The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-10-15 00:00:00

PHILHARMONIC CONCERT.

On Tuesday evening one of the most delightful con-
certs of the present, or any other season, was given at the
Philharmonic Society's Hall, the principal attractions
being the appearance of Miss Catherine Hayes, Herr
Carl Formes, the celebrated basso, and Signor Bordas.
The name of Madame Macfarren also appeared in the
programme. The musical world had heard much of Miss
Hayes since her first appearance here, her singing having
created a perfect furore in her own country ; and we were
naturally anxious to hear whether her successful career in
Ireland was due to real merit, or to the fact of her being a
native, and therefore regarded with that favour which
local connexions and patriotic pride create. Herr Carl
Formes had also added laurels to his previous high repu-
tation since his last appearance amongst us, and been
placed by metropolitan critics at the head of our basso
singers. Of both these artists the result of Tuesday's
concert has been to justify all that fame had reported of
them. Miss Catharine Hayes is unquestionably a vocalist
of the very highest capabilities. Her voice is pure and
flexible, its compass extensive, and her style is chaste,
and formed after the best models. She does not electrify
us, like Jenny Lind, by the execution of difficult vocal
feats, although we would by no means have it inferred
that she is deficient in the power to reach the capability,
in this respect, of her contemporaries, one only excepted.
Her style, however, is rather classical than profusely or-
nate ; and wherever intricacies of vocalisations are intro-
duced, we have not, as in too many cases, to complain
that she is displaying her own acquirements at the ex-
pense of the meaning of the composer.
In the first piece—a quartet from Mozart's " Idome-
neo"—despite of very apparent timidity, Miss Hayes
created an impression, which her other efforts during the
evening more than confirmed. In Meyerbeer's air from
" Le Prophete "—sung, by the bye, in the French ver-
sion, although the Italian was given in the books, an an-
noyance to the audience of too frequent occurrence, and
which ought to be avoided—she wa+ really great, and
shewed herself capable of giving full expression to the
impassioned music of the composer. She was encored
most enthusiastically. In her next effort—the " Vestale"
duet from Mercadante, with Madame Macfarren—she was
most successful. Her rendering of the repeat—
" Pianto eterno io versaro,
Teco almeno io piangiero"—
was most beautiful. The ballad, by Lavenu, allotted her
in this ; the second part—
" Those happy days are gone,
And I am lonely now"—
was given with exquisite feeling, a characteristic, indeed,
of Miss Hayes' singing. Nothing could be more beauti-
ful than her rendering of the refrain—
" The silent tears I shed,
Shall ne'er be seen by thee;
Those happy days are fled,
And thou art lost to me."

The feeling embodied in the last line in particular was a
perfect gem. This song was rapturously encored.
The first piece which brought fully before us the powers
of Herr Carl Formes was Mozart's air from Zauberflote—
..

" In diesel heilgen Hellen"—
which was sung by him magnificently, and in a style
which shewed his perfect appreciation of the genius of
one of the greatest masters of his own or any other coun-
try. The two last lines in each verse were especially
beautiful. In this piece we recognised at once a rotun-
dity of voice, much increased since we last heard him ;
and a precision and sostenuto, which no other bass singer
that we ever heard has equalled : an encore rewarded his
effort. His next song was the " Piff, paff, piff, paff,"
from Meyerbeer's " Huguenots," and was splendidly
sung, eliciting an enthusiastic encore. A most beau-
tiful aria was, however, given instead, the singer
accompanying himself on the piano-forte. In this
piece, Formes proved to the world that, in him, the
basso voice is capable of the most exquisite modulation ;
and that his piano is as rich as his forte is majestic and
powerful. As in the air, from Zanberflote, his low notes
were given with the greatest clearness and precision,
whilst his upper notes, given without falsetto, were sweet,
and delivered without the slightest appearance of effort.
Madame Macfarren, although not attaining to the ex-
cellence of either of her gifted associates, was respectable
throughout. Her most meritorious efforts were her two
German songs in the second pert.
In the first part a beautiful air with variations, the
composition of Mohr, was played on the clarionet by Mr.
H. P. Sorge. The society, and his musical fellow-towns-
men, have reason to be proud of this young gentleman,
who will assuredly be ranked by-and-bye, if he is not
already, as second to none in his management of a diffi-
cult instrument. His tone is fine, his execution very cle-
ver, and his playing is full of feeling and good taste.
We have, by-the-bye, passed over Signor Bordas.
This gentleman has a good tenor voice, not however of
the most flexible and mellow character, and considerable
power. A recitative and air, from Verdi, was very finely
sung by him, especially the last verse of the air,

Ange, viers qui s'envole,

In the course orthe concert two four-part pieces were
finely sung and played by the members. The first was
Best's " Harvest Home," and the second from Men-
delssohn—

0 hills, 0 vales of pleasure ! "

The latter was very beautiful, and was encored. Its
effect was greatly increased by the very excellent violin
accompaniment played by the first violinist, Mr. Thomas.
As a whole, this concert, we may repeat, was a most
successful one, and the attendance one of the most nu-
merous and brilliant of the season.

