Matinee: 2nd

Includes program.

“The second Mills & Sarasate matinée musicale took place at Steinway’s yesterday, with the following programme [see above]. The distinguishing feature of this concert was the exquisite rendering of the Beethoven sonata and the work by Chopin. A more refined and delightful feast of music could not be obtained in the concert hall.”

“The second of the series of matinées given by Messrs. Mills and Sarasate took place at Steinway Hall on Saturday. The smaller room, in which these entertainments take place, was crowded by a brilliant and appreciative audience, and several of the numbers of the programme were redemanded. We do not think the choice of concerted pieces was as felicitous as that which resulted in the first performance. Schumann’s trio in F major is not remarkably interesting; Beethoven’s sonata in A, opus 69, is positively tedious, and a better specimen of Chopin’s work for two pianos might have been selected than the rondo in C major placed at the foot of the programme. The solos offered evidence of more judgment, and were proportionally effective We do not expect to hear more powerful and dazzling playing than Mr. S. B. Mills’ recital of Liszt’s arrangement of themes from Mendelssohn’s ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ enlists, or more thoughtful, precise, and finished execution than he contributes to every selection for two or more performers. Nor do we anticipate hearing a richer tone, or noting a more marvelous display of mastery over the technique of the violin than Señor Sarasate’s efforts at these concerts make clear. Señor Sarasate played on Saturday [see above] and was the motor of a demonstration of delight more marked than has been elicited by any violinist within our recollection. Señor Sarasate, we may be permitted to say, is too great an executant to be notable as a composer, and we should be glad if he did not give an opportunity for making the discovery. In addition to the foregoing pieces, Mrs. P. D. Gulager sang the well-known cavatina from Donizetti’s ‘Betly,’ and a new song, called ‘Love Dreams,’ by Mr. L. Dachauer, whose solid science as a musician we have frequently had reason to praise. Mr. Dachauer was the accompanist throughout the concert, as during a previous performance, when a record of his services was accidently omitted. In the final incident of the day, Mr. W. F. Mills made his début as a pianist. Mr. Mills acquitted himself faithfully of his share in the rondo above-named, and the impression of his exertions was in no degree weakened by the redoubtable co-operation of his brother. We shall, however, await another occasion to speak in detail of his merits as a pianist. Mr. Bergner was the violoncellist, and was heard in the sonata by Beethoven.”

“The high artistic excellence of these chamber concerts, given semi-monthly at Steinway’s, was recognized on Saturday afternoon by a crowd of earnest and delighted listeners, who quite overflowed the capacity of the smaller room, and encamped in chilly but patient attention in the great hall behind, to which the folding doors had to be thrown open for the purpose. The programme was selected with the usual taste and judgment of the two gentlemen mainly concerned.

Schumann’s trio in F major for violin, violoncello, and piano-forte was the first and most important number. It is exquisitely tender and imaginative, and rich in a definite and evident melodic beauty not always characteristic of Schumann’s compositions. The adagio, with its passionate melancholy, and the teasing, freakish, fitful grace of the third movement were finely rendered by Messrs. Mills, Sarasate, and Bergner, each displaying that inestimable quality of self-subordination and delicate adaptation which seems the last result of the finest artistic culture. Mrs. Gulager sang the beautiful cavatina from the ‘Betly’ of Donizetti correctly and well. Her execution lacks brilliancy and facility in some of the more spirited movements of the air, but her voice is pure and her intonation and method are satisfactory. Señor Sarasate’s Fantaisie from Faust was played with grace and whimsical expression, but the attempt to translate basso airs and buffo music by the violin seems to us injudicious. The result is apt to be spasmodic, bare and scratchy at best. The later number, ‘Melancolie,’ by Prume, is more in consonance with the scope of the instrument, and gives better occasion for the display of Señor Sarasate’s clearness and delicacy of execution, and fine resonant firmness of tone. 

These matinees are thoroughly delightful performances, and appeal to the best and most cultivated musical taste. We could wish that there were more of them, and that they might be enjoyed in a more congenial locality than the magnified sarcophagus of Steinway’s smaller hall, or the ‘entire vast and desert idle’ of the larger, which is, of course, utterly unfit for chamber music.”

“Leaving the Academy it is but a few steps to a dimly lighted room, at one end of which we descry two grand pianos. This also is well-filled, and the crowd extends far out into the great Hall which opens behind it. Here there is such hushed and breathless attention to the music that we might imagine ourselves at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, were it not for the absence of that frequent and quick murmur of approbation, during the performance of a morceau, which does more to encourage the artist than the solid round of applause which follows. 

It is the second of these agreeable matinées at Steinway’s which I mentioned in my last letter. Here is the programme [see above].

Schumann’s noble Trio and the Beethoven Duo were executed in a masterful manner, as might have been expected.

Signor Sarasate gained much applause in his piece de resistance (Fantaisie on Faust) and played for encore, a lovely cradle song (violin and piano). The other solo pieces I did not hear. The well-known rondo in C major which ended the programme was well played. How wonderfully beautiful it is no one who has ever heard it need be told.”