Central Park Band Concert

Includes program.

“…The musical fête which the Park Commissioners have every Saturday evening provided for the pent up citizen of New York, is becoming daily more appreciate, as the tens of thousands who flock thither to enjoy so rich a treat abundantly testify. Although the day was hot and sultry in the city, and the mercury marked 86 in the shade, it was comparatively cool on the greenswards and around the fragrant arbors of our great suburban Central, where jocund youth and groups of more contemplative moods enjoyed the delightful strains of the divinely-voiced band. A multitude of vehicles, clouds of muslined crinoline, bevies of beautiful females, clustering like moss roses in close proximity to the music pavilion and a scattered population of pedestrians moving around and exploring every cozy nook and flowery dell, presented a picture on Saturday in the Park which well might inspire the pencil of the dullest artist, when the first notes of the overture—‘Italiana in Algieri’—announced the commencement of the evening’s performance. This exquisite piece of music was followed by the march, ‘Sanger’s Lust,’ and other delightful airs. The lively waltz, ‘La Vie Parisienne,’ almost set the audience a dancing under the shade of the greenwood tree, à la [muse?] Robin Hood and his merry men. The march, ‘Preussens Helden’ lifted up the spirit to the martial pitch, while the galop ‘Berg auf Berg’ brought it again to the magic ballroom. The Final National wound up the evening’s proceedings and the great crowds began to disperse and wend their way towards the busy precincts of the city. The hour’s enchantment passed away as suddenly as it came, and it was only a short step from Helicon to the City Hall.”