Popular Concert

“The Saturday afternoon concerts at the Y. M. C. A. Hall meet with a success for which it is not altogether easy to account, except by a curious combination of considerations. The hall is pretty and comfortable, and so arranged that the ladies of the audience can inspect each other. The situation and the hour are convenient for ladies. The programmes are varied. The music is light and does not fatigue the intellect, and some of the music is pretty good. Last Saturday the principal attraction was Mrs. Howard Paul, a lady for whom in the concert room we have not a particular admiration. She passes from a rich tenor to a ringing mezzo soprano voice with a rapidity more startling than agreeable; and though she has great natural gifts and not a little culture, we cannot help wishing that she would be either a man or a woman. Mr. Tully played the organ and produced some pleasing effects with the bells in the overture to the ‘Poet and Peasant.’ Mr. Nilsen, a new tenor singer, exhibited a light, pleasant, but half-trained voice; and Mr. Eben blew out of his flute some difficult and doleful variations on the Ah! Non giunge.”