Memorial Concert in Honor of the Late Carl Anschutz

“Steinway Hall was quite full last evening, when many prominent artists took part in a concert in memorial of the late Mr. Anschuetz, and in aid of his widow. Miss Pauline Canissa, who was to have made her reappearance in public after a lengthened illness, was unable to fulfill her intention. All the other performera appeared. The services of [names of performers—see above] were enlisted in this good cause.”

“There was quite an assemblage of our best resident musical talent on Sunday evening at Steinway Hall, collected, either as executants or as listeners, to honor the memory of their departed comrade, Carl Anschuetz. When so many volunteer it is extremely difficult to construct a programme which is not a mere string of heterogeneous and mutually- destructive solos; but the difficulty was fairly surmounted in this case, and the result was highly creditable to the artists, and satisfactory to the audience assembled. Mr. S. P. Warren played on the organ the overture’Athalie,’ and Mme. Bishop sang ‘Angels Ever Bright and Fair,’ a selection from Handel, than which nothing could be more appropriate to a Sunday eveningand a memorial concert. Messrs. Poznansky and Bergner executed solos on their respective instruments, marked by their usual ability and taste, and Mr. S. B. Mills and his pupil Miss Manzocchi, played a brilliant duet on two grand piano-fortes on themes from Weber’s operas. It is noticeable that Italian operatic music written for the voice always suffers when rendered by any instruments whatever; it is and must remain purely vocal; but German operatic music, especially that of Weber, seems as if it had been written for the piano-forte. The recitation of Mme. Marie Seebach gave an element of great dignity to the evening’s performance. Even on those imperfectly acquainted with her language, the beauty and modulation of her voice, the wonderful variety and cadences of her sentences, and the deep earnestness of her intense, yet restrained feeling, make a profound impression. Needless to saythat Uland’s poetry came with a fuller meaning from such lips. We will hope that the excellent preservation of Mme. Bishop’s voice and the power over an audience which she still retains, may induce some of our young singers to follow her example, and by patient study and laborious practice develop and maintain gifts which are sometimes recklessly squandered in a few years. We can think of no singer living who could do greater justice than she to ‘Angels Ever Bright and Fair,’ and her ‘Home, Sweet Home’ is, in its way, absolutely perfect. The rest of the programme was in keeping with the numbers we have noted.”

Lists participants.