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and was loudly applauded. Mendelssohn's Trio was also very finely executed by the three able artists. Sig. Piatti's Souvenirs de Sonnambula and Herr Molique's two solos were equally charming in their way. M. Hallé accompanied both, and in the three studies of Chopin exhibited his accustomed power. The room was full and the applause hearty.

MERTHYR.-(From a Correspondent.)-A "Grand Conversazione," intended to keep up the character of the Merthyr Musical Union, took place at the Temperance Hall on Tuesday night (9th). The fine and spacious hall was filled in every part. We had three artists from London-Mrs. Alfred Gilbert and Miss Susannah Cole, sisters, vocalists; and Mr. Alfred Gilbert, pianist. The Society's local orchestra attended. Besides the Londoners," there assisted Mr. Wilkes, the well-known and much appreciated pianist, to whom the Society are so much indebted; the Misses Taylor and Wait, vocalists; and the Messrs. Hopkins, Davies, Edwards, Hughes, Haddock, Faulkner, and Llewellyn, who sang catches. The Saturday Evening Concerts are going on swimmingly.

MAIDSTONE.-A concert, under the auspices of the Literary and Mechanics' Institute, took place in the Corn Exchange, on Wednesday evening, the 10th, the singers being the Misses Brougham, Mr. Henri Drayton, and Mr. Augustus Braham. Mr. F. Chatterton performed on the harp, and Mr. George Case on the concertina.

BLACKBURN.-Steps are being taken towards establishing a Philharmonic Society in Blackburn. A preliminary meeting was held on Monday, at the Angel Inn, King-street, when a committee was appointed to obtain members and to call a general meeting in aid of this laudable object. The society will be established in connexion with the Gentlemen's Amateur Band.

LEEDS.-At the People's Concert on Thursday last (the 11th), Haydn's Seasons, Mendelssohn's finale to Lorely, and the overture and finale to Fidelio were played before a large audience. The principal vocalists were Madame Newton Frodsham, Mr. Miranda, and Mr. Hichcliffe. Herr Jahns, the Hungarian tenor, sang two songs with great applause. One, called "Kossuth," composed by himself, was encored. Mr. Spark conducted the whole of the performance.

WORCESTER.Mr. Henry Phillips gave his entertainment, entitled "The City of the Sultan,” at the Natural History Room, on Wednesday evening the 10th instant. The lecture was illustrated with drawings, painted from sketches by various artists, taken on the spot; and in the musical department Mr. Phillips sang several descriptive scenas with much ability. He also favoured the company with some sketches of American life and manners, and sang a new version of words to the air of "The British Grenadiers," and Dibdin's well-known song ""Twas post meridian."

THIRSK.-On Monday the 8th, an evening concert was given in the Assembly Rooms, Savings' Bank, by Miss Birch, Miss Lascelles, Mr. Alfred Pierre, and Mr. Frank Bodda.

BRISTOL.-Mr. H. C. Cooper, the well-known and talented violinist, gave a concert at the Victoria Rooms, on Monday evening, the 8th instant. The band, numerous and efficient, was selected from the Royal Italian Opera, Philharmonic Society, and Orchestral Union. The local journals speak in terms of much praise of Miss Milner, a new soprano, who made her second appearance before a Bristol audience at Mr. Cooper's concert. Her singing of the favourite and very difficult bravura song from Ernani, "Ernani, involami," has been specially mentioned. In Mozart's "Non mi dir," the débutante was not so entirely successful. Mr. Cooper's concert appears to have been a first-rate one, judging from the programme and the executants. The overtures to La Gazza Ladra, Leonora, Ruy Blas, and Masaniello were executed by the band in a superior style, and all loudly applauded. Mr. Cooper played one of his brilliant solos on the violin with the greatest possible effect, and several other members of the orchestra played solos. Mr. Frank Mori conducted. The room was crowded.

PIRACY IN THE COLONIES.

