Musical Soirée

“The Onