Anna Mehlig’s Concert

Event Information

Venue(s):
Steinway Hall

Price: $1.00

Event Type:
Chamber (includes Solo)

Performance Forces:
Vocal

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
30 October 2021

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

07 Mar 1870, Evening

Program Details

Liszt's Hexameron performed from manuscript given Miss Mehlig by the composer.

Performers and/or Works Performed

3)
aka Fantasiestucke, op. 12
Composer(s): Schumann
Participants:  Anna Mehlig
4)
Composer(s): Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Participants:  Anna Mehlig
5)
aka Spinning song from Wagner’s Flying Dutchman; Spinning chorus from Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer
Composer(s): Liszt
Participants:  Anna Mehlig
6)
Composer(s): Rossini
Text Author: Rossi
Participants:  Clara [contralto] Perl
7)
aka Ah, mio figlio; Beggar's song; Prophete. Ah! mons fils
Composer(s): Meyerbeer
Participants:  Clara [contralto] Perl
8)
Composer(s): Liszt
9)
aka Air and gavotte
Composer(s): Bach
10)
Composer(s): Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Participants:  Wenzel Kopta

Citations

1)
Announcement: New-York Times, 05 March 1870, 4.
2)
Announcement: New-York Daily Tribune, 05 March 1870, 10.
3)
Announcement: New York Post, 07 March 1870, 3.
4)
Announcement: New York Sun, 07 March 1870, 2.
5)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 07 March 1870, 7.
6)
Review: New York Herald, 08 March 1870, 7.

“No one who was in Steinway last night could deny that, despite the many attempts made to degrade music in this city by opera bouffe, burlesque and other trash, that there are enough people left among the concert public to appreciate real, true music. Notwithstanding the inclement weather, there was a large audience and an enthusiastic one also. The programme was one of unexceptional interest. It commenced with Schubert’s long trio in E flat major for piano, violin and ‘cello, played by Miss Mehlig and Messrs. Kopta and Werner, with all the unanimity of expression and feeling it demanded. It is a work of no ordinary caliber, severe in many respects, yet lighted in every part by the poetic fervor of the composer. Mlle. Clara Perl, prima donna contralto, from the Imperial Opera, Vienna, made her debut on this occasion. She sang an aria ‘Tancredi,’ an arioso from ‘Le Prophete’ and in response to an encore a well known lied. She appeared to be exceedingly nervous, as her voice had that unmistakable quiver in it which betrays a want of self-reliance, of confidence in one’s powers. Her voice is naturally good, resonant and sympathetic, but it has been either overtrained or educated in a defective school. The Italian school is the only true one for the voice, and we never were more powerfully impressed with the fact than at last night’s concert. In Rossini’s music Miss Perl’s execution of the florid passages—in which an Italian voice seems to revel like a bird—was hard, uneven and lacking in clearness and spontaneity. She succeeded better with Meyerbeer’s beautiful air, although the imperfect vocalization of her school was perceptible in the harsh pronunciation of the German. Miss Mehlig played Schumann’s ‘Fantasiestuck,’ an uninteresting and ungrateful piece, but a severe test for any pianist; Mendelssohn’s prelude and fugue in E minor—a delightful work, abounding in enormous difficulties which she triumphantly surmounted; Liszt’s transcription of the ‘Spinnerlied,’ from Wagner’s opera, ‘The Flying Dutchman’—a fragmentary sort of work, wreathed in little passages of rare beauty—and ‘Hexameron,’ a grand duet for two pianos, by Liszt, in which she was assisted by Mr. S. B. Mills. This was the feature of the concert, and one of the most remarkable works probably ever composed for the piano. The principal theme running through the work is from ‘Puritani,’ and the variations in it are marvelous. Liszt wrote it first as a solo, having written to Thalberg, Herz and others for variations. He then rewrote it for Miss Mehlig, and played it with her for the first time. She holds the manuscript copy of the work. We have rarely heard any piano piece produce such an effect as it did on the audience last night. Mills played Liszt’s part, and the two pianos seemed to be under the influence of one master mind. There was not a perceptible shade of difference even in the wonderful cadenzas, which were in Liszt’s grandest style. The counterpoint, especially when the theme and the accompanying chords were given in the bass, is full, strong and ever-varying. The modulations from key to key, now presenting the subject in major measures and anon in minor, with a spray of chromatics, arpeggii and chorded runs of fourths and sixths, dashed over the bold, martial subject, were such as the audience was hitherto unaccustomed to. The finale is brilliant in the extreme. Messrs. Kopta and Werner played solos from Mendelssohn and Bach. This was undoubtedly the best concert of the season at Steinway Hall.”

7)
Review: New York Post, 08 March 1870, 2.

“A very critical audience, in which the better class of the Teutonic element of New York was largely represented, was aroused to noisy enthusiasm at Miss Mehlig’s concert, given last night at Steinway Hall. The programme was selected from only the best composers—those whose works have stood the test of time. A trio by Schubert, played by Miss Mehlig, Mr. Kopta, and Mr. Werner, opened the concert. Miss Mehlig during the evening performed Schumann’s ‘Fantasiestuck,’ Mendelssohn’s ‘Prelude and Fugue in E minor,’ and Wagner’s ‘Spinnerlied,’ transcribed by Liszt, in the latter producing a most [illegible] effect. Indeed, Miss Mehlig has never played better here than at this concert.

