The eighth concert of the Philharmonic Society, on Monday last,
ter- minated the series for this season. It presented two novelties : the ap- pearance of Herr Pauer, a young pianist from Vienna, who played Hum- mers fine Concerto in A minor, in a style so finished and masterly as to obtain the unanimous suffrages of the audience ; and the performance of a manuscript Overture by Mendelssohn,—an early work, which the com- poser himself seems not to have cared for, and which certainly would not add to his fame did it require any addition. The symphonies were Mo- zart's Jupiter and Beethovea's _Pastorale, and the other Overture was Weber's Euryanthe. The vocal pieces, extracted from Faust, Iphigenia in ,fulis, and Don Giovanni, were sung by Madame Castellan, Pischek, and Formes. This concert gave great satisfaction to an audience which was as full as it could, have been with any comfort, and would have been literally overflowing had it not been for the proper precaution of stopping the sale of tickets long before the demand for them had ceased. The old complaint of want of novelty, made every season at the close of these concerts, has been renewed now. We need scarcely repeat the answer we have already given more than once—that to give novelty there must be novelty to give ; which everybody who knows anything about the matter knows is not the case. It has been asked, too, why certain eminent performers have not appeared ; in particular, why Thalberg has not played, and Grisi and Mario sung ? We happen to know that all these were applied to, and declined ; Thalberg being occupied with his opera, and the vocal stars not allowed to shine out of Covent Garden.
It has been generally admitted, that the excellent resolution adopted at the beginning of the season, and strictly adhered to, of keeping the re- hearsals entirely private, has conduced greatly to the improvement of the orchestra.
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