Philharmonic Society of New York Beethoven Centennial Concert

“A special concert was given at the Academy of Music last night by this well known musical organization in honor of the most remarkable and one of the greatest musical composers that ever existed. On December 17, 1770, Ludwig von Beethoven first saw the light at Bonn. No man probably exercised such a widespread influence on music as he, and his works will remain for all ages as imperishable monuments of a genius which burst away like a resistless torrent from the trammels of schools and precedents. It was fitting that last evening the metropolis of America should join hands with the entire world to doing honor to his memory. The programme was only faulty in its extreme length, comprising three grand works:—The Seventh Symphony in A, opus 92, the colossal E flat piano concerto, the poem and music of ‘Egmont,’ with the grand scena and aria from ‘Fidelio.’ The performance of the symphony was of that high standard of excellence that showed a true appreciation of the work and occasion on the part of the orchestra. The first movement, ‘Poco Sostenuto Vivace,’ and the sparkling ‘Scherzo’ were given in a style which brought out their inestimable treasures in the most favorable light. Mme. Louise Lichtmay was the vocalist on the occasion, and did not fulfil[l] the expectations formed of her. The merits of her singing consisted of a broad, earnest, dramatic school, which has a certain air of grandeur about it sufficient to attract attention and command respect. The defects are a metallic, clarinet quality of voice, with a want of decision in attack. The constant use of the portamento gives the idea of attempting to climb up to the pitch of the orchestra and the voice does not always succeed in it. If the undoubted power which Mme. Lichtmay possesses were relieved by a little delicacy and softness of expression it would be a much-needed improvement. Mr. George Vandenhoff read the spirited poem with all the conception of a true artist.

“The concerto is a trying work in every sense of the word for a pianist, and although Miss Marie Krebs, in her rendition displayed powers of a remarkable kind, yet it was rather too onerous a task for her. The piano is not, strictly speaking, treated as a solo instrument, but used as a color to the orchestra in many places, and in others it flits like a humming bird amid the orchestral garden, touching each individual instrument with bright flashes of melody and harmony. There is a restless spirit in the entire piano score which tasks the utmost power of the pianist. For one so young the performance of Miss Krebs was really wonderful. Her exquisite touch and faultless technique always make her a welcome favorite in concert. The house was not so large as we are accustomed to at the regular concerts.”

“The extra concert given to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the birth of Beethoven took place, last evening at the Academy. Under the direction of Herr BERGMANN, there were performed the No. 7 Symphony of the Master, the concerto in ‘E [fla]t’ and ‘Egmont,’ with all the inimitable music, songs and declamation, in addition to the members of the Society, were Mme. LOUISE LICHTMAY, Miss MARIE KREBS and Mr. GEORGE VANDENHOFF, all of whom were highly successful in doing credit to themselves and giving pleasure to the audience. It is reasonable to expect that the entertainments provided by the Philharmonic should be first rate of their kind; yet, even reasonable expectations are sometimes disappointed, and the remark is perhaps more applicable to musical art than to any other. Where so much depends upon the fine accord of health, temper and imagination, the road to prosperous achievement is beset with difficulties, and to overcome them on grand occasions is a triumph indeed. We may fairly say that this constitutes a fair report of the concert of last night. That imperfections were sometimes apparent, imperfections that might be dwelt upon in a hypercritical spirit until they seemed serious blemishes, is certainly true. The first attempt to render such a work as ‘Egmont,’ inevitably encounters barriers to absolute symmetry, that even repeated rehearsals can hardly surmount. A candid description of such an essay might easily fail to do justice to the honest efforts of all those concerned. But in this case, and in all frankness, we can bestow abundant praise, and feel that it is richly deserved. The opening symphony, the No. 7, was delightfully interpreted by a band that seemed quite inspired by the occasion. Such finish, self-restraint, delicate treatment of the light shade, and, if we may say it, really affectionate handling of the nuances of the great composer, are seldom to be enjoyed, and so should be proportionally extolled. The many fairy-like sounds set down by the quaint and inimitable genius of BEETHOVEN—the ‘sounds so fine that nothing lives ‘twixt them and silence,’—are not often so exquisitely and poetically felt and conveyed to the listening ear as they were by the huge orchestra of the Philharmonic at this concert, not only in the opening symphony but through all the numbers of the evening. Mme. LICHTMAY has a catholicity of style and culture that carry her successfully through intricacies and over pitfalls that might well betray most singers, and she well approved her selection for the trying numbers executed. Of Miss MARIE KREBS’ instrumental skill we have freely spoken, and have only to affirm our previous favorable judgment. Mr. GEORGE VANDENHOFF fully vindicated his high reputation as a dramatic reader and declaimer. It is a rare pleasure to hear a man of his undoubted scholarship recite what he thoroughly understands, apart from his professional ability to endow the verse with suitable expression. On the whole, the concert was a genuine success, and was in all its features honorable to the Philharmonic Society, and no discredit to the memory of the great man to whom it was intended to do reverence.”

