Elijah

Event Information

Venue(s):
Steinway Hall

Conductor(s):
James Pech

Price: $1; $2 reserved seat

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
16 October 2023

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

31 Oct 1871, Evening

Performers and/or Works Performed

Elijah

Composer(s): Mendelssohn-Bartholdy

Participants: New York Harmonic Society; Edith Wynne; Mme. Patey; W. H. [tenor] Cummings; Charles Santley; J. G. Patey

Citations

Advertisement: New-York Times, 22 October 1871, 7.

Announcement: New-York Times, 29 October 1871, 8.

Announcement: New York Sun, 30 October 1871, 1.

Announcement: New-York Times, 30 October 1871, 4.

Announcement: New-York Times, 31 October 1871, 4.

Review: New York Post, 01 November 1871, 2.

“Mendelssohn’s great work—the ‘Elijah’—was given last night at Steinway’s by the Dolby company, aided by an amateur quartet and the Harmonic Society, under the leadership of Dr. Pech, in a manner which calls for much praise with some less favorable comment.

That Santley was superb all who have heard him on the concert stage will readily anticipate. The noble firmness and simplicity of his declamation, his purity of delivery and certainty are all aided and set off by a grand repose and ease of manner—the calmness of conscious power—which would impose on the auditor even were his mere musical resources less perfect. His is the power to conceal the mechanism to which his efforts are due—the ars celarum atrium—and we say of his singing more truly than of any we have heard for many a long year, that ‘it sings itself.’ Space fails us to note in detail the special numbers which, if any, may seem to rise above the symmetrical and unvarying excellence of all his performance. Neither can we do more than allude to the majestic breadth and coloring of Mme. Patey’s vocalization in ‘O, rest in the Lord,’ which was warmly encored, and to the fine, clear and accurate delivery of Miss Wynne in both the solo and concerted music of the score.

Mr. Cummings was not in his best vein, and both in accuracy and purity of tone, especially in his first air, ‘If with all your hearts,’ was sadly at fault.

The chorus was not distinguished for unity, or accuracy in time or intonation; there is room for much more delicate fusion, delicacy of shading and precision of emphasis in their work. The orchestra, too, in many passages, like ‘potent poison, quite o’ercrowned their spirit,’ and the brass particularly greatly needed moderation. In the fine chorus, especially, ‘Thanks be to God,’ each individual trumpeter seemed to feel himself the arch-angel of resurrection and responsible for getting the sleepers awakened and afoot betimes. In the orchestral, as in more sportive kinds of play, there is nothing like good ‘Temper.’”

Review: New York Sun, 01 November 1871, 2.

“No performance of Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah’ could well be devoid of interest. The work is in itself so dramatic and moving, and the musical painting of the strife between the prophet and the priests of Baal is so rich in color, and so firmly drawn that no person can listen to it without emotion.

Last evening the Harmonic Society performed the work under Dr. Pech’s direction, and with the assistance of the members of Mr. Dolby’s ballad company. It is almost needless to say that the solo parts were admirably rendered. They were in the hands of those who have made themselves famous in this line of their profession. The part of Elijah certainly has never before in this country been sung so well as by Mr. Santley. It is a long and an arduous part, and the voice of many a good singer has given out before the end; but Mr. Santley’s last notes were as firm, resonant, and clear as the first. Miss Wynne and Madame Patey have also shown themselves to be as accomplished in oratorio as in ballad music.

The Harmonic Society has not yet entirely mastered the oratorio. Certain of the choruses were very well given, but others were faulty. The voices did not take up the points sharply. The notes were attacked too cautiously, and too little attention was paid to the shading and expression. In the parts where the choruses have responsive passages to the solo voice—as for example in that with Madame Patey, ‘We have heard it with our ears’—The responses were out of time and uncertain. The orchestra was throughout too loud. The effect of many of the best solos was greatly marred by this. Even Mr. Santley, whose voice is as clear as a trumpet, had difficulty sometimes in making himself heard above the accompaniment.

