteristic, beautifully-written Lento, founded on a deeply-felt folk-tune. The third movement is similarly based; it is wonderfully exhilarating and full of burlesque (pawky) humour, which the composer presents in very many guises.

Mr. J. S. Shedlock gave a course of three lectures Old letters are often instructive and amusing. In at the Royal Academy of Music on Wednesdays reading through a number addressed to the late the 3rd, 10th, and 17th ult. His subject was the Dr. Rimbault we came across one from Dr. S. S. Clavier Music of the immediate predecessors of Wesley, written from Leeds, in which he invoked Bach and Handel.' He spoke about the Suite and Rimbault's aid in gaining information for some Variations, illustrating his remarks by pieces played lectures he (Wesley) contemplated writing on Church on a fine harpsichord kindly lent by Messrs. John Music. Wesley writes: "I want much to know Broadwood and Sons. Among the composers represomething more about the sacred music of Marenzio, sented were: Italy, Pasquini; France, Chambonnières of Monteverde, of Carissimi, of Scarlatti. Do you and Couperin; Germany, C. F. Witt, Johann Bernard know of any very celebrated specimens of these? Bach, Krieger, and especially Kuhnau; and England, I am not learned in Italian music, what little I have Dr. Blow and Henry Purcell. The subject was one seen has not tempted me to read much more. profitable to the students, while several of the pieces Any nice account of when the Italians first played exist only in manuscript. The lecturer neglected the old models and began the sugar gave three reasons for choosing this particular and cream style of Graun the German, and others, subject: first, that it was important in the history Jomelli and such. I have not yet looked into this of the evolution of the art; secondly, that it was point.' Victor Schoelcher asks Rimbault: What is interesting in itself; and thirdly, that knowledge of the difference between fagotto and bassoon?' In the men and music of the period in question helped justice to Schoelcher, however, a postscript to his to a better appreciation of the genius both of Bach letter should be quoted: Relating to my question and Handel.