A CORRESPONDENT at Melbourne, Victoria (N.S.W.,) has forwarded to us the following list of musical compositions which have been lately reprinted in Sydney, without the license of the proprietors in England. We believe we are correct in stating that the laws of England afford equal protection to owners of copyrights in the colonies as in the mother country. It would, therefore, follow, that a fraud has been perpetrated under the hope that the distance of the locality would prevent its detection. It is not long since the government of Cape Colony passed a law to license the free importation of American reprints of British copyrights into the colony. Here, then, are two more instances of the freedom with which intellectual property is constantly being treated by the world. These may be added to the many other disadvantages which we lately pointed out as surrounding the musical investments of publishers. What with legal pirates at home, and illegal pirates abroad, they must have enough to do to counteract all their opponents:

Beautiful Venice.

AUSTRALIAN REPRINTS.

In this old chair.

Do not mingle one human feeling. Madoline.
Four-leaved shamrock.
Fairy bay.

Farewell, but whenever.
Farewell to the mountain,
Isle of beauty.

I dreamt that I dwelt.

Kathleen Mavourneen.

Land of the west.
Love not.

Light of other days.
Maid of Judah.

Norah, the pride of Kildare.
Old house at home.

Sweetly o'er my senses stealing.

"Twere vain to tell thee all I feel.

Those evening bells.

We have lived and loved together.
Art thou in tears.
Jeannette and Jeannot.
By the sad sea waves.
Dermot Astore.

Dearest, then I'll love you more.

In happy moments.
I'm afloat.

She wore a wreath of roses.
Scenes that are brightest.
Will you love me then as now.
Oh, charming May.
All's well.

I know a bank.

My pretty page.

When a little farm we keep. What are the wild waves saying. Bohemian Polka.

Beaufort "9

Bridal

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Helena
Camelia

Devonshire
Firefly

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Spirit of the ball Galop. Prima donna Waltzes.

Olga Bridal

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Royal Irish Quadrilles.

MR. CHARLES SALAMAN'S SECOND LECTURE.-If the first lecture was quaint and curious, the second was interesting and instructive. The invention and development of the pianoforte was the theme. Mr. Salaman informs us that the inventor of the pianoforte was an Italian, Bartolomeo Cristofali. This has been disputed, but the lecturer has authority for his opinion, and adduced arguments not to be answered easily. The attempts to improve the harpsichord originated the modern instrument. The quill plectra were superseded by hammers, and thus the harpsichord modulated naturally into the piano. Mr. Salaman displayed much research at this point of his lecture. From the year 1711 down to 1821, all the various improvements in mechanical construction were shown, and some pertinent anecdotes introduced. The mention of the Messrs. Broadwood's name, in connection with the subject of patents and improvements, was received by the audience with marked approval. After alluding to the gradual progress in the pianoforte towards perfection, and the various distinguished manufacturers, Mr. Salaman turned to the pitch of the tuning-fork, which, since Händel's time, has been raised more than a major third. He introduced the tuning-forks of Händel, of Sir George Smart, and of Mr. Costa. The first, instead of striking the C, as now established, gave out the A below; and the second was nearly half a tone flatter than the third. From this it seems evident that the keys are entirely altered since Händel, and that what was easy to sing a century ago is now difficult, if not impossible. When Mozart wrote his music for the Queen of Night in the Zauberflöte, it was less

beyond the compass of the soprano register. Now none but | extraordinary voices can attempt it. In the course of time this gradual raising of the pitch may destroy singing altogether. Mr. Salaman advanced some useful suggestions about "touch" in pianoforte playing, by which, it is to be hoped, some of the young ladies present may profit. The lecture comprised many other subjects upon which we have not time to enter, and concluded with a brief review of some of the most distinguished pianists and composers. The musical illustrations consisted of Haydn's Adagio in B, from the sonata in E flat, No. 7; the first movement of Sebastian Bach's concerto, called Nello Stile Italiano; Clementi's sonatas in C, the first movement (Op. 34); the whole of Philip Emanuel Bach's sonata in B flat; the Allegro Maestoso from Steibelt's sonata, dedicated to Mad. Bonaparte; Weber's Adagio in F, from sonata in C, Op. 24; and Mendelssohn's Andante and Presto Agitato in B minor. Mr. Salaman executed these pieces with the best effect, and was loudly applauded in each. Haydn's Adagio and Mendelssohn's Andante and Presto appeared to please the most. The lecture was delivered with clearness and point. The concert-room of the Marylebone Literary and Scientific Institution, where it was given, was well attended.