The concerted portions were generally well sung. The choral, ‘Cast thy burden on the Lord,’ was repeated, as was also the terzetto, ‘Lift thine eyes.’ This latter was expressively sung by Miss Wynne, Miss Sarah Brannen, and Madame Patey. If there was anything amiss in this it was that Madame Patey sang too loud. Beautiful as her voice is, there are times when one may hear too much of it. It also seemed quite needless, not to say a little absurd, for Dr. Pech to beat time for an instrumented trio sung by three persons who so perfectly understood what they were about—especially needless, inasmuch as he must necessarily take his time from them, and not they from him.

Despite the few drawbacks, the performance was, as we have said, a very interesting one. The Society has increased in numbers, manifests an excellent spirit, and is apparently prepared to do what is necessary to make itself a thoroughly efficient body.” [Reprinted DJM 11/18/71, p. 136]

Review: New-York Times, 01 November 1871, 4.

“Mr. Dolby’s artists were heard in oratorio, with the New-York Harmonic Society, at Steinway Hall, last evening. In our recollection, a more admirable quartet never rendered in this City music of the same order. Mr. Santley’s work, unaided, would have made the entertainment memorable. It is impossible to overpraise that gentleman’s recital of Elijah, in Mendelssohn’s oratorio known by that name. Each recitative, each arioso, each air was conspicuous alike by the beauty and might of the voice it displayed, by the appreciativeness it denoted, and by the impress of culture and taste its expression bore. It would be no easy task to select from the numbers assigned to Mr. Santley any two or three as remarkable beyond the remainder. In the sustained recitatives, delivered with incomparable firmness, breadth of phrasing and dignity; in the relatively florid passages of the aria ‘Is not his Word like a fire?’ and in the more tuneful and flowing pieces of the second part of the composition, the extent of Mr. Santley’s resources, the sensitiveness of an artistic temperament of the finest kind, and a mastery over the singer’s art perhaps unequalled in the world and certainly unexcelled, were discernible. The effect of Mr. Santley’s contribution to the concert—an effect time and again made clear by demands for repeats which, we are sorry to say, were in no instance acceded to—was strengthened in no slight degree by the magnificent voice of Mme. Patey, by that of Miss Edith Wynne, and by the skill of Mr. Cummings. Miss Edith Wynne’s share of the duet with Mr. Santley was full of pathos as well as of vocal wealth; and to mention, in the case of Mme. Patey, one incident only, her interpretation of ‘O, rest in the Lord,’ which was encored, for faultlessness of style and depth of sentiment was deserving of enthusiastic applause. With this record of the impression produced by Mr. Dolby’s quartet—or rather by his quintet, for Mr. J. G. Patey was concerned in the concerted portions of ‘Elijah,’ all of which were repeated— compliments for the proceedings must end. The orchestra was not good, and the chorus was bad. Had the accompaniments been subdued, there would not, however, have been so much fault to find with the lack of unanimity of the musicians. The poor condition of the vocalists was a great deal more apparent, and if the New-York Harmonic Society has only succeeded, fourteen years after its incorporation, in forming choral forces that can neither attack nor shade the music taught them, we cannot reasonably hope for much future enjoyment from that body. The masses were under the baton of Dr. Pech.”

Review: New York Herald, 02 November 1871, 10.

“Steinway Hall presented a brilliant appearance on Tuesday evening when the Harmonic Society gave their first performance of ‘Elijah.’ The hall was crowded to its utmost extent, and a more attentive and intelligent audience it would be impossible to find anywhere. There were 300 voices in the chorus and the orchestra numbered over sixty. Dr. James Pech was the conductor and Miss Edith Wynne, Madame Patey and Messrs. Cummings, Patey and Santley were the soloists. The organ part was entrusted to Mr. H. E. Browne. Nothing could exceed the grandeur and nobility of Santley’s rendering of the trying music of the prophet. There is an intelligence, ease and spirit in his singing that gives each well known number new beauties and places it in a different light from that we have been accustomed to here. There was no flagging or sign of fatigue, but his voice seemed as fresh in his last air, ‘For the mountains shall depart,’ as it was in the grand piece of declamation in the beginning, ‘As the Lord God of Israel liveth.’ His denunciation of the renegade king and idolatrous people; his taunting scorn when the priests of Baal call upon their god; his passionate appeal to Heaven for mercy on the stricken land, and his triumphant expression of thanks when the long-wished for rain descends, cannot be overpraised. The lovely quartet, ‘Cast thy burden upon the Lord,’ was sung admirably by the other solo artists. Mme. Patey won hearty applause by her exquisite rendering of the contralto solos in the oratorio. The chorus brought to their work abundant good will and earnestness, and reflected much credit on their painstaking conductor. One or two of the choruses, however, were terribly marred by the bungling of the orchestra. The musical millennium will arrive, undoubtedly, when an oratorio orchestra can be reduced to order. It seems like a scrub race between the various instruments, and men who will play a symphony divinely act in an oratorio pretty much like a bull in a china shop. The Harmonic Society, under its indefatigable President, Mr. Thomas Hall, and capable conductor, Dr. Pech, bids fair this season to obliterate the recollection of past failures.”

10)

Review: New-York Daily Tribune, 02 November 1871, 4.

“Though the performance of ‘Elijah’ on Tuesday night in Steinway Hall was in some respects far from what it ought to have been, the excellence of most of the solo singers, and the [illegible] of one of them, redeemed it from the reproach of mediocrity, and invested the occasion with very deep interest. All the music of this exquisite work—not the greatest, but

the most beautiful of oratorios—radiates, so to speak, from the grand [illegible] of the Prophet, which towers above the rest, giving the key note of song, and prayer, and chorus, and impressing every scene of the sacred drama with indescribable dignity and tenderness. It was a rare good fortune to hear this noble music sung by such a noble artist as Mr. Santley. He not only delivered it as it has never before been delivered in the United States; but, we are most justified in saying that, until Santley came, we never knew what the Elijah of Mendelssohn really was. A new meaning was given to the familiar duet with the Widow of Zurephath, the scene with the Priests of Baal, the plaint of the broken spirit—‘It is Enough, O Lord, now Take away my Life,’ a new beauty appeared in the majestic prayer, ‘Lord God of Abraham;’ and a totally unaccustomed spirit gave life and vigor to the aria, ‘Is not His Word Like a Fire?’ and Elijah’s final song, ‘For the Mountains shall Depart.’ No one could fail to appreciate Mr. Santley’s splendid execution of these conspicuous portions of the oratorio; yet it was, perhaps, in detached sentences of recitative and the little fragments of melody which are interspersed through the musical [dialogue?]—bits, for example, like the prayer for rain, ‘Open the Heavens, and Send us Relief,’ that [illegible] thoroughness of his culture, the grand simplicity of his method, and especially the perfection of his [illegible]. With each repeated hearing our admiration of this [illegible] conscientious, manly singer increases.

His English companions made a good impression, taking them altogether. Miss Wynne has not a heavy enough voice for this music—especially with such an orchestra as that of Tuesday night to sing against—but her style is commendable, her intonation true, and her voice sufficiently facile and polished. Mr. Cummings had a bad cold, and should be spared criticism in consequence. We have heard him in the same part in Boston, and know that he can do much better than he did at Steinway Hall. Madame Patey, next to Mr. Santley, was the best of the quartet. Her rich voice and unaffected manner all for unequivocal praise, and her rendering of ‘O Rest in the Lord’ was excellent. The quartets (Mr. Patey taking the bass) were given with the [illegible] and refinement with which the Dolby troupe have made us familiar with their concerts. The double quartet, ‘For He Shall Give His Angels’ was also admirable, and the Angel Trio, ‘Lift Thine Eyes,’ in which Miss Sara [Brannen?] took the [middle?] part, richly deserved the encore which it received. There is little praise to be given, however, to the chorus. The Harmonic Society mustered about 300 members, under the direction of Dr. James Pech, and sang [generally?] with a wild vigor that reminded one of a [illegible] disorderly rabble. As they neither attacked the notes on time, nor held them with precision, it may be said that they did not know how to take hold, and did not know how to let go; while in delicacy of shading, which is so especially important in this oratorio, they were [illegible] deficient. The coarseness of the chorus was aggravated by the coarseness of an ill-balanced orchestra, heavily overloaded with brass, and rudely handled. The Harmonic Society have been singing ‘’Elijah’ so many years, that there is no excuse for such work as that of Tuesday night. If they could only go to Boston and hear the Handel and Haydn Society in ‘Elijah’ they would blush!”