The Press. FRIDAY, MAY 26, 1865. THE MUSICAL SOCIETY.

Press, Volume VII, Issue 803, 26 May 1865, Page 2

The Press. FRIDAY, MAY 26, 1865. THE MUSICAL SOCIETY.

The Musical Society gives a concert this evening for the benefit of its conductor, Mr. McCardell, and we venture to express a hope that the public will respond to the invitation of the Society, and testify by a large attendance their sense of the services which Mr. McCardell has rendered to the cause. There is hardly any institution in whose success we take so keen an interest, because we believe there is none so capable of effecting a wide and permanent influence on the tastes and enjoyments of the people. The simple fact that the Society is an amateur one, in which all the performers, whether vocal or instrumental, are amateurs, —the few professional gentlemen who assist rendering their services gratuitously, and the officers of the Society doing the work for nominal or no consideration, —and the marked success which has attended its efforts since the amalgamation of the two societies out of which it was formed some two or three years ago—these are considerations which entitle the Society to every assistance which the public can give. It is an institution of which the Province has the highest reason to be proud. For the Society has not been content with merely giving that easier and lighter description of music which is usually esteemed the utmost limit which societies of this description can reach ; it has gone to the fountain head, and has grappled with those great works of the greatest masters, which can alone lay the foundation of a true and sound musical fjudgment. Nor have their efforts been unattended with success. Por example, at the last concert there were many persons present well able to give a correct opinion, and fully acquainted with what has been accomplished in other societies of a similar character in these colonies. Their opinion of the manner in which some of the choruses were performed was not grudgingly expressed; indeed no one could have listened to the Hallelujah Chorus, as it was given on that occasion, without feeling that the Society had taken already a very high stand. There was not only ordinary correctness in the parts, but apower and energy in the delivery showing that the singers.had become fully ; imbued with the spirit of the great master whose work they had undertaken to interpret. Any such institution as this is a great benefit, and ought to be a matter of great pride to the inhabitants of Christchurch; because it not only afford© to the public a [very high enjoyment, in a place where all< enjoyment of Art is necessarily but scantily provided, but it specially inspires a great number of persons who join in its labors with an object, the pursuit of which tends, J perhaps more than any other, to elevate the taste and correct the perception of what, is true and noble in Art. All societies of this kind are conducted under very great difficulties. There are so many motives at work to produce difference and dissension, that as a general rule they j

break up in a very few years. They are generally only kept together by the personal influence of some few members, and fall asunder as soon as this influence is removed. Wβ are not, in making these remarks, alluding to the Canterbury Society, but stating what has been the experience in numberless instances. And Speaking from the same experience, and therefore without any particular allusion to the circumstances of our musical friends here, we may be allowed to point out one or two of the difficulties under which such musical societies generally labor. The main difficulty springs out of the selection of those members who are to take the solo parts. Many singers like to take solo parts not always necessarily from mere vanity, but from much higher motives, from a love for the music, and a conviction that they can interpret it better than others. It almost always happens besides, that professional men have pupils whom they are naturally anxious to put forward, not only from the mere commercial motive that the success of a pupil brings credit and profit to the master, but from the natural and creditable pride which every artist feels in the success of a pupil upon whom he has bestowed much time and attention. It is almost always found that societies of this kind get broken up into parties and cliques, so that the defalcation of one disappointed syren is the signal for the desertion of an appreciable section of the whole. The great Society at Exeter j Hall has overcome its difficulties from two causes: first, that its magnitude has been such as to outweigh the petty parties and factions which almost always arise; and secondly, that the solos are invariably sung by professional persons engaged for the occasion, and not by members of the Society. In late years, moreover, the conductor has been of so high a standing in the musical: world as to give him a weight and authority which few conductors are able to acquire. If we may be pardoned the liberty of making some suggestions to our Musical Society as to the best method of avoiding the difficulties which have overtaken others, we should say that the first guarantee for the permanence and improvement of the Society is to increase the number of performers. It maybe easily answered that any one who wishes it may get introduced and become a member, but as a matter of fact there are a very large number who do not care to take the preliminary steps to doing so, who do not like to put themselves forward, and who want tobelookedup and talked to, and made to take an interest in the thing, and who would do so if a little trouble were taken in the matter. It can only be done by every member of the Society enquiring amongst all his friends who are likely to be useful singers, and persuading them to join. And above all, this should be the task of the Conductor and of the committee. Any Oxford or Cambridge man who remembers the anxiety with which the captain of the college boat club inspects the new arrivals every year, and the trouble he takes to find out what each is worth as an oar, and to induce the likely men to join the crew, will understand what we mean. In other words, there is wanting more esprit de corps —a more active missionary spirit—in the Society. And yet this is the thing most wanted, for exactly in proportion as the Society, as a whole, increases in numbers, so will it be able to disregard the loss of a single member here or there, from whatever motive the defalcation may arise. And we would strongly appeal to our fellowcolonists, of whom there are so many who have either left or have not joined the Society, to come forward and lend their aid to maintain it in the high position it now occupies. The Society should ever bear in mind that the solos are matters of the least importance. All the singing in our solos is likely to be so far below that which we have been used to hear from the principal public singers in England, to whom these solos are generally entrusted, that they must be listened to, for the most part, rather with toleration than enjoyment. It is not so with the choruses. There is no reason why the choruses should not be as well sung here as in London. A leading public singer possesses not only a voice which is only heard ' at all in public because it is one of a thousand, but he brings to the performance a long and hard training which produces an amount of skill and finish in expression and I execution which a mere amateur can rarely approach. But it requires no great physical j power or very elaborate skill in each singer in a chorus, to make up a very excellent performance of the whole. It is in the, chorus, therefore, that the Society musA look for its great successes. The success cf the chorus is peculiarly the work of the Conductor, and we are but doing justice to Mr. McCardell in saying that the Society has made a vast improvement under his rule. Hβ is an admirable timeist- —that is to say, he maintains his time well throughout a piece, though we think he has a little of that tendency, which many modern conductors display, to take some choruses too faaL