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No. 1-"Adoration"-set to Tom Moore's pretty verses, beginning "The turf shall be my fragrant shrine," has nothing sacred in the character of its melody, although it is entitled "sacred song." The style is a melée of Balfe and Bellini, and the accompaniment springs from the same sources. If the composer-G. E. L. R.-be an amateur, which may be guessed from the fact of his withholding his name, the song, which is neither ungraceful nor incorrectly written, must certainly be pronounced creditable to his talent.

No. 2-"I'm an elfin sprite"-is pretty, and would be more acceptable if the harmony of the accompaniment were simple and less strained. The "elfin sprite" is represented as very fidgetty and restless, in Mr. Matthey's music. His interrupted cadences, moreover, are not always happy-instance page 4, where the chord of 6, 4, 2, on C natural, falls upon the 6, 4, on B-a clumsy way of suspending the full close in G. In his suspensions, too, Mr. Matthey should be careful to avoid such mistakes as that at the foot of page 2, where the voice has B in the common chord of G, while, in the accompaniment, C, the fourth, remains suspended. There are three subjects in this song, all of which possess a certain amount of character. The words of Doctor Doran, on the "Where the bee sucks" pattern, are lively and flowing, if not original.

No. 3-" Fairy Gold"-is a ballad without pretence; but the melody is frank, and the accompaniment carefully written. The last four bars at the end of each verse are pretty, and remind us of a passage in the first of Mendelssohn's six songs, dedicated to Miss Dolby, which is in the same key-E major. The words of Mr. A. F. Westmacott embody, in sufficiently graceful verse, the legend of the Fairy Gold, which when once the night and the elves have vanished, appeared as nothing but dry leaves. Mr. G. Townshend Smith, the composer, is well-known as the

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No. 4-"The Fisherman"-belongs to a more ambitious school of vocal music. It is, in fact, a scena, founded on Monk Lewis's metrical legend of the Water-Lady (Qy. Mermaid ?) who catches, instead of being caught by, the fisherman. The story is well illustrated in the music, which is dramatic and highly coloured. There is something of the Schubert manner in the treatment of the accompaniment, which may be termed "descriptive" with propriety, and in the very seductive melody by which the artful river-nymph succeeds in persuading the unfortunate fisherman to take a plunge in her company. The song is very clever, and will suit either a bass or a contralto. It merits the attention of our concert vocalists.

No. 5-"Over the calm and slumbering sea"-is another "Mermaid" song, of which the words and music (both by Mr. C. H. Compton) are in some degree a parody on that of Weber in Oberon. Originality apart, to which it has no pretence, this essay of Mr. Compton may be pronounced graceful. The accompaniment shows the hand of a careful musician.

No. 6-" Petrifaction"-to some cheerless but touching verses by Mrs. Norton, is lachrymose, dull, and oppressively monotonous, without presenting a single point for comment-unless it is to the bare fifth(page 1, bar 1, line 3), which, to be in any key at all, requires the addition of the minor third.

No. 7-"Hark! the Herald Angels sing". a Christmas Hymn, remarkably well voiced, and harmonised in four points, begins too much like the chorus, "He that shall endure," in the second part of Elijah; and the same key is used-F major. The rest calls for nothing but praise. Mr. Tilleard is evidently a musician, and knows his busi

ness well.

No. 8-"The Briton's Address to the Navy"-is another good example of Mr. Tilleard's skill as a writer in four parts for voices. Moreover, the melody is marked and characteristic, and the bold unison, followed by the still bolder passage in full harmony, which terminates each verse, is a point worthy of Arne, or even Purcell. We object, however, to the alteration of Dibdin's words.

No. 9-"Stars of the Summer Night"-is worthy of the poetry to which it is allied-one of Longfellow's chastest lyrics. This is really a beautiful serenade-melodious, flowing, and charmingly accompanied. The point at the reprise-where, after an interrupted cadence, the voice sustains the same note for several bars, while the subject is given in the accompaniment-declares an amount of musical taste for which Mr. Compton had not prepared us in his "Mermaid" song, reviewed above, but for which we now are most happy in being enabled to give him fuil

credit.

