Bateman and Harrison Wednesday Popular Concert: 2nd

Event Information

Venue(s):
Steinway Hall

Manager / Director:
H. L. [impressario] Bateman
Lafayette F. Harrison

Conductor(s):
Theodore Thomas [see also Thomas Orchestra]

Price: $.50; $1 reserved

Event Type:
Orchestral

Performance Forces:
Instrumental, Vocal

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
12 December 2017

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

14 Nov 1866, 8:00 PM

Program Details

Some of the citations record this as the first concert in the series; owing to an issue with scheduling on Mondays and Wednesdays, Music in Gotham counts this as the second. For an explanation of this discrepancy, see the program details of Bateman and Harrison Wednesday Popular Concert: 1st on 11/12/66.

Drømmebilleder included a zither solo by Herr Heindl.

“Beware” was sung as an encore by Kate McDonald.

Performers and/or Works Performed

4)
aka Drommebilleder; Drømme Billeder fantasi; Traumbilder potpourri; Traumbilder selections; Traumbilder fantasie; Visions in a Dream; Pictures of dreams; Frambileter; Fraumbileter
Composer(s): Lumbye
Participants:  Eduard Heindl
5)
Composer(s): Unknown composer
Participants:  Thomas Orchestra
6)
aka Narren-Galopp
Composer(s): Gung'l
Participants:  Thomas Orchestra
7)
aka Fantasia on Russian national hymn; Fantasia on Russian airs; Variations on a Russian national hymn
Composer(s): Pattison
Participants:  John Nelson Pattison
8)
Composer(s): Pattison
Participants:  John Nelson Pattison
9)
Composer(s): Unknown composer
Participants:  Eduard Heindl
10)
aka Beware! Take care; Hüt du dich!; I know a maiden fair to see; Beware, take care; Take care
Composer(s): Moulton [composer]
Text Author: Longfellow
Participants:  Kate McDonald [soprano]

Citations

1)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 13 November 1866.

“It will be their aim to render these reunions not alone a source of refined and unexceptionable enjoyment to all lovers of good music, but also to materially aid the onward progress of taste and science by the sterling selection they will offer and the thorough excellence of the various performers who will assist. The management likewise pledge themselves to give to rising native talent, both vocal and instrumental, the most effectual encouragement. In brief, it is their fixed purpose to render the Monday and Wednesday popular Concerts a recognized institution of the sister cities affording to the public a permanent intellectual pleasure: and while the first talent of the day, in every department, will from time appear [sic], the price of admission has been fixed at fifty cents.”

2)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 13 November 1866, 7.
3)
Advertisement: New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold, 13 November 1866.
4)
Announcement: New York Herald, 14 November 1866, 4.

Included in list of amusements.

5)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 14 November 1866, 4.

Describes Bateman and Harrison’s intentions for the new popular concert series—which here, they say, take place in Brooklyn on Mondays and at Steinway Hall on Wednesdays; the Sunday sacred concerts are also described, as “an opportunity for passing a blameless and delightful Sabbath evening.”

6)
Announcement: New-York Times, 14 November 1866, 4.
7)
Announcement: New-York Daily Tribune, 14 November 1866, 8.

"THE MONDAY AND WEDNESDAY EVENING CONCERTS.

The series of concerts inaugurated by Messrs. Bateman and Harrison, are destined, we think, to be very popular, both with our citizens and the citizens of Brooklyn. It is intended that they shall be continued during the whole Winter, as long indeed, as our musical season lasts, and they are designed to be entertainments not only of a popular and delightful character, but as exponents of the higher and more refined styles of music. The classical element is to be introduced, though sparingly, into each programme, and the best of the most popular music will in all cases be selected. These concerts will unquestionably educate the masses, for the cheapness of the price of admission will assuredly attract thousands, who, from constantly listening to good music finely performed, will, of necessity, imbibe the esthetic in art, unconciously, but surely, until they become equal to the comprehension and enjoyment of the great symphonic form of writing, of which the philharmonic societies and the symphony soirees are the exponents. This desirable result will be arrived at by the pleasantest and most fascinating faith, and the ear will be educated through the medium of delicious tones, beguiling the listener to a knowledge acquired unknowingly and without labor.

