The two Philharmonic Societies have had concerts this week. The
Old Society, departing from their usual course and yielding seemingly to the "pressure from without," produced a bulky novelty in the shape of a symphony by Schumann,—a German celebrity of the day, who has been set up as a rival to Mendelssohn, and by a considerable critical party as- serted to be the superior artist. The symphony in question is one of his notable productions • but its performance on this occasion proved a total failure. It was listened to for three-quarters of an hour in dreary silence, and condemned by the general voice as a laboured and abortive attempt at originality. In compensation for this infliction, we had Beethoven's symphony in D, the overtures to Leonora and Buy Bias, and some ex- cellent vocal music, sung by Castellan and Gardoni. The Queen and Prince Albert, with their royal visitors from Portugal, were present.
The New Society also departed from their usual course at least from their professed plan, for they gave no novelty to speak of. Their con- cert was exactly in the style of the Old Society. We had Beethoven's symphony in C minor, one of Mendelssohn's pianoforte concertos played 'by Halle, Mendelssolin's overture to the Midsummer Niglit 'a Dream, and Weber's to the Roder of the Spirits ; with some good singing by Mesdames itudersdorff and Amedei. The result was, that this concert, the last of the season, was by far the most successful.
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