No. 10-"Excelsior" (like the hero of the poem)-exhibits a strong aspiration for something beautiful which apparently is not quite attained. The words by Longfellow (Shelley's Alastor in a nut-shell) are difficult to set, and Mr. Hempel has assumed a form too fraginentary to be satisfying. The song begins in D flat and ends in B flat minor; but that is the least objection. Every time the word "Excelsior" occurs, it is led up to by a sort of half recitation, half cantabile, never completed, and always in a new key. Thus we have about eight fragments in eight keys,-skilfully joined together we allow, and written with undeviating purity, but helplessly ineffective for the reasons suggested. We conceive that Mr. Hempel's desire was to illustrate, by the wandering and unsettled form of his music, the continued and vain search of the youth after the unfindable; but it is questionable whether such a subject is fit for music; or whether, if used, it should not rather be forced into the conditions of music than vice versa. We leave this to be decided by poets and musicians between themsatisfied to pay the clever organist of St. Mary's, Truro, our compli ment for the musical spirit exhibited in his composition, which, however we may cavil about forms, is too evident to escape observation. No. 11-"Let us then cheerily wait for the Spring"-is a winter song, as may be guessed from its title. It has been written and published with a good object-viz: the benefit of the Patriotic Fund. It is to be hoped, then, that the sale may be large. The words, by Mr. Arthur Ransom, are poetical, and show talent, inasmuch as they indicate the power of the author to treat a hackneyed subject in anything but a common-place manner. The music, though appropriately simple and unpretending, is written in a musicianlike manner; and there is a smack of the old English tone about the melody which suits the words, and by no means detracts from the merits of the song, the sentiment of which, on the contrary, it enhances. At the bottom of page 2 (bar 2) there are fifths between an inner part and the bass, in the accompaniment (A, E,—B, F sharp), which may as well be expunged in future editions. The "Winter-song" of Mr. Lindridge will, then, be critically unassailable as it is lively and pretty.

NOTICE.

In accordance with a new Postal Regulation, it is absolutely necessary that all copies of THE MUSICAL WORLD, transmitted through the post, should be folded so as to expose to view the red stamp.

It is requested that all letters and papers for the Editor be addressed to the Editor of the Musical World, 28, Holles Street; and all business communications to the Publishers, at the same address. CORRESPONDENTS are requested to write on one side of the paper only, as writing on both sides necessitates a great deal of trouble in the printing.

TO ORGANISTS.-The articles on the new organs, published in the volume for 1854, will be found in the following numbers: 28, 30, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 42, 45, 47, 49, 51.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

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A PROFESSIONAL CHORUS SINGER.-It is necessary to inform our
correspondent, and all whom it may concern, that we can print
no letters whatever on this or any other subject, in which personal
matters or individual interests are discussed, without the name
and address of the writers," not necessarily'
-to use the words
of a great morning contemporary-"for publication, but as a
guarantee of good faith." We are quite ready to take up the
cause of any injured members of the musical profession, but must
decline to commit ourselves to unauthenticated statements. And,
indeed, no right thinking persons will demand such a sacrifice at
our hands.
SUBSCRIBER TO THE OPERA.-Maria Felicia Garcia made her
first appearance in this country on Monday, June the 6th, 1825,
at the Philharmonic Concerts. On the following Saturday she
appeared, in Meyerbeer's opera of Il Crociato in Egitto, at the
King's Theatre, "when," says a journalist of the day, in some-
what slipshodlanguage," she fully justified our prognostications
and acquitted herself in a style at once full of promise of im-
mediate pleasure, and of highly cultivated talent" which, by
the way, is all he says, and, considering the style of his saying,
which is "full of immediate" bad English, quite enough.

THE MUSICAL
MUSICAL WORLD.

LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 20TH, 1855.

players, and conductors, are obtaining higher and higher terms for their services-the value of which we by no means desire to understate-the musical host itself, the choristers and ". ripieni" fiddlers, the bone and muscle, the arms and legs, of the war, are falling gradually into neglect. In taking up their cause, let it not be supposed that we are unmindful of the Menenian fable, and that, to feed the members, we would starve the belly and dry up the resources of the brain. By no means. We merely wish to call attention to the fact, that, if the brain and the belly appropriate all, the members must sooner or later wither and paralyse-for the blood that circulates is the source of activity, and indispensable to all. The organs of intellect, and the great store-house, can do nothing of themselves, where there is nothing to turn thought into deed, and nothing to nourish by distribution.

To quit metaphor-let us ask, if it is right that those agents, without whose voices and fiddlesticks Händel and Beethoven would be dumb where they ought to be most eloquent and sublime, should receive such scanty consideration and be treated as scurvily as though they were merely chaff or riff-raff? No. It is a manifest injustice. When we are listening to the mighty choruses of Israel in Egypt and Elijah, when we are spell-bound by the mystic magnificence of the Choral Symphony, while acknowledging the talent and decision of the conductor, and the experience of the leading singers and players, we cannot but think at the same instant, and with grateful recognition, of the inestimable services of those numberless voices and instruments, without whose aid the gyrations of the baton would be no more than dumbshow, and the efforts of the "principal performers" puny the best. The world is too apt and insignificant at to emulate the crowd of dancers at a masquerade, who call out "Music!" in a tone of anything but respect, if not indeed of ill-repressed contempt-forgetful that, in the absence of the rhythmic harmony which they regard with such apparent hauteur and indifference, their saltatory evolutions would be simply ridiculous, instead of pleasurable and exciting. It is much the same when a prima donna turns round, with a -as much as kind of half compassion, half disdain, to the bandto say, "Mind what you are about, or I, the soul of all this music, will not sing;" or when a chef-d'orchestre flourishes his stick, and in a tone of authoritative egotism, exclaims Now, then !"—as if the whole depended on the piece of polished wood in his hand, with which he beats the stated measurements of time. How would the prima donna feel, if the players were to fail her at a pinch or the conductor, if the wave of his peremptory baton were to be answered in solemn silence? How they might feel, we shall not pretend to say; how they would look, it is unnecessary to explain.

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THE letter of A Chorus Singer, in our last number, and the comments we felt it our duty to make, seem to have produced a strong impression. That the subject is one which calls for strict inquiry, and that those most nearly concerned in it are entitled to protection, as much as any other class of the musical profession, will hardly be denied. The members of the vocal and instrumental orchestras are like the private soldiers and non-commissioned officers of an With this deep conviction of the importance of the chorus army, without whom all the colonels and generals in the and the orchestra, it will be easily understood that weworld would be at a stand-still. You cannot perform an ora- whose office it is to uphold the interests of all the musical torio or a symphony without the first, any more than you community, quite as much as to weigh the pretensions of can fight an action or carry on a siege without the last. individual performers, and portray the march of artistic Admitting, therefore, that from their numbers and subordi-events-should consider it a bounden duty to come to their nate position—head taking precedence of sinew in all tran- assistance whenever we are called upon, to act as their sactions of life-they must, of necessity, get worse pay, for retained advocates when their cause is just, and as their harder labour, than their superiors, it is not less true that, honest counsel when we conceive them to be in error. unless the great mass which moves at the order and accom- questions, therefore, of the chorus-singers proper, and of the plishes the designs of its chieftains, be well cared for, and in relative positions of amateurs and professors, are declared comfortable circumstances, the whole machine must inevi-open questions, free to be discussed in our columns by all who tably get out of order. may feel disposed to avoid personalities, while speaking the truth without prejudice or fear.

