Morning Herald

German Concerts and Musical Association,
Sweet is the language of our native vale, sweet are the strains our village maidens sing, and in every country, however wide may be the oceans which separate the exile from his natale solum, the melodies of home always awake a patriotic feeling, and bind in closer fellowship those whose hearts acknowledge the same spell, and whose lips have been early attuned to the same strains.

In no country in the world is music cultivated with so much enthusiasm and success as in Germany; a German is a predestined musician; it is a condition of his birth; and for a person to be born in wide Almaine, and have no music in his soul, would be almost to call in question his Teutonic descent, and the fair fame of his mother. Accordingly, wherever they wander, they form themselves into Harmonic Societies for the indulgence of their favorite passion; and there is not a river in this vast continent, or a city on its banks, that have not resounded with the songs of their father Rhine, and the airs that are popular from Geneva to Hamburgh.

A society of this character was established in New York, on the 13th September last; and a brief history of its establishment and progress is highly flattering to the zeal of its originators, and the taste and musical fervor of its members. It was originally composed of eight members only, who met at one another's rooms to cultivate their musical proficiency, and improve by mutual competition. We remember last summer being at several of their parties and champagne suppers at Staten Island, and other places, where we noticed the warmth and energy with which they chaunted forth the songs of their parent soil. They invited their friends to bear a part in their evening's amusement, and in an unexampled short time, the numbers of the society were so swelled, that a regular organization and discipline became necessary. It now consists of one hundred and twenty German gentlemen, and forty honorary members, of English and French descent. The majority of these are young gentlemen engaged in mercantile pursuits; and the others are heads of houses, importers, &c., who lend the juniors their countenance, preferring the elegant and refining influences of music to more noisy and less durable enjoyments. It is not considered necessary that all who join the society should take a part in the instrumental or vocal exercises of the association; as all performances are voluntary, and each takes that part to which his predilection leads him, under the management of Mr. Joseph Hermann, the director, who is entitled to the highest credit for the perfection of musical discipline to which the orchestral and vocal departments have been brought. Any respectable citizen can become a member, without being called upon to sing or play, and without distinction of nation, on being duly balloted for; and, at the present time, the society is desirous of increasing the number of good tenor singers, and instrumentalists. The best recommendation of the good effects of this admirably organised association was manifested at the concert at the City Hotel on Tuesday evening; and the appreciation in which it is held, was shown by the avidity and strenuous exertions to obtain tickets of admission by all the amateurs and cognoscenti in the city. As we have previously remarked, the assemblage was composed of the elite of our intellectual and fashionable circles, by whom the exquisite music and songs of the Fatherland were rapturously hailed, with an unanimity and heartiness that did as much honor to the hearers as they were flattering to the performers.

The object of the society is to promote an enthusiasm for music on correct principles, to further private and rational amusement, and to encourage social feelings. It meets thrice a week, at Delmonico's; on Tuesdays, for instrumental exercise and improvement; on Thursdays for singing; and on Saturdays for a repetition of both. The executive control of the affairs of the association is vested in a President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer, and a committee of nine, forming an administrative council of thirteen. The qualifications of members are respectability—to be balloted for—and the payment of $15 per annum.

We are happy to learn that the society is in a prosperous state, and that its members are increasing, and its treasury overflowing. The public will, also, be gratified to learn that a concert or more, similar to the one on Tuesday evening, will be given; and now that attention has been called to this most laudable institution, we doubt not it will become one of the most popular and successful in the country.