The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-15 00:00:00

MUSIC AYD THE DRAMA.

Toss SHILLING CONCERTS.— The fourth annual
series of these charming entertainments was commenced on
Tuesday evening, in the Philarmonic Nall, the concerts being
continued each evening of the week, together with a day per-
formance on Saturday afternoon. On each of the occasions
they have been well attended, and highly intelligent audiences
have, by well-timed plaudits, testified their satisfaction
with the excellence of the performances. The chief attraction
of the week was the admirable singing of Madame Amadei, a
contralto of great power and excellence. The quality of
voice possessed by this lady is somewhat similar to that of
Alboni, to whom, and to whose style of execution, she bears
resemblance in more respects than one. Madame Amadei
during the last week sung a number of Italian arias, with
good effect, and in these she elicited marked and well-de-
served applause ; but the enthusiasm of the audience was
most strikingly evoked by some of our own popular melodies.
conspicuous among which were the plaintive Irish and
Scotch ballads, " Savourneen deelish," and " 0 Nanny
wilt thou gang wi' me." The instrumental portion of the
concerts was, as on the previous occasions, excellent ; the at-
tractions being in the present instance heightened by the addi-
tion of several new performers of high merit and celebrity.
Among these latter are M. Prospere, opheicleide, late of
Jullien's celebrated band; M. de Folly, flute, from the Royal
Italian Opera ; M. Gobin, cornet-a-piston, from the Conser-
vatoire, Paris ; Mr. H. Chip p, violoncellist, late of Her Ma-
jesty's private band ; and a juvenile but clever performer on
the violin, Master Isaac, a pupil of Mr. H. Blagrove, to whose
delicate and polished yle his performance bears pleasing
testimony. Among our old favourites in the orchestra we
also recognised with satisfaction the valuable aid of Mr.
Thomas, in himself a host, and Messrs. Liddell, Baetens,
Streather, Sorge, Jennings, Frewin, Chisholm, &c. The cha-
meter of the music has been lively, but not to the exclusion
of the more grave and expressive. Dance music by D'Albert,
Strauss, Lanner, and others, has been varied by selections
from Les Huguenots, and Lucrezia Borgia; while the less
showy though really more attractive ballads of our own
country have not been neglected. This week the vocalist is
Miss P. Horton, who is to read selections from Shakspeare's
plays, with the music, commencing last night with the Mid-
summer Night's Dream, with the whole of Mendelssohn's
music, composed for that fine drama. This evening the chief
portion of the entertainment will consist of selections from
the Tempest ; and to-morrow the Macbeth music is to be
given. From the preceding outline, it will be seen that these
entertainments are to be conducted with a spirit and intelli-
gence of selection in admirable keeping with the executive
power and skill by which they are to be placed before the
public.
AT THE THEATRE ROYAL, the pantomime forms the lead-
ing attraction, and continues to draw crowded houses nightly.
During the past week the evening's amusements were com-
menced with the lively comedietta " Charles 11., or the Merry
Monarch," the bad of Captain Copp being admirably sus-
tained by Mr. B. Baker; Mary Copp found also a pleasing
representative in Miss Landon. Mr. Lorraine as Charles 11.,
and Mr. F. L. Villiers as Rochester were not so happy in their
representations. On Saturday the second morning performance
pf the pantomime took place, and as on the previous occasion