PHILHARMONIC CONCERTS.

THE concert of the 21st of March 1836, will be memorable in the annals of the Philharmonic Society, for an exhibition of vocal in- competency throughout an entire evening, wholly without parallel. We never heard ally thing so thoroughly bad, so completely destitute of one bright or redeeming feature, as the vocal music of Monday, nor ever witnessed so general a feeling of dissatisfaction and disgust. The audience, very properly, regarded such an exhibition as an insult, and resented it by loud disapprobation in the first act, and in the second by generally quitting the room long before the concert terminated. Was there ever such a jumbling together of gigantic instrumental power and vocal weakness as this scheme exhibits ?

ACT I.

Sinfonia, in D

C. POTTER.

Aria, Signor CARTAGENOVA, " 10 I'dM01" (I A'ormatnai a Pariei) Mr:RCM/ANTE. Concert-I:track Pianoforte, Madame DULCICEN WEBER. Aria. Madame COLLICONI-CORTI. " Costa Diva" (Norma).— BELLINI. Overture," Der Beherrscher der Geister" WEBER.

ACT H.

Sinfonia, in B flat

BEETHOVEN.

Aria. Siotor WINTER, " Che vidi" (Zelmira) Rossini. Concertino, Violin, Mr. BLAGROVE Spoon.

Duetto. Madame COLLEONI-CORTI and Signor CARTAGENOVA. " Anna tu piangi" (Maometto Sec ado) SOSSTNT. Overture, Die Aram:116re MOZART. Leader, Mr. WEICHEEI.—Conductor, Mr. C. POTTER.

Let us deal first with the more grateful part of our occupation. Porren's Sinfonia, though not the work of a great mind, is that of a clever and well-read musician ; one whose ambition is to follow in the track which others have marked out, and to catch, where he can, some of their inspiration It is not his best Sinfonia; but still we heard

it with pleasure, and thought it worthy of performance even at these concerts. That of BEETHOVEN is one•of the stock pieces, and is heard with unabated delight at every new performance. We ought particu- larly to notice the excellent playing of CARD and DENMAN ; the first of whom supplied NICHOLSON'S place temporarily, the latter has per- manently succeeded MACKINTOSH. DENMAN'S tone more nearly re- sembles that of .Hor.mes than any of his successors ; arid in roundness and fulness far exceeds that of BAUMANN, the Fagotto Primo of the King's Theatre.

Madame DULCKEN played WEBER'S Concert piece admirably. The brilliant colouring of this great master was fully brought out by her powerful and rapid finger. BLAGROVE'S Concertino was, if possible,

yet more interesting and more successful. The writers of violin con. certos are, for the most part, only known as such ; but SPOHR'S com- positions for his instrument display not only the brilliancy of their author's execution but the elevated character of his mind : we listen not only to the principal performer with wonder, but to the whole com- position with delight. They have a character of their own—unlike and beyond that of any similar productions of any age or country. In this Concertino there was more of that sort of feeling evolved which it is the province of vocal music to engender, than in all the Songs and

Duets of the evening : the latter appealed only to the ears, the former went directly to the heart. BLAG ROVE has enjoyed the advantage of

studying his instrument under Smile, and he proved himself worthy of such a privilege. It was not merely the graceful facility of his execu- tion and the sweetness of his tone, but the soul and spirit which he in-

fused into every passage, that excited the attention and won the sym- pathy of his hearers. BLAGROVE now stands, if not first, certainly on a level with any of our violin-players. Let us now turn to the Vocal music,—and we do it "more in sorrow than in anger ; " for it is really grievous to contemplate and record such an exhibition as this scheme presents. The pieces were all of the same feeble and puny school, alike monotonous, stupid, and noisy. The first, which was very bad, was the best ; the second was puffed into a little transient fame solely and entirely by PASTA'S singing; the third is a scrap frorn Zelmira, bereft of the only feature (the accom- panying chorus) which could have given it either interest or relief; the fourth is a tiresome duet by Rossmr, to which a movement by DONI- ZETTI was appended, in order to tempt the audience to hear it out. All this the Directors well knew : here was tio surprise—no experi- mentalizing on what might or might not fail ; they knew that WINTER (who seems to have but one conceit-song) tried this very one before, and they knew its fate ; they knew all the patching and mutilating that was going on ; and, by their actions, they abetted, sanctioned, and con- firmed it. The singing was quite worthy of the music—they ran, as the old song has it, "in a perfect parallel." The men vied with each other in shouting—no dustman could have better topped his part: the poor lady afforded the only amusement to her auditors ; who at first looked serious and solemn, but as she went on, to be grits e exceeded all power of face,' and a general titter ran round the room. All this hap- pened precisely as might have been anticipated ; it was a result which every one who looked at the scheme regarded as inevitable. Grapes do not grow on thorns or figs on thistles ; neither does execrable music and worse singing change its character by being transplanted to the Philharmonic orchestra. Nay, its deformity appears the more palpably disgusting. At the Italian Opera, these songs are heard in connexion with others not better, perhaps (if that be possible) wcuse; but here ! behold EE1.1.1NT assailed by IVEBER both in front and rear ; and Hog. msn, in his feeblest mood, crushed, annihilated, by BEETHOVEN and Santa. Now all this is the deliberate act of the Philharmonic Direc- tors. How they can justify it to the Society, to their subscribers, or to themselves, we are at a loss to conjecture. Verily they stand at pre-. sent in a most humiliating situation.