Theodore Thomas Lyric Hall Concert: 4th

“The delightful concert-hall which Mr. Theodore Thomas has opened on Sixth ave. near Forty-first st., was well filled last night, and we are gratified to perceive that his enterprise is meeting with substantial rewards. His orchestra rarely gives us poor music. The programme last night embraced the overtures to Wagner’s Rienzi and Rossini’s William Tell, a fantasia on Don Giovanni, selections from Trovatore, the allegretto from Beethoven’s 7th symphony—a movement of a very solemn beauty, played with exceeding delicacy—and several dances by Strauss, and other minor pieces. As no concert seems complete now without Gounod, we had an entr’acte from his Philemon e Baucis, a striking composition of marked idyllic character. Mr. Thomas’s violin obligato was heard to advantage in a selection by Lanner, and his neat sympathetic touch added a great deal also to the Don Giovanni overture and a ‘Theme and Variations’ by Mozart. His William Tell was superbly performed, and an encore was resolutely demanded, but was, not unreasonably, declined. These orchestral concerts are really valuable additions to our list of public entertainments, and it speaks well for the musical taste of New-York that they are so keenly appreciated.”

“The fourth concert at Lyric Hall assured the popularity that seems to have set in for this new series which Mr. THOMAS has begun. The hall was full, and the programme, if not new, was good.”