The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-15 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

On Saturday evening the Beethoven performance took
place, and a large assemblage of visitors were present.
The attendance was hardly so vast as upon the occasion
of the Mendelssohnian night, but still it was immense,
and the audience of the same earnest and enthusiastic
character. Although many hundreds were present the
attention given to the works of the great master, which
constituted the first part of the concert, was close and
profound. No audience, even at the Philharmonic,
could have exhibited superior interest, or manifested
their delight more unequivocally. A curious change is
this compared with the state of the popular feeling a few
years ago, when Beethoven was a sealed book, or if
opened, only to be listened to with endurance or impa
tience. The programme begati with the " Leonora "
overture, which was very finely and picturesquely played,
with a force and brilliancy that left nothing to be de-
sired. But ona of the most interesting events of the
evening was the first movement of the violin concerto.
This was so admirably performed by M. Sainton, with
such richness of tone, grandeur of style, and suggestive-
ness of expression, as not only to enrapture the " pro-
menaders "thoroughly, but to make it clear that the
remainder of the concerto might have been given with-
out the slightest probability of its being felt tedious.
Many as have been the exponents of this matchless
concerto—the only ona that emanated from the pen of
Beethoven—none that we remember have ever ren-
dered it with the vigour and beauty of the distin-
guished French violinist, whose renown has not been
earned without the amplest reason, fur he has all
the essentials that appertain to pure classical play-
in. Another of the most striking incidents of the
selection was the pianoforte concerto in E flat—
entrusted to Miss Arabella Goddard—who also occu-
pies a proud pre eminence as an illustrator of these large
and magnificent inspirations of genius. The whole of
the concerto was vouchsafed in this instance. Miss
Goddard executed it with extraordinary fi uish. No work
ever written for the pianoforte presents a greater variety
of difficulties than this ; but our clever Engli sh artiste
overcame them, as she does everything of the same sort,
with the most consummate readiness, infusing at the
same time into the music all its appropriate sentiment—
indicative of the supreme mastery which she has acquired
over the instrument, and indicative also of the high and
cu;tivated quality of her taste. The performance, in a
word, was exquisitely interesting, notwithstanding the
somewhat rough and unequal style in which it was ac-
companied. Miss Goddard was universally applauded
at the termination, and was resummoned into the orches-
tra to receive further praises . And honestly she deserved
them. The sxmphony in A closed the programme. Miss
Dolby was the vocalist. This able and conscientious
singer gave an impassioned reading of that fine burst of
gloomy despondency, "In questa tamba," and was
loudly encored. Her other songs were, " Youthful
ilewers," and " The wakened earth." In the course of
the evening the quaint "Chorus of Dervishes" was per-
formed, but with faint and imperfect effect.