The vicious effect of the present system is every day being felt more severely. While principal singers, solo

The

THERE is but one theme on the carpet at the present moment in our restless busy world of music. Who is to be the future conductor of the Philharmonic (the old Philharmonic) Concerts? Who is to undertake the perilous responsibility of filling up the place left vacant by no less a man than Signor Michael Costa? We have thrown out many hints and suggestions, as our readers know; but all of them have proved unfounded. The question is still a vexed one; and we, as the pipes that convey the springs of information on all matters of musical interest to the very households of our readers, are vexed at being unable to solve it. Nevertheless, though by no means behind the curtain, we have some suspicion of what passes there; and the bruits and whispers of those mysterious recesses, in vulgar theatrical phraseology denominated "coulisses," are not entirely withheld from us. We shall then disclose, without further preamble, what has come to our knowledge since we last addressed our readers.

apparitions of kings, may have stalked across the platform of
the orchestra, and, alternately describing a rapid gyration
over the empty rostrum of the ex-director, acknowledged
their unworthiness by a movement of the head, and, one after
the other, vanished into air, to the dismay of the now un-
directed "seven"-for anything we can say to the contrary.
All this may have happened and more, until the directors,
like the ill-crowned Thane of Cawdor, may have felt inclined
to cry out-" What! will the line stretch out to the crack of
doom?" We can only say that, if the images of those great
continental conductors did actually present themselves to the
imaginations of the seven who represent the aggregate of
Philharmonic wisdom, they were exorcised, laid-in soberer
phrase, kicked out, rejected. The seven would not do.
But now-

"The eighth appears, who bears a glass,
Which shows me (them) many more!"

That eighth was RICHARD WAGNER, in whose glass was
mirrored the "likeness of the appearance" of the MUSIC OF
THE FUTURE, its prophets and its preachers.
The music of the past having lost its charms, that of "the
future" will now have all the more.
The Ode to Joy may
be replaced by Lohengrin, Der Freischütz by the Flying
Dutchman, and the Mount of Olives by the Mount of Venus,
(Tannhäuser.)

When it was decided that M. Berlioz could not manage to release himself from his compact with Dr. Wylde and the New Philharmonic Society (which he would willingly have done, had he possessed the ways and means), the composer of Faust's "Damnation" was abandoned to his fate. It was impossible for him to appear at the head of both the rival Societies-not from any punctilio on his own side, but from the very natural objection of the elder Society to such a divi- "The interchange of contraries is good," said Lord Bacon. sion of his time and influence. Foiled in their endeavours But what a look out for the subscribers! It is well known to obtain the services of one of the foreign conductors who that Richard Wagner has little respect for any music but had been summoned from across the seas to direct the his own; that he holds Beethoven to have been a child proceedings of their formidable rival at Exeter Hall, the until he wrote the Posthumous quartets and the Mass in D, seven directors put their heads together in Hanover-square, which he (Wagner) regards as his own starting points (!); that and came to the sapient resolution of applying to another. he entertains much the same opinion of Felix Mendelssohn Proh pudor! The bâton decided upon was that of the as Felix Mendelssohn was wont to entertain of Richard highly respectable Kapellmeister of Stuttgart, Herr Peter Wagner; and that, finally, he is earnestly bent on upsetting von Lindpaintner. Peter was to be applied to without all the accepted forms and canons of art-forms and delay; but in case that his very hard taskmaster, the King canons which Bach and Händel, Haydn and Mozart, of all the Wurtemburgs, refused Peter so protracted a Beethoven and Mendelssohn respected-in order the more leave of absence, the Philharmonic stick should be surely to establish his doctrines that rhythm is superfluous, vested, without further palaver, in the hands of Mr. counterpoint a useless bore, and every musician ancient or Charles Lucas, a director, who, on one occasion, had dis- modern, himself excepted, either an impostor or a blockhead. tinguished himself as Sig. Costa's substitute, when the great Now such rhodomontade may pass muster in the dreary Neapolitan bâtonnier declined to conduct the overture to streets of Weimar, where Franz Listz reigns, like a musical Parasina. Thus was the decision of the seven directors. King Death, and quaffs destruction to harmony and melody; "The appearance of the likeness thereof was as the likeness of or in the aesthetic purlieus of Leipsic, where, muddled with the appearance of -a whale. Peter was loth; or Peter beer and metaphysics, the Teutonic dilettanti have allowed was busy, or asleep, or too wide awake. At any rate, Peter their wits to go astray, and become dupes of the grossest could not, or would not, come. Thence, it will be concluded, charlatanism; but in England, where Liszt was never much the stick was formally applied to Mr. Lucas. "Not by no thought of, and where the beer and the philosophy are means"- -as the spectre, in Giovanni on Horseback, used to manufactured from more substantial and less deleterious say at Astley's. The stick was still in search of a conductor- stuff, it can hardly be. If the brilliant meteor, Berlioz, like Cœlebs in search of a wife, or Diogenes of an honest man- failed to entice the musical mind of this country from its a "man of wax." It had only just been declared illegal to devotion to the bright and pure spheres of art, offer the conductorship of the concerts to any one, foreigner into his own erratic and uncertain course, what chance or native, who was resident in London. The illegality-pro- can there be for the duller Richard, with his interminvided for the occasion-may account for no application having able pamphlets? We have no objection to see Lohengrin been made to Mr. Benedict, or to Herr Molique, or to Mr. or Tannhäuser, without the music; and Mr. E. T. Smith, after the run of Meyerbeer's Etoile du Nord, might venture with some effect into those unexplored territories (Tannhäuser would look formidable in a transparency). But we trust Mr. Gye and Lord Ward will not be tempted into the Wagnerian waters; for if ever there was a veritable man-mermaid it is Richard, who looks fair enough above stream, but whose end is shrouded in a muddy quagmire of impenetrable sophistry.

