Vocal Society of New York Last Concert of the Season

“One of the manifestations of the increasing taste for music in amateur circles is the attention paid to the cultivation of part singing. Ten years ago one or two oratorio societies sufficed to absorb all the amateurs of the city competent to sing well by note; but now we have the Mendelssohn Union, the Harmonic, the Church Music Association, the Mendelssohn Glee Club, and several other organizations for the practice of vocal music. The Vocal Society of New-York, though one of the youngest of these societies, is among the best, as the concert at Steinway Hall last night proved. The list of active members includes many of our best resident singers. The pieces selected, and their performance, gave evidence of their ambition and ability. Noticeable features of the programme were a four-part hunting song, by Mendelssohn; Cooke’s fine chorus ‘Shades of the Heroes,’ an effective bit of vocal writing; Horsley’s familiar glee, ‘By Celia’s Arbor;’ Macfarren’s chorus, ‘Ye Spotted Snakes;’ Abt’s chorus, ‘A Summer Night,’ and Mendelssohn’s Forty-Third Psalm. Solos were sung by Miss Henrietta Beebe, Mrs. M. A. Shams, and Mr. Aiken. Mr. Mosenthal conducted with [finesse?], and the whole performance passed off smoothly. The voices in the chorus of the Vocal Society are not thoroughly balanced, the tenors being too weak for the other parts.”