The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-02 00:00:00

SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY

The annual meeting of members of this important roll-
sical institution was held at Exeter-hall, on Tuesday
evening, Feb. 24. The President, J. N. Harrison, E'cl',
occupied the chair, as usual, and after a few remarks, con•
arat ula tine the members upon the recurrence of another of
their annual meetings, which have now been participated
in for twenty-five consecutive years by some of those Pre'
sent, himself included, called upon the Hon. Secretm/'
Thomas Brewer, Esq., to read the report of the proceed'
ings for the past year.
The report was then read, and contained allusions to the
folio wing amongst other matters. As part of some statistics
of the society's constitution, it was stated that of the whole
number of members (in whom are vested the management)
now connected with the society, one third of them bad,
been connected with the society at least three fourths, of
the whole period of its existence some of them 110
i"
taken part in its original formation. The committee, feel-
ing, no doubt, the propriety of the remarks which public
criticism has so frequently urged on their attention, nee
distinctly announce that in the admission of practising
members into their orchestra, care continues to be taken,
by means of private trial and other probationary measures,
to avail themselves only of that assistance which is really
worth the having, and to satisfy the public requirements
which the society itself has created. The report annonne,e°
that between Jan. 4, 1856, and Jan. 2, 1857, the soeie
has given, including repetitions, f •urteen concerts, of which,.
six were performances of Handel's Oratorios. Amongst
these concerts are also to be reckoned four prior menees°d
Costa's "Eli," in the production of which work the talentet.
composer has, no doubt, received the moat zealous soil
.°
ance of the members of the society. The vocalists irle
have made their debut at the society's concerts dn,1111:
the past year have been Miss Sherrington (now Maur,
-
Leminans), Miss Ransford, Mrs. Clare Hepworth, io
Louisa Vining, and Mr. Montem Smith. Amongst;
the acquisitions to the Society's Musical Collection,
one of the moat important ever formed, are an OWr
graph letter of Handel, an article of acknowledged eariti:j
' many rare musical works and books illustrative of riansi'r
history and theory, and some manuscript works of cons,,'
derable interest. The financial statement, as embodiedlP
the report, states the gross receipts from subscriptions, "11;
vidends on stock, proceeds of concerts, &c., to have bee
for the past year 5,226/. Bs. 10d., which, with disbunse-
ments for concert and other expenses, amounting to
t
5,354/. 3s. 9d., leaves a deficiency of 127/. 14s. 11d. Agmf:o
this deficiency there is to be put acquired property widen,
the society's stock, valued in the report at 200 e The ''',,i.
port further alludes to a matter, not strictly forming Pa't
of their own proceedings, but nevertheless of some interelt
to the musical public. It is well known that the autegrO
scores of Handel's compositions are in the Royal Libr?
at Buckingham Palace. There have, however, been recen, i„
brought to light the manuscript scores in the handwrittnP
of J. C. Smith, Handel's amanuensis, bearing internal OP
deuce, which is supported by ample testimony otherwisee;
that these were the identical volumes from which the
great composer conducted his oratorios and operas. The/
contain numerous einendetions and interesting memorel
in Handel's autograph. They have been recently acquired
by Mr. Victor Schcelcher, who is well known to be oeety
pied in preparing a life of Handel, and to whose liberalat
and courtesy in placing these invaluable manuscripts e.
the disposal of the committee, for use and reference, tn:
report bears testimony. The report also acknowledge;
the receipt of a most interesting and authentic portrait 1`
Handel, being the picture painted by Penner for Hant
and by him presented to J. C. Smith, noticed l';,
" Coxe, s Anecdotes of Handel, and his Amannensi'te,
published in 1799, which picture has within the last feci:
weeks been generously presented to the society., by it b';
Rivers, who is in the line of descent from J. C. S. ,n 340
This interesting and valuable picture was exhibited '
the room. As a mark of the good feeling subsisting.
between their talented conductor, Mr. Costa, as
tube
society, the report states that that gentleman bai ~,
fared to the acceptance of the society, a very- beautifew
executed bust of himself, by Mr. Oliveira. The forthen.??;
ing Handel Festival at the Crystal Palace in the enen,r;
summer was briefly alluded to, and an intinie'lo
afforded that it would probably be found advantagennlre
appoint the performances some few weeks later than :0
ginally proposed. Full information on this subject ,rbe
promised to public announcement within a week. , the
arrangements for the erection of the orchestra, &nue, •
construction of the organ were represented as being ''''e.
very forward state. The report refers to some other sql;
jects of more private interest, and concludes by OA%
to the establishment of a benevolent fund for clistrTo
persons, amateur or professional, who have at anY.eel
been connected with the society, and notices the Inh
support this charitable association has hitherto meta I,3fite.
in and out of the society. The detailed balance-sheet 'le
ing been read by the treasurer, it was, with the reP° I:•
formally received and adopted by the meeting. The need
eery elections to supply vacant offices were then prose.
with. In the course of the evening an appeal to the.4o;
rectors of Exeter-hall was unanimously agreed to, 'e&t'fie.
on them to give attention to the representations en or
quently made by the public press and by the various af
cieties meeting in the hall, to provide additional means -te
ingress and egress, and 'expressing a strong opinion son.
the duty of the directors of Exeter-hall to yield to ren,, 1
strances so frequently submitted on the subject. Severn
votes of thanks to the committee, officers, and others 00.
had rendered service during the past year closed the r
ceedings.