Sunday Sacred Concert: 2nd

Event Information

Venue(s):
Irving Hall

Conductor(s):
Harvey Bradley Dodworth
Edward Mollenhauer [viola-vn]

Price: $.50 (reserved seats, $.50 extra)

Event Type:
Orchestral

Performance Forces:
Vocal

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
28 March 2021

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

03 Jan 1869, Evening

Program Details

The orchestra consisted of sixty members. Recitations by Wedemeyer included “Give me three grains of corn, Mother” (by Amanda Edmond) and “The Child’s confidence.”

Performers and/or Works Performed

2)
Composer(s): Mollenhauer [viola-vn]
3)
aka Jubel overture; Jubilee
Composer(s): Weber
4)
aka Guglielmo Tell; William Tell; Introduction
Composer(s): Rossini
5)
Composer(s): Donizetti
6)
Composer(s): Verdi
Participants:  Ignatz Pollak
7)
aka Good night; Thee only I love
Composer(s): Abt
Text Author: Seyffardt
8)
Composer(s): Mollenhauer [viola-vn]

Citations

1)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 03 January 1869, 7.
2)
Review: New York Herald, 04 January 1869, 5.

“The second Sunday concert of the Mendelssohn Orchestra Union took place last evening at Irving Hall. Considering the inclement state of the weather the audience was comparatively large, and an excellent programme was heartily enjoyed. One of the principal features of the concert was a rousing medley—‘New Year’s Calls’—by Mr. E. MOLLENHAUER. It is needless to say that DODWORTH’S orchestra rendered it in splendid style, as, indeed, were all the other selections. Miss F. ROKOHL made her first appearance as a vocalist and sang DONIZETTI’S beautiful recitative and cavatina from ‘Linda’ with much expression. Miss ROKOHL possesses a fine voice and promises exceedingly well. Her rendition of ABT’S song, ‘Good Night, my Child,’ with violin obligato, was deservedly received with approbation. Among the other attractions was Miss M. WEDEMEYER, who recited ‘Give Me Three Grains of Corn’ and ‘The Child’s Confidence’with much taste and feeling. Signor POLLACK’S interpretation of MATTEI’S romanza and VERDI’S cavatina, ‘Ernani,’ was in his usual peculiar style. MOLLENHAUER’S ‘Washington Irving March’ brought a very agreeable concert to a successful close.”

3)
Review: New York Post, 04 January 1869.

“There were two good concerts last night, one at Steinway’s and the other at Irving Hall. . . . At Irving Hall the new association known as the Mendelssohn Orchestral Union gave its second concert, under the joint leadership of Dodworth and Mollenhauer. The orchestra is large and showy in its style of performance. A new descriptive medley, ‘New Year’s Calls,’ by Mr. Mollenhauer, certainly developed powers in music hitherto latent. What would the admirers of the ‘tone picture’ system think of a piece of orchestral music, descriptive to the following extent!

“‘New-Year’s Calls (a Musical Joke). Midnight bells chime the birth of the New Year. Ho! For the sleighs and happy New Year’s calls. Hark! The glasses clink; let joy and mirth abound; may care and sorrow ever be with us an unknmown sound; thn clink, clink, clink; let the toast be dear women; clink, clink, clink, and nine cheers for the girls we love. Dispute, a tussel [sic]; appearance of the police; danger of arrest; gentle subsidence of the storesaid M. P.’s upon the insertation of a V. between the digits of the outstretched right. On again, heedless of the warning; reckless, singing; meeting with the roughs; another row; tramp, tramp, tramp; arrival of the patrol; greenbacks, powerless; march to the station to the tune “We won’t go home till morning.”’

“At this concert too, Miss Rokohl, a new vocalist, with a fresh, clear voice, made an acceptable first appearance, and a Weber Grand was heard to excellent effect in the accompaniments. The orchestra, moreover, played the William Tell overture in splendid style, and a movement from a Beethoven symphony fairly.”

4)
Review: New-York Times, 04 January 1869, 4.

“Round the corner the MENDELSSOHN Orchestral Union (Irving Hall) gave their second concert. The orchestra was unusually full, numbering nearly seventy instruments. The ‘Jubel Overture’ (introducing the English and Prussion national anthems,) and the overture to ‘William Tell’ were very well played. So too were two pieces by Mr. MOLLENHAUER, who conducted them in person. Mr. MOLLENHAUER is a first-class violinist and a thorough musician, but as a composer of popular music he is somewhat too popular for our taste. Herr POLLAK was in excellent voice, and was rewarded with abundant applause. A young lady, Miss M. WEDEMEYER, recited two pieces with effect, and Miss F. ROKOHL made her début as a concert singer. The lady last named has a good strong voice, which needs cultivation.”

5)
Review: New-York Daily Tribune, 04 January 1869, 5.

“At Irving Hall the selections were of a tighter character, and those most keenly relished were the poorest. The Mendelssohn Orchestral Union, a double-headed organization under the leadership of Mr. H. B. Dodworth and Mr. Edward Mollenhauer, furnishes the solid fare of these entertainments. It is a new orchestra, and not as good a one as it will be by and by; but it is strong (there were about fifty pieces last night), and played some things very well. Too much brass seems to be its bane, and Irving Hall cannot bear much brass. Mr. Ignatz Pollack sang very much to the satisfaction of the audience, and with very good expression, and a Miss Rokohl made her first appearance as a vocalist. She has a voice which deserves more cultivation than seems to have been expended on it.”