BIRMINGHAM MUSICAL FESTIVAL. 225 



val, as some atonement for their past misdeeds, we suggest the pro- 

 priety of giving Bach a " fair trial." Let them produce the Hohe 

 Messe (Grand Mas) in B. minor entire. If they can once bring 

 up their courage to the " sticking pitch," if they can once throw 

 aside slothfulness and foolish fears, they may, by so doing, earn for 

 themselves the sincere and heartfelt gratitude of all real lovers of 

 music. Or, if such an eifort be too great for them, they may pro- 

 duce one of the numberless motetts and sacred cantatas of this com- 

 poser ; and thus, if unmindful of the glory of being the first to 

 bring forward one of his great works, may at least escape the dis- 

 grace of again mutilating them. 



It will not do here, to plead in excuse that the piece selected was 

 only by way of experiment, that a longer work might have disgust- 

 ed the public, and that, if successful, it would be time enough at 

 the next festival to produce something more complete. The result 

 of suck an experiment every one not blinded by self-interest and 

 prejudice must have foreseen. It was like trying an accused per- 

 son with a predetermination to condemn him ; bringing up all the 

 witnesses against him, keeping back those on his side, and listening 

 only to the counsel for the crown. In the present instance the sub- 

 ject of experiment, say rather of condemnation, was a piece in a 

 minor key, severed from its connection with the rest of the master- 

 work in which it stands, one of whose many transcendent merits 

 consists in the intimate, though not at first discoverable, relation in 

 which all its parts stand to one another, in the beautiful binding to- 

 gether of each piece, so as to form one perfect and indivisible whole. 

 Those who, in thus mangling the works of genius, show that they 

 have no higher notion of art than as a momentary gratification of 

 sense, who would convert an oratorio into a selection of favourite 

 airs and choruses, who can see no link of connexion between music 

 separated by double bars, and who would bring others down to their 

 bounded ideas of excellence, are unfit for their responsible office. 



But a truce to fault-finding. Let us suppose the directors will- 

 ing to attend to any suggestions which may have the effect of rais- 

 ing the character of the meeting whose interests they wish to ad- 

 vance. Suppose they put the question to us. What steps would i/ou 

 take to advance the art whose welfare you so warmly advocate.'' 

 We answer. Seek out excellence where most it abounds ; heed not 

 whether a composer be celebrated or unknown, ancient or modern ; 

 suffer not yourselves to be dazzled by the false glare and ephemeral 

 excitement which attends the production of a foreign work in pre- 

 sence of its author ; satisfy yourselves, by diligent research, when 



