Sinfonia, No. 3 SPOHR.
Aria, ‘Per questa belle mano.’ (Mr. Parry, jun.) MOZART.
Concerto Harp. (Mr. T. Wright.) HUMMEL.
Duetto, ‘Che al mio bene.’ (Mrs. Wood and Mr. Braham.) MAYER.
Overture. (Der Freischütz.) C. M. VON WEBER.

ACT II.

Sinfonia, No. 2. BEETHOVEN.
Scena, ‘Per pietà.’ (Mr. Braham.) BEETHOVEN.
Concerto Violoncello. (Herr Knoop.) KUMMER.
Scena, ‘Sì lo sento.’ (Mrs. Wood.) Faust. SPOHR.
Overture. (Zaira.) WINTER.

Leader, Mr. Loder.—Conductor, Mr. T. Cooke.

Spohr’s symphony in E flat is richer in melody and more free from that complication which smells so much of the lamp—from that labour which fatigues the hearer as much as it did the composer, than any one of his instrumental works. His designs are here clearly expressed and readily understood, and we listen to the whole with pleasure, without feeling that any part of it has been too long. It was most accurately performed, as was also Beethoven’s, in D, one of his clearest and most beautiful orchestral productions, sparkling with genius from beginning to end. The calmly grand opening induces us to hope for much, nevertheless the exquisite larghetto surpasses all that had been anticipated. Nor are the scherzo and trio less striking in another style. The overture to the Freischütz went off admirably. The last, Winter’s, we did not hear.

Mr. Wright played Hummel’s celebrated piano-forte concerto in E, arranged for the harp, and executed it in an able manner. Herr Knoop comes from the city of our queen, Meiningen, and was recommended to the notice of the society by his majesty. To do extraordinary things seems to be the object of his ambition, and that to which his labours have chiefly been directed; he therefore can run thirds and octaves with vast celerity and neatness, and play with his left hand close to the bridge, bringing out sounds too high for even a rational violinist to attempt. But this is to please, or at least to surprise, the mob of gentlemen who hear but cannot judge. His tone, the first consideration, is nasal in what we call the legitimate notes of the instrument, and hard in the highest. His taste is not bad, but he has very little of it; and in expression, the vivifying principle of music, he is quite deficient. In short, execution appears to be the god of his idolatry, at whose altar he has sacrificed—if we may judge from a single hearing—nearly all that we consider valuable in the art. The composition he played has been extolled: in our opinion it has very little merit, except of a negative kind. We, however, were very glad to hear him; so we believe were all present, for he was new; and moreover, he has not thrown our own Lindley into shade, but, on the contrary, taught us to value him more highly.

The vocal part of this concert did not prove very successful. Mr. Parry, jun. sang Mozart’s aria very well, but it did not excite much interest. The duet of Mayer has not strength enough for these concerts, and Mr. Braham was not in good voice, the influenza had just commenced an attack on him, by which he was afterwards confined. This state of health of course operated in the scena of Beethoven, much of which, we may also add, is hardly vocal, especially the cacophonous run of semitones. The company were so exhausted by the unreasonable length of Herr Knoop’s concerto, that they left Mrs. Wood to sing the fine scena from Faust to few more than the orchestra by which she was accompanied. Upon the whole, then, it must be confessed that the present performance was not of the most brilliant kind.

SIXTH CONCERT, Monday, May 13, 1833.

ACT I.

Sinfonia, No. VII. HAYDN.
Aria, Signor Rubini, ‘O cara immagine.’ (Il Flauto Magico) MOZART.
Concerto, Piano-forte (in D minor), Mr. Mendelssohn Bartholdy MOZART.
Aria, Madame Cinti Damoreau, ‘Deh vieni, non tardar,’ (Le Nozze di Figaro) MOZART.
Overture, Bibiana PIXIS.

ACT II.