PATEA HARMONIC SO OPENING OF THE NEW GRAND CONCERT.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIII, Issue 9542, 10 November 1881, Page 2

PATEA HARMONIC SO OPENING OF THE NEW GRAND CONCERT.

(By Telegraph.) (FROM OUR SPECIAL gig

Patea, Nove, The members of the Patei i Society are certainly to be C L on the progress they have J the society came into exi ste j have had to struggle xnihl culties, and have at time-? trouble in keeping to^th? have pulled through ° ma £ society 18 now a very profi^ body, and it possesses, hi „J valuable stock of music i ii grand pianoforte, a hall, n JJJ which bears favourable coiW those of more pretentious Z larger towns. The new hall? finished, as there is still a amount of work to l, c &J® turn, with the stage fitting V enough forward to be <C! The design of the ball ii and reflects great credit m^ andbuilde^andthedeet is also deserving of p ri ,j se j artist employed is Mr f v] as his work is not yet com, cannot speak of its effect This evening the l la ll' Was , a grand concert. r or ' past active preparations f or t have been carried on. The ii bersof the harmonic societies nui, New Plymouth, „ud Ha been solicited, and the Wqu J readily complied with. The r that there appeared on the sti new hall this evening one of i combinations of amateur vw which has ever come before! in any town on this coast chestra, which was also con contingents from the sister 8 the before-menfctoned places i ten performers— namely, first and second comets, two two second violins, firct am flute, and piano. The concert nounced to begin at S o'clocl soon as the doors were opened commenced to fill with people, fore the overture began even able seat was occupied. ]J had to stand. The program concert was divided into tin The first, secular sungs and i the second, sacred ; andconclo Birch's operetta " The Men* Sherwood Forest." Before «j signal for the commenccmeoi overture, the conductor, }fo addressed a few well-chosen the audience, explaining som tious in the programme, rendei sary by the unavoidable absac of the performers who were i He then thanked the audience attendance, an d declared the ha! The Eev. J. Dasent then stei ward, and on behalf of the me the society presented Mr Temi very handsome silver-mounted a mark of thnir appreciation ol vices to the society. Mr Tenfl ingly returned thanks, and] gramme was begun with the' to "The Caliph of Bagdad! was excellently played, andj applauded. The first vocal itej chorus " The carniviil " (Eosaii was taken with suitable sjj vivacity. Mr J. 0. George with Mattei's beautiful ball yes, 'tis true." This gentlerai at first slightly nervous, shorn possesses a voice of no commoi ties — pure and full in tone, considerable flexibility ; it j velop with training into a organ. The quintette, "Bio gales," was robbed of mucho cess which the solos in it sh entitled it to, on account of a harmor.iousness in the concfi sages. Miss Noake'a aiugii " Treasures of the deep" wm equal to what we expected, audieuce appreciated and r, plauded it. " Away, the morai breaking," full chorus, folia was well received. Mr flo New Plymouth, then gave 81 on airs from "JSonna," in which well exemplified his sk handling of the king of mi Miss Sparks sang the popnla solo, " Let me dream again," ti and the audience would fain h repetition of tho second verse. and chorus, " The chough a followed, and was taken style. The duet, "Te LB (Campagna), by the Misses H and Govett, was, in our opinioi of this part of the entertaiame voices blended in a manner seldom heard ou the amateur i the accentuation and express almost perfect. Mr E. E. Gilb) " I seek for thee in every (Ganz), gave an opportunity of to a very pretty tenor voice * control. Additional charm ffl this solo by the cleverly-perfor obligato supplied by Mr $a first part of the programme ' eluded with the well-known chorus," from II Trovatore. t portion of the programme i menced with Haydn's "Surp phony," by tlie orchestra, m

execution of this piece (as, W< the case in several of tlie oh conductor marred the effect ol tiering by marking the first be* bar by taps on the music stai habit, even in the practice roon injurious, as the instrumental^ so accustomed to having the feß! out for them, instead of wafc motion of the baton, that they! and it becomes necessary to * drum in the orchestra. At pfl habit is reprehensible, but in cert hall it is simply inexcusso " Sanctus " and " Gloria" from Twelfth Mass, were the twomfl able concerted pieces in the sec of the concert. The choruses " Messiah " showed want of c practice, a fault which was q cusable from the fact that orij rehearsal had been held. 3« gave the grand bass solo, "* ye brave," from " Judas 3iacc with the vigour and spirit w composition demands. "I »" my Eedeemer liveth " ga?e W for a display of Mrs Facto soprano voice. This solo was beautiful piece of vocalisation* have listened to for a long ffß the applause which, n.s » ra course, followed it, but poorly* the delight with which it w>» ' Mrs Pinches was deluged wtn« and an encore was voci/w" manded, but declined on aoojg length of the programme. ** solo, " The people that wa tea ness," was hardly suited w » and but partially successfciclose of the second part the « asked the audience to join vw thanking the ladies and g who had so kindly assisted tw thanks were especially doe Wildman, of New Plymoutt, so ably ©resided at thn p«wg to Mr Drew, who had taken w to biing that unwieldy «■ known as the " double- WJ Wanganui with him, and J proved of great assistance w chestra. The audience comp the request by giving three W An intermission of ten mmuiw

j and the last section of the pro- % ''comprising the "Merry men j^-ood Forest," was then pro(lfjth, the cast being as follows : — fcii' n ' Mrs Hirst; Eobin Hood, •igplin ; Little John, Mr E. C. I Will Scarlet, Mr Weiss ; Friar "\\x Grower. This operetta is ..jlv a favourite one. There is no > r in the unison which amateurs easily overcome, and the airs ■■oruscs are all very pretty and ;"" Of its rendition this evening -only speak in favourable terms. y solos very little fault could be "■nd & was evident the choruses 'l y well studied by at least some of %■< (on account of their not being -j copies obtainable all of those % part could not be supplied). 'olos we preferred Maid Marian's -Sweet pretty bird," Eobin Hood's Little John's " Bacchanalian •'frill Scarlett's " Miserere Doa ml Friar Tuck's recitatives V o well taken. The unaccomi' choruses, << Sweet echo " and Wia. ' went with more evenness ■/others, if we except the finale, - a ip it merrily o'er the lea." '..ff/t- was one of the best we have , rjeasure of attending, and we '< Vill be the forerunner of many '•'alike enjoyable nature.

",'. closing this notice we cannot -*ffOin remarking on the excellent :,. properties possessed by the new ■v-rv word can be distinctly heard, '; vocalists were unanimous in the

•i;at it is one of the most agree,'jj to sing in that they had ever