LOCAL NEWS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 6, 10 March 1866, Page 2

LOCAL NEWS.

CONCERT IN AID OF THE SUFFERERS BY, THE LATE FLOOD. The concert given by the musical amateurs of the town yesterday evening, in aid of the sufferers by the late flood, was attended by a large and influential audience, and proved a great success. The singers were principally, the Nelson Glee Club, whose musical abilities are well known to the public, and who had only to present themselves, to secure favorable attention. The programme consisted of song, duets, quartettes and choruses, with a slight interspersion of instrumental music, which finished an agreeable variety, and gave satisfaction. Most of the pieces were accompanied by Mr. Mauby on the pianoforte, whose assistance was no mean auxiliary to the success of the performance. The concert opened with a chorus for equal voices, — " The Bells of Saint Michael's Tower," a difficult and heavy piece to sing. It presented no obstacle to the vocalists, and was well received. A ballad, " Bessie," followed, and was well sung by the gentleman to whom it was allotted. The song "Sunset," was exquisitely sung by the lady vocalist who next appeared, whose rich musical voice quite delighted the audience, and called forth a strong expression of approval. It narrowly escaped an encore. This was succeeded by the glee " The image of the Rose," which was sung by seven or eight gentlemen, -we forget which. There is great merit in the composition, aud it is a by no means easy piece to siug. It is needless to say that the singers were complete masters of their subject, but the piece, though well received, failed to produce any marked effect upon the audience, from its monotonous character and the absence of instrumental accompaniment, which it did not admit of. A good solo on that most difficult instrument, the harp, by a gentleman amateur, who gave expression to some most delicious tones, found great favor with the assembly, and justified the introduction of the pleasing variety. A gentleman tenor next sang "My pretty Jane " in an arch and pleasing style, which caused quite a titter amongst the ladies present, to whom the song and the singer were apparently no great strangers. Both the song and the accompaniment were capitally given, and, no wonder, met with a unanimous encore, in which both vocalist and pianist excelled their former selves, in giving "notes of linked sweetness long drawn out." We must protest against the vulgar gallery trick of whistling when an encore is demanded ; it ought to be put down with a strong hand. The duett " Meet me by moonlight," was deliciously sung by the two gentlemen amateurs whose duty it was to sing it, and added, if it were possible to do so, to the musical reputation they have so long enjoyed. A tenor song, not mentioned in the programme, followed, and a violin solo, the latter taking the audience by surprise, and receiving the encore which it so well deserved. . The pianoforte accompaniment greatly contributed to the success of the violin solo. The humorous piece, — " The Letter," was sung by seven gentlemen, in admirable style, and this concluded part one of the programme. Part two commenced with the part song " Banish, oh, Maiden," which four gentlemen amateurs sang with great sweetness and expression without accompaniment. It was to our taste the best glee that had been sung. This was followed by the song, " The Heart bowed down," in which the gentleman aoiateur did full justice to the sentiment and pathos which the song so strikingly elicits when sung by an artist of feeling. It was deservedly applauded. That pretty song " The Old Arm Chair" followed, and fell to the lot of the lady who had previously delighted the audience by her highly musical voice and artistic singing. We never heard this song niore sweetly sung, than on this occasion, and we wondered not, though we felt half sorry for it, that the audience re-de-manded it in most authoritative tones, and were treated to a repetition of such dulcet strains as are seldom heard at an amateur concert. The pianoforte accompaniment was in admirable keeping with the exquisitely

rendered melody. " The Mariner's return," a piece given by seven gentlemen was distinguished by its vivacity and cheerfulness, and was a good specimen of what can be accomplished by a number of equal voices who practice well together. The pretty ballad, "You'll remember me," was well adapted to the voice of the gentleman who sang it with considerable feeling and expression. A fantasia on the harp followed, by a very young lady, who quite electrified the audience by the brilliant manner in which she executed some most difficult passages, as well as excited their admiration by the softness of touch she evinced,, and the sweetness of the tones she extracted from the instrument. The juvenile artiste was enthusiastically encored,. and in the second effort eclipsed the lustre of her first performance. The duett "Could a man be secure," was capitally given, and the concluding chorus delighted the audience as much by its unintelligibility as by its grotesqueness and the really good music the singers extracted from it. It was sung con amove and had to be repeated. The finale, the National Anthem, was carelessly and slovenly sung, and was the worst part of the performance. It is a good maxim, finis coronat opus, which ought to be observed in musical as well as in other matters. The defect of the concert was the absence of soprano voices. Admirable as was the glee singing by male voices, a musical ear gets tired of it. Without intending to detract from the merits of the glee singing, we hazard the assertion that there can be no complete choral harmony from which woman's voice is absent. It is the arrangement of nature, and any infraction of the law is attended with the inevitable penalty. Had an equal number of ladies added the music of thenrich, full voices to the part singing of the gentlemen, what different results would have been produced last evening. As the room was a large one, the pianist would have been justified in giving the full power of the instrument with some of the heavy choruses and glees he accompanied. He erred on the right side, of subordinating the accompaniment to the singing, the rule to be observed on all occasions, but the accompaniment was sometimes felt to be too weak for the volume of sound through which it had to make its way. With these insignificant drawbacks, we have great pleasure in congratulating the musical amateurs of last evening on the great success of their achievement, which could not fail, we should imagine, to contribute lai'gely to the promotion of the beneficent object in favor of. which tlieir valuable services had been evoked.

I Correction. — "We have been requested to state that the name of the person fined in the Eesident Magistrate's Court on Friday, -was "John," and not Thomas Stewart. Lawlessness of Colxin"gavood. — A highly respectable storekeeper of this place complains of the indignities and losses the people are s.ibject to from the lawless conduct of diggers returning overland from the West Coast. It is no unusual occurrence for these fellows to enter an hotel and demand drink, walk into a store and help themselves to bread and groceries, strip the garden of fruit and vegetables, and occasionally walk off with half a pig by way of seasoning the other articles purloined. The storekeepers are powerless in the matter, because there is not a single constable to a population of 400 adults. This is carrying out the self-reliant policy with a vengeance. We shall return to the subject. The Lisnton Teodpe will appear on Monday.