1307. ] 
acquainted with the number of seats al- 
lotted to it, this inconvenience might 
certainly be remedied, by leaving as 
many of the younger children behind, 
(whose voices can hardly be expected to 
add-much to the general effect,) as may 
enable the remainder to be well accom- 
modated, 
My next observation was upon the 
choir of St. Paul’s, which sang alone in 
the te Deum and Jubilate, and in the 
greater part of the Coronation-Anthem 
and Hallelujah from the Messiah, and 
which appeared to me to be much too 
weak for that occasion, especially after 
the charity-children had added their 
voices in the two latter; contrasted te 
the immense force of which the choir 
seemed as it were annihilated; scarcely 
any thing but the organ (at least where I 
sat) being to be heard. Surely upon so 
great an e@ccasion as this may justly be 
reckoned, the choirs of the Chapel Royal 
and Westminster Abbey might be re- 
quested to lend their assistance, as at the 
Festival for the Sons of the Clergy, with 
which aid the contrast would not be 
carried to such an extreme, as must be 
the case with a single choir opposed to 
such a force. 
My third observation was upon the 
performance of the charity-children 
themselves, whose extreme steadiness 
and accuracy was astonishing, and did” 
the highest credit as well to themselves, ' 
as to the persons thathad instructed them. 
In, however, the beginning of the 100th 
psalm, with which the service commen- 
ced, the effect was not so great as I had 
expected, owing probably to @ want of . 
courage in many of the children, which 
might prevent their putting out- their 
voices so much as they did in the latter 
verses. But in the 113th Psalm, before 
the Sermon, they made ample amends, 
as nothing, I think, could exceed the 
svonderful and striking effect occasioned 
by the transition from the-full. chorus, to 
the voices of the girls alone on one side, 
and thence again to the full chorus, as 
was also the case in the Hallelujah sue- 
ceeding it. The cathedral responses 
and amens too were very accurately 
performed by them, and well in time, 
T cannot, however, he!p thinking, buttiat, 
in the Coronauion-Arthem, and Halle- 
Jujah chorus from the Messiah, a consi- 
derable improvement in the effect may 
yet be made, by a different arrangement 
of the air, or tune, in the parts where the 
children join, by not merely taking the 
treble notes, to which the melody is by 
at St. Paul’s, and Hints for improving the Lffect. 
555 
no means confined. For when the com- 
poser thus formed his score, he naturally 
supposed that the different voices would 
in general be pretty equally ‘arranged, 
and that therefore it would be of little 
consequence wnether the principal air 
was in the treble or any other part. 
Could he however have foreseen that, 
upoi some future occasions, there would 
be about two thousand trebles, (sup- 
posing only a third part of the chil- 
dren to singin these chorusses,) to about 
three or four tenors aad basses, or had the . 
present annual meeting and performance 
been instituted in his time, he would un- 
doubtedly in the full chorus have thrown 
the air as much as possible into that 
part, which cannot so justly be said to 
predominate over the others, as to drown 
and annihilate them. My principal al- 
lusion is to the first three bars of the last 
movement of the Coronation-Anthem, 
“ God save the King,” &c. and the same as 
repeated towards the end, which as a 
loyal exclamation in unison, appears 
striking enough, but can hardly be called 
singing, being nearly all upon one note. 
As, therefore, the air is here eyidently 
sung by the counter-tenors and tenors, 
supported by the violins in the octave 
above, I should propose in these three 
bars, the boys taking the counter-tenor 
part, and the girls the tenor in the octave 
above, or ia unison with the second 
violin part. And this, being in fact but 
one bar three times repeated, need not 
startle those who with great reason ob- 
ject to the children being taught to sing 
in parts, to which I would make this the 
sole exception. In like manner, as at 
the repetition of the same words in the 
key of A at the 17th bar, the principal 
air is in the tener part; I would have the 
children taught-to sing that part in the 
octave above, instead of the proper 
treble part, as being likely to produce 
a more striking effect. 
{n other parts of the Coronation-An- 
them, and in the Hallelujah chorus, si- 
milar improvements may be made, by 
selecting such parts from the score, as 
have most air or time in them, for the 
children to sing, either in unison or in 
the octave above, as may best suit their 
voices. 
I have yet a fourth observation to 
mention which [ made, viz. the want of 
an organ of more power in the bass to 
qualify the prodigious strength of treble ; 
although Mr. Attwood, by his’ full and 
judicious accompaniment, made the most 
that he could of that, (upon all other oc- 
. 4B2 easions 