“Perhaps the most interesting feature of the programme, however, was the performance on two pianos of a duet by Liszt, called ‘Hexameron,’ a most brilliant affair, in which two themes from Bellini’s ‘Puritani’ were worked up with great elaboration, affording full scope for the display of astonishing executive power. This composition—which is yet in manuscript—was magnificently played by Miss Mehlig and Mr. Mills, and created so great an impression that it will undoubtedly be heard again in the concert room. Miss Mehlig received the manuscript copy direct from Liszt.

“A new singer, Miss Clara Perl, was the vocalist of the evening. She hails from Vienna, and is a contralto, deep-voiced and melodious. She sang the Di tanti palpiti of Rossini and Ah mon fils of Meyerbeer, the latter in German. Her reception was most cordial. 

“Mr. Werner, the violoncellist, and Mr. Wenzel Kopta, the violinist, each contributed a solo to the programme. The success of the entire concert should lead to its early repetition.”

8)
Review: New-York Times, 08 March 1870, 5.

“Miss Mehlig gave her promised concert last evening, at Steinway Hall, in presence of an audience of numbers, and, judging from its patience, at all events, of unusual powers of appreciation. The quality that at a given point ceases to be a virtue was not tested, be it understood, by the efforts of unfledged artists, or the performance of worthless pieces, but only by an unswerving partiality to the longest compositions to be gotten. Schubert’s trio in E flat major was a fair case to cite, and when we note that only its partial interpretation occupied a full half hour it will be admitted that there were some grounds for complaint. A grand concert is not an entertainment of chamber music, and a miscellaneous audience demands that variety should not be wholly overlooked in the preparation of the programme. As it was, the hardened musician certainly had little to find fault with; and the admirers of Miss Mehlig’s talent nothing whatever. One of Schumann’s fantasias was rendered by the lady with the finish her earlier performances have made familiar, and Bach’s fugue in E minor following the prelude, rang forth under fingers with a fluency of melody and a wealth of sound that no pianist to our ken could as surely compel from the instrument. Liszt’s transcriptions, which Miss Mehlig, thanks, we believe, to studies prosecuted under the Abbe’s direction, recites with rare intelligence and correctness, were represented by an arrangement of a spinning song from Wagner’s ‘Flying Dutchman,’ of a lighter texture than most of Liszt’s works. The accomplished pianist had the instrumental assistance of Messrs. Wenzel Kopta and Charles Werner, the former a violinist of faultless purity of tone, and the latter a violoncellist of merit. Mlle. Clara Perl, who supplied the vocal aid, which might have been in more liberal proportion, is a débutante. Her voice is a low mezzo-soprano, rather tremulous, good though not too round in the lower register, throaty in the medium but clear in the upper notes. Mlle. Perl, it should be said, was quite nervous, and is not therefore a fit subject for final criticism. Her singing of the grand aria from Rossini’s ‘Tancredi’ of the arioso ‘O Mein Sohn,’ and of a German song in recognition of a call for a repeat, showed her to be quite skilled in the management of her organ, and to have a tried faith in the redeeming influence of her contralto notes. The concert was brought to a close by a duet by Liszt, entitled ‘Hexameron,’ executed by Miss Mehlig, with the coöperation of Mr. S. B. Mills, and consisting of half a dozen treatments of the theme of the ‘Liberty Duet,’ from ‘I Puritani.’ ‘Hexameron’ was then heard for the first time in this country, and unless it be deemed necessary to present evidence of the tremendous endurance of two thorough and iron-wristed executants, it is not likely to be listened to again. After its rendering the artists were called to the front and enthusiastically cheered.”

9)
Review: New-York Daily Tribune, 08 March 1870, 4.

