Euterpe Concert: 4th

“The last Euterpe concert was unfortunately neglected by those who were announced to take part in it. Out of the eight pieces on the programme four were omitted by reason of the absence of performers. Miss Sterling was the principal vocalist present, and she did her best to fill the gap. The closing motet was omitted because the ranks of the chorus were too much depleted to allow of a proper interpretation of the work. The conductor of the Euterpe must feel rather disgusted with the fatal facility shown by amateur and professional musicians to make promises they cannot or will not perform.”

“There is a certain enthusiast in musical art in this city who, like most of the tribe, is more of an artist than a manager, and who undertook this year to get up a society that should devote itself to the bringing out of new pieces by American composers, and should fulfil various other noble, beautiful, and disinterested missions. The name of this gentle and talented, but misguided man, is John P. Morgan. His Society is named after the faintest and best of the Muses, Euterpe. But the Muse has miserably failed to take care of her worshippers, and the Society went from bad to worse, till it culminated on Thursday evening in a curious collapse. The programme was a superlatively excellent one. It may be remarked that it is one of the peculiarities of this unfortunate organization, that their programmes are better and their concerts worse than almost any we have ever known.

“By way of elucidation, we give the compositions announced for performance on Thursday evening [see above].

“What more could the most exacting of audiences ask than this? Every piece gave splendid promise. Hauptmann is one of the more severely excellent of modern composers, and the rest, Bach, Chopin, Stradella, and Schumann, are all geniuses. But, nevertheless, the Society came to grief. It was all well enough on paper, but when it came to the performance, there was a melancholy showing.

“The first two numbers went off well enough. But when it came Miss Brainerd’s turn there was no Brainerd. So poor Mr. Morgan laid down his baton and came out with a rueful face to say so. He had received a note from Miss Brainerd, and she wasn’t well; but Miss Sterling could take her place.

“It is to be noticed that whenever there is a particularly good natured thing to be done in a concert room, Miss Sterling is the one to do it. Faithful among the faithless, she often supplies the positions of absentees, the bloom of kindness not yet having been rubbed off by time. So Miss Brainerd was not greatly missed, for Miss Sterling sang very charmingly two of Hauptmann’s Marien-lieder.

“Then came the quintet, and forward came Mr. Morgan to say that arrangements were not yet complete, and Mr. Mason would play instead. And so he did.

“Then the eight-part motet was struggled bravely through, and Miss Sterling sang again.

“At this point the concert fairly broke down. For the third time the dejected Morgan came forward and made a speech, substantially as follows:

‘Ladies and Gentlemen: This is the most unpleasant duty I ever had to perform. We can’t have the quintet. Through some intrigue, I fear, the viola player has not come, and I have sent everywhere to get one, but can’t. My chorus is so depleted that we can’t sing the Bach motet. It would be a farce for us to try to do so. I think, therefore, you will have to go home. But before you go, I want to say just one word. This Society is the victim of bad management. It has been the worst managed affair I ever knew of. And I am going to denounce the culprit and to expose his name. His name, ladies and gentlemen, is John P. Morgan. And I’m the man. If any of you have business matters on hand, don’t trust them to me. I intend to give concerts next season with this Society, but I give you notice beforehand that I shall have nothing to do with the business management. If artists fail, and musicians run away, and choristers keep out of sight, it won’t be my fault. I wish you a very good evening.’

“Now, this is what we call honest. It is not every man that has the wisdom to see his weak points, and fewer still that have the pluck to stand up before an audience and tell them. So, as an offset to honest John Morgan’s lack of business qualities, the audience could easily certify to his integrity, simplicity, earnestness, faithfulness, and musical ability; and being assured of all this, they gave him a generous double round of applause, and went home happy.” [Reprinted DJM 06/03/71, pp. 35-36]