TEMPERANCE CONCERT.

Auckland Star, Volume VII, Issue 2046, 31 August 1876, Page 3

TEMPERANCE CONCERT.

We have seldom visited a more pleasing ooncert than that of last evening in the Temperance Hall, under the management of Mr Carr, and a committee. The chairman or introducer, was tho Rev Samuel Edger, and the choir consisted of his son, and thrae daughters, Miss Dofcson, and Messrs Hemus, Clough, and Burnham. The quartettes, trios, and duets, were unexceptlonally choice, selected from the compositions of Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Rossini, and other masters of the lyre. " O Memory was a beautiful rendering ; also the "Evening S;ar," and " The Vesper Hymn,'' the voices being in sweat accord ; the fine bass of Mr Frank Bdger, and the mollow tones of Mr Burnham, being very effective. " Flow on thou Shining Eiver " was another of the musical gems of the evening. Mr F, Kriger sang Coleridgo's plaintive version of " Miserere Domine," and Miss Dobson gave " Home they brought their Warrior Dead." with pression and care. The duet "Now stay good Nag," and the quartette "O Hills, O Vales," were really Une executions. There were four recitations given during the evening; the first by Mr B Brown from the poetical works |of Edgar Allan Poe, and entitled " The Raven," one of the moot singular poetical compositions in the language, and the author was as eingular in his strange life as In his writings This weird and wonderful poem wag written after recovering from a fit of delirium tremens, and as the author in his melancholy room, and thinks of Lenore, the saintly,maiden, sleeping in her grave ; or rather his wife vh< hud died brokon-hearted through hi« neglect, he feelß that hope has passed for ever and the ghastly raven croaks in ihe shadows of unutterable deapair. Mr Brown's recitation wag clear and distinct, and listened to with marked attention. Mr Eraser recited two poems from the works of Kobert Loighton in a highly satisfactory manner, both of which were highly enjoyed. Miss a. Carr cave a long piece, rather too leng perhaps, on a broken-hearted mother, whose son Kichard had get into bad company which l«d him into crime and remorse. The poem was given with much grace and feeling and with a distinctneas of utterance which was much to the credit of the fair Bpeaker. buch lengthy poems are a great tax upon the powers of a reciter, and such exertions may tend to impair the memory. The concert was a great success in relation to merit, above the general run of such entertainmentß, and what was especially noticeable, every piece was listened to with breathless interest, and every performer was respected by the audience.