Sig. Tamburini sang with great ability some arie of Rossini—(everlasting Rossini!) which were well received: but many wished that he, as well as other singers, would a little enlarge their repertoire, and endeavour to learn that there are other composers besides those of the last dozen years whose works are worth studying, and would be infinitely more acceptable to real judges of music than pieces which, whatever their merits, are worn threadbare, and become almost nauseous from frequent repetition.
Mr. Marshall (of Oxford) led the band at these concerts, and Mr. Vicary (a Mus. Bac. of this University) sat at the piano-forte.
OXFORD COMMEMORATION CONCERTS.
To the EDITOR of the HARMONICON.
Oxford, July 8th, 1833.
SIR,
IT is very well known that many persons are annually induced to visit Oxford at the time of The Commemoration. The town is always unusually gay at this season. The friends and relatives of the students go thither to gratify the proud satisfaction they feel in hearing a brother or cousin recite his prize poem in the theatre; strangers, of all ranks and degrees, to hear speeches in Latin and Greek, of which they do not understand a syllable, and to see—the lions! Hence it follows that throughout both the University and city there is visibly a greater air of gaiety, more stir and bustle in the streets, and in each “lane and alley green,” you hear more sounds arising from the “busy hum of men” (and women too) at this particular time than at any other part of the year. To, stroll in Christ Church meadow, and hear the “mighty Tom” beat the hour, or to loiter at sunset in “Addison’s Walk,” is, with many of those annual visitants, a classical event, much talked of, and never to be forgotten. You may not, perhaps, be aware that, at the Commemoration, it is usual for the stewards of the music-room to get up some musical performances, and which, for the reasons before stated, have generally been well attended. According, therefore, to their usual custom, two concerts were announced for the evenings of Tuesday and Wednesday, the 18th and 19th of June last, upon which occasion they (the stewards), with a spirit of liberality that has indeed marked all their former proceedings, engaged (and it is said at a very large sum) Madame Malibran and Signor Tamburini. Nor did they stop here; for in order to make the attraction still greater, and at the same time to render the performances as perfect as possible, to those eminent and celebrated vocalists was added M. de Beriot, who, I understand, is confessedly the finest and most finished performer on the violin either in this or any other country.
That the performers were few in number will not be disputed; but, to borrow a theatrical phrase, they were all “stars,” and of the first magnitude. With a view to accommodate the public in general, and that “the listening crowd” might meet with no impediment, the Town Hall (being larger than the music room, where the concerts are usually given) was, by permission of the mayor, fitted up, at a considerable expense, for the occasion.
The programmes were printed and circulated; and I beg leave to send you a copy of each, to enable both you and your readers to form an opinion for yourselves of what I shall venture to call the musical treat that was prepared to gratify the excited expectations, and realize the anticipated pleasures of, what was naturally enough conjectured would prove, a crowded audience: for, be it remembered, the aforesaid three eminent performers were new at Oxford.
FIRST CONCERT, Tuesday, June 18, 1833.