A musical establishment on a vast scale has been set
on foot at the Surrey (no longer Zoological) Gardens, in the form of a Joint-Stock Company under the Limited Liability Act. A concert-hall has been erected, capable of containing ten thousand persons within its walls, and of affording accommodations, by means of- balconies, verimdahs, and galleries outside, to thousands more, who can hear the mule very well while they enjoy the luxury of the open air. The edifice is of a non- descript order of architecture ; but it has something of an Oriental aspect, is lofty and imposing, and admirable in its acoustical properties. In such an arena musical performances may be successfully given on a scale of magnitude and expense which it would be vain to attempt anywhere else. The musical direction of the establishment has been committed to M. Jullien.
This place of' entertainment has just been inaugurated by a "grand musical festival." On Tuesday there was a morning performance of The Messiah, and an evening concert; and on the subsequent evenings there have been miscellaneous concerts, except last night, when Men- delasohn's Blijah was performed. For The Messiah there were a thousand performers ; perhaps the greatest musical host ever assembled in Eng- land except at the great Handel Commemoration in Westminster Abbey, when, according to Burney, there were eleven hundred. The troops, too, were excellent. In addition to the best Metropolitan performers, almost every cathedral choir and provincial choral society in the king- dom furnished efficient voices. The solo-singers were Madame Clara Novello, Madame Rudersdorft, Miss Dolby, Mr. Weiss, and Mr. Sims Reeves. The performance was on the whole excellent, occasionally sub- lime for the immense body of well-trained voices went well together, though M. Jullien was inclined to hurry the time of the choruses. Every note was as well heard as in Exeter Hall ;• and the multitude listened with the most decorous attention, unless it be called indecorum to burst out every now and then in thunders of applause. After The Messiah, the "Old Hundredth" was sung by a choir of eight hundred voices, conducted by Dr. Wesley, with an effect of indescribable grandeur. The miscellaneous concert in the evening wa.s.like other things of the kind ; but the scene of the brilliantly illuminated hall, with its thousands of people, and the thousands more who were dispersed in groups through the grounds, also blazing with light, was like some en-. chanted palace in a fairy tale.
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