THALBERG.
M. Thalberg, who has returned to England after an absence of several years, gave a concert on Monday evening, in Exeter Hall; not the best lo- cality in the world for exhibiting to advantage the powers of a pianoforte- player and the qualities of his instrument, but the best in London for another purpose more important in the eyes of the beneficiaire—that of bolding the greatest amount of money. The concert differed from those which be was in the habit of giving in this country in one respect—instead of relying entirely on his own attraction, he called in the assistance of a small orchestra and several vocalists. In himself there appeared no change whatever, either as regarded the kind of music he • played or his' manner of playing it. He gave us two old acquaintances—" fantasias" on airs from the Sonnambula and Don Giovanni; and a " capriccio " on airs from Don Pasquale, in which he exhibited, exactly as he has done a thou- sand times before, the unequalled rapidity, of his finger, the strength and fulness of his tone, his power of _ringing it popular melody and at the same time enveloping it in a profusion of florid accompaniments, and (we must add) the monotonous sameness of the treatment of all his subjects. The hall was exCessivelicrowded, and the audience were loud in their expressions of admiration.
Previous page
