It was a happy idea of Mr. Gye to give
a series of weekly concerts at the Crystal Palace. They were set on foot to furnish him with the - means of keeping his great establishment together : for which purpose he contracted with the Crystal Palace Company to give the concerts for a fixed sum, the Company drawing the proceeds. The"scheme has answered the purpose of both parties ; and the concerts have proved so • attractive and successful, that, though undertaken for a temporary pur- pose, they will henceforth, no doubt, become one of the permanent en- tertainments of the summer season. The quality of the performances has gradually been much improved. At the first they consisted merely of pieces' taken from the repertoire of the Royal Italian Opera; but they are no longer confined within those narrow limits. For instance, at the concert of last week, the great finale of Mendelssohn's unfinished opera, Loreley, (first produced in this country at the Birmingham Festival of 1852,) was a& mirably performed ; the solo part being sustained by Madame Jenny Ney, with greater applause than was bestowed on any other part of the concert. It is now the custom, too, to give the fine old Italian and English madri- gals, sung by a large choir of unaccompanied voices ; a portion of the entertainment which always produces a great effect. The concert-hall (as -it may be called) is capable of holding six thousand people, and its acoustical properties are unexceptionable.
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