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Leader (1850-1860), 13th December 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 1190, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      FRANKLIN'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE PARABLES . Mr . Mitchell , of Bond-street , Las just published one of the most superb Christmas Books yet issued , and one in every way a grace to the Drawing-room . It is an imperial quarto tastefully bound , and contains the Parables engraved ( not printed ) , with twelve very large Illustrations by Franklin , engraved with great beauty by Nusser of Dusseldorf , Goodall , Lightfoot , Joubert , Blanchard , and Watt . It is difficult by description to convey an accurate idea of the costly beauty of this work as an Illustrated volume ; I shall , therefore , now consider it under its other aspect , that of Art .

      Franklin has evidently bestowed great pains on these Designs , and has succeeded in producing Illustrations which have thought and beauty enough to charm the willing public , if they do not always command the suffrages of those who set up a high standard . They have great merit ; but they have that abiding want of English Painting : —grandeur and fullness of conception . They show thought , but it is first thought . In the drawing I miss that sense of movement and action , which gives reality to a picture ; the attitudes express motion , but the muscles are too often in complete repose . The heads are too often generalized forms , not individual faces . They run into types , misnamed Ideal . The expression is apt to have the same fault .

      Plate I . The Merciless Servant . This is a curious mixture of Raphael and Stoddart , illustrating the general remarks just made , especially in the want of visible muscular activity . The servant in the lower plan , who is struggling with his hard creditor , could not for a moment stand in that position with the muscles of his legs so unstrung ; he would topple over at a touch . Plate II . The Lord of the Vineyard is in many respects superior—perhaps , because the figures are

      in a state of repose . The engraving too is splendid . The faces are individualized and expressive ; the drawing excellent . The back of that man in the centre is a study ; and the disposition and drawing of the hands admirable . But the figure of Christ is very unsatisfactory , both in conception and drawing . The figure is dumpy , the hands out of proportion , and the face namby-pamby . Indeed , throughout , the figure of Christ is a failure—but is it not always so in modern Art ?

      Plate IV . The Faithful Servant will , I venture to say , be : a great favourite . It is in the approved Keepsake style , exquisitely engraved , but no more like Art than sweetmeats are like food . Plates V . and VI . have soiiu'tbmg of the same charm and same defect . It . is hazarding little to way that the sale of the book , after its general appearance , will be owing totho . se plates ! Plate VII . The Sheep and the ( . Units is an attempt at the Michel Angdesque , thi : reverse of terrific or imposing . Yet . there are some happy touches in those figures on the right hand .

      Plate VIII . The Good Samaritan . In the landscape of this there is nice feeding ; but if you look at ; the leg of the Samaritan , you will see that it is not clinging to the donkey ' s side , not even in the faintest manner ; nor is the hand which supports him exerting the smallest effort : the legi . s dangling by the Hide of the donkey , the hand i . 'i-lyin ^ on the Hide of the Samaritan . Plate IX . The Vrodhjal Son is very fine ; well conceived , well drawn . Fine the attitude of the prodigal , shamed and flung upon his father ' s lore — fine tlie calm impassive inquiry of the . servant . Kfruidiii" - behind ! Hut the father is a failure ; . His

      head belongs to the conventional old man ; in Ii ' im face you read neither overflowing joy , nor pitying tenderness . The figure below , of the prodigal among the swine , is perhaps the best in the book . The other plates are weak and commonplace . 1 have thus run through the plates , pausing to indicate defects with a severity and minuteness which , in general , no one thinks of demanding from notices of Illustrated Hooks . I h : » ve done so , beeaiuu

      this work , sumptuous as a (» 'iffc Hook , comes before me wi ^ h serious claims to be considered a work ol Art . A beautiful hook it . unquestionably is , and Franklin ban mirpusKcd himself in its designs ; but when we cea . se to regard it a . s ' an elegance for the drawing-room , and look at the designs with reference to the , deep import of the tsuhjeets , the feelings they arouso in every mind and the high qualities ncccasary for their true imaginative wotting

      forth , the standard of criticism necessarily becomes elevated . I sum up as I began , The Parables of our Lord is a superb Gift Book . Vivian .

