Before now we have had occasion to observe, that the
large and ex- pensive benefit concerts, whereby performers and teachers used to levy a heavy tax on their friends and connexions, while they endeavoured to at- tract the public by an ad captandum entertainment, generally of a com- monplace and frivolous kind, have for some years been giving way to performances under the names of Classical Chamber Concerts, Musical Soirees, Matinees, &c., carried on serially by our most eminent professors, on a smaller scale, less expensive, and of a much more recherche character. That will seemingly be more than ever the case in the present season. A number of these serial concerts are already going on, and the commence- ment of others is announced. Miss Dolby has already given three with so remarkable a success that she will be induced, we believe, to continue them. Mr. Sterndale Bennett, as we formerly mentioned, has com- menced his usual series ; Mr. Lindsay Sloper commenced last week, Herr Pauer this week, and next week we shall have Mr. Lucas. Mr. Ella has resumed the series which he began last season under the name of "Musical Winter Evenings," designed to fill up the interval before the meetings of the Musical Union. All these con- certs resemble each other in selection and quality. They consist chiefly of concerted instrumental music of the great masters—quartets, trios, and sonatas with or without accompaniment—generally executed by the finest players that can be obtained. It is remarkable that these instrumental pieces preponderate, even when, as in Miss Dolby's case, the concert is given by a singer ; a proof of the growing taste for a kind of music which demands refined and cultivated ears. At these entertainments novelty is less in request than excellence ; the standing pieces are furnished by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Spohr, and Mendelssohn; though now and then a new piece is heard, worthy to be added to our stock of classical music. Among these we may mention two fine sonatas for the pianoforte and violoncello, the one by Mr. Sterndale Bennett, the other by Herr Passer ; and a stringed-instrument quartet, by Molique, performed at ElLa's concert the other evening : pieces which must become favourites among our best amateurs.
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