The gentlemen Who formed the Council of the late Orchestral
Society have addressed to the subscribers .a statement explaining the reason of the failure in giving the first concert as announced, and of the consequent dissolution of the society. It amounts, in substance, to this—that though a complete orchestra had been formed, every member of which had volun- tarily entered the society and engaged to fulfil the duty belonging to him, yet a large portion deserted the society on the first occasion when their services were called into requisition. On Saturday the latb. November, two days before the advertised concert, the general rehearsal was to have taken place ; but, out of the sixty-three members of the band, only forty-four were present at the hour appointed ; which number, in the course of an hour, was increased to fifty-one. In the ab- sence of so many persons holding essential places in the orchestra, the rehearsal could not take place, and the concert, in this emergency, was postponed. A meeting was subsequently held, at which a paper was tendered for signature, whereby the members of the orchestra undertook to attend the concerts on the nights fixed, and not to accept any incompatible professional engagements. This paper was signed by only eighteen names ; and no alternative remained but the dissolution of the society ; the Council "preferring rather that the time, labour, and money which they had devoted to the organization of the society, should be wasted, than that they should continue answerable for engagements which they had no means of fulfilliag."
Previous page