Again, we may perhaps, in a spirit of criticism, say that he does not pay sufficient attention to the modulation of the hand and of its parts. He gives his» attention too exclusively to the voices. But the Conductor's duty is to control and regulate the whole, to insist on the modulation of the brass instrument!—«a matter requiring improvement with us, as in moat orcnestras, to put down pianofortes and harmoniums and all other instruments of the hurdy-gurdy class, and let the pure and delicate inflexions of sound which the bow alone can elicit, have their true influence on the total effect produced. But in spite of this Mr McCardell is a very able conductor, and takes great pains with the Society. Even where he fails the fault is not always is own ; in fact, were we to speak candidly, we should say that the authority of our Conductor is not sufficiently recognised in every part of the band and orchestra before him. Very few country bands have the opportunity of following the lead of so admirable a player and so accomplished a musician as Mr. Bonnington; and his advice in the management of the orchestra and the modulation of its parts is, we are sure, never wanting, nor his judgment ever at fault ; but it is the Conductor who should enforce it, because the Conductor is responsible for the whole effect. As a general rule it should be left to the Conductor to select those who are to sing the solos ; but we know what difficulties would arise out of this arrangement. The best mode of meeting this delicate question would be, that the Society should select a committe of those best able to judge what really good singing is, and who are most familiar with the performances of the best singers, and that such committee should hear the solos sung by all who choose to volunteer, and should decide which were the best. If it were an understood law of the Society that this competitive examination were to be undergone by all those who Jpished to syig solob, many of those miswould be avoided which; have, in other societies, led to a final breakup of the whole. Lastly, we would strongly urge pn the Society to require a subscription from its members and the public." There are a great number of expenses which must be incurred. The Conductor and the Leader ought to be paid good salaries. Supplies of music cannot be got for nothing; and instruments have sometimes to be purchased. Indeed, at this time, nothing is so much needed as a good organ. For all these expenses the casual and uncertain receipts of a concert—which a heavy shower of rain may seriously curtail —are not sufficient. Again, branches of the Society are wanted at Lyttelton, Kaiapoi, Eangiora, and other villages. There are small classes at some of these places already, but united action, is required, and if a full chorus is necessary the expenses of those com-1 ing from a distance ought to be paid by the Society. "We are quite persuaded if the Society would give a little more to the j public, and show themselves a little oftener, they might ask the public for that pecuniary, support which they require, and which they show that they have deserved. In the absence of funds they now give their able Conductor a complimentary concert, and we can only repeat that we hope it will.be supported by the public.

