The Press.
London, England, 1856-06-21 00:00:00

CONCERN OF THE WEEK.

There was more than ordinary ability and promise
manifested by the pupils of the Royal Academy of
Music at their fourth concert last Tuesday, in Ten
terdenstreet. In composition mote specimens might
have been desired than the overture by Macfarren's
pupil, Mr. J. B. Turner, but the executive displays
were in more than one instance very gratitying.
Four of Manuel Gercia's pupils—Miss Forster, Miss
Spitler, Miss Whyte, and Miss Shepherd ; three of
Sighor Schira's pupils—Miss Bignall, Miss Lucia
Fosbrooke, and Miss Janette Whitehead; Miss
Scott, a pupil of Mr. W. H. Holmes, on the piano-
forte ; Master Isaac, a pupil of Mr. Henry Blagrove,
on the violin ; must have afforded as much gratifica-
tion to their masters as to their friends. The ma-
drigal by Ford, "Since first I saw your face," was
sung with good intonation and with much precision
by the full choir, as also Lord Mornini;tou's ever
fresh and blooming " Here in cool grot." As the
Academy has now received a large addition to its
funds by the success of the Grand Fancy-dress Ball,
and the Earl of Westmorland is again a resident in
London, it is to be hoped that renewed activity will
attend the direction of the Royal Academy of Music.
From the growing disposition manifested in the
Legislature to promote the cultivation of the fine
arts, a grant for the Academy, and, above all, for a
National Opera, may not be despaired of. It is not
creditable to the good taste of the amateurs of this
country to know that euch composers as Sterudale
Bennett, Balfe, Henry Smart, Edward Loder, Yin-

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cent Wallace,—"-Vrank IVlacfarr en Holmes
Laurent, Tully, F. Romer, Hatton, A. Dv!.
Ganntlett, Miss Macirone, Casing, Bache, Brinley
Richards, &c., are compelled to be merely teachers,
or to work exclusively for the music publishers. As
for singers there are enough to form two flrst•rate
companies for English opera. To have three Italian
opera-houses in London at this time, with far supe-
rior talent for the lyric stage in our own market, so
far as regards two out of the three speculations, is
really " too bad.'
The remarks just made apply with peculiar force
to the annual morning concert of Mrs. Anderson at
Her Majesty's Theatre, last Monday. Next to
Alboni's unrivalled " Non piu mesta," which was
really the great vocal triumph, that of Mme. Clara
Novella, without a shadow of a shade of doubt, in
Mozart's" Deh vieni " was the best bit of singing. On
the part of the men, that of Charles Braham in Doni-
zetti's" La mialetizea," was the best performance, the
son of the veteran tenor so lately deceased having re,
turned from Lisbon wonderfully improved in style and
voice. In the same concert there were two other En.
glish vocalists, namely, Mmes. Albertini and Jenny
Bauer. No trace of Saturday's Romeo could have been
found in the stiff, formal Mlle. Johanna Wagner, as she
stood to sing in the ultra-Germanic style, Schubert's
" Wanderer;" and neither in the piquatite Piccolo-
mini was it easy to imagine that she had created
such a sensation as an actress in the last act of La
Traviata. As for the "combination" of the three
tenors, Salviani, Calzolari, and Reichardt, and the
three basses, Zucconi, Beneventano, and Belletti,
nothing good can be recorded, the latter, however,
doing admirable service as usual in the Barbiere duo
with Alboni. Mrs. Anderson's performance of her
"Cheva de Bataille," Rummel's concerto in A minor
was brilliant and effective. The reception given to
her was worthy of her great professional talents, and
was a recognition, at the same time, of her private
merits. Her nephew, Mr. Cusins, played a Traviata
fantasia for the pianoforte, Mr. Richardson a flute
solo, and Herr Renieyni a violin solo by Paganini.
At the second of Mr. Hullah's Orchestral Concerts
at St. Martin's-hall, last Monday, Miss Palmer, a
contralto who is last rising into lame, distinguished
herself in an air from Handel's Arminius. On Wed•
nesday night Rossini's Stabat Mater and Men-
delssohn's Hymn of Praise we:e given under Mr.
Hullah's direction, Mme. Clara Novelin, Miss Dolby,
Miss Sherrington (a promising debutante), Miss
Banks, and Mr. Thomas being the vocalists.

On the same afternoon the second of the concerts
of the Vocal Union took place at the Hanover
square Rooms. Here we have a true English spe-
ciality, glees and madrigals being executed to per-
fection by Miss Marian Moss, Mr. Foster, Mr. W.
Cooper, Mr. Montem Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Winn,
and Mr. Thomas, Mr. Lindsay Sloper being the
accompanyist. Hatton's setting of L ,ngfelloWs un-
complimentai y song, "I know a maiden fair to see,"
commanded an encore.

At the Reunion des Arts, in Harley-street, a com-
plimentary soirée was given to Mmo. Schumann o❑
Wednesday, her husband's works principally figur-
ing in the programme. It might have been termed
a German soiree, the executants being Mlle. Krail,
Herr Vun der Osten, Herr Deichmann, Herr Haus-
mann, and Herr Goffrie.
l'he concluding programme of Dr. Wylde's New
Philharmonic Concerts at the Hauover-square
Rooms on Wednesday night attracted a large audi-
tory, Mine. Guldschmidt singing three times. The
performance by Mrs. J. Robinson, of Dublin, of Men-
delssohn's pianoforte concerto in D minor was
warmly applauded, as it deserved to be. The lady
is a pianists of first-rate quality,—sentiment, taste,
and delicacy, being her peculiar attributes. The
selection from Dr. Wylde's Paradise Lost made no
impression, except that of heaviness. The subject is
essentially unmusical, or, at all events, it requires a
venius kindred to that of Milton to set suuh a
theme.

lo follow the week's doings would be an impossi-
bility. Grand Concerts, Soirees, and Matinees, have
been given daily by the following artistes in turn,—
Mlle. u'Herbel the infant pianiste, Mr. and Mrs.
Donald King, Miss Emma Busby, Herr Silas the
composer and pianist, Miss Sherrington, Miss Maci-
rone the composer, Miss Mantling, Mr. Henry
Blagrove the violinist, Signor Bianchi, Mr. Aguilar
the pianist and composer, Mlle. C. Valentine, besides
" Recitals" by Mme Schumann and Mr. Chalks
Halle, and a dish of Welsh music byMr. Ellis Roberts
the harpist.
The sixth of the Crystal Palace Royal Italian
Opera Concerts took place yesterday.

DEATH OF MR. HENRY HILL.—The most cele-
brated tenor player this country ever produced died
last Saturday of bronchitis. Mr. Henry Hill was for
many years the first viola at the Royal Italian Opera,
at the Philharmonic Society, at the Sacred Harmonic
Society, at the Musical Union, and at the piincipal
musical festivals. In conjunction with the late Mr.
Alsager, Mr. Hill was one of tha principal founders of

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