Band of the Grenadier Guards Farewell Concert to America

Includes programme.

Arrival of the band in New York.

Includes programme.

“Dan Godfrey and his merry men bade a long farewell to America last night at the Academy of Music. Their reception was even more of an ovation than that which they received at the Boston barn [for the Jubilee]. The Academy was actually crammed to suffocation, not a vacant seat to be had and but little standing room. It reminded one of the old Wachtel and Parepa-Rosa nights. No greater proof could be given of the wonderful fondness for music inherent in New Yorkers than the presence of such an audience on a hot July night. We have already, in our criticisms on the Boston Jubilee, spoken at length regarding the characteristics of the playing of this superb band, and these qualities were shown in their best light when displayed in a house worthy of them. The programme comprised [see above]. These selections were magnificently rendered, and the audience applauded to the echo. Never since the Academy was built was there such a scene of excitement as when the band played the ‘Star-Spangled Banner,’ and ‘God Save the Queen.’ Each seemed to think that on him alone depended the ratification of the Treaty of Washington, and a tornado of applause was the consequence. After the concert Dan Godfrey, Lieutenant Colonel Fludyer, and the principal artists of the band were entertained at the Arcadian Club, the leading band masters of the metropolis being present. The band leaves for England to-day by the Inman steamer City of Limerick.”

“Scarcely any higher compliment could be paid to the band of Her Majesty’s regiment of Grenadier Guards than the fact that on an intense July night an audience could be mustered of sufficient size wholly to fill the Academy of Music and even to overflow into the lobbies.

“The reception of the band was as warm as the evening. As they filed upon the stage in their red coats, white belts and facings, and fatigue caps, they made a bright and pleasant spectacle. Dan Godfrey, their popular leader, came last, and was as heartily welcomed as his band. He wore belt and sword and medal, and had rather the look of a German philosopher than an English band master.

“There were misgivings as to the suitableness of the Academy to a military band, but, contrary to expectation, the effect was admirable. The Guards Band is undoubtedly a fine body of musicians.

“We do not believe it has any better material than some of our city bands, but it is better composed. There is a greater variety of instruments and a better balance of the parts. The tone of the band is smooth, ripe, full, and sonorous. The bass instruments, both among the reeds and brass, are superb. The large number of bassoons and the heavy instruments of the tuba family give massive and novel effects. Von Weber’s wild and weird overture to ‘Der Freischutz,’ with which the concert opened, was especially calculated to display these qualities of the band to advantage.

“In solo instruments we recognized no conspicuous merit. The musicians were good, all of them, but not exceptionally so. The strength of the band is in its precision and its beautiful evenness of tone. Mr. Godfrey is not a leader of the electric order. His movements are sturdy and somewhat awkward, but he is watchful and careful, and keeps his band well in hand. As it may be interesting to many to know what class of music the band plays we append a condensation of the programme [see above].

“Throughout the evening the audience was in lively sympathy with the performers, showing quick appreciation at the telling points, and throughout evincing a thorough good humor. But when, near the close of the bill, the medley of Irish melodies was enthusiastically encored, and Dan Godfrey and his men, springing to their feet, played the first bar of ‘The Star Spangled Banner,’ a thrill of enthusiasm ran from pit to dome, and the vast multitude burst into a wild cheer.

“Looking up from the stage, the house, with its waving handkerchiefs, fluttering fans, and clapping hands, seemed as if a foaming cascade were breaking from tier to tier, and spreading to the very verge of the stage. As the band changed off to ‘Yankee Doodle,’ and then by turns to ‘God Save the Queen’ and ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ the people seemed as if they were losing their senses. Thenceforward to the close of the programme the good feeling continued unabated, and at the close Godfrey received an ovation.

“For the enjoyment of the evening (as well as for the opportunity of hearing the French band next week) the public are indebted to the perseverance, energy, and pluck of Mr. John H. Wardwell, who cut the red tape with which the War Office had bound the musicians, securing their one appearance here as an act of courtesy and good will to us all.

“One noticeable event of the evening among the audience was the quiet entrance of our next President, who took his seat in a proscenium box, and beamed benignant upon the band.”

