Piano-forte Recital

“There were three entertainments given yesterday afternoon. First, at the Union League Theatre, Wehli gave a piano recital, which was particularly interesting from the fact that he essayed, for the first time in this country, real classical music. He commenced with the ‘Moonlight Sonata,’ a work calculated to test his powers to a considerable extent. His well known delicacy of touch and completeness in execution gave the opening adagio full effect, and over these tender passages he threw a veil of poetry which brought out their charms in a strong light. We missed the peculiar beauty of Charles Hallé, who has made this unexampled work a special study, and who hangs with rapture over every measure in it. The little triple time movement which follows was rendered with spirit and grace, and, peculiar as it is, Mr. Wehli made it intelligible and eloquent to all his hearers. In the long and difficult presto agitato the pianist was not so successful. He did not phrase the passages with the distinctness they demanded, and he gave a syncopated trill, which occurs twice or three times in the work, without the octave, contrary to the score. After the sonata he played a song without words, ‘The Bee’s Wedding,’ by Mendelssohn, Chopin’s etude, in G flat, and his own ‘Silver Bells.’ All three were delightfully rendered. We did not like the succeeding fantasia on ‘Martha,’ by Wehli. As the bill says, ‘The tender melody, ‘The Last Rose of Summer,’ bursts upon the ear, and is encompassed by furious passages.’ Now this is rather ‘rough’ upon the tender melody, and constitutes the weakness of the piece. Mr. Wehli next played a Bach fugue and the two little works of Stephen Heller which he performed at Booth’s. The best selection, and the one in which he made a genuine success, was the magnificent transcription of of ‘La Muette de Portici’ by Thalberg. Three of his own minor works followed, and concluded the concert. The programme and the management of these recitals are worthy of the highest commendation. The former was a neat little pamphlet, containing an interesting history and description of each work performed, and all the music in the bill was furnished to the audience for reference, with the proviso, of course, that it should be returned to the door after the matinee. These matinees are calculated to do a great deal of good for art, and although the terrible weather yesterday interfered with the opening materially, yet they bear on their bills the true secret of success.”

Announcement: New-York Times, 19 February 1871, 4.

Includes partial programme; Wehli also performed several works of his own.

Review: New York Post, 20 February 1871, 2.

“At the Union Club Theatre, Mr. Wehli gave a charming entertainment, playing some classical music, particularly ‘The Moonlight Sonata,’ and showing that his abilities are by no means confined to the lighter and more showy music with which his name is particularly associated.”

Review: New-York Times, 20 February 1871, 5.

“In spite of the bad weather Mr. Wehli’s Saturday performance proved more attractive than even his most ardent admirers foresaw that it would under such adverse circumstances. The elements, however, are not always to be defied with impunity, and a non-repetition of so excellent a selection must have caused pretty wide disappointment.” [Remarks on the Thursday, 16 Feb., concert] “The performer’s reading of the ‘Moonlight Sonata,’ on Saturday, afforded as pure a pleasure to the musician, as did its clear exposition to the less enlightened members of the assemblage. The variations of time and the changes of emphasis which even Liszt has not disdained to introduce into a delivery of this exquisite work, are carefully avoided by Mr. Wehli, who recites the thirteenth sonata with the utmost simplicity. The dominant character of the piece is sorrow, unbounded and hopeless, and respect for this view of the composer’s intentions leaves little room for graces unsuggested by the apparent idea or by the text. The key to the situation is in the adagio movement, to which Mr. Wehli gives voice with a pathos altogether unsurpassed. The presto agitato following the less-important important allegretto is expressed with no less sensibility, and with a feverishness of phrasing not interfering in the least with the crisp definition of every note. The resumption, for a few bars, of the first tempo, and a return to the first method of the executant renews, deepening it, the impression of the opening passages, and, so doing, that of the sonata as it ought to be played.” [The programme is to be repeated on Saturday, 25 Feb.]

Review: New-York Daily Tribune, 20 February 1871, 8.

“The other matinée was a novelty in many of its features, and interesting in particular to the critic, because Mr. Wehli has seldom played classical music in this city, circumstances having generally confined him to the brilliant but less substantial compositions which figure on the bills of miscellaneous concerts. He has too keen an appreciation, however, of the popular taste to confine himself to anything above the popular comprehension, as the following programme will show: [see above].

The privilege of selecting the sixth number on the bill was left to the audience. A copy of all the music performed was placed at the disposal of each visitor during the concert. The programmes were pretty little eight-page affairs, with readable comments. The room is attractive and well adapted to sound; and, as Mr. Wehli is a good artist and a fashionable favorite, there seems no reason to doubt that he will succeed in his expressed purpose ‘to make the matinées select and recherchées.’ The only part of his first recital to which we need particularly refer is the Beethoven sonata. He prides himself upon a rigid adherence to the tempo and expression as marked in the standard editions of the composer’s works, and allows himself no liberties. For this conscientiousness he deserves our unfeigned respect. The first movement--adagio--as he plays it, will perhaps seem to most people formal, not to say cold; but one needs only a little reflection to be satisfied that his interpretation is correct, and that his dashing hand is wisely restrained. In the allegretto, and still more in the final presto agitato, he gives freer rein to his brilliant style, and reaches the climax by a distinct, well measured progression. The different characteristics of the three movements are clearly marked, and the most fastidious critic will not complain that the last lacks either brilliancy or vigor. We do not say that Mr. Wehli appears at his best in this class of music; we prefer him in pieces of another kind; but his performance is unquestionably a fine one, and deserves the consideration of musicians.” [The critic attended only the first part of the performance because of Marie Krebs’s recital, which took place at the same time at Steinway’s Rooms]