New-York Institution for the Blind Concert: Student Benefit

Letter to the editor, signed, “Spectator.”  “The concert was private, and confined to the pupils and a few select friends. The scene was one of deep interest, involving as it did the exhibition of mutual and sympathetic admiration for the splendid compositions and performances of the most thoroughly finished band in the country on the one part, and the display by the choir and pupils of the institution presenting the very embodiment of musical taste and cultivation on the other. Those who have heard the band perform some of their finest compositions, imbued with the very soul and spirit of their own richest harmonies, can, in imagination, add to the scene, the same band under the additional inspiration of those tender and touching sympathies which those musical children of the night are so much calculated to create.

            The compliment paid by this justly celebrated band appeared to be fully appreciated by the pupils, who literally imbibed the harmonies, as though they were inborn elements of their natures. It is not often, in these mater-of-fact days, that we are permitted to witness such an expression of reciprocating sympathies, as was exhibited by these musical celebrities. The genial harmonies of music seemed to have removed the distinction between the seeing and the sightless, and both sets of performers seemed to have commingled the loftier harmonies of their spiritual natures with the symphonies of art and cultivation.  Professor Lasac [sic] conducted the exercises of the pupils, and their critical accuracy and perfection reflected the highest credit on his system of instruction. Could our army on the Potomac have heard ‘The Star-spangled Banner’ sung by the pupils, with the finished accompaniment of the Band, we think there would be an onward movement somewhere, and soon. It is hoped the institution will soon give the public the privilege of attending their Wednesday afternoon rehearsals. Such exercises instruct our minds, and elevate our better natures.”