      Untitled Article

      HAYDN'S SEASONS . The Sacred Harmonic Society commenced its winter performances on Friday , the 5 th instant , with Haydn ' s last great composition , the Seasons . Every endeavour had been made to do justice to this work , which , though known disjointedly to all lovers of music , had only hitherto been executed by very small orchestras , or in the provinces after very insufficient rehearsal . For the first effective performance , therefore , of the Seasons , we are indebted to the Sacred Harmonic Society . We are the more anxious that the society should have full credit for this production , because it is its first

      attempt to emancipate , itself from leading strings . We fancied the society intended for ever to proceed in the " safe " and beaten track , enriching its coffers without doing anything to warrant its position . Let it have , then , all the commendation it deserves for the production of Haydn ' s work , the success of which will , we trust , stimulate it to the production of compositions hitherto unknown or imperfectly rendered . The advance of musical taste is so considerable , that the curiosity of the musical public is now sufficient to indemnify the society for loss in the production of any work of mark and likelihood .

      The Seasons was the last great work on which Haydn engaged ; and , as a composition , it betrays the declining powers which he himself confessed . " I have done , " he is reported to have said ; " my head is no longer what it was . Formerly ideas came to me unsought . I am now obliged to seek for them , and for this I feel I am not formed . " The subject of the Seasons is not a happy one . It is descriptive , not dramatic ; and it abounds in recitative which , possessing little beauty of phrase , is given with that tedious , drawling enunciation by which English singers commonly mar the best efforts of a composer . The songs are also uninteresting * and feeble . The whole beauty

      of the Seasons , as a musical composition , lies in the concerted pieces ; and among these are to be found much genuine inspiration and some of the finest scoring which even Haydn ever wrote . The choruses , " Come , gentle Spring , " " Hark the tempest , " " Marvellous , Lord , are thy works , " " Hosannas to thy name , O Lord , " will bear successful comparison with any choral writings we have . The work opens with the change from winter to spring , wherein the labours of the husbandman and the beauty of the landscape are described ; and , after an invocation for the blessing of Heaven , concludes with a magnificent Hymn of Praise . Summer opens with the rising of the sun , a feeble imitation of the same idea in the Creation . Then

      follows the burning heat of mid-day , a tempest , and the stillness and repose of ni ^ ht . Autumn introduces us to a bounteous harvest , the joys of the chase , and the revels of the ruddy vineyard . Winter , which depicts the happiness and amusements of the domestic circle , and in which there i . s an arch ballad with chorus , about a country girl who baffles an amorous squire by galloping away on l » i « horse , concludes with a comparison between the seasons and the life of man , and a hymn full of contrapuntal fir : ; and rich harmony . The orchestral writing throughout the work is admirable . The Orchestra and ( 'horns displayed the magnificent training of Mr . Costa . Nothing could he finer than the manner in which the work was done .

      The principals had , as we have indicated , a uiiuctilt and rather ungracious task . They had not music that much could bo made of , and they made a , little of it as possible . The Seasons is a work which will not hear frequent repetition . It would be decidedly unsafe to the treasury to produce it more than once in a season . (« real , compositions become popular with the people in proportion as they are dramatic . The- Messiah , though iimlnmiatir in form , becomes

      ho from the thorough acquaintance which all people have with the persons and the scenes , and the facility with which the mind in such a cast ; overlooks the want of unity , and at once transports itself to the place of action . The rapid success of the . I'Uijnh . is owing ( , <> \[ , n intensely dramatic form It is worth while for writers , as well as for tho . se who areentrusted with the juoducfionof works , especially nacrcd compositions , to consider that their huccchs or failure , with tin ; public will depend on their possessing or wanting this essential feuture . In musical matters the Knglish people can only be HucccHsfully troutcd ua barbarians . Tho i /

      iadaance , long before it has anv notion of a melody . So again with the peonle Marches and Polkas are among the most popul ar because of their measured and strongly marked Rhythm ; and with Rhythm and Melody the peonle stop . Harmony they hear in the mass ; but of the parts of which it is composed they have no knowledge . It is the latter which makes a composition valuable to the amateur : it is the two former which lead the public to appreciate it .

      with the music it hears tions of music are Rhythm , Melody Ha ™ """"" The « tom-tom » and gong of \™ ln ^ T ?™ £ beaten m time and with a strong accent , fornl hh first gradation in music . As he advances in civUil ? tion , we find a certain wild melody . Harmony «« science only to be found among tlie civilized S children begin with Rhythm . A child will fr 7 ? "ent !^ t itS h . . , ^ P erfec tl y in accord " -

      Carry these ideas of Rhythm , Melody , and Harmony in connection with dramatic form , which ineludes them all , and it will be found that all chances of success may be measure d by this standard . Where the dramatic form is present even comparatively an inferior composition may become popular ; but where it is absent , even though it were written with the pen of an angel , it will ere long be found only in the library o 7 the student .