“The concert given last night at Steinway Hall by Miss Anna Mehlig was one of the best miscellaneous concerts we have had the good fortune to listen to in many years. It had the rare merit of being excellent in all its parts. None of the selections were trashy, and even the poorest of the performers was much above mediocrity. Miss Mehlig herself first played with Mr. Kopta and Mr. Werner Schubert’s trio in E flat major, for piano, violin, and violoncello. It is a beautiful composition and was well played; but for chamber music of this sort artists should have the familiarity with each other’s style which can only be gained by long practicing together, and no amount of mere technical proficiency or individual intelligence will fully supply its place. The trio, therefore, though good, was the least successful piece on the programme. Miss Mehlig afterward played a fantasiestück by Schumann, Mendelssohn’s prelude and fugue in E minor, Liszt’s transcription of the spinnerlied from Wagner’s ‘Flying Dutchman,’ and a piece of Chopin’s for an encore. In all these she was admirable; but she pleased us most of all in the Mendelssohn fugue, where she exhibited breadth of style and power of touch which we rarely find in a woman’s hand. With that clock-like perfection of rhythm, without which a fugue is a nuisance, she also combined an amount of expression, rising almost to the climax with passion, of which few would suppose a fugue to be susceptible. If she had played nothing but this and the difficult eccentric Chopin piece we should award her a place in the very front rank of pianists. But in the closing piece of the evening, a duet with Mr. S. B. Mills, she eclipsed all her previous triumphs. This was Liszt’s ‘Hexameron,’ an unpublished composition, never before performed in this country. Why ‘hexameron,’ we don’t know. It is a fantasie on ‘I puritani,’ introducing only the Suoni la tromba and the Puritans’ hymn, and working them up into all the grandest effects which the genius of Liszt is capable of devising out of two pianos. As our readers may well suppose, it is an electrical work, and with two artists like Miss Mehlig and Mr. Mills to give it voice, the impression it produces is tremendous. The execution was perfect. The players seemed to be animated by a single intelligence and moved by a single impulse. Every note was struck in exact time, and in the still more difficult matter of expression, the agreement between the two was equally admirable.

“Next to the piano playing the principal sensation of the evening was the debut of a new singer, Mdlle. Clara Perl, from Vienna. There can hardly be a question of her success. She has a contralto voice of wonderful power and richness and extensive compass, one of those phenomenal voices which, other things being supplied, make their possessors famous. It is always true, it is never harsh, in the lower register it is superb, and in the upper, though lacking mellowness, it is clear and ringing. Mdlle. Perl, moreover, has been well trained. She understands the science of vocal gymnastics—if we may use a somewhat undignified expression to convey a meaning which we cannot so clearly state in any other words—and she phrases in a bold, dramatic style, which on the stage would be highly effective. What does she lack? She lacks heart, in the first place; she lacks musical refinement, in the second. The opera-house, not the concert room, is her place; and in the opera we dare say she will soon have an opportunity to be heard. Personally she is a young lady of distinguished appearance, tall, graceful, with regular feature of the best Jewish cast, and the most completely unembarrassed manner that we ever saw in a debutante. She sang the Di tanti palpati of Rossini and the Ah! mons fils from ‘The Prophet,’ besides a German song in obedience to a recall.

“The rest of the programme consisted of a violoncello solo by Mr. Werner, and a violin solo by Mr. Wenzel Kopta, both exceedingly well done. Mr. Werner’s was an air and gavotte of Bach’s with accompaniment for the piano, Mr. Charles Fradel, and organ (Mr. J. P. Morgan). Mr. Kopta, in his adagio from the Mendelssohn concerto, was accompanied by [illegible].”

10)
Article: New-York Daily Tribune, 11 March 1870, 5.

Correspondent’s letter regarding Hexameron and further comments on its origin by the critic.

11)
Announcement: Dwight's Journal of Music, 12 March 1870, 208.
12)
Review: Dwight's Journal of Music, 26 March 1870, 213.

“On Monday evening, March 7, Miss Mehlig (pianist) gave a concert at Steinway Hall, being assisted by the following artists: Mr. Werner (‘cello), Mr. Kopta (violin), Mr. J. P. Morgan (organ), Mr. S.B. Mills, Mr. Fradel (accompanist), and by Mlle. Clara Perl ‘from the Vienna Imperial Opera.’ I quote the programme [see above].

“This was one of the finest and most enjoyable musical entertainments of the season, and brought together at least 1400 appreciative people (mostly Germans), notwithstanding the storm and the very slippery condition of the pavements.

“Miss Mehlig played with much more force and vigor than at her former concert, and acquitted herself superbly in everything which she undertook, unless we except Chopin’s Impromptu in C sharp (in response to an encore), which she interpreted in a very peculiar and scarcely satisfactory way. I still think, as I said in a former letter, that she takes too much liberty with the tempo occasionally, and errs sometime in an exaggeration, so to speak, of expression. [?] Her rendering of Mendelssohn’s Fugue was a marvelous achievement, and it was at once evident that, unequal as may be her merits, this lady is a consummate artist. The most wonderful feature of her performance of the Fugue was a very gradual, carefully planned accelerando (with crescendo), which Mlle. M. played resistlessly, moving us all with her.

“In the Duo with Mr. Mills (which proved to be an arrangement of a theme from Puritani), the wonderful evenness and clearness of the scale passages, and the artistic exactitude with which each artist played, all combined to accomplish a splendid success, and to fairly electrify the large audience.

“Mr. Kopta, in the Trio and in his solo, played with all the finished execution and beautiful clearness of tone for which he is so justly distinguished, and was materially assisted, in the Mendelssohn Andante, by the very careful accompaniment, which was delightfully played by Mr. F. Von Inten.

“As for Mlle. Perl (her first appearance here) she has a contralto voice of some compass, of much crude power, and of curiously dissonant quality. Mr. Werner, the violoncellist, played carefully and well, and has a very good tone although not very strong; the effect of his solo was somewhat marred by the fact that the organ and piano, by which he was accompanied, were not at all in accord with each other.”