222 BIRMINGHAM MUSICAL FKSTIVAL. 



expressing them, advanced bej-^ond the age in which they lived — 

 have displayed their greatness in vocal as well as in instrumental 

 writing. JNIany there are, doubtless, of respectable merit, who have 

 confined themselves to the one or the other of these departments ; 

 such, however, it will be found, are not entitled to rank as inven- 

 tors in the highest sense of the word. They are either polishers, 

 or else mere followers. In the first class we would place Correlli 

 among the instrumentalists, and among vocal writers Sacchini ; in 

 the second Geminiani and Tartini, together with the host of glee- 

 writers and many of the compilers of anthems, whom English pride 

 regards with affection more fond than judicious. If we try IMen- 

 delssohn by this test, we shall be compelled to refuse him that ex- 

 alted rank to which his admirers would persuade us the oratorio in 

 question entitles him. Throughout the whole of St. Paul we per- 

 ceive with regret an almost total want of that vocal excellence, that 

 luxuriance of melody, that " linked sweetness long drawn out," 

 which, in the works of the three great composers above-named, so 

 forcibly arrests the attention and enchains the soul, and which, even 

 in their instrumental writings, forms, perhaps, one of their greatest 

 charms. 



The overture to this oratorio is, perhaps, that part which is most 

 complete as a whole, and most calculated to give satisfaction to those 

 who desire unity of design and treatment in a musical composition. 

 It opens with a very solemn and impressive slow movement on the 

 subject of the choral, " Wachtet auf, ruft uns die Stimme," in the 

 body of the work. This is followed by a fugue in triple time, on a 

 very elegant subject (taken from the same choral), treated in a 

 manner much more masterly than those which are made the foun- 

 dation of any of the subsequent choruses. Indeed, it is on this over- 

 ture, as well as on his other instrumental works, that we princi- 

 pally rest our hopes of seeing an oratorio by this composer the vocal 

 excellence of which shall far surpass that displayed in the present, 

 and the want of which is, in our opinion, its great, its overpowering 

 defect. Thus, in the song " Jerusalem, Jerusalem !'' the interest 

 lies entirely in the instrumentation and modulation, while the notes 

 given to the voice form a mere apology for a melody without the 

 slightest pretensions to air, or even to novelty. The same is the 

 case with the bass solos " Vertilge sie" and " Gott sei mir gnadig ;" 

 in a remarkable degree, with the duet " So sind wir nun Botschaf- 

 ten" and " Dann also hat uns der Herrgeboten," with the difference 

 that the sterility of melody communicates itself, in these two in- 

 stances, to the accompaniment, which is bald and commonplace. 



