Philharmonic Society of New York Rehearsal: 1st

Event Information

Venue(s):
Academy of Music

Conductor(s):
Carl Bergmann

Price: $10 Associate members’ tickets to 6 concerts and 18 rehearsals; $15 subscribing members, 12 tickets to concerts only; $15 two tickets to six concerts; $2 single concert tickets; .50 rehearsals

Event Type:
Orchestral

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
18 May 2019

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

13 Nov 1868, 2:30 PM

Program Details

27th season. The orchestra included 100 musicians. American premiere of Gade’s Hamlet overture.

Performers and/or Works Performed

2)
aka Eroica symphony
Composer(s): Beethoven
3)
Composer(s): Berlioz
4)
Composer(s): Gade

Citations

1)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 22 October 1868.
2)
Announcement: New York Post, 10 November 1868, [2].
3)
Announcement: New-York Times, 10 November 1868, 4.

President DOREMUS’S remarks on aim of the Society; list of works to be performed (BERGMANN as conductor) and assisting artists.

4)
Announcement: New York Post, 12 November 1868.
5)
Article: New York Sun, 12 November 1868, 2.

Revitalization of the Philharmonic Society under its new president, Professor Doremus. General announcement about the six upcoming concerts with full program listings.

6)
Announcement: New-York Daily Tribune, 13 November 1868, 5.
7)
: Strong, George Templeton. New-York Historical Society. The Diaries of George Templeton Strong, 1863-1869: Musical Excerpts from the MSs, transcribed by Mary Simonson. ed. by Christopher Bruhn., 13 November 1868.

“To Academy of Music. First Philharmonic Rehearsal. Sat in Amphitheatre B or top gallery. The glorious Eroica.

8)
Announcement: New York Post, 14 November 1868.

“The first Philharmonic rehearsal of the season took place at the Academy of Music yesterday afternoon. The attendance was large, and the band of musicians attacked Beethoven’s harmonious intricacies with vigor and success.”

9)
Review: New-York Daily Tribune, 14 November 1868, 8.

“The first rehearsal of the Philharmonic Society yesterday afternoon at the Academy of Music was attended by an excellent audience which filled all the decently good seats, even to the amphitheater. Beauty and fashion were there in full force, and dozens of pretty girls sat patiently on the steps of the aisles, or stood about the lobbies. Beethoven’s Heroic Symphony, two parts of the Symphonie fantastique of Berlioz, and Niels Gade’s overture to ‘Hamlet’ were played by Mr. Bergmann’s hundred performers uncommonly well considering that this was the first rehearsal for the first concert of the season, and that the men have been so many months without the hard drilling of their accomplished leader. The concert promises to be a remarkably fine one; and we should judge from the indications of yesterday that the Society is about to have another season of the prosperity which has rewarded it since it came under its present liberal and judicious management.”

10)
Review: Courrier des États-Unis, 16 November 1868.

“The philharmonic society inaugurated its winter season last Friday, under the title of open first rehearsal. Similar events don’t have anything but the name of rehearsal, and it’s doubtless a pretext to allow the public, and especially the ladies, less formal dress than at properly named concerts.

“The orchestra, under the direction of M. Carl Bergmann, truly wrought marvels. The two principal works were the Eroica Symphony of Beethoven and the Symphonie Fantastique of Berlioz. The opinion of masters and critics on these two works was formulated a long time ago. In Beethoven, it is genius elevated to its most extreme power. Any man, no matter how little musical training he might have, couldn’t keep himself from being influenced by this glowing melody that clasps you, that fascinates you, that takes possession of all your faculties, and, for a few hours at least, transports you beyond the vulgar limitations of the real world. One muses about paying attention to the esthetic, to analyze! You listen, you savor, you enjoy and you’re conscious almost of being taken with a noble feeling of pride in thinking that this work is the work of a man. In Berlioz’s symphony the effect isn’t at all the same; you have to be an analyst of the highest power to take a deep interest in it. Certainly, from a scientific point of view, it is masterful. All the resources of harmony with its draconian laws, all the wonders, the surprises and the originalities of orchestration are put into work, but the soul is not moved’ it is only science. The first part appeared a bit cold; the second, thanks to its brilliant finale valiantly carried off by the orchestra, was very much applauded.

“In sum, it would be desirable if events of this nature could multiply. The intellectual revival of a people is accomplished very much through art. The era of the Philistines is past . . . .”

11)
Review: Dwight's Journal of Music, 21 November 1868, 352.

Includes artists and repertory for forthcoming season, categorized by “Symphonies,” “Symphonic Poems,” “Overtures.”

12)
Announcement: New York Musical Gazette, December 1868, 13.