Articles on the forthcoming music season, 1871-1872

“The American metropolis presents this fall an aspect such as no other city can boast of in the musical and dramatic line. The best artists in the world are congregated here, and no less than twenty places of amusement are open, and, with very few exceptions, all are doing good business. A glance at the list of our leading artists will be sufficient to show what an assemblage of talent is here. The divine art, as music is justly called, is represented by Mlle. Nilsson, Mme. Parepa-Rosa, Mrs. Moulton, Mrs. Jenny Van Zandt, Miss Kellogg, Wachtel and Santley. First comes the Swedish Nightingale, whose career has been one of uninterrupted success. Her début in opera at the Academy of Music last night will be long remembered by those present. Her fine, stately, graceful stage presence, her superb acting, in which she loses her own personality in the rôle she undertakes, and her beautiful voice, every tone of which is clear as crystal, made the rôle of Lucia di Lammermoor a new creation of her own. Everything that New York can set forth in the line of beauty and fashion—and we have a very large stock on hand for special occasions—will be on exhibition during the Nilsson season of Italian opera. The fair songstress has gained laurels in society no less enduring than those with which she has been crowned on the stage, and her charming, unaffected manners have won hosts of admirers and friends in this country. Mme. Parepa-Rosa, who has just closed the most brilliant and successful English opera season on record, belongs to that grand old school of dramatic singers now nearly extinct. A large, full, resonant voice, that unites in its compass and richness contralto, mezzo soprano and high soprano qualities, and a thorough musical education in all schools, that enables her to sing ‘Let the Bright Seraphim,’ ‘Rataplan,’ ‘Ah! fors e lui,’ a French chanson, a German lied or an English ballad with like ease and success, are the characteristics of Mme. Parepa-Rosa’s singing. Then comes Mrs. Charles Moulton, the reigning belle of Paris during the days of the empire, and the favored friend of Rossini and Auber. Upper tendom graced Steinway Hall with its presence when this charming artiste ventured for the first time to leave the circles of fashion to appear as a public singer. Her triumph was instantaneous and complete as that which she gained in Paris and at Compiègne. A rich, mellow mezzo soprano voice, trained to an extent that leaves nothing more to be desired; an earnestness in her expression of art and the charm that always surrounds a beautiful, accomplished woman, are qualities that make Mrs. Moulton’s advent to the stage an event of importance. Mrs. Jenny Van Zandt comes back to the scene of her earliest triumphs laden with hard-earned honors from the principal opera houses of Europe. Time and experience have ripened her into a first class artist, and her voice has all that liquid sweetness and flexibility peculiar to the American soprano. Miss Kellogg has not only held for years a leading position on the American stage, but in London she carried all before her by her remarkable abilities and consummate art. The German tenor, Wachtel, has created [entire line illegible] known in any city. Night after night the Stadt Theater has been crowded, and his noble acting and stage presence and phenomenal voice have held Germans and Americans alike spell-bound. The first baritone of the age, Santley, is also here, and the élite of the metropolis have been drawn to his concerts by the magic of his voice. With him we may associate Madame Patey, the best contralto that has sung here since the ldays of Aiboni. Last on the list is Aimée, the most accomplished opéra bouffe artist that ever visisted this country. Such an assemblage of musical artists has never been known in this city before.

 

[Discusses dramatic performances.] Then the wandering troupes—Theodore Thomas’ orchestra and Rullman’s Vienna Lady Orchestra—that left us for a Western and Southern tour after a brilliant season here, may be expected back in a short time. It may be seen that the list of amusements is bewildering in its magnitude and variety, and yet the public bestow liberal patronge on all that is good in this list. Managers need never complain of theatre-goers in New York as long as they furnish them with first class entertainments. Our European exchanges are full of flattering comments on the unprecedented brilliancy of the present musical and dramatic season in the metropolis of America. A few indulge in expressions of envy and surprise that so many great artists should be drawn away from them at one time, and that New York should have the crême de la crême of art to itself this season. They wil be compelled in future to look upon this city as the eentre [sic] of the musical and dramatic world. As may be seen from the remarks of our critics, the superabundance of attractions last night did not prevent each house from being crowded to its utmost capacity.”