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Sterndale Bennett (!). Further consultations took place further propositions, objections, deliberations, and so forthhuis-clos. The directors may have called up spirits, like Macbeth-for aught we know. The "fetches" of seven great continental conductors, appearing in grim succession, may have tortured with doubts the brain of the perplexed directorate; Schumann of Düsseldorf, Lachner of Mannheim, Eckert of Wien, Hiller of Köln, Hanssenns of Brussels, Kücken of Stuttgart, and Taubert of Berlin, báton in hand, like the seven

Whether it be true, as we have heard, that Mr. Anderson,

one of the Directors of the Philharmonic, has set out on a | journey, to find Wagner, and bring him to England, we cannot positively assert. Nor are we in a condition to answer for the contingency-that, in case the "Music of the Future" should be found coy and unwilling, and Wagner refuse to bite the Philharmonic-hook, the music of the past is to be ferretted out at Hanover, and in the person of a venerable imitator of Carl Maria von Weber-Heinrich Marschner-conducted in state to Hanover-square, and there invested with the stick. All we can say for a certainty is that we shall say nothing more at present, since we know nothing more than what we have confided to our readers. We leave it to their own acuteness to glean the truth from out of an unusual cloud of mystery, surmise, and doubt.

** According to the latest intelligence, Mr. Anderson, one of the directors of the Philharmonic Society, has gone to Zurich. The object of his journey is to engage Herr Richard Wagner, composer of Tannhäuser, etc., to conduct the eight concerts for the season 1855-Mr. Costa having seceded. It is a long way to travel for such a purpose, and in the snow too; but we believe Herr Wagner to be an adept at the bâton; and that is important. It would be of no use applying to any ordinary phenomenon. The task of stepping into the shoes of the Autocrat of all the Orchestras is hardly less perilous, in a harmonious point of view, than that of mounting the throne of a deceased Czar, in a political sense. Herr Wagner, however, is not an ordinary, but an extraordinary phenomenon; and we understand he entertains very decided opinions of his own. Thus, it is possible, things may go on resolutely, if not smoothly. Herr Liszt will, of course, travel from Weimar to London, and play some of his latest "arabesques;" for where Wagner is, Liszt is sure to come, in shadow, if not in substance.

With Hector Berlioz at the "New" Philharmonic, and Richard Wagner at the "Old," we may expect some thunder this season. M. Jullien should prolong his concerts at Covent-Garden, and drown it.

So that, after all, the prognostications in our "leader," above, have been in some degree justified.-(Friday, Jan. 19, 1855.)

M. JULLIENS CONCERTS.

THE "Beethoven Festival" took place on Tuesday night. The audience was as dense as that of the preceding Tuesday, when the Mendelssohn Festival was given. These festival nights have proved so attractive, that Mozart's name is about to be added to those of Beethoven and Mendelssohn.

