HARMONIC SOCIETY'S CONCERT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 224, 24 September 1880, Page 2

HARMONIC SOCIETY'S CONCERT.

The fir^t concert given by the Harmonic Society since the recent change in its constitution, was looked forward too with more than ordinary interest, as was evidenced by the fact that, despite the very bad weather, the Provincial Hall Was Crowded in every part — the gallery being full as well as the body of the Hall. The opening chorus; "See the cb.at.iot at liatad)" tiioiigti it little wanting in spirit, and displaying a weakness that was equally apparent in all the other choruses, namely, a lack of alto voices, was quite sufficient to show that Mr. Fell had his team well in hand, and that a mutual confidence existed between conductor and performers. The thorough training received by the members of the old Society from their late conductor,; Mr. Moore, no doubt tended largely to the success of the choruses ; but there were also a numbor of novices who must have received much Careful drilling, and paid a large amount of attention to the instruction imparted to them within the last fow weeks to enable them to take their parts so satisfactorily as they did in all the choruses. Two of these are worthy of special notice — oue, with the very unmusical and unpromising name of " When cats run home," went with a Bwing from beginning to end, the lime being very marked, and thus affordiog the audience an opportunity of appreciating the carefulness of the tuition the Biugere had received. We believe that the desire of the composer was to convey through the medium of this chorus Eome idea of the gentle cadences of a feline serenade 5 fortunately, however, he had far too musical a soul to permit of success in the attempt, and we are glad to be able to congratulate him upon his utter failure in this respect. There is a superabundance of cats in our neighborhood, and we can honestly say that if they would only give expression to their feelings in notes but half as musical as those to which we listened with such pleasure when this chorus was being sung last night we should look forward with a much greater degiee of equanimity than at present to the hour "when cats run home." The "song of the Vikings " was to our thinking the greatest success in the chorus line. Although full of difficult passages it went without a falter or mistake from the first to the last note, the pianoforte duett accompaniment adding not a little to the general effect. A solo on the cornet a piston was played very softly and sweetly, and w»b highly approved of by the audience, and another on the clarionet so delighted the listeners that they would nob be satisfied without a repetition of it. A gentleman with a well trained tenor voice gave much pleasure by his rendering of the well known song "Tell me, Mary, how to woo thee," and was followed by a young lady whose appearance at a concert is always heartily welcomed, and who sang with much sweetness and archness a very pretty little song by B lumen thai called " Why was I looking out ?" The bass song " I fear no foe iv Bbining armour" was given with that gpirit which always characterises the singing of the gentleman who had undertaken it, and the next item was the sweetly pretty trio " The captive to hi» bird," which was rendered with excellent effect, and elicited the first encoie of the evening, a com pi [men t which the singers well deserved. In the second part, the first chorus was followed by a beautiful little serenade by Gounod with clarionet obligate This waa eung by the conductor with such aweetness and exquisite taste that the last note was the lignal for an outburst of applause that was only to be pacified by a repetition of the Bong. A brilliant pianoforte solo by the young lady who added so much to the Buccess of the choruses by the excellence of her accompaniments formed a very pleasant feature in the programme, and one that evidently was highly appreciate by all who had the good fortune to hear it. Mtcfarren's song " The beating of my own heart " was entrusted to a lady who has established herself as a great favorite with the audiences at concerts in Nelson, and the demand for an encore, to which she must by this time have j become so thoroughly accustomed, wa« one that would take no denial. "The army and navy," a duett for tenor and bass, went with a jovial and inspiriting riDg, and the singers had to pay the penalty of affording so much pleasure to their hearers in the shape of a repetition. On the whole the Society are to be warmly congratulated on the decided success of their first concert. The noticeable increase in the number of the performers, which has gone up from about forty to between sixty and. seventy, is most encouraging, I and on the next occasion we hope to see a still further addition in the shape of an orchestra, the absence of which ja at present much felt.