2-888-320 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Opening of St. Martin's Hall, Long-Acre, [London], 1850. 'The Hall is well lighted with elegant chandeliers, and there was animation in the general appearance when completely filled with amateurs; and the orchestra presented its band of some seventy players and nearly 500 singers, the latter principally selected from Mr. Hullah's upper singing schools. His presence in the conductor's seat was the signal for a general burst of applause...The first part then terminated with Mr. Henry Leslie's festival anthem, "Let God arise," the words selected from the 68th Psalm. It was praiseworthy to inaugurate the Hall with the performance of a work by a native composer...It was, however, impossible to come to any definite conclusion as to the details of Mr. Leslie's composition, so many points being ruined from inaccurate and indifferent execution'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.