The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-09-26 00:00:00

s as a reason for having i

Hall was opened, and, lo

instruments of the public will

What advantages may accrue to the local charities from

the musical performances cannot at present be well stated,
although there seems reason for believing that the
amount will be but small. If a handsome sum be not

handed over to the funds of those charities, as was confi-
dently anticipated, it will cast a shade of discredit on the
inauguration, and throw a slur on those in whose hands
the management was vested. This, it is to be hoped, will
be avoided. The merchant princes of Liverpool are proud
of the noble hall which has been raised among them, and
they will not permit it to be said that apathetic attend-
ance at its inauguration kept back expected succour and
relief from the poor and the afflicted.

ST. GEORGE'S ;ILL-THE MUSICAL
PERFORMANCES.

ON Tuesday, the morning performance consisted of
Mendelssohn's famous and favourite oratorio, " Elijah ;"
the principal vocalists being Mesdames Clara Novello, Cas-
tellan, Weiss, Viardot Garcia, and Miss Dolby ; Mr. Sims
Reeves, Signor Gardoni, and Herr Formes. All the solo
parts were well given, and the concerted pieces generally
in a style worthy of the reputation acquired by the dis-
tinguished vocalists. Among the former, Madame Viar-
dot's magnificent rendering of the beautiful air, "O, rest in
the Lord," was a gem of delicacy and tenderness of
expression; it was rapturously encored, and repeated with
equally devotional sweetness as on the first occasion. The
flute obligato, in this instance, was most artistically and
effectually managed, contributing in no small degree to
the general excellence of the performance. Mr. Sims
Reeves, having to all appearance made himself familiar
with the full magnitude and requirements of the noble
hall, sane with more certainty and even more precision
than on the preceding day, and gave the pieces allotted to
him with his usual energy and sweetness. Madame Clara
Novello was also in fine voice, and had full scope for the
exercise of her " most miraculous organ" in several pieces,
and was particularly effective in the air, "Hear ye, Israel."
Signor Gardoni sang charmingly, and gave most of his reci-
tatives and parts in concert with much artistic grace and
polish. Herr Formes was, as usual, grand, forcible,
effective. His rendering of the air, "Is not his word like
a fire ?" was overwhelmingly powerful in expression. In
the trios and quartets, Miss Dolby proved herself a musi-
cian of high culture, and her solos were generally excellent,
the plaintive "Woe unto them," in particular, being
beautifully rendered. In this, as in the preceding oratorio,
the band and chorus acquitted themselves admirably, full
effect being given to various and often complicated choruses.
In the evening, a miscellaneous concert was given by
the same artistes, who severally acquitted themselves in
an admirable manner. The attendance in the morning
was of a highly fashionable character ; but not by any
means so numerous as that of the previous day. In the
evening the audience was very scanty.
The performances of Wednesday morning were devoted
to the first two parts of Haydn's " Creation" and Spohr's
"Last Judgment," the music of both composers being
rendered with fidelity and power. Haydn's splendid reci-
tative and air, "In native worth," was given by Mr. Sims
Reeves with much beauty and sweetness of intonation;
the air was executed as if by a perfect instrument, and its
melodious execution secured for it an enthusiastic encore ;
still there was a deflect in the performance, and a marked
one,—it was very defective in articulation.
On Wednesday evening, " a people's concert," that is,
one the charge for entrance to hear which is moderate
enough to be within reach of the humbler as well as the
middle and upper classes. On this occasion the charge
for admission was half-a-crown, and the attendance was
such as to crowd the hall. This appears to have been the
most popular portion of the proceedings. The principal
vocalists were Madame Viardot Garcia, who kindly volun-
teered her valuable services on this occasion, Madame
Weiss, Mrs. Lockey, Mrs. G. Holden, Mrs. Millar,
Miss Stott, and Miss Dolby; Mr. Lockey, Mr. Millar,
Mr. Armstrong, and Mr. Weiss; together with a
chorus of three hundred voices. The programme in-
cluded a selection of pieces from the works of Mozart,
Stevens, J. L. Hatton, Romer, Handel, Auber, A. Lee:
C. Festa, Bishop, Beethoven, Haydn, Land, Purcell, Weber,
Horsley, and Mendelssohn ; the whole concluding with
" The National Anthem," by the principal vocalists and
chorus.

In reference to the performance, a correspondent, who
signs himself " One of the Masses," writes :—"Not being
one of the guinea or fourteen shilling subjects of our
good Queen Victoria, I attended St. George's-hall, for the
first time, on Wednesday evening last, the half-crown
being more to my taste than the higher figures. I have
no doubt you have had plenty of the higher description of
critics, but as I doubt your having one of my stamp, I
therefore trouble you with a few remarks on the Hall and
concert, which I trust you will receive kindly from one of
the masses. When I entered the hall, I found it crammed
from "stem to stern," but I soon crammed myself into a
good berth ; and when I looked upward, downward, and
all around, I was quite electrified with the grandeur of
the scene: above, the beautiful roof, with the elegant chan-
deliers, like diamonds hung in air, dispensing the softest
and brightest light ; the massive and elegant polished
granite pillars, seeming as if each had the whole weight
of the building resting on them; and when all was looked
at together, filled as the hall was with such a mass of living
beings, and with so many pretty bonnets with pretty faces