BIRMINGHAM MUSICAL FESTIVAL. 



223 



The triviality and want of dignity in the subjects of the fugues is 

 seldom compensated for by a full display of their capabilities, or 

 even by an ordinary skilfulness of treatment ; and the winding-up 

 is effected, not by their complete development, but, on the contrary, 

 by a return to the plain, note-against-note counterpoint, to which 

 this composer seems so devotedly attached: witness the choruses 

 "Mache dich auf, werde Licht," "O welch eine Tiefe des Reich- 

 thums," " Denn alle Heider," in which, even in what may by cour- 

 tesy be termed the fugued parts, the composer often relapses into his 

 darling plain counterpoint, and the concluding chorus " Nicht aber 

 ihm allein," in which a pitifully mean subject is handled in a man- 

 ner very different from what is expected from one " imbued with 

 the spirit of Sebastian Bach." The chorals so plentifully inter- 

 spersed throughout the oratorio are good, but not INIendelssohn's, as 

 any one may satisfy himself by glancing over any collection of 

 psalm-tunes used in the continental Lutheran church. We have 

 hitherto only spoken of what we consider the defects of this work : 

 its beauties are neither few nor difficult of discovery. The instru- 

 mental writing is, in general, as rich and characteristic as the vocal 

 is meagre and commonplace, and displays considerable knowledge of 

 orchestral effect, as well as boldness and freedom of fancy. We 

 may mention as examples the choruses " Herr du hist der Gott," 

 '■' Wir preisen selig," " Ich danke dir Herr/' and " Wie lieblich sind 

 die Boten." The recitatives are, in general, well-declaimed, and 

 provided with appropriate and often bold harmonies. But hardly 

 any degree of excellence in other points can atone fur a general po- 

 verty — we had almost said absence — of melody, the necessary ele- 

 ment of all harmony worthy of the name. Our opinion of this 

 work, then, taken as a whole, is that its want of individuality, of 

 the marks of true genius, inventive power, grandeur and elevation 

 of thought, and more especially of original and flowing melody, will 

 effectually debar it from enduring fame, perhaps even from tempo- 

 rary popularity ; that, although displaying far higher genius than 

 such works as The Ascension and The Triumph of Faith, it never- 

 theless falls short of that magnificent power which moves at will 

 the passions and the feelings of men, and holds them willing cap- 

 tives in the regions of ideal beauty or superhuman sublimity ; 

 which is as mighty to-day, to delight and to awe, as it was ages 

 ago, and as it will be for ages to come, so long as human passions 

 and liuman feelings remain to bear witness to, and bow before, its 

 sovereignty. 



We consider the total neglect of Spohr a by no means venial er- 