Wehavebeenrequested by theßall Committee to, ask for the attendance of a few of the Volunteers at the Town Hall this evening, at four o'clock, to help in replacing the platform for the concert, to take place to-night, and to remove the arms, : which were' used as decorations at the ball. Thb Baxaia Eatimoßiini IJabty.—-Mγ. Harman started yesterday morning for the head waters of the Bakaia in search of the above party. Aβ some anxiety is entertained for their safety, we are glad to be able to state that we are, informed upon, good authority that they had ample provisions to last a month when they left Major Scott's, on the 26th April; and that although a great quantity of rain has fallen in the back country, there has been but little snow. The coating of show on the back ranges is still so light as to leave the ground exposed in' many places even at a great height. Wβ are therefore under no apprehension that they have Buffered further inconvenience than having been detained in the tent by continued rains. ; Thb West Coast Boas.—Wβ have been favored by the sight of a letter from Mr. Blake to tho Secretary for Public Works, in which that gentleman states that a road can be taken down the south bank of the Teramakau from the Otira to where it will strike to the southward for the Waimea, Arahura, and Hokitika. The cost will be comparatively light, and the river will not be crossed at all. The whole of the danger of the Teramakau will thos be avoided. Mr. Blake has put the work in hand at once. The great obstacle to a postal service and gold escort will' thus be removed, and in a few weeks we shall be able to ride to the West Coast without dfßculty. : AtrcRHSB BxrapßAueKß Shot.—A telegram from Sydney, dated May 13, reports that the notorious ! bushranger Gilbert has been killed in an encounter with the police. LTTEEI.TON MusaciPAlEwOTlOH.—The following is the result of the polling, which w> declared at 420 p.m. yesterday :—J. S. Wilooxy 99 j TJ. Macpherson,76; Eerhnrst, 58; Ward, 41. M&J.S. Wilcox and Mr. Urq&hart Maepherson were declared, duly elected. Tblsobafhzo Chabgxs.—The following temporary scale of charges has been issued, at the telegraph office i ire behave that they will undergo re-

Tision as soon as communication is opened intermediate stations: -From Christchurch to D edin—lo words, 5s ;20 do, 8s Gd : 30 do 12 8 <M 40 do, 15s; 50 do, 17a 6d; 75 do, 21a 6d ' 100 d 255. To Invercargill-10 words, 6s; 20 do 10s J* 30 do, 15s ;4O do, 18*; 50 do, 21s; 75 d o ' 25a J 100 do, 30s. To the Bluff—lo words, Bj' 20 d 14s; 30 do, 20s; 40 do, 245 ; 50 do, 28e' 75 d °* 34a j 100 do, 40s. Where extra copies are' reqajJi they will be charged for at the rate of one ehOline for every 100 words or fractional parts thereof Lecxube ok Chbmistby.—The first of a series of fortnightly lectures on Chemistry was delivered W evening in the College Grammar Sohool-room, by the Eev. Mr. Carpenter. The lectures are meant to be elementary, and are intended for the instruction of the scholars during the winter ovenings. The Yon. Archdeacon Jacobs has promised prizes to those bow who shall at the end of the series be moat proficieat in the subject. The lecture last evening was varied by many amusing experiments, for the perfomroee of which the college possesses a good stock of chemicals and the necessary apparatus. Besides the boya, there were many ladies and gentlemen present last night, and on the termination of the proceedings the rer. lecturer waa vociferously cheered by the juvenile portion of his audience. The next leoture will be delivered on Thursday evening, the Bth June.

