Concert Criticising.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3729, 7 December 1880, Page 2

Concert Criticising.

A critic on whom devolves the arduous and generally unpleesant duty of criticising a concert, is placed in an unenviable position, If he offers some suggestions for the good of the vocalists, and fails to compliment all and sundry who took part in the entertainment, he is considered to hare a " down " on them. If he sires praise to those who deserve it, he is accused of favouritism, while if he sees fit to "slate" the performers, he is accused of being actuated to do so by a spiteful motive. It has become a fact of of late, that performers are notoriously fond of seeing their names in the newspapers, and when that privilege is denied them, they/ are unreasonably incensed. Their performances in many cases are! nothing more than miserable attempts, and yet the praises bestowed on them by people who do not know even the difference between major and minor, inflates them with the idea that they are excellent performers. Consequently, when a critic has to listen to them,he would fain "take up his chair and walk," rather than undergo the hardship of hearing the performance to its conclusion, In the issue of our contemporary a few days ago, there is a plaintive appeal from one who calls himsej^Oohn Wellington Wells, speaking in no measured terms of the Advertiser critiqueM>f the concert at St. Joseph's School,\lufk. considered himself wronged because several encores and songs were omitted. The way it was introduced by the wise editor of the Advertiser appears to east a slur on us. We may at once; state, that if every selection given by the pupils at different school concerts were mentioned, it would not only be a burden to the public to peruse the list, but would necessitate %n enlargement? of our paper. In cases Yfhere really first class concerts are gjyen, more

atitude is allowable, but in a case such as the one referred to, we purposely made our report as lenient as possible, and in order to say something about the concert, were compelled to draw considerably on our charitable feelings, as the affair was to say the least, not first class. When the reporter or critic is. bothered to his wits' end, to praise so and so, under threat of immediate annihilation, it is not to be wondered at that he sometimes does so. It ia impossible to give an honest criticism of any performance that takes , place on the Thames, as the vocalists, j tragedians, comedians, instrumentalists, : and all the embryo stage occupants think i themselves totally insusceptable of im« ! proyement. We may mention that the ; critique in the Advertiser was written by a gentleman well-known for his powers in writing " high fallutin " paragaaphs, but whose musical abilities stand considerably below Zero, and whose addresses) to use his own high flown language, teem with the rhapsodical effulgence generated by an antiquated cranium replete with all the vast resources of a Bacon, and whose learning and research surpass the puerile knowledge enjoyed by the unsophisticated.