Anschutz Musical Institute Concert: 1st

Event Information

Venue(s):
Germania Assembly Rooms

Conductor(s):
Carl Anschütz

Price: $.50

Event Type:
Orchestral

Performance Forces:
Instrumental

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
16 May 2016

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

07 Oct 1866, 2:00 PM

Program Details

The first of a series of Sunday concerts, sponsored by the Anschutz Musical Institute.

American premiere of the Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

An unidentified fantasia for cello was also performed.

Performers and/or Works Performed

1)
LIST OF PERFORMER(S)/ORGANIZATION(S)
Participants:  Agnes Zimmermann;  William Groscurth;  Unidentified Mollenhauer;  Mrs. A. J. Davis [soprano];  Wilhelm Groschel [tenor and conductor];  [vocal] Mehreres
2)
Symphony, unidentified
Composer(s): Haydn
3)
Im Frühling, op. 24
Composer(s): Vierling
4)
Concerto, pianos (2), K. 365, E-flat major
Composer(s): Mozart
5)
Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Die, Vorspiel
aka Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Die. Prelude; Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Die; Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Die. Overture; Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Die. Introduction
Composer(s): Wagner
6)
Barcarolle, La (Opera), overture
aka Amour et la Musique; Barcarole
Composer(s): Auber
7)
Belle amazone, La, op. 25
Composer(s): Loeschhorn

Citations

1)
Announcement: New York Herald, 29 September 1866, 10.
2)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 06 October 1866, 7.
3)
Announcement: New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold, 06 October 1866, 8.
4)
Announcement: New York Herald, 07 October 1866, 5.

“Mr. Carl Anschutz will give a sacred orchestral and vocal concert this evening at the Germania Assembly Rooms.”

5)
Review: New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold, 08 October 1866, 8.

The concert was very well attended and also musically a success. Groschel, first tenor of the Stadttheater Zurich, displayed a beautiful tenor voice and an intelligent performance. Wagner’s “Introduction to ‘Die Meistersänger in Nürnberg’” was performed with a lack of confidence and calm.

6)
Review: New York Herald, 09 October 1866, 7.

“Mr. Carl Anschutz, the well known musical director, inaugurated at the Germania Assembly Rooms in the Bowery, on Sunday evening last, a series of concerts which he calls after the name of the institute lately established in this city, the Anschutz Musical Institute concerts. The programme was a formidable one, containing a symphony by Haydn, overture Im Frühling by Vierling, Mozart’s concerto for two pianofortes, introduction to Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, by Richard Wagner; a violoncello fantasia, overture to La Barcarolle by Auber, and La Belle Amazone by Loeschorn. Mesdames Davis and Zimmermann and Mr. Groschel were the vocalists, and Messrs. H. Mollenhauer, Davis and Groscurth the instrumentalists. Wagner’s Meistersinger von Nurnberg, which is also on the programme of the Philharmonic Society and the symphony soirees of Mr. Thomas, was played on Sunday for the first time in America. It is a strange work. Wagner intended it as an overture to a comic opera, in which Sachs, of Nurnberg, and the historical Meistersinger were to figure. If it is Wagner’s idea of the comic, then Heaven preserve us from a tragedy by him. From beginning to end it is heavy and massive, without color or variety. The trombones are kept almost as busy as the violins, and now and then the unlucky player is called upon for a blast of extra power, although he has to puff away for dear life all through. In it Wagner displays remarkable skill and knowledge of brass, but only this and nothing more. It will hardly take as well as the Tannhauser or Tristan and Isolde.  The orchestra, forty-five performers, played it with spirit, and could not be expected to do any more with it. These concerts will be given every Sunday evening.”

7)
Announcement: Dwight's Journal of Music, 13 October 1866, 328.
8)
Review: New-Yorker Musik-Zeitung, 17 October 1866, 169-170.

The concert was very well attended. The performance was very good including Mozart’s concerto for two pianos by Davis and Groscuth on Steck’s grand pianos. Mollenhauer’s solo was also enjoyable, however, Mehreres’ vocal performance was not.