LxfxXTio Abyitth.—On Wednesday evening the. inmates of the Lunatic Asylum were entertained with music, dancing, charades, &o. The interest taken by the various patients under Mr. Seager's charge in these periodical entertainments is very great, and must tend to benefit their minds to no inconsiderable extent. Too much, praise cannot be accorded to those friends who, on an occasion like the Queen's birthday, are willing to sacrifice their own pleasure for the amusement of the afflicted. The whole entertainment passed off most successfully. Thb Queen's Bibthday at Kaiapoi.— The people of Kaiapoi used their best endeavors to do honor to her Majesty's birthday. Some commemorated the. event by going to Christohuroh to see the first sod of the Southern Bail way turned, but many declined doing so, thinking that it ought to have been the first sod of the northern line. The vessels in the river sported all the available bunting, which wu answered from the shore by the Union Jack at the Volunteers' flagstaff, and the flags which are generally displayed on gala days in front of the-Kaiapoi Hotel. The Volunteers mustered in strong force, and marched, under the command of Captain Fuller and Ensign Black, headed by their brass band, to the rifle range, where they arrived about 12 a.m. The colons were trooped, after which the company fired a feu de joie t presented arms, and gave three cheers in honor of her Majesty. All this might as well have been done in some public part of the town—on the bridge, for instance—'bat for some reason, of great military force no doubt, but unintelligible to the civilian mind, our Volunteers are expected to display their loyalty in remote' add sequestered spots, like early Christians worshipping in secret for fear of persecution; The Company then proceeded to fire for the Ladies' Purse, fire rotmdl each at 200, 300, and 400 yards range, but the shoot* ing was very inferior to their usual performances, owing to a strong iou'-wester blowing right ftcrow the range. The following was the result:—lst prgie, W. Beswick, 24 points ; 2nd prize, Sergeant Bereß} 21 points; 3rd prize, Private Hassall, 18 points; 485. prize, Sergeant Wright, 17 points; sth prize, Privjtfi* Hebden, 15 points. The day was wound up with*» ball at the Kaikanui hotel, which was tarteffiOy decorated for the occasion with evergreens and flip Dancing was begun about 9 p.m., and about ,12Jhe . company adjourned to an excellent eupper ; jpron<£edi by Mr. and Mrs. Grant in their Terr best style, after, which dancing was resumed and kept up with spirit to a late hour. During the evening the prhsee won in the late rifle matches were presented ta the suocesv ful: competitors. \ \ /• LiTEKAET Society.—The usual weekly meeting of this society took place hut evening in-the'Gongre-gational Church. Dr. Foster presided. In the ab> sence of Mr. Turrell, the motion standing in the name of Mr. Cox—"Ought the Maoris to be represented in Parliament"—was brought on ifiwf die* cussion. A singular unanimity of opinion seemed to pervade the meeting in favor of the Maori" and consequently the arguments were all oa one side. Mr. Cox and others argued*{that under the treaty of Waitangi the Maori*' became British subjects, and amenable to Britiify rule and law, and that therefore to deny them a voice in making the laws was an injustice. The , had by their acts shown that they had arrived -atth** ' degree of civilization which would qualify them for '. representative institutions. Hβ contended tink ■ although in some instances the Maoris might,4w*P" astray, yet they were naturally so keen-sight«Aj|j,. their own interests that a second error was no>,|ii|i| to occur, and he considered that their admisHoeiwte-' equal chare of the civil rights enjoyed by \ was the only means by which the'race might W eon*, ciliated and preserved. Dr. Foster summed tn) & some length, and gave his views in and upon calling for a division it waa found thet~B» 1 motion was carried unanimously. The queitiott discuseion next Thursday will be— M That Wtf iwjt in accordance with Scripture." " ' '" "' -;J Nbw Zealand Afzaxks.— A debate on <9**j* Zealand affaire took,place in the House; of Comment; on March 11. Mr. A. Mills, who had giren «*J& of his intention to move, an address to Crown on the subject of the Kew Zed/Ms' war, withdrew his motion as its object had , »»»,: attained by the policy lately adopted in the colony, and the withdrawal of the greater portion <£*[*, 1 troops. The debate, however, was oontiuneoVapaj} the House was addressed "by Mf.^Boibod^J^'* 5 Buxton, Lord Stanley, Lord 8.. Cecil,; h J£r4ddta|||£ ; LordA. Churchill, Mr. Cardwelland being strongly in favor of the policy Government. Wβ ehall publish the debate inJflfc to-morrow. , , <-,CfßfcjSj|' Pkeetcsbs' Theatbb—•Wβ were/glad to good Ait attendance at the theatre laet evemngronWg occaaiontrf tie repetition of ««MargaretThe vicissitudes that this extraordinary- "*&££&? underwent are well known to most of our and form the subject of a novel, written by'the Mr. Cobbold, and upon this novel toe present a founded. Margaret Catahpole, the a part of some to " ddioe( Miss Bosa Cooper last night proved' **£& fully equal .to" the task; hee rendering of gjHFjg of the mow pathetic parti was moet toßch &*jst ■he well deserved the encouragement vh* '* e *^*? : S from the audience, Mr.Btfdia^*iß»Je^^^|

*3nseeTp«*»i» tbaa " p*** we haTe eeen him ' T-Sflt'it'ft o°* peculiarly fitted for him. The comical verb of Gooseberry Pip and Muffin Pegs were resMetirelr taken by Messrs. Hall and Dale, and for * v to fail at being amused at their eccentricities -■'•""■ The scene 'with the black fellow is Mltkoiaxly rich. Sally, afterwarde Mrs. Gooseberry jjrtneplayed with Mrs. Hall's usual rivacity, and rAp lenuining parts were most creditably gone ftEOsdh* In the interral, Little Laura danced the ' Bd&* Soropip* in her usual picquant style, and the . concluded with Paddy Myles's Boy, in Mr. Morrison was highly successful as the

■pfaflAanir Irishman. To-night" Plot and Passion," * ediie snoceseful burlesque of " H Trovaiore " will