      Untitled Article

      RISE AND FALL OF THE ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY . A few weeks ago , we drew the attention of our readers to the formation of a society for the presentation of new and comparatively unknown works in the higher range of orchestral music . The list of the Orchestra which we gave at the time contained many of the most honoured names in the instrumental department of the profession ; and we rejoiced , not only that such works were to be so produced , but that a love of the art had at length actuated its professors to this effort towards raising it in the eyes of the world . At the eleventh hour an advertisement appeared , indefinitely postponing the first concert . The reason will be found in the following STATEMENT OP THE COVKCIIj . " St . Martin ' s-hall , Long-acre , Dec . 3 , 1851 . "The Council of the Orchestral Society beg leave respectfully to lay before their Subscribers the following statement . " The Orchestral Society is not a commercial speculation , set on foot by an individual or a company of whom the agents are paid servants ; but strictly what its name implies—a Society formed with a special object , composed exclusively of persons fitted by their particular professional talents for the attainment of that object arid governed b y a body of laws , an agreement to abide by which is an indispensable prelude to membership . " The Society is not . only a Society , but an Orchestra , the absence from which of any Member must be injuriuus ,

      and of some fatal to its interests . "The Council , relying on the good faith and common Reuse of the Members , never contemp lated the possibility of men voluntarily accepting posts , and then deserting them on the first occasion when their services were called into re ( juisition . , "On Saturday morning , November 15 , a Itchefirsai for the first Concert was called at eleven o ' clock ; at Uiai hour but . forty-four Members were present , out ot sixty three summoned ; which number , in the course o uii hour , was increased to fift y-one ; nineteen "f ' """ being too late , and tice . lne not having presented _ « ' , i selves at all ; two of these being performers on pniloip . instruments , and having also accepted H 1 )( C'il 1 . y . ' ,. Solo performers Of the proposed absence of Uies

      -. gentlemen I In ; Council had received , pr evious mtim < - tion , with the names of the deputies they h , vi | poned to send ; and , in ordinary cascw , the sc ' . _ of the latter might have been accepted , or Uie- I" - in which they were to take solo parts might a been changed . »» t , in the present instance the I , cil had undertaken—not that , ceitain Ordicstral yi ^ Nhould be performed at certain Concerts , m t" < - ' way that circumstances would permit ; lm t ; . ' . "' r ,.. should he performed by an Orchestra in whicli u- Individ teals should occupy en tain responsible I 10 * 11 ,, . , ; and that ihe Subscribers would have just groun complaint on finding that the . places of tlioae mdiviu had !>(¦«¦ . > supplied by others , however cmiiient . Had liet-u supplied i > y ouiers , nuwivi . « . ] c postpon > - «

      " The Council , therefore , decided on . , first . Concert ; and were even unanimously ot opim <>» ; unlcK * they could obtain from the Members mhim- « . ^ tional guarantee f ,, r carrying out the piospee . u ... ^ integrity , it would be belter ut once to dishon Society . .. i ,,.., l was "The proposition thai tlie Society be ' ^ soly ^ a ^^ met . by tho unanimously expressed wish ol Uie . that tii , . Council would take further time to consul' i ¦ ^ im-nnii by whieh t . h .- Concert : * could be pi-miancm j ^ ^ lied on ; uecoi dingly . having consulted tog' - "J » , .., „„ . tho best means of Having the Society , and llt ' ' ,, ., l time k .-eping f : iith with the Subscribers , the ) 1 , ^; ,,, ; to the Members for Hignature u paper to ""' ' . ,., . lau ,. jn ., : — « VYe , whom ! names arc undeiMgneu " , i ' , „„_ to assist jwrsonalh i . h orchestral pe rlormers at ig ' certH , to be held at St . Martin Vhall , on altciM , d * y t ' TeniJig * , commoucmg December 1 , and we 1 "

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      Untitled Article

      1190 Sfte a > a&er . [ Satdrday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 13, 1851, page 1190, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1913/page/18/