THE PHILHARMONIC CONCERTS.

THE second concert, on Monday night, displayed an unusual activity on the part of the Directors. The scheme assumed a new feature ; and the old form, which, like a policy of insurance, always began and ended with the same words, was for once discarded. This unwonted energy may produce some good fruit in time : it is something to have broken through the trammels of mere precedent, and to have shaped the bill of a Philharmonic Concert in a new form. It is true that the immediate result was to produce a succession of pieces far inferior to those which we are accustomed to bear. This we can forgive. The choice of pieces affects only a single concert : the example of Monday night may ad- vantageously change the character of many. This was the schemer

AC I.

Sinfouia iu F ..

Second Finale, Oberon C. M. VON %Bra.

Concerto, Violin, Mr. &sailors KILEOTZER.

Scene, Miss ltsmoarit, " Ocean. thou mighty monster "

(Oberon) C. M. VON WEBER.

Overture, Resvessfo Cellini. (first time of performance in

London) BERLIOZ. ACE II.

" Lobg qang," a Hymn of Praise, (first time of perform-

ance in London) F MENDEIzzoOR BAREHOLDY. Leader, Mr. "AMER—Conductor, Mr. LUCAS.

Rtcs's Sinfonia was one of the many proofs that a man may be taught to write but not to invent. It is a composition secundum artem—every thing squared according to rule and arranged with becoming propriety, but destitute of the additional quality which alone can give all others value ; having no touch of genius, no unity of design, nothing which seizes the attention or dwells in the memory. It has enjoyed a long repose on the shelves of the Society's library ; and there, for the future, it bad better remain.

BERLIOZ'S Overture is a composition of a very different stamp. RIES'S Sinfonia is the feeble copy of a great model, but BERLIOZ'S Overture has no model or counterpart in the whole region of the art. It seems that he has a reputation in Paris ; and in any place where noise is regarded as the prime attribute of music, BERLIOZ will be hailed as musics princeps. The Overture to Benvenuto Cellini, (why so called?) is more like a modern pantomime overture than any thing else. A burst to begin with, then violini pizzicati all' unisoni, then a jig, finally a crash—not a crash so much by the band, as a crash that over- whelms it. Every noisy instrument of modern invention (and their name is legion) is pressed into the service ; and, accustomed as are our ears to such combinations, this exceeded all. Such a din was never before heard within the walls of the Hanover Square Rooms. As there is no ranter who need despair of obtaining disciples in London, so no musical abortion is ever produced without having some real or pre- tended admirers. To be unlike any thing else, is taken and alleged as the sure evidence of genius ; and the reception of BEETHOVEN'S Sinfo- nias is appealed to as a parallel case with that of BERLIOZ ! Between the two composers, unquestionably, there is a similarity—like Mace- don and Monmouth, their names begin with the same letter ; but BEETHOVEN was not admired because he was not understood . the baud was groping in the dark, and his effects dawned upon us by degrees. Those who remember the first trial of some of his Sinfonias well know this to have been the fact. But in BEREIOZ there is nothing unintelli- gible—there is nothing difficult : to write uncouth passages, to string together unconnected and strange phrases, and above all, to make a hideous din, requires neither genius nor skill. It was right to produce a composition which has occasioned "a sensation " at Paris ; but the volley of hisses with which it was received will save us from a repeti-

tion of such an infliction. •

The other novelty was MENDELSSOHN'S " Hymn of Praise," which was brought out at the late Birmingham Festival. MENDEI.SSoMN has written several pieces of a similar kind, of which we cannot regard this as one of the best. Like all writers who hare no style of their owl], the author of the " Hymn of Praise" adopts, either by choice or unconsciously, many. Sometimes HANDEL is in the ascendant, then WEBER, then Baca, then MOZART. Reminiscences or parodies on all these writers occur by turns ; and though variety is thus insured, it is at the expense of that quality which marks the work of one great mind. The Hymn begins with a sinfouia of three movements ; in which passages occasionally occur of great beauty, but which, regarded as the introduction to a sacred composition, is both too long and out of place. The choruses display their author's skill in fugal counterpoint, and the accompaniments discover his knowledge of instrumental toms bination ; but the effect of the whole is so heavy, that no inconsiderable portion of the audience departed before its conclusion, and the applause gradually subsided at the termination of each successive movement, till at length it ceased altogether. The airs are singularly destitute of melody ; any attempt at which appears to be systematically avoided. The translation is a wretched affair ; the language of the Scriptures burlesqued and stripped of sense and grammar.

BLAGROVE played a concerto of KREUTZER, with his usual finished execution ; but the composition, in itself, was scarcely worth the trouble.

In the first act of the concert was introduced a scene from Oberon. Any revival of that glorious opera is welcome ; and although the portion selected for performance was not the most effective for a concert-room, we were glad to hear it again. Miss WILLIAMS gained no credit by her performance of the Mermaid's Song ; and Miss Ram- FORTH was prevented, by some change in the bill at Covent Garden Theatre, from appearing at the concert in time for her song, " Ocean thou mighty monster" ; which, though delayed to the close of the con- cert, was the only piece during the evening that excited the sympathies of the audience.