Matinee Musicale

“The second of these musical entertainments was given yesterday afternoon before even a larger audience than attended the opening one, consisting chiefly of ladies, many of whom belong to the charmed circles of the haut ton. Many ladies were unable to procure seats and yet were unwilling to leave before the conclusion of the matinée. The oldest and most experienced concert habitués were astonished at finding such an audience at a piano matinée, and that on the second day of Lent too. We mention this fact particularly, as a remarkable instance of clever management, for certainly but a small proportion went to Booth’s yesterday from artistic motives alone. Mr. Wehli is a capital bravura player, but no one pianist can attract such a fashionable assemblage solely by his art. We have attended, season after season, classical recitals given by first class artists—recitals which were a source of delight to every musician; yet the receipts were barely sufficient to pay for the rent of the hall and the audience was of the most slender proportions. To manage a concert, therefore, the following recipe will be found eminently useful:--Secure a fashionable theatre and use social influence to gain the attendance of the leaders of fashion. Then once caged the [illegible] will follow as sheep do the [illegible] bell. If the musical attraction be a lady she must not appear at two consecutive concerts in the same toilet, for her modiste has much to do with her success as well as her maestro. We know ladies who went to all the Nilsson concerts, more to see what the fair cantatrice would wear than to listen to the magic of her voice. An artiste who dresses badly loses much in the minds of those of her sex before whom she appears. We are sorry for art that the case should be so, but experience will bear us out in the truth of the assertion that fashion takes precedence of it.

Mr. Wehli’s selections yesterday consisted of four of his own works [see above].

Mr. Wehli’s style of playing is eminently calculated to make him a popular favorite, where artists of a more varied and severe school would be more coldly received. Dash, brilliancy and esprit are his distinguishing characteristics, and his octave playing may be classed with that of Harry Sanderson. In fact both Wehli and Sanderson represent a school of playing which the general public recognize with approbation and patronize accordingly. The ‘March des Amazones’ was played by Messrs. Wehli and Colby, as a duet for two pianos. Its brilliancy and effect are undeniable. Thalberg’s ‘Norma’ duet would be a judicious work for the next matinée. Mr. Wehli’s assistants were Miss Henrietta Beebe, Mrs. Jenny Kempton and Mr. Albert Lawrence. Miss Beebe sang a bolero by Arditi, leggero, ‘Invisible;’ Mrs. Kempton a beautiful aria by Rossi, and both ladies Galussi’s duet, ‘La Calabresi.’ They are artists of acknowledged merit, and in these selections they gave unbounded satisfaction. Mr. Lawrence’s morceaux were from ‘Un Ballo,’ and a rather noisy affair by Randegger. He was in good voice yesterday, and his artistic method, founded on the best Italian principles, gave point to everything he sung. His selections, especially an encore to Randegger’s aria, were not judicious. The success of these two matinées should inspire confidence in the managerial trio, Messrs. Booth, Weber and Wehli, to continue them, despite the fiat of sackcloch and ashes, until Easter and rejoicing make all good humored again. There’s many a poor dramatic manager who cannot boast of such immunity from the financial results of the penitential season.”

“Booth’s Theatre was again crowded yesterday on the occasion of the second Wehli matinée. The affair was a thorough musical success. Mr. Wehli, of course, played delightfully, and the interest of the programme was much heightened by the singing of Mrs. Kempton, Miss Beebe and Mr. Lawrence. The latter gentleman—who leaves town this week to fill a concert engagement in Philadelphia—sang with excellent taste and with refreshing vocal force several gems from the vast repertory of Italian song.”

“Mr. Wehli’s second piano recital, at Booth’s Theatre, took place yesterday. The house was packed, and while the material results of the entertainment were no doubt even more satisfying than those of the first concert, its artistic impression was also more pleasant. Miss Beebe, Mrs. Jenny Kempton and Mr. Albert Laurence were the artists who co- operated with Mr. Wehli in the interpretation of the bill, and their efforts gave great delight. Mr. Wehli’s playing, of course, was the feature of the entertainment. His first piece, a fantasia on ‘La Traviata,’ composed by himself, was admirably played, and will gain in effectiveness when better known. The ‘Minnehaha’ piece, also Mr. Wehli’s production, is in strong contrast with the one preceding, and it became, by the force of an execution as dainty and as fluent as it often is powerful, a capital specimen of the fairy-like music to be wrought out of the treble of a grand piano by practiced fingers. The ‘Sans Souci Galop’ followed. Mr. Wehli afterward recited Thalberg’s fantasia on motives from ‘Masaniello,’ a composition which to be impressive needs vast mechanical skill, a vigor rarely possessed, and that variety of touch which none own in a higher degree than Mr. Wehli, and which was displayed, with the other qualities called for, in a perfect exposition of the work. The final piece of the concert was Mr. Wehli’s ‘Marche des Amazones,’ a very telling duet for two pianos, to which voice was given with force and brio by the composer and Mr. George W. Colby. The merits of Mrs. Kempton are well known to the habitual concert-goer. Miss Beebe has a light soprano, exceedingly well trained, and used with intelligence and method. Both the ladies had abundant applause, but the larger share of the vocal honors was borne off by Mr. Laurence, whose delivery of the half-declaimed, half sung, aria from ‘Il Ballo,’ commencing with ‘’Eri tu,’ was done in the style of a thorough artist, and with the resource of an exceedingly fine voice. The almost classic stornello, ‘Innamorato d’una Stella,’ by Randegger was, in spite of its more delicate texture, done equal justice to by Mr. Laurence, who was compelled to give a song by Phillips, in response to an unanimous recall.”