“Dr. James Pech, on Saturday night, at the Philharmonic concert, gave the orchestra and audience a surprise by presenting them with copies of a very cleverly written brochure, giving the life of Beethoven and some bold but well founded remarks on his works. The following extracts will suffice for the present:--

“Haydn and Mozart often approached the very verge of propriety, but the caution with which they planned their works preserved them from remarkable excesses. Beethoven, however, following only the impetus of his imagination, and disdaining those constraints which sober judgment would suggest, rushes madly on, and often

Plays such fantastic tricks

As to make the critics weep.

“The history of the progress in art of a mind like Beethoven’s would be most interesting and instructive. He does not seem to have devoted much time to close study, but to have acquired his powers of composition by continual practice. Notwithstanding this, the beauty of his first works, their novelty and the effects which they produced, created for him immediately a crowd of admirers. These persons quickly made him ‘the god of their idolatry,’ and, as true believers, would not allow that there could be a spot or blemish in his creations. Thus situated, and with an impetuosity of temper which made interference of any kind a dangerous office, it is not surprising that Beethoven should occasionally have entertained false notions of his art; that he should have mistaken noise for grandeur, extravagance for originality, and have supposed that the interest of his compositions would be in proportion to their duration. That he gave little time for reflection is proved most clearly by the extraordinary length of some movements in his later symphonies, to which we might apply this epithet, ‘Romans de longue haleine,’ given to certain French novels of the old school. The great fault, if we may say so, which Beethoven committed, in making many of his compositions so long, will be seen if we consider that music, though the most vague, is the most exciting of the arts, and not all the finest passages from Homer, nor an exhibition effect of all the battles of LeBrun, would create half the effect on the minds of a party of British or American soldiers going into action as would be produced by ‘Hail, Britannia,’ or ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’”

“The memory of Beethoven has been duly remembered by our musical citizens, the Germans of course taking the lead in the matter. At the Academy of Music on Saturday night the Philharmonic Society gave a purely Beethoven concert to an audience which occupied about two thirds of the seats in the house. The Academy stage presented the appearance which it usually does on a Philharmonic night, save that colossal bust of Beethoven stood on a pedestal at the front of the platform. The programme opened with the Seventh Symphony, which received excellent treatment from the orchestra. Madame Lichtmay then sang an aria from ‘Fidelio’ with considerable dramatic force. This lady also took the vocal music in ‘Egmont,’ with which the evening’s performance concluded. She sang with great earnestness, and generally with good effect; but her proper sphere is the operatic stage. Mr. Vandenhoff performed creditably the rather thankless task of reading the text of ‘Egmont.’ A marked feature of the evening was the playing of the concerto in E flat by Miss Marie Krebs, who showed grace and fluency of execution, and rendered the long and interesting composition entirely from memory.”

“On Saturday evening the Philharmonic Society gave a concert ‘to celebrate,’ in the words of the programme, ‘the centennial anniversary of the birth of the illustrious Ludwig van Beethoven.’ They seemed to have measured the price of seats by their admiration of the composer. They were, however, more willing to receive than the public to give. Three dollars was a little more than most persons cared to pay, and there were consequently many vacant boxes and empty places.

“The programme consisted wholly of Beethoven’s works. The Seventh Symphony was the one chosen out of the nine. It is a festival symphony in character, especially the last movement, and in that respect a good selection but the enterprise of the Society and their honor of the master would have been more marked had they brought out the Ninth with all its choral splendors. But then that would perhaps have cost a little more, and the Philharmonic Society is nothing if not prudent, not to say frugal.

“A colossal bust of Beethoven, imported recently by that liberal-minded publisher and enthusiastic lover of art, Mr. Julius Schuberth, was placed in front of the stage, appropriately garlanded with flowers.

“Miss Marie Krebs played the E-flat concerto for piano and orchestra, and played it faultlessly. In every respect, whether as regards the technique or the spirit in which it was rendered, there seemed no point at which it could have been bettered. The third movement—the rondo, marked allegro—was played very much more slowly than we have been accustomed to hear it. But doubtless Miss Krebs was right. Beethoven was constantly protesting against the hurrying of his tempos by pianists and conductors. Miss Krebs sacrificed something of the brilliancy to the true spirit of the movement.

“Mme. Lichtmay sang an air from Fidelio and some of the ‘Egmont’ music. Like many of the Philharmonic vocalists, she sang very badly. Faults that would be corrected in singers who had got no further than their tenth lesson were the conspicuous features of her performance. We refer to her method of sliding about from one interval to another, instead of singing them. It was as though a pianist should always play glissando, or a violinist slide his fingers up and down the string, instead of properly stopping the notes. The pity was the greater as the lady has a really noble voice.

