For a short time New York possessed a Handel and Haydn Society which originated in a number of oratorio performances gotten up to finance the rebuilding of the Zion Church. This was before the day of the Sacred Music Society. The Musical Fund, already mentioned, seems to have been chiefly an orchestral organization, notwithstanding the fact that, as Dr. Ritter points out, it gave monthly rehearsals for 'the display of the glee and solo talent' of the city. A concert given by it in 1830 included the overture to Mozart's 'Magic Flute,' an overture of Winter, a pianoforte solo, a clarinet concerto, and a trumpet concerto(!). We find that at its concert in 1836 the Musical Fund had a very well balanced orchestra of thirty-eight instruments and performed, among other things, the overtures to Rossini's 'Sémiramide' and 'William Tell.' Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Gluck, Beethoven, Rossini, and Weber all figured on the society's programs, and on one occasion it presented Beethoven's 'Eroica,' arranged for septet. About this time there seems to have been a number of musical societies among the German population of New York, which was beginning to assume large proportions. Chief of these was the Concordia, which was devoted to the improvement of instrumental and vocal music. For a short time the Concordia was conducted by Daniel Schlesinger, a native of Hamburg and a pupil of Ferdinand Ries, who exercised considerable influence on musical life in New York during his few years in the city. Many semi-private clubs for the cultivation of various branches of music also began to make their appearance, but they are of no particular importance, except in so far as they testify to the growth of a serious interest in musical matters. III It is quite impossible to say when and where the first musical society made its appearance in New England. Though both Mr. Elson and Dr. Ritter assert that the Stoughton Musical Society was founded in 1786 its right of priority is not apparent. Even if it had its beginning in the singing school which Billings taught at Stoughton in 1774, it still must yield precedence to the St. Cecilia and Orpheus societies of Charleston, the Orpheus Club of Philadelphia, and the Harmonic Society of New York--all of which were in existence before the latter date.