The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-26 00:00:00

713 E COLOGNE CHORAL SOCIETY.

The first performance of thi celebrated German
society took place yesterday morning at the Hsnover-
square Rooms, and a large and fashionable audience
assembled to welcome them again to England. We
have very few concerts of unaccompanied music, and
is really a treat to hear the Cologne Choral Unian,
whose performances approach as nearly as possible to
perfection, and their concerts have met in conseque,ce
with the greatest success both in their own and other
countries. The choir, as our readers are aware, consists
entirely of male voices, and the selection is so wel
made that the different parts balance each
other admirably, and harmonise with such effect
that there is no appreciable undue preponderance
of either basses, tenors, or altos. The greatest
praise is due to the conductor, Herr Franz We'.er,
for the efficient manner in which he has organised the
choir, whose singing is characterised by great taste and
expression ; the fortes are clearly marked, and the pianos
are rendered with great delicacy and finish. The cha•
racter of German choral music is not very varied, and
of the twelve pieces sung yesterday only two or three
can be mentioned as containing any features not to be
found in the others. Perhaps the gem of the concert was
Mendelssohn's " Probe Wandersmann," which was
marked by much of the genius of the great composer.
It was sung by one of the members of the choir, who
possesses a fine high barytone voice. The chorus
stave a very charming accompaniment to it, and
by means of closing their lips produced an ex-
cellent imitation of an instrumental accompani-
ment. The Northman's Song, by Kucken, is a
very vigorous composition, and was given srlendidly
by the Choir. The Swabian National Song, by
Silcher, deserved and received an encore. Keliner's
double serenade was beautifully delivered. The effect
of the echo is good ; indeed, it may be said of all the
choruses that they were sung with great spirit and a fine
appreciation of the composers' ideas. One of the mem-
bers of the choir, Herr Louis Brassin, played a fantasia
of his own on themes from "Le Propbete,"and also
Mendelssohn's Wedding March, arranged for the piano-
forte by D. Lizt and Herr Brassin. These pieces being
introduced into the concert did away in an agreeable
manner with the necessity of entr'actes.
The general effect of the performance upon an evi-
lently cultivated audience showed an appreciation of
the conscientious labour of the society that indicates good
and profitable results from their present visit to England.

CANTERBURY HALL.

