THE MUSICIAN ABOUT TOWN. 317 



ances were, Mayseder's second concertina for the violin, admirably 

 executed by young Blagrove ; and Mendelssohn's Piano-forte con- 

 certo in D Minor, which he himself played at the last Birmingham 

 festival, by Mrs. Anderson. Unlike a large bulk of modern piano- 

 forte compositions, the concertos of Mendelssohn are so thoroughly 

 the result of large thought, with exquisite taste and feeling, that 

 the performer has made but a small advance towards compassing 

 the author's intention, who shall only have mastered his passages, 

 severe as this task undoubtedly is ; for not only must the performer 

 be imbued with a knowledge of the greatest schools in music, fuliy 

 to appreciate his author's ideas, but should at the same time possess 

 a refined as well as sensitive organization, to give them due expres- 

 sion. Mendelssohn is now the bright star in the ascendant, and 

 there is little doubt that each coming year will confirm this opinion. 

 His music is of that character which dilates in the mind with reite- 

 rated acquaintance, a result with is signally observable in studying 

 his magnificent oratorio. Mrs. Anderson's performance of the con- 

 certo, upon this occasion, somewhat disappointed the audience, and 

 distressed her friends, who knew beforehand that she had been the 

 whole day previous so much indisposed as to have entertained the 

 thought of declining to play at all that evening. The lady, how- 

 ever, made ample amends for the untowardness of this casualty, by 

 repeating the composition at her benefit concert, when she perform- 

 ed with as much vigour, self-possession, accuracy, and feeling, as we 

 ever remember to have seen in her. 



The symphonies at the second concert were the Nos. 8, both of 

 Haydn and Beethoven. After these the distinctive features and 

 novelties of the evening were, a clarinet concerto by Mozart, appa- 

 rently an early composition, performed by Willman ; a quartett of 

 Beethoven, in D, by Loder, Watts, Tolbecque and Lindley ; and 

 Mendelssohn's overture to the " Isles of Fingal." The second and 

 last movement of the concerto, but especially the former, the andante 

 most generally pleased : the first we thought not only too long, 

 but the passages seemed too frequently repeated, and too much of 

 the same character. Willman's playing was what it invariably is, 

 a lesson to every solo performer, whether instrumental or vocal ; 

 instinct with neat execution and refined sentiment. It were diffi- 

 cult to imagine a more perfect union of tone with feeling of the 

 author's intention than was displayed throughout the quartett, but 

 these were so eminent in the andante that the whole audience gave 

 vent to one simultaneous burst of approbation. Tolbecque, the 

 tenor's reading of this movement could only have been the result of 



