The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-21 00:00:00

S URREY THEATRE.
A versioa of Belphegor, thz! rh, w drama now heiog performed a the Adelphi Theatre with great success,
was prodtP:ced at the surrey last evening. As the
plot diffeys in no important respect from that of the
Adelphi piece, which has alread been descriliedin
this jourt 4al, it r y
emains for us only to speak of the
performr,nce. We will state at once that it gene-
rally excellent, and that the mise en scene is costly
and tasteful. Amongst the artistes most deserving of
eulogy are Mr. Crcswick, whose version of the
(mountebank is spirited and effective ; Miss Cooper
formerly of Covent-garden), who evinces great
pathos acd energy in the character of Madelaine ;
Miss 'l.lan4llel)•:rt, ;alio performs Henri very prettily ;
and Mr. Mead, who personates the villian Rollac
with much judgment and melodramatic point. Tim
drama was received with enthusiastic applause by an
overflowirg audience, and may fairly be pronounced
a decided success.

ASTLEY'S AMPHITHEATRE.
Tt:" 32 rand sp,Ttaele of Kenilworth and the amusing
tposutzi,nB3lno o,.bonaghite continue to draw efowds
Popular place of entertainment every evening.
fThis is clearly the favourite theatre with the " Home-
or-the-t olyday's" class of scciety, and as they are
Just at this present moment the most influentill of our
social ch.ssos, wu are not surprised at finding that the
anlPhitheatre is crammed to overflowing every even-
ing. We congratulate Mr. Batty on having obtained
the unanimous support of " Young England," and
"Ye'ung England" on the excellent taste which in
this iustynce it has exhibited.
SA. -

perMfo armed eissobn's magnificent
ACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY.
Sa
oratorio Elijah was
he re last evening by the members of the
cred Harmonic Society. This is perhaps the most
elaborately constructed of Mendelssohn's works, and
iithaerrinni,efoore the choice of it for performance by the Sacred
borne an:y iSociety exhibits a degree of ambition which
would ha ve been highly laudable had the performance
tempt. 1,,
Proportion to the daring nature of the at-
e have frequently heard this sublime com-
andP"itinn both in this country and on the Continent,
deficienciesf couldo not but be sensible of the lamentable
certaiat thenly five the chorus last evening. There were
hundred persons singing? •
not together,
!lit
acne othersame time, and all, as Byron once said of
performers of sacred music,
" Singing out of tune,
but the find hoarse,"
f ,A effect of the contemporaneous performance
pr°r-n,rl,snina Was anything but pleasing, and we felt
Poureds'-'4l Mr. Brownsmith when he occasionally
r,_ in a flood of sound from the organ, drowning
the time the din. The English musical public
.418 f•
areailyoA late had frequent opportunities of hearing
good choral singing; they know what it can
c 2. ()tight to accomplish ; the performances of the
rrus
cuor at the German Opera, and of the Berlin
us into
le Her Majesty Theatre, has rendered them
erant of even mere mediocrity, and the chorus of
the
dSacred Harmonic Society must work much
sliarerf and rehearse much more frequently, before
can occupy the position at which it evidently aims.
• Costa also, excellent as he is as a leader of opera,
eared
riot altogether satisfy us as a conductor of sa-
music ; he last night took the music throughout
Ba-
the Whole of the oratorio too fast and too high.