THE COACH AND CAB FARES.—We believe that the
terms for a settlement of the dispute between the Council
and the car-owners are nearly adjusted, and that the
committee, who had a long interview with a deputation
from the car proprietors, on Wednesday, will be prepared
to report to the Council at the special meeting on Mon-
day, the 28th instant. The fares have been fixed upon
the principle of sixpence every half mile. In order to
facilitate the computation of distances, one of the assis-
tants in the office of Mr. Weightman, the surveyor, has
prepared a map of the town, divided into thirty-two hex-
agons, and showing the distances from all the coach
stands in the borough. All licensed drivers will wear a
badge on the arm, and no driver wiil be allowed to smoke
on the box. A ticket, with the number of the car and
the came of the owner, will be given by the driver to the
person who hires the car, as he enters the vehicie. Tn
the event of imposition, or any cause being given for
complaint, the hirer will retain the ticket ; but if there be
no cause of complaint, the ticket will, of course, be re-
turned on the completion of the fare. After the Man-
chester fashion, a small flag will be displayed when the
car is on hire. When the vehicle is hired this flag will,
of course, be taken down, and replaced again as soon as
the fare is out.

ATLANTIC STEAM SHlPS.—Shortly after leaving the
Clyde, on Sunday week, the City of Glasgow, steamer,
experienced the full force of the late gale, and lost her
jibboom. Captain Matthews consequently determined to
shape his course for Belfast. putting back for the first
time in a career of ninety-six Atlantic voyages. After
remaining until the gale subsided, and to refit and coal,
sbe again steamed on her voyage, taking the south of
Ireland track. She was very full of passengers, amongst
whom is Sir W. Don, the noted theatrical baronet.—On
Wednesday, letters were received from Waterford an-
nouncing a very creditable act of gallantry performed by
the British and North American royal mail steam-ship
America, Neil Shannon, commander. She left the
Mersey on Saturday week, with 105 passengers and the
usual mails, for Halifax and Boston. Off the coast of
Ireland she encountered the gale from the westward,
which has caused so lamentable a loss of life and property
on that coast, but, notwithstanding, made a good pro-
gress until she discovered the Seraph, from Cardiff, for
Waterford, dismasted at sea. Captain Shannon imme-
diately took her in tow, and navigated her to the entrance
of Wateiford Harbour. After waiting some time the
crew were taken off by a small boat, and the America
proceeded on her run with the mails. Subsequently, the
Seraph was picked up by some fishermen and towed into
Dunmore Bay. The storm was very severely felt at Bel-
fast, and hailstones are said to have fallen there " as large
as a boy's spinning top, and pointed in a similar manner."
The Greek brig Alcibiades was lost off the port of Ayr,
Ramsey, but the crew were saved.
THE FESTIVAL CHORAL SOCIETY.—The members of
this popular musical association gave their forty-ninth
public performance on Thursday evening in the theatre of
the Collegiate Institution. The programme was an at-
tractive one to the admirers of sacred music, being Dr. F.
Mendelssohn Bartholdy's psalm, "As the hart pants ;" a
selection from Mozart's Requiem ; and his cantata in B
flat, " Lord have mercy ;" with selections from the works
of Haydn, &c. &c. The principal vocalists were Mrs.
G. Holden, Mrs. M`Dougall, Mr. Ryalls, and Mr. Arm-
strong. Mr. G. Holden was the conductor. The instru-
mentalists occupied the same position in the role as usual.
The efforts of the amateurs, both ladies and gentlemen,
composing the Choral Society, have hitherto been so
justly appreciated, and the individuals are so well-known
to the public, that any critical review of their performances
would be out of place. The merits of the professional
singers and instrumentalists who took part in the perform-
ance are equally well known and admired. The best
proof of this public esteem was furnished by the very large
attendance at the Collegiate on Thursday evening, not-
withstanding the torrents of rain which descended inces-
santly from seven o'clock until the time at which the en-
tertainment commenced. The change from the Music=
hall to the Collegiate is a good one, conducing to the
comfort of the public and the increased patronage of the
society. The solo parts were loudly applauded, as were
many of the chorusses : the latter were given with more
truth and taste than on some former occasions, the conse-
quence of the study and practice of the younger members.
The leaders of the society may justly be congratulated on
the result of the performance, of which it is not too much
to say, that as it was one of the best they have ever fur-
nished ; their efforts and talents have not been ill bestowed.
We long to hear the Society in their proper place, St.
George's Hall.