Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-10-26 00:00:00

PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY.

The Philharmonic Society gave their Seventh Sub-
scription Concert for the season last night, to (notwith-
standing the state of thew tther) a very full house.
Since last season, the Ilan has undergone a process of
painting and decorating, of which it stood much in
need ;, and the general effect is very satisfactory, though

DAILY TIMES.

the cupids, &c., on the front of thelallerybave a some-
what flaunting and theatrical appearance. The ceiling
is very much the best part, being entirely, free 4pra any-
thing like gaudiness, and is a vast improvement on the
wide expanse of dead white which formerly met, the eye.
on looking upward.
The concert last night was one of considerable inter,
rest, though the programine did net, present much no- ,
velty. The principal sinners were Mr. Sims Reeves and
Madame Weiss, backed Herr Pauer, as 'solo pianist.
The concert opened with Mozart's well-known and
beautiful symphony, in E flat, exceedingly :we:l played
by the band, though we thought both the plOw move-
ment and the finale might have been taken just a trifle .
slower with advantage. The other, orchestral pieces were
Rossini's overture to Guillatenze Tell, and Meyerbeer's
grand march from "Le Prophete," neither of which
left anything to be desired in their performance. After
the symphony came Madame Weiss, with Weber's grand
scena from "Der Freyschutz," which she sung very
artistically, and with much feeling; but though, her
voice was very effective in the adagio, she, aPpeared to
want sufficient power to do full justice to the quick
movement. Her other songs were " the power of love,"
frbm Balk's opera of "Satanella," (which she sung
exceedingly well, and which is much better suited to her
powers than Weber's scena,) and the ballad "Bonnie
Prince Charlie." Mr. Sims Reeves, who seems to have
recovered from his recent indisposition, appeared first
also in a scena of Weber's, that from "Euryanthe,"
which he sung to perfection ; he next gave Balfe's song,
which he has made his own, " Come into the garden,
Maud," and two songs of Beethoven's, " The Savoyard's
Song," and "The stolen kiss." The latter was an exceed-
ingly pretty thing; all of which lie sung as he sings when
he is in his best voice—a better compliment we cannot pay
him. He added also a ballad, the title of which was not
revealed to us. Herr Pauer's principal performanc?, was
Weber's " Concert-Stiick " (Weber appears to have been
in the ascendant), which he played in such a manner as
fully to.sustain the reputation he has earned of being
one of our finest classical pianists. His crescendos are
particularly effective, and while his execution of difficult
passages is remarkably clear and brilliant, lie preserves
a quietness of manner which we wish all pianists would
imitate. In the second part of the concert he played
Liszt's " Campanella," a very beautiful and effective bit
of piano-forte writing, and a composition of his own,
entitled "La Calesera." The chorus had three
compositions allotted to them—a four-part song
by Mrs. Mounsey Bartholomew. the first chorus
from " Der Freischutz," and our old friend,
" Here in Cool Grot," by Lord Normington. Mrs.
Bartholomew's song "To Echo," the words of which
are furnished by Mr. IV. Bartholomew, is pretty, and
contains some nice part writing, but it has nothing
strikingly original about it. Weber's chorus "Victoria,"
was inaudible at the commencement, on account of the
clamorous re-demanding of " Come into the Garden,"
by the audience. Mr. Sims Reeves refused to "come
into the garden" a second time, but the clapping, &c.,
which was continued half through the chorus, had the
effect of spoiling the latter by rendering the singers
unsteady, and causing them to sin considerably out of
tune to the end of the chorus. "Mere in Cool Grot,"
however, went exceedingly well ; the accompaniment
has been scored for the orchestra, we presume, by Mr.
Herrmann, very effectively.
Now that the Society have accomplished the decora-
tion of their hall, it is to be hoped that they will engage
in another good s ork, that of enlarging the string band,
which is certainly not powerful enough, and in passages
where the brass instruments are playing, the strings are
often perfectly inaudible. It would be well if the
society would take this into consideration as soon as
possible, as it is almost the only defect that can be
named in an otherwise very efficient band.

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

LIME-STREET WARD.

An influential meeting of the electors took place in
Mr. Wilson's Committee-room, last night, when he
pithily expressed to the persons assembled his reasons for
coming forward, and special emphasis was laid upon the
fact that he offered himself as a candidate who would,
if elected, represent the interests of the whole ward, and
not that of a particular class. He was opposed to the
system of centralisation, and denied that the present
representative, whose term of office was about to
expire—(hear, hear)—had a monopoly of the information
necessary to promote the interests of the ward and of
the town generally. He further stated that, if elected,
he would devote his best energies to the discharge of
his duties, and to advance his claim to the honours
solicited. He urged his success in the business he bad
embarked his capital and industry in, and that ho would
not worry the Council with long speeches, but endea-
vour, by sound practical working, to convince the
electors that actions speak louder than words. He
would ask the constituency what his opponent
had done since lie represented the ward ? Was
there any object affecting the welfare of the elec-
tors that could be pointed out as being originated
by Mr. Jeffery ? So much of his time was devoted
to extreneous matters, that he could not attend to the
interest of his constituents. He requested the electors
to be early at the poll, saying "he gave twice who gave
quickly," and he did not doubt but they would vindicate
the cause of straightforward dealing, and return him
triumphantly at the head of the poll. Before sitting
down, he would emphatically state his opinion in favour
of dock rating, it being desirable to relieve the rate-
payers residing in the borough as much as possible.