To Tne Editor of The Evening Mail.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 105, 4 May 1874, Page 2

To Tne Editor of The Evening Mail.

Sir—The concluding paragraph of your notice of the recent performance of Costa's oratorio Eli by the Harmonic Society lays it down as a well establishcl maxim that the performance of such music, being a " sacred " concert,should njver be applauded. So fnr as it is a question of taste everyne miy, of course, have his own, I can now believe it possible that some ears may be so " polite " as to be offended ty any outward e\\ ression of approval, and your critic may perhaps hope to reduce us all to en equal state of culture, but if ho puts it upon ihe ground of custom, then I venture to deny that any such custom exists, at any rate in England. He can never have heard, as I hare, twenty thousand pairs of hands and feet thundering oue their applnuse at a Handel Festival at the Crystal Palace, or the even mot c deafening approval and encores of a crowded Exeter Hall audience at ono of the .acred Harmonic Society's concerts, or of the crowds usually present at a Birmingham Musical Festival, in any one of which placeH I fear that " ears p dite " would find themselves in gieat distress. With the solitary exception of the '• Three Choir Fcsr.ivals " which are held in Cathedrals, and at which the applause is, I believe, only a little less hearty, th ugh I have never bien present at one, no such practice as tbat suggested by your critic exists in England, and I say further that none such could be enforced, for the audience does not exist, ana I hope never will, that could sit in silttnce through a worthy performance of the Elijah or any euch masterpiece, and should Buch a collection of " ears polite" ever be brought together as to succeed in doing so, I fear the performers' part would bo but po>rly done, for anything more miserably dispiriting than a dumb and apathetic audience no one who is a performer can imagine. May ti be long before onr Nelson audiences become so. I am, &c, Vos PIA-uditb.