Does Anybody know it ! Rather we should say,
does Everybody not know it 1 A magnificent saloon—
when once you are inside—lofty, brilliantly lighted,
admirably proportioned. Its whereabouts may be de'
scribed in a few wordeaccirately : Crossing Westminster.
bridge from Westminster—traversing Lambeth-road—
passing Astley's Amphitheatre—going under the Rail-
way Arch, and then turning sharp to your right, a very
few paces bring you to the entrance of your proposed
destination—CANTEßßUßY Hen, the Great Nightly
Concert Room of the Metropolis !
And what may this wonderful Canterbury Hall look
like (the uninitiated may ask) when you are in it ? Well,
really and truly, with a difference here and there in
some of the details—(a difference almost invariably
to the advantage of Canterbury Hall)—it looks for all
the world marvellously like "The Temple of the Muses,,
as described by Mr. Disraeli in his famous romance o f
Sybil, or the Two Nations. You a,cend a broad stair-
case ; you pass through a spacisus, and yet at the same
time circuitous, vestibule ; and you enter the hall itself
It is evening. 11(undreds are there assembled together—
an audience the most motley, and yet the most decorous.
Gentlemen and artizans—men and women—just as one
sees in any large Parisian café. or suburban estaminet.
or provincial cabaret of the better sort among our, gallant
and vivacious neighbours. Yonder, in one little group
—a family party obviously—everything seems to have
ended as one of-Boz's Sketches ends, "in shrub, sherry,
and excitement." Yonder, again, is some solitary and
philosophic man-about-town consuming his weed in silent
meditation, coatemplat:ng the ways of the world as
seen around him, and calmly enjoying the evening's
entertainment. And that for the most part consists of
Music ! Music—c mic and sentimental. Music—
vocal and instrumental. Music—in solos, duets, glees,
quartets, quintettes, sextettes, septetts, chorussee, and
madrigals. Simple popular ballade, and elaborate ope-
ratic moroeaux. Music ever changing and scarcely
ever interrupted. And all the while the melodious
sounds are rising from the elevated platform at the
upper extremity of the Hall, the audience are enjoying
creature comforts to their hearts' content in the shape
of divers simple viands, and dslectable beverages. A
light gallery runs round the hall at some elevation—a
gallery as much frequented by the Faneur with his hat ,
on one side and a cheroot protruding from his
moustache, as the bode of the hall itself is
frequented by honest Tom, Dick, or Harry,
from some workshop bard by, bringing his wife or his
sister out for an hour's " pleasurins, ' while he enjoys
,his clay pipe over a measure of Burton. Altogether—lit
up resplendently with gas burning in cut glass chande-
liers, resounding with melody, and crowded with the
most diversified audience anywhere to be seen in all
this vast world of London—the scene presented night
after night in Canterbury is essentially Frenoh ! And
being so, we need hardly add, it is also essentially pic-
turesque and exhilirating.
But we have spoken of Mr. Disraeli's Sybil and its de-
scription of the "Temple of the Muses"—a haunt familiar
to Mick, and Morley, and Devirsdast, and their com-
panions. Here is that description, dashed off with a
luminous penc.l, in one of his happier moments, by that
very versatile gentleman, the Right Hon. the Leader of
Her Majesty's Opposition. It is the very Ditto of
Canterbury :Hall in many particulars, if we merely pre-
mise that the pictorial decorations of our London
"Temple of the Muses" are outside the Temple
and confined entirely to the vestibule. Quoth Mr.
Disraeli :--
" A handsome staircase with bright brass banisters
led them to an ample landing-place, on which opened a
door, now closed, and by which sat a boy wh., collected
the tickets of those who would enter it. The portal was
of considerable dimensions and of architectural preten-
sion ; it was painted of a bright green colour, the panels
gilt. Within the pediment, described in letters of
flaming gas, you read, The Temple of the Muses.'
Gerard and Morley entered an apartment very long and
sufficiently lofty, though rather narrow for such propor-
tions. The ceiling was even richly decorated ; the walls
were painted, and by a brush of considerable power.
Each panel represented scoriae wed-known scene from
Shakepeare, Byron, or Scott ; King Richard, Mazeppa,
the Lady of the Lake, were ea-ily recognised ; in one
panel, Illubert menaced Arthur; here Haidee rescued
Juan ; and there Jeanie Deans curtsied before the
Queen. The room was very fall; some three or four
hundred persons were seated in different groups at dif-
ferent tables, eating, drinking, talking. laughing, and
even smoking, for, notwithstanding the pictures and the
gilding, it was found impossible to forbid, though there
were efforts to discourage, this practice, in the Temple
of the Muses. Nothing, however, could be more de-
corous than the general conduct of the company, though
they consisted principally of factory people. The waiters
flew about with as much agility as if they were serving
nobles. In general, the noise was great, though not
disagreeable ; sometimes a bell rang, and there was
comparative silence, while a curtain drew up at the fur-
ther end of the room, opposite to the entrance, where
there was a theatre, the stage raised at a due elevation,
and adorned with side scenes, from which issued a lady
in a fancy dress, who sang a favourite ballad ; or a gen-
tleman elaborately habited in a farmer's costume of the
old comedy, a bob-wig, silver buttons and buckles, and
blue stockings, and who favoured the company with that
melancholy effusion called a comic song. Some nights
there was music on the stage ; a young lady in a white
robe with a golden harp, and attended by a gentleman
in black mustachios. This was when the principal
harpists of the King of Saxony and his first fiddler hap-
pened to be passing through Mowbray, merely by acci-
dent, or on a tour of pleasure or instruction, to witness
the famous scenes of British industry. Otherwise the
audience of the Cat and Fiddle, we mean the Temple of
the Muses, were fain to be content with four Bohemian
brothers, or an equal number of Swig., sisters, Toe
most popular amusements, however, were the 'Thespian
recitations,' by amateurs, or novices who wished to be-
come professional. They tried their metal on an audi-
ence which could be critical."

Canterbury Hall to a nicety, without the Thespian re•
citations. Music being the exquisite substitute for mere
declamation. In lieu of the " stage," at the upper end of
the saloon, being the platform already mentioned. A
platform, at the back of which, in the end•wall, is an
archway surmounted by a sculptured group in alto-
relievo—from under which mysterious archway appear
in turn the Vocal and Instrumental Performers. Several

of these wonderful favourites—conspicuous among them
SAM COWELL—bimself veritably one of the Sights of
London ! Such, brit-illy and literally, is Canter-
bury Hall the Evening's "Temple of the
Muses," for the throng of music•loving, tobacco•
smoking, convivial, yet respectable Londoners. A
sort of neutral ground for the assemblage of various
contrasting and hitherto scattered claeses, brought to-
gether for a while during their leisure hours by means of
the ingenious Originator of this eminently agreeable and
popular entertainment.