“The band of the English Grenadier Guards, under the direction of Mr. Dan Godfrey, gave at the Academy of Music, last evening, the only concert in which they are to take part previous to returning to London. Their departure for England will be effected today. It could hardly be attended with brighter memories than yesterday’s incidents must have created. A larger audience could not have been packed into the Academy than filled it last night to bid the band an almost simultaneous welcome and farewell, and no vocal or instrumental performance could possibly elicit a more enthusiastic display of gratification than was shown from the interpretation of the first to that of the last number of the programme. No recital by a brass band could be more justly deserving of such honors than that of Mr. Godfrey’s men. The perfection of the solos, in point of intonation, tone, beauty and eloquence of phrasing, and precision in the most rapid as in the slowest passages, was scarcely more productive of admiration than the faultless accompaniments supplied to them. In fact, the quality of this part of the band’s work commended it most strongly to the critical listener. Crescendos and diminuendos, swelling and dying away in exquisite sympathy with the breathings of the prominent instrument, marvelous arpeggios, and rare effects wrought by the drums, were a few of the many niceties of the playing of the band which no doubt gave to persons of experience in such matters, the liveliest pleasure. The excellence of the accompaniments as support to the voices intrusted with the themes must have been apparent to every one. Mr. Godfrey’s musicians proved by last evening’s efforts that they could sustain with success a chorus of one hundred voices, or subdue their might to furnishing the bass for the warble of a bird. The impressiveness of their execution was equally clear. The brio of the festal music in ‘Rigoletto’ and ‘La Traviata,’ the airy lightness of ‘E scherzo’ in ‘Il Ballo,’ the crispness of the dance tunes in ‘Il Profeta,’ the severe grandeur of the bars from the scene of the benediction of the sword in ‘Gli Ugonoggi,’ and the fluent grace of ‘Ombra leggiera’ in ‘Dinorah,’ were in turn illustrated with the same unvarying felicity. Though the solos were exceedingly fine, they could not but be of slight interest when compared with the results of the united endeavors of sixty men, informed with a common taste, and skilled as executants in the very highest degree. It would not be an easy task to select for mention a few of the selections of the concert as particularly worthy of praise. The overtures to ‘Der Freyschuetz,’ and to ‘Rob Roy,’—the latter by Sir H. Bishop—two potpourris of operatic airs, a variety of national melodies, two of Mr. Godfrey’s waltzes, and Frewin’s ‘Excelsior Polka’ formed the larger portion of the bill. The cornet solos were contributed by Mr. McGrath, who has firmness, purity, and vigor, and by Mr. Ellis. A clarionet solo—a series of variations, and a very tiresome one—was done by Mr. Spencer, whose tone is good, and whose surety is astonishing. Mr. Roe’s management of the concertina, in ‘Recollections of Scotland,’ quite rehabilitated that contemned contrivance, and the same gentleman’s use of the piccolo, in an after solo also disclosed unsuspected resources in the smaller flute. It only remains for us to say that all the pieces were redemanded, that ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ and the British anthem were heard time and again amid an uproarious demonstration of delight, and that the entertainment was not terminated until a late hour.”

“The band of the British Grenadier Guards was welcomed to New-York last night by an audience of enormous proportions. The Academy of Music was crowded in every corner, and, notwithstanding the severe heat, people packed themselves contentedly in the aisles and lobbies, till movement became almost impossible, and stood there beaming and bursting with delight, as if suffocation, with the thermometer at 100, was among the choicest enjoyments of existence. The enthusiasm at times became vociferous, and the multitude, although highly respectable, was much more demonstrative than assemblages are wont to be at the Academy of Music. Patriotism had, no doubt, a great deal to do with it. A large proportion of the audience was evidently British, and the cheers with which the Band was hailed, as it came upon the stage, in its magnificent uniform of scarlet and blue and gold, were inspired by home sympathies and associations. At intervals throughout the evening the delight of the listeners over old familiar tunes was expressed with great emphasis; but there was also a liberal tribute to the professional skill of the performers, breaking out pretty often at inconvenient places, but upon the whole discriminating as well as hearty. We have already borne our testimony to the excellence of this Band in our accounts of the Jubilee at Boston. It is very far superior to any military band that has ever been heard in this country before—superior in force, finish, precision and spirit of execution, in fullness and mellowness of tone, in all the qualities, in short, which can be demanded from an organization of this kind. When we have an opportunity to compare it with its French and German rivals, we shall find that while the French excel it in vivacity and elegance, and the Prussians in martial vigor, it is superior to both of them in a sort of gorgeous and sensuous tone, while it fairly competes with both in mechanical execution. The most striking thing in its composition is the large proportion of reeds, by which it is enabled to supply so well the absence of strings that in the operatic selections and similar pieces the violins are hardly missed. The clarionets are admirable, playing together as perfectly as if they were all blown by one mouth; and there are four bassoons equally good. There are four or five flutes and piccolos, very well handled also. Then the brass is strong and full, but kept in artistic subjection, and the tone of each individual instrument is remarkably perfect. The two principal cornet players, Ellis and McGrath, are solo artists of merit, and other members of the Band are entitled to almost equal distinction. Mr. Dan Godfrey, controls his men with great ease, and though he does not of course get from them the fine sentiment and variety of expression which can be obtained from a good string orchestra, he produces results that are certainly remarkable in a band supposed to be marching at the head of a regiment. To be sure the Grenadiers’ Band was never meant for the field. It never accompanies the Guards on active service. Its duties are about the Palace, and its members, though enlisted men, are nearly all employed at the London theaters, and are well used to the varied service of metropolitan musicians. It plays constantly at public concerts and private entertainments, for anybody who will pay for its services, and though it visits this country, of course, with the formal sanction of the British Government, it is hardly correct to look upon it, as some seem to do, as a detachment from the Royal forces sent to do honor to the great American nation. Nay, some of the performers who obeyed Mr. Dan Godfrey’s baton so well last night are not members of the band of the Grenadier Guards at all, but London civilian musicians put into uniform for the occasion.

“The programme comprised a great variety of pieces, opening with the overture to ‘Der Freyschütz,’ and including Mr. Godfrey’s own ‘Mabel Waltz,’ which the audience recognized as an old friend, and a great number of operatic selections from the works of Meyerbeer and Verdi. There were solos on various instruments of a more or less military character, including even the concertina. It is something of a shock to a well-regulated mind to see a British Grenadier in full uniform playing the concertina, while sixty of his red-coated and bewhiskered companions help him with a pianissimo accompaniment; but it must be admitted that Mr. Roe gets more out of that mean little instrument than one would suppose could be found there, and his Scotch airs evidently touched the feelings of a great many of his hearers.”