These concerts will also afford opportunity for bringing forward the rising talent of the country, not only in the vocal and instrumental departments, but in the department of composition. Talent will have a free scope here, and will need no other recommendation to gain a hearing. The amount of talent immediately around us awaiting development is very large indeed, and we hail with satisfaction the establishment of a means through which the young aspirant may first feel the throb of the public pulse in approval or disapprobation of his or her efforts.

[Review of first concert in series.]

This evening the first Wednesday popular concert will take place at Steinway Hall, on which occasion the following artists will appear: [lists performers]."

8)
Review: New York Herald, 15 November 1866, 4.

“There is no doubt but that the enterprise of Messrs. Harrison & Bateman in establishing popular concerts will meet with the same approval on the part of the public as Theodore Thomas’ Terrace Garden concerts last summer. There was a very large audience at Steinway Hall last night, and plenty of attractions for them also. The last two movements of the first symphony in C by Beethoven, Lumbye’s never tiresome Visions in a Dream, with Mr. Heind’ls [sic] zither solo, the Africaine fantasia, and the Fool’s Galop, constituted the orchestral part of the programme. Mr. Thomas conducted as usual. Miss Kate McDonald sang two of her favorite ballads, with ‘Beware, beware,’ as an encore. Her light, sweet toned and well trained voice told well in the latter song. Mr. J. N. Pattison played two of his compositions on the piano, the Russian air and the Midnight Reveries of the Owl Club. His European tour seems to have improved him considerably. To his faultless execution there is now added much spirit and delicacy, and, above all, clearness of phrasing. We would wish, however, to hear him in public in some pieces of more calibre, the Henselt concerto in particular.”

9)
Review: New-York Times, 15 November 1866, 5.

Steinway Hall.—The first [sic] Wednesday popular concert belonging to the series announced by Messrs. Bateman and Harrison, was given here last night to a fine audience. The programme opened with the third and fourth movements of Beethoven's Symphony in C, No. 1, which were played admirably by Mr. Theodore Thomas’ orchestra—an orchestra, by the way, which possesses the faculty of playing everything well. In Europe it is not customary to find first-class performers who are willing to give their services to a miscellaneous concert. The members of the Philharmonic Societies think it beneath them to play dance music, and the players of dance-music widen the breach by ridiculing—and properly—the pretensions of the Philharmonic Societies. Here in New-York an artist plays his instrument well, whatever may be placed on the desk before him, and every member of Mr. Thomas’ orchestra is an artist in the best sense of the word. The two movements of the symphony were received with marked attention and favor. The other orchestral pieces were Lumbye's popular ‘Vision in a Dream,’ with Zitter [sic] solo, (which was encored); selections from ‘L’Africaine’ and the ‘Fool’s Galop,’ by Gungl. Miss Kate McDonald was the vocalist of the occasion, and sang two songs and a ballad with exquisite taste. The lady’s voice is not powerful, but it is so pure and penetrating, especially in the upper register, that it travels easily through the vast expanse of the hall. The fine acoustical qualities of the building, we may here add, are daily becoming more apparent. They seem to be perfect not merely for the voice, but for the ensemble—the slightest whisper being as distinctly heard as the loudest crash. Mr. Heindl (who performed the Zitter [sic] solo, before referred to,) executed a fantasia for flute with much brilliancy. His tone is full and round, and his execution clear and easy. Mr. J. N. Pattison, the pianist, gave the audience a couple of solos, and exhibited a marked improvement in execution and touch. The ‘romance’ in the second part was a pleasing composition, but its form and coloring are evidently borrowed from Gottschalk. It was none the worse for this reason, but young composers must beware of the temptation held out to them by predecessors of stronger individuality. Mr. Pattison played the ‘air Russe’ very brilliantly. The theme is old, but Mr. Pattison has devised several effective variations. We do not remember to have heard the gentleman to better advantage.”