Concert

Includes program.

Includes program.

“A miscellaneous audience, very great as to numbers, and peculiarly at ease as to manners, crowded Steinway Hall last night to excess, on the occasion of Rosa D’Erina’s concert. Complimentary tickets had been freely distributed, and the courtesy was amply availed of.

“Miss O’Toole, or Rosa D’Erina—for the two are identical—sang a great variety of selections, and was warmly applauded in almost everything, whether she deserved it or not. Her voice is a good one, but her style is crude and unfinished. The lady, however, possesses self-complacency to an eminent degree, and is not afraid to attack the most difficult music.

“A new lady violinist, by the name of Tedesco, played last night, and was favorably received. Signor Ronconi also lent his assistance.”

“When, on arriving at a friend’s house to supper, one has the door slammed in one’s face, or his regress down stairs accelerated by the unkindly propulsions of an inhospitable toe, the irritable man will undoubtedly swear, while the phlegmatic philosopher may conclude to treat it as a playful [illegible] of practical humor. The unlucky ticketholders had this choice presented to them when, on arriving at Steinway’s last night, they found the hall packed with an immense and motley audience, the majority of whom, in dress and manner, recalled but faintly the gilded salons of Murray Hill or the Avenue, and their reserved seats hopelessly and usherlessly gone. Many left the hall in disgust, others took it philosophically and, as above hinted, jocosely, and remained—a standing reproach to the mismanagement of those in charge of the hall. To treat the matter as a joke might not have been, except for throbbing calves and aching backs, very difficult; indeed, the whole affair is best treated as a gigantic pleasantry from beginning to end. The audience, drawn in great part from that unperverted class of our fellow citizens as vet guiltless of the refinements of upper-tendon, were childlike and outspoken in their delight. Humorous requests to ‘Sit down in front’ were blended with comic expressions of dismay from some one in the gallery; and the hilarity of the audience rose to fever pitch when a string of happy but embarrassed expectants filed off to the hitherto unoccupied seats on the platform, and a pantomimic young gentleman with great wealth of gesture invited his friends below to come up and do likewise. Sig. Ronconi’s broad buffo singing and the pleasant alliteration which so freely spices the fun of Figaro’s opening air, and the Baron’s Dream in ‘Cenerentola,’ found hearty response from the unsophisticated of the audience, as did also the clever violin playing of Miss Fernande Tedesco.

“As for the claims of the debutante, Miss O’Toole—we beg her pardon, Miss Rosa d’Erina—to position as a first-class concert-singer, this part of the performance must be considered as the neatest bit of fun of the evening. It would be unkind, especially in view of the jocose and pleasantly uproarious tone of the whole business, to suppose that the young lady, or her more judicious friends for her, put forth any such pretensions in sad earnest. Agreeable as her singing may be in the confidential freedom of the boudoir, the parlor, or the picnic, her appearance in opera music on the classic platform of Steinway’s is best treated as a refreshing bit of natural humor, equal in its way to the best efforts of Brougham or Barney Williams.”

“One of those painful exhibitions, the appearance of which is usually attributable to inordinate self-confidence or injudicious encouragement from malice or ignorance, was offered at Steinway Hall, last evening, when Miss Rosa D’Erina was heard for the first time by an audience gathered expressly to listen to her. Miss Rosa D’Erina has no knowledge of the art of singing, and has not even the tuneable ear, by the aid of which a naturally good voice can give pleasure to untutored lovers of song. Hence the actual sadness of the entertainment, for it is difficult to believe that delight was afforded to anyone by an ill success attending the interpretation of nine numbers out of a programme of sixteen. We cannot write words of praise against a single line of the bill, wherof a liberal portion, by the way, was devoted to a reproduction of laudations of the Tunbridge Wells Gazette, and of the European newspaper Press generally. Miss D’Erina, it is true, sings in several languages, but with equal linguistic unintelligibility and with equal vocal imperfections in all. The soprano she possesses could be used to interpret agreeably enough the Irish ballads claimed by right of nationality, but even her execution of these, last night, was marred by an utter disregard of time and tune. It will not be necessary to remind the reader that a person who cannot keep to the melody of ‘The Harp that Once,’ is not likely to be remembered for an interpretation of ‘Robert, toi que j’aime,’ or of Cherubini’s ‘Ave Maria,’ and we therefore make no further reference to the compositions rendered. Signor Ronconi, whom the fates and Miss D’Erina riveted to the debutante during the duet, ‘La ci darem,’ broke his bonds twice, and displayed to the full the breadth of his style. Signor Ronconi was also announced to sing a duo from ‘L’Elisire D’Amore’ with Signor Filippi, and both gentlemen must have learned with great surprise, from the bill, that the delicious opera in question was the work of Signor Verdi. Signor Filippi was as demonstrative as usual, and is fast securing a wide reputation as a lyric pantomimist. We have left for the last topic of comment the single victory of the evening. It was won by Mlle. Fernande Tedesco, a young violinist, who played charmingly the second concerto of De Beriot. Mlle. Tedesco has the gift of faultless intonation and of great refinement in recitation, and also a complete command of technique. Her execution, indeed, is of exceptional celerity and certainty, and her passages in double stops are clear and harmonious in a degree not often attained to. The tone is pure, and was yesterday sufficiently broad for the piece selected. Mlle. Tedesco will, doubtless, be applauded again, ere long, as cordially as she was last night, and a better opportunity for passing judgment upon her will probably be then given us, by the choice of several pieces for performance.”

Originally announced as a benefit for the Foundling Fair, a co-operation that has not at present been possible; D’Erina to sing for her the charity at a later date.

“Rose D’Erina, ‘the Irish prima donna,’ appeared in concert at Steinway Hall, on Dec. 1^st [Nov. 30]. The hall was crowded to excess. The performance, as far as the prima donna was concerned, was rather a failure, although possessing a good natural voice, she sang neither in time nor tune. Signors Ronconi and Filippi acquitted themselves creditably. M’lle. Fernande Tedesco, a youthful violinist, played the second concerto of ‘De Beriot’ charmingly, and was liberally applauded. She possesses talent of a high degree, and will undoubtedly achieve the success she seeks.”