New York Conservatory of Music Classical Soirée: 1st

Event Information

Venue(s):
New-York Conservatory of Music [after 6/67]

Performance Forces:
Instrumental, Vocal

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
6 February 2019

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

28 Oct 1868, 8:00 PM

Program Details

First Classical Soirée of the 1868-69 season.

American premiere of Bruch's Violin Concerto, op. 26. (The advertisements do not list anything but "Violin Concerto," but it is certainly the G minor, as it was the only one Bruch composed by 1868.)

The unidentified piano trio by Beethoven was in E-flat major.

Performers and/or Works Performed

1)
Concerto, harpsichords (2), BWV 1061, C major
Composer(s): Bach
2)
Ardita, L'
Composer(s): Arditi
3)
Spinnlied, op. 81
Composer(s): Litolff
4)
Linda di Chamounix, cavatina
Composer(s): Donizetti
5)
Titania
Composer(s): Lefébure-Wély
6)
"Riverdere, Il"
Composer(s): Gabussi
7)
Fantasie-caprice de concert sur des motifs de Tannhäuser de Wagner
Composer(s): Goria
8)
"Pretty mocking bird"
9)
Concerto, violin, no. 1, op. 26, G minor
Composer(s): Bruch
10)
"Kleine Bettler, Der"
aka Little mendicant; Little beggar
Composer(s): Gumbert
11)
Trio, piano, strings, unidentified
Composer(s): Beethoven

Citations

1)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 28 October 1868.
2)
Announcement: New York Post, 28 October 1868, 2.
3)
Review: New York Herald, 02 November 1868, 4.

“There is nothing that tends so much to elevate the musical taste of the people as the course of training to which pupils are subjected in the conservatories. It is astonishing what a number of excellent pianists may be found there. At a soirée given by the New York Conservatory of Music on Thursday last we heard two little girls play some exceedingly difficult pieces with an ease, brilliancy, dash and clockwork precision which would have shamed many public performers. When a little girl can play a Spinnerlied by Litolff, an impromptu by Chopin and take part in a Bach concerto for string quartet and two pianos, there is little fear but that such a course of musical instruction will soon sweep the trash away from the publishers shelves and replace it with genuine works of art. Another phenomenon of fifteen years of age will soon make her debut as a pianist, playing Mendelssohn’s ‘Capriccio’ and Liszt’s ‘Concerto,’ with orchestral accompaniment. Our stock of pianists is developing fast, and every one that comes from Europe as a star is completely taken aback to find his equals and sometimes superiors here in the persons of boys and girls not yet out of their teens.”