THE PHILHARMONIC CONCERTS.

Tax third concert was on Monday last : the scheme as follows.

M ct I.

Sinfonia, Jupiter Aria. Miss MASSON,"D'una madredisperata" II Crociatu is Egitto

Concerto Fantastique, MS.. lirst time of per-

formance; Pianoforte, Mr. MoscHF LEA MOWS. .Exaltabo te ;" composed expressly

Mr the Philharmonic Society,and lirst time

of performance Overture to Mehosine. or The AI, rmaid end the Iiiii4;1it. MS., first time of perfiamance

ACT It

Sinfonia. Letter Q.

Air, Mn. W. KNYVETT. "holy and great is thy name," Mount Sinni Dramatic Concerto, Violin, Mr. WOLFF Duet. Mrs. W. KUM.= and Mr. BRADBURY. " Hy thee with bliss," and Chorus, " For ever blessed," Creation HAYDN% Overture to Belshazzar's. Feast. MS. ... J. HENRY GRIESBACIL Leader, Sir. WEIClitEL—COIBIOrt0r, Mr. MOSCHELgS.

MOZART. MEYERBEER. MOSCHELYS.

W. 'TOUSLE!, Mus. Bac.

F. M ENDEL8SOHN BARTILOLDY. HAYDN.

CIIPTThlier NEUKONN.

It is one part of the Directors' duty to feed the public appetite for novelty ; and on this occasion it was not neglected : how far excellence was joined to novelty, may in some instances be ques- tioned. The whole affair of bespeaking compositions of certain members of the Society, instead of proceeding upon clear, intelli- gible principles, appears to have been dictated by mere caprice. If the Society had desired to do an act of justice to the English vocal writers of the present day, it would have selected their best works for occasional performance; but from this it has systemati- cally refrained. It manifests the waywardness of a child, which

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! values nothing unless, allowed to call it " its own." Wha need is there to adve'nture in a lottery for the chance of a prize, when so much wealth is within reach? Did it never occur to the minds of these adventurers, that there are blanks as well as prizes in lotteries? The third of the new vocal pieces ap- pears in the scheme of the present concert—the Motet by HoRs- LEY. Now one, at least, of this author's Motets is known to the public, and known only to be aimired. Why was not this taken Here was no risk of failure—no doubt—no uncertainty. But the Society could exercise no ownership over it : they could not place it on their shelves as an unique copy : they could not lock it up from the rest of the world, and allow it to grow venerable with dust and cobwebs. Has the spirit of II:Au-swoon descended on the Philharmonic, or is Dr DIHDIN admitted to its councils ?

As far as we were enabled to judge of this Motet, we should rate it below the mailer's "God is our hope and strength;" which is formed on a purer and better style, is more vocal in its structure, and displays more of that mental as well as scientific power which Mr. HORSLEY is so well known to possess. In the verse for six voices, " Miscrator et misericors Dominus," the composer discovers that talent for vocal part-writing its which he has few superiors : but the last chorus had a disappointing effect, We ought to add, that the performance was not such as to enable us to form a perfect estimate of the composition. The balance of power, which ought to have inclined to the voices, was fearfully on the side of the instrumentalists; and thus the true character of the piece was not brought out.

Miss MAssosr's singing was wasted upon a song by no means calculated for the atmosphere of a concert-room ; and Mrs. KNY- YETT'S was equally ineffective. The duet and chorus from Creation succeeded in emptying the room of nearly half the audience. Here again the chorus was overborne by the band. There are two versions of this duet; one of which runs thus- " Air and ye elements, nature's first-born, That in quaternion run, and ceaseless changes make;

Ye dusky mists, that now arise From hill and steaming lake,

Resound the praise of timi our Lord "-

the other thus-

' Ye strong and cumbrous elements, Who ceaseless changes make; Ye dusky mists and dewy steams, Who rise and fall through the air, Resound the praise of our Lord "—

Such are the fascinations of nonsense, that the latter was se- lected for performance.

But let us turn to the excellencies of the scheme, residing, at they usually do, in the instrumental music. We need not vent any new raptures over MOZART'S gigantic or HATosis graceful Sinfonia ; but we may indulge ourselves in speaking in marked approbation of Most:SU:LES' new Fantasia. It is the best composi- tion that he has given us for a long while. For a season be seemed to be falling into the track of the pianoforte scramblers, and sacrificing grace, erudition, and expression, to mere execution. The present composition combines all these in an eminent d-gree, while it is equally calculated to develop the author's powers as a player. Nothing could be more finished than the ensemble of the performance.

SPOIIR'S fine Concerto was well played by Mr. WOLFF, as far as a distinct, clear, and brilliant display of manual skill extends ; and these are the usual demands which a violin concerto makes on the performer. But those who have heard it played by SPOHR will remember, that it then assumed the interest of a vocal composi- tion. The words were left to the fancy of the hearer to supply ; but the varied expression which he conveyed into the opening recita- tive and air could not be mistaken. It Nye; SPOHR singing one of his own songs on his violin. With such a reminiscence, it is no mean praise to say that many parts of Mr. WOLFF'S perform- ance afforded us great pleasure.

sussi.ssoirrs's new Overture is full of originality and beauty, and of those felicitous groupings of the wind instruments which always distinguish his compositions, while they equally evidence the skill as the genius of their author. GRIESHACH'S Overture ought to have had a better situation.