HARMONIC SOCIETY'S CONCERT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XL, Issue 197, 11 August 1876, Page 2

HARMONIC SOCIETY'S CONCERT.

Severe losses In the ranks of the Harmonic Society necessitated the abandonment of the important work which had lacely been carefully practised; and was all but ready for production —Weber's Mass in E flit, and obliged the conDuctor to fall bask upon a miscellaneous concert, which, however, afforded hat nfghfc a very pleasant evening's entertainment to a large audience. The first part went somewhat tamely, the moat noticeable feature in it being a solo for the violin by certainly the youngest performing member of the Society, and another for the harp, both of which were loudly and deservedly encored. The youthful violinist evidently has at least a share of the genius which is needed to obtain a mastery over the difficult instrument he has chosen, and we sincerely hope he may be encouraged to turn it to good account. We were glad to hear " Die Thrane " from an old friend, and hope he may in future ba oftener seen upon the platform. The choruses were correctly sung, but the parts were -weaker than usual, and the absence of nearly all the old leading Bopranos seemed to take away mu':h of their confidence from those who were left. The best was certainly Mendelsohn's beautiful part song « The Nightingale," which was given with good expressiou, but which, we think, is better suited for four voices than for a chorus. The second part, as commonly happens, went with much greater spirit- a very sweet setting of " The Arrow " by Mies Lindsay well deserved the encore it won, but the success of the evening was undoubtedly reserved for the fair young debutante who chose for her first appearance Nelson's " Baautiful Summer," and gained a most enthusiastic encore, surely- given to the singer, and not for the sake of the the song, which seemed to us commonplace enough. We congratulate the Society upon the discovery of so clear and powerful a voice, only needing, as it Beema to us, practice and cultivation to raise its owner to a very high rank amongst amateurs. The young violinist took part in a trio of Hadyn's for violin, violoncello and piano, in which he played, perhaps, better than in his eolo, and his sister played a difficult solo by Ley bach oa themes from the " Sionambula " with very great skill and execution, proving her a pianiste of no ordinary tueric; she also wou a loud eucore. Tue remiining pieces of the part were well rendered and received, and the concert waß brought to a close by Silas' <nuinfc part song » The Owl," the best sung of the evening, and which deserved and would have won an encore had not ♦' God save the Queen " shut it out. On the whole the newer and younger members of the Sockty may be sdd to to have been the successful ones of the evening, and we are very glad to see ic them so good a prospect of filliug the numerous gaps that have recently been caused by sickness or other causes.