Chamber Music Soirée: 6th

Event Information

Venue(s):
Irving Hall

Event Type:
Chamber (includes Solo)

Performance Forces:
Instrumental

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
25 August 2017

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

11 Apr 1868, Evening

Program Details

Final chamber music soirée of the season.

Additional musicians for Mendelssohn’s octet unidentified.

Performers and/or Works Performed

2)
aka Quartet, strings, no. 2, D minor; Quartet, strings, op. 10, no. 2, D minor; Quartet, strings, K. 417b, D minor
Composer(s): Mozart
4)
Composer(s): Schumann
Participants:  Sebastian Bach Mills
5)
Composer(s): Mendelssohn-Bartholdy

Citations

1)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 11 April 1868.
2)
Announcement: New-York Times, 11 April 1868, 4.
3)
Review: Dwight's Journal of Music, 25 April 1868, 231.

“These fine compositions were admirably played by the faithful and conscientious artists to whose untiring and but poorly remunerated efforts a growing taste for this class of music is mainly due in this metropolis.  Any detailed analysis of the works performed is of course unnecessary, but it will suffice to say that the successes of the evening were the Mendelssohn Octet and Mr. S. B. Mills’s superb performance of the exceedingly intricate Schumann Sonata. 

The Octet exhibits—as it seems to me—less of the author’s charming and unmistakable individuality than one finds in his later works. It contains, however, many exquisite passages, and when we recollect that it was written in 1825, when Felix was a mere boy of 16, we cannot be surprised that the unanimous judgment of the musical world has placed Mendelssohn among the ‘bright immortals.’

Mr. Mills, as we have intimated, achieved a notable success in the solo Sonata. The composition is not attractive to the general mass of hearers; one has to search too deeply after the intention of the author, and one’s nerves are too intensely strained in the quest. Mr. M., however, brought out most admirably the themes which lie hidden beneath the labyrinth of notes, and his skillful handling of the mechanical difficulties which crowd the Sonata, won from the audience a very enthusiastic and well-deserved encore.

These Soirees have been most enjoyable during the winter, and the audiences—although disgracefully small—have mostly been composed of the earnest lovers of true Art. The deficiency in numbers has been more than compensated for by the presence of thorough and intelligent appreciation. Our enjoyment has been sometimes marred by the stalking in, during the performance of some fine passage, of persons with diabolically creaking boots, and—an even greater nuisance—by the crackling and rustling of newspapers in the hands of prosaic boors. These little performances are extremely annoying to those who sincerely desire to listen and who attend these concerts with no other purpose. If such ‘disturbers of the peace’—viz., the aforesaid boors—could be summarily kicked from the hall your correspondent would be happy. Doubtless there are many others who would experience a similar feeling of satisfaction.”

4)
Review: New-York Times, 27 April 1868, 4.

“The season moves quietly to its close. The excellent series of classical chamber concerts came to an end a few days since, and on Saturday the Philharmonic Society gave its fifth and last concert at the Academy of Music. Bad times have been experienced by both associations, but we are glad to know in no sufficient degree to impair their permanence. Messrs. Mason, Thomas, Mosenthal, Maztka, and Bergner have worked long and faithfully in the cause of chamber music. On the occasion of their last concert they presented a programme of unusual excellence; a clear indication that the spirit which has so long actuated them in the good cause was in no respect abated. An Octette in E flat opus 20 by Mendelssohn was performed with excellent effect, also Mozart's quartette in D minor, and Beethoven's sonata for piano and violoncello opus 5—in which the composer’s love for the latter instrument is so clearly indicated. The execution was of course excellent. In the sonata, Mr. S. B. Mills assisted Mr. Bergner, and it is needless to add, with immense advantage to the public and the piano. The same gentleman performed Schumann's strikingly romantic and effective sonata in G minor, one of the two in opus twenty-two. The fresh suggestiveness of the ideas, the vigor of the treatment, and the perfection of the performance electrified the audience—always deliberate in its convictions, and not apt to throw up its cap too jubilantly. Mr. Mills received the extraordinary honor of being recalled thrice after the performance of the sonata. Long may such worthy artists, one and all, flourish in the land.”