Thomas Sunday Concert: 19th

“Miss Josey Hofle and Mr. Frank Gilder were the soloists at Steinway Hall last night. The lady sang an aria from Figaro’s ‘Hochzeit’ and Gounod’s ‘Ave Maria’ and the pianist rendered Weber’s ‘Polonaise’ in E flat, one of Mason’s nocturnes and a tarantella by Dochler. Mr. Gilder did not impress us favorably. He has some merit in clean execution, but he plays mechanically and without the slightest expression. Thomas’ orchestra played a symphony by Bach, a fantasia on the ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ the overture of ‘Rienzi’ and a selection from ‘William Tell.’ The hall was crowded and there were many encores.”

“Miss Josey Hofle and Mr. Frank Gilder were the soloists at Steinway Hall last night. The lady sang an aria from Figaro’s ‘Hochzeit’ and Gounod’s ‘Ave Maria’ and the pianist rendered Weber’s ‘Polonaise’ in E flat, one of Mason’s nocturnes and a tarantella by Dochler. Mr. Gilder did not impress us favorably. He has some merit in clean execution, but he plays mechanically and without the slightest expression. Thomas’ orchestra played a symphony by Bach, a fantasia on the ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ the overture of ‘Rienzi’ and a selection from ‘William Tell.’ The hall was crowded and there were many encores.”

“Sunday concerts appear to have become a regular feature of our city amusements, though it is difficult to say whether they are pecuniarily remunerative. The friends of the artists are usually largely represented among the audiences, and artists’ friends are by no means celebrated for paying their way to such places. The music of the Sunday concerts given this season has usually been of a good class, the Irving Hall concerts under Mollenhauer, appealing more to the popular taste than those given at Steinway Hall by Mr. Thomas. At the former, the cornet player, Mr. Levy, has been the leading solo attraction. At the latter Mlle. Hoflé has won many admirers as a vocalist; and last Sunday night Mr. Frank Gilder gained deserved applause for his neatness and facility of execution on the piano-forte. These Sunday concerts are given at popular prices of admission, and bid fair to be permanent.”

“Mr. T’s 19th Sunday Concert presented this, among other attractions:

Symphony, No. 1, D (1776)…..Emanuel Bach

Fantasia, Midsummer Night’s Dream….Mendelssohn

Overture, ‘Rienzi’…..Wagner

Ave Maria…..(Bach), Gounod (Soprano, violin, piano, organ, orchestra)

Nachtgesang…Vogt

The soloists were Miss Josey Hofle (soprano) and Mr. Frank Gilder (pianist). The former did not succeed very well in the exquisite Ave Maria which requires a voice of far greater purity than hers; in her other solo she was more pleasing. Mr. Gilder played a Polonaise by Weber in very good style, although the performance was too mechanical. In Mason’s ‘Silver Spring’ he displayed a beautifully clean touch, together with a very even manipulation. For an encore he played Gottschalk’s well worn ‘Banjo,’ which has never yet been really played by anybody but the author himself.

The Emanuel Bach Symphony is a quaint little thing, with no pause between either two of the three movements. Singularly, the Largo is in E flat, although the other movements are in D. The Fantasia on the ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is too much of a hodge-podge for my taste, for I thoroughly disapprove of mixing up the Nocturne, Clown’s Dance, Wedding March, Overture, &c., into one heterogeneous mass.”