The selection comprised the symphony in C minor, the fifth; the overture to Leonora-the grandest of the Fidelio set; the pianoforte concerto in C minor; the violin concerto-the only one Beethoven wrote; and the contralto song, "In questa tomba." Here was a regular Philharmonic Concert, with a difference the visitor paid one shilling or half-a-crown, as it suited his pocket, in place of half-a-guinea or a guinea. Is there not good reason then for M. Jullien being supported by the public? The concert commenced with the overture, which was executed with great vigour and precision. The pianoforte concerto is one of Beethoven's earlier works, and shows the influence of Mozart in every movement. It was well chosen by Madame Pleyel, who has seldom been heard to greater advantage. Her performance was not only marked by that mechanical perfection for which she is always noted, but distinguished by consummate taste. The rondo was a prodigy of grace and esprit; and a new charm was imparted to the theme at each "reprise," by means of those delicate nuances, which are only in the province of genius to conceive, and of the most perfect art to realise. In the

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Like Mendelssohn, Beethoven wrote but one concerto for the violin. This was played on Monday night by Herr Ernst, in a manner to justify all the praises that have been lavished on him as an executant of classical music. His performance was grand and intellectual from first to last, and each movement was received with genuine applause. The cadenza introduced in the first movement, was novel and elaborate, and entirely in keeping with the character of the concerto. It is admirably written, and was executed with astonishing brilliancy and fire. The cadenza in the rondo, on the other hand, was-is as it should be-shorter and less ambitious. The whole performance was masterly throughout, and bore the impress of that profound and imaginative spirit, without which no artist can pretend truly to interpret the works of Beethoven. The applause bestowed upon Herr Ernst, after every movement of the concerto, was worthy of himself, and of the music, and a strong sign of the capability of M. Jullien's audience to appreciate the highest class of composition and performance.

which she gave with perfect taste and the most genuine Miss Dolby was encored in the lovely song above named, expression. A song possessing so little of ad captandun character, and eliciting such an unmistakeable fiat of approbation from so vast an assembly is a sign of the times. Time was, when if Beethoven's "In questa tomba oscura" had been presented to a such a mixed crowd, it would have stood the chance of being "silenced" impromptu.

The symphony brought the first part to a termination; and although it was nearly half past ten o'clock when it was concluded, and the audience had beenlistening to "classic" music for two hours and a half, there was not the slightest symptom of weariness manifested. It was played, as it always is under M. Jullien's direction, superbly.

This "Beethoven Night" proved one of the most successful of the season; and, had M. Jullien time, no doubt he would be induced to repeat it. The "Mozart Festival" is announced for Tuesday next,

ST. MARTIN'S HALL.

MR. HULLAH's third concert took place on Wednesday evening, to a crowded audience. The incident of the evening was the first performance of a new oratorio, the composition of Mrs. Mounsey Bartholomew, and entitled The Nativity. The subject, we need scarcely say, is the birth of the Saviour and its influence upon humanity. The episode of John the Baptist is introduced, and the opening chorus involves the scriptural account of the beginning of the world. Thus it will be seen that the book is neither narrative, nor descriptive, but didactic. At the same time we must add that, while nothing can be more lofty and impressive than such a theme, nothing could have been more unfortunately selected for the purposes of a lady-composer. Every one in musical circles is aware that, under the name of Miss Mounsey, the authoress of The Nativity published a number of songs, etc., which entitled her to high consideration, independently of her sex. Had she continued in this branch of musical invention, she would have continued to win laurels, we are sure; but justice compels us to say that she has none of the requirements indispensable to so high an effort as the composition of an oratorio; and that The Nativity is no oratorio at all, but merely a series of unelaborate and unpretending pieces, for chorus, and solo voices, never bordering on grandeur, and with no definite purpose, decision of style, absolute connection, or anything at all approaching to elevation. That there are many melodious phrases, and that the songs especially are gracefully accompanied, and with a real feeling for harmony, will be readily believed by all who are acquainted with the published music of Mrs. Mounsey Bartholomew. But here respect for truth commands us to desist; and, indeed, the work does not call for further or more detailed

examination.

The general performance, under Mr. Hullah's direction, though not perfect, was praiseworthy. The solo singers dis

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