“Mr. Vandenhoff read a very prosaic poem about Egmont, but read it well; the orchestra playing the incidental music written for Goethe’s tragedy.”

“The extra concert given by the Philharmonic Society on Saturday evening in commemoration of Beethoven drew a very good audience, though the Academy was not quite full; many of the boxes especially being vacant. A colossal bust of the composer was placed on a pedestal decorated with wreaths of rich natural flowers in front of the stage; and a still more pleasing recognition of the occasion was given by the enthusiasm with which the artists, one and all, interpreted the following excellent programme [see above].  

“It would have been hard to arrange a better selection of works for such a festival, unless, indeed, we could have had the Ninth Symphony, but that of course was out of the question. The Seventh is one of the most thoughtful of the series. It fits all moods, and with its wonderful changes of sentiment, from the tender melancholy of the allegretto to the inspiriting joyousness of the final allegro, it well illustrates the universality of the composer’s sympathies. It was given with unusual delicacy and spirit, as if every man in the orchestra felt the influence of the anniversary, and wanted to do his best. Then the other selections were wisely chosen to exemplify various forms of Beethoven’s genius. The recitative and air from ‘Fidelio’ (the famous ‘Abscheulicher’ and ‘Komm Hoffnung’) are among the best of his vocal compositions; the concerto in E flat is a marvel of piano forte music; and ‘Egmont’ is a dramatic conception of the very highest character. It swas rather curious to contrast the effect produced by Madame Lichtmay on a concert platform with her management of the same song on the operatic stage the night before. When she sang in character as Leonore, she carried her audience away with the force of her dramatic powers and the evident feeling and intelligence of the whole personation; and when she delivers the same music kin the cold atmosphere of the concert room, the faults of her vocalization impress us rather than the dignity of her style. Miss Krebs made a much more ambitious effort with the magnificent concerto than she has ever made before in New-York, and she may be safely congratulated upon the success with which she has passed a trying ordeal. The work is well known to our audiences, and the performance of the young lady had to be tested by high standards which the very best pianists have hitherto set up for us. It would be warm to say that Miss Krebs did not disappoint us, and that the excellent opinion we had already formed of her abilities was not at all lowered by the manner in which she acquitted herself of the very serious task. But we can say more than that: her performance of this concerto has materially raised her position as an artist, and shown incontestably that she is not merely a young lady of brilliant talents and still more brilliant promise, but already an accomplished virtuoso. She has carried technical proficiency so far that her playing is almost without a blemish. Her touch is certain, delicate, forcible, and clear as a bell. Her facility is something marvelous, and, as we said on a former occasion, she had a thoroughly musical organization. We do not say, of course, that she has sounded the depths of Beethoven’s music: we do not believe that any performer can give outward shape to all the beauties which are embraced in those wonderful works, any more than the most consummate of actors can exhaust the wealth of Shakespeare. New artists are perpetually discovering in both a new meaning and a new beauty. Moreover, no very young performer can express the delicate shades of feeling, the indescribable spirituality, in which Beethoven is so far above all other composers. It is not for bright, happy, hearty girls to interpret the profoundest sentiment of the great master; and if we miss in Miss Krebe’s [sic] playing some of the delicate essence which ought to exhale from such music as this E flat concerto, it is only because she has not yet reached the maturity of years, of experience, and perhaps we should say of sorrows, which is needed to perfect the highest artists nature.

“The music of ‘Egmont’ has never before been performed b the Philharmonic Society, but parts of it are pretty well known. It was written as an accompaniment to Goethe’s drama, and consists of an overture, two songs for soprano, a march, four interludes, and a few melodramatic and miscellaneous movements. To fit it for the concert from a short poetical synopsis of the drama was prepared in Germany by Mosengell and Bermays, and this was translated into English blank verse for the Philharmonic Society by Mr. George Vandenhoff. The music, of course, divested of its proper dramatic accessories, for which reading, even by Mr. Vandenhoff, is an imperfect substitute, loses a great deal of its effect; but the performance was most successful, and no true lover of art can have remained insensible to the thrillingly sensational character of the close of the tragedy. The overture—a superb work—was beautifully played, and the second of the songs, Freudvoll und leidvoll (‘Blissful and tearful’) was given by Madame Lichtmay with sweetness and feeling. The other—a trying vivace, Die Trommee geruhrt [sic][‘Die Trommel gerühret’] (‘The Drum is resounding’)—taxed her ability in rapid vocalization rather too much.” [reprinted Dwight's Journal of Music 12/31/70, p. 373]

To the editor of the New York Sun from “Philharmonic.” Letter in protest of the pamphlet distributed at this concert containing notes by James Pech; “a tissue of disparagement and abuse of the illustrious composer, containing sneers at his incompetency, reprehension for his careless in writing, contempt of his vocal compositions, abuse of his methods, and comparisons of this master with other composers, always to the disadvantage of Beethoven.” [No date given for NYS; not found in issues, 12/19-31, 1870]