19 APRIL 1845, Page 19

MU SIC.

SECOND PIIIIMAREONIC CONCERT--MONDAYf APRIL 14. PART I.

overture, BurVanth• C. 3L Von Weber. Aria, " 0 ! wie will ich triumphiren," Herr Staudigl, (Die Entrahrung ass item &rain Mozart.

New Coneerto, MS., Violin, M. Vieuxtemps Vieuxtemps.

Recit. " Ah was Birch Beethoven. Aria. "-Per pieti,'"

Sinfonixin A.. (No. 7.) Beethoven..

PART IL

Overture, Anacreon Cherubini.

Madame Blake Meerti 1

Reek. Iolutdir," with Clarionet obit- Girchner, Aria, "-Un amsinte sventurato,"1 gato, M. Blaes.

. The-First Walpergis-Night, Miss H. Williams, Air. Al- len, and Herr Staudigl, withChorus Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

Leader, Mr. T. Cooke-Conductor, Sir -H R. Bishop.

nue concert, perfonned in the presence of the Queen was attended, as usual, by a concourse of visitors for the occasion; and a great effort was made to infuse spirit into the performance. Unluckily, however, success did--not- correspond to the intention-confusion and perverse accident seemed to prevail: now a long pause, for which the audience could not well account, tried their temper-not absolutely repressed in the presence of Royalty; and then the total absence of a singer (on such an occasion tool) astonished- and. embarrassed them. Surely there must be some gla- ring deficiency- of common prudence in the direction: During long years the absence of Royal patronage has been complained of; and when it comes;.. if not to- impart • to good music any- additional lustre, at least to advance the-fortunes and personal.comforts of musicians, no provision is made to deserve it. One singer, reckoning probably on a longer instrumental per- formance, and. not . on an overture instead of a symphony as a first piece, arrives late, and keeps the Queen and her party waiting; another by his absence create* a perfect failure of the total effect of one of the most im- portant: pieces; Mendelssohn's " Walpurgis-Night." Even on ordinary nights, an interruption to the regularity of the programme has generally heen explained-and-apologized for; but when it is desired to give Royalty &favourable view of the art in England, the Directors should be prepared for every contingency: the presence of singers in the anteroom should be enforced by a certain time; and nothing then could interfere -with the music but some inconceivable calamity.

The new-appearances demand our first attention. M. Vieuxtemps, per- formed part of a Concerto of his own; a slow movement followed by a rondo in-A minor. The composition thus curtailed was found quite long enough by the audience; for, though wonderfully well played, it was desti- tnte of all the interest of connected and genuine musical thought. We fear that the bey who some sixteen years ago excited-such astonishment by his mechanism has advanced only in that department: at all events, in an in- strument so sacred to expression as the violin, we listen with reluctance to *faded and weak imitation of De Beriot, constructed entirely, to exhibit mechanical feats, but destitute of melody, and of purpose, when such is, at this time of day, termed a new-concerto. It may be that M. Vieuxtemps has no faculty for original composition; but if he possess genuine taste, it would appear more advisable for him to select from the rich stores ready to his hand than to expose-the-barrenness of his invention-as a composer. This work was so poor as to disqualify the hearer, from forming any opinion on his ?ewer of expression As an exeeutant, his merit is of the-first order: his tone is powerful-amazingly in the altitudes of his instrument, his in- tonation faultless, and his bowing various and beautiful. Here for the pre- sent the catalogue of his merits ends: until he make his violin the organ of tome deep feeling, which it is said he is about to do with Sivori in some of the Quartets of Beethoven, we shall not think his attainments worth much.

Miss Birch has returned from the Continent with increased power, par- ticularly in the low notes of her voice; improved in style; and with a self-reliance and energy that enable her far to -surpass her former attempts. Unfortunately, her former defects remain: her intonation is frequently false, particularly in her high notes; and there is a want in her of that natural heart-music which touches the hearer in the delivery of a canta- bile: This scena-of Beethoven repeats too much the modulations of his own " Tremate," and the melodious character of Mozart's "Non t,emer," to be very interesting as an original creation. The scans performed by Madame Blaes and her husband was a piece of Germanized Bellini, totally commonplace; well enough adapted for a foreign concert-room or a touring expedition abroad, but not for the veteran hearers of the Philharmonic. The lady has a fine voice, which we could wish free from a German twang in-the delivery of sundry of her notes; and M. Blaes possesses a beautiful tone on the clarionet, which he subdues in great perfection. Staudigl sang the fine song of Mozart admirably, though not with the electrical effect of his performance last year. The peculiarity of the occasion, which subdued the warmer demonstrations of the audience, may in some degree have in- finenced his animal spirits. But the musicianship and obliging compliance of tins gifted singer were never seen to greater advantage than in his volunteering at sight the tenor part for which Allen was set down. This carried on the music; but the chorus, wanting-the accustomed cues, were uncertain, and-the work as a whole was spoiled.

The Overture and Symphony Went off as usual; Euryanthe the best.