Private Amateur Concert

“Yesterday afternoon, in the elegant private theatre of Dr. Ward’s residence, in Forty-seventh street, an amateur entertainment was given, under the auspices of Mrs. Hamilton Fish, Mr. John A. Dix, Mrs. J. D. Sherwood, Mrs. C. A. Bristed, Mrs. Paran Stevens, Mrs. Judge Roosevelt, and Mrs. Vincenzo Botta, in aid of the Halleck Statue Fund, of which Professor S. F. B. Morse is President, General J. G. Wilson, Secretary, and Mr. B. H. Field, Treasurer. A majority of the audience were ladies belonging to the highest circles of fashion and culture. The foreign tourist, who said that with comparatively few exceptions only, the women found time in America to read poetry and to cherish the memory of poets, would have been confirmed in his impression by witnessing such a numerous assemblage of female admirers of the late Fitz Greene Halleck, the author of ‘Fanny,’ of ‘Burns,’ of ‘Alnwick Castle,’ of ‘Marco Bozzaris,’ and of many others of the finest poems for which the world is indebted to the American muse. The receipts must have made a handsome beginning towards the sum requisite for erecting a statue of Fitz Greene Halleck in the Park. The balance of the sum is to be raised by subscription. The programme of yesterday’s entertainment, consisted of a duo, from Campana, by Miss Annie Powell and Mr. Fossati; ballad, from Wallace, by Miss Burton; romance, from Ward’s opera of ‘The Gypsy’s Frolic,’ by Mr. Barlett; solo, from ‘L’Africaine’ of Meyerbeer, by Miss Fannie Powell; grand duo—Bell Imago—from Rossini, by Miss Henne and Mr. Fossati; reading—Halleck’s ‘Marco Bozzaris’—by General J. G. Wilson, author of a recently published memoir of the poet; duo, from Ward, by Miss F. Powell and Miss Burton; solo—Beatrice at Jeuda [di Tenda?]—from Donizetti [Bellini?], by Mrs. Gulager, who was encored and sang ‘Waiting’ from Graham; duo, from Ricci’s ‘Crispino,’ by Mrs. Johnson and Mr. Nathan; solo, La stella Confidante, from Roubaldi, by Miss Annie Powell, who was also encored and sang Ward’s ‘Trust Not the Happy Hours,’ and a quartet from Verdi’s ‘Rigoletto,’ by Miss F. Powell, Miss Burton, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Fossati. The musical director was Mr. Giorza. This concert afforded additional proof of what we have often had occasion to remark that among American amateur singers there may be found voices so fresh, flexible and sweet as to give promise of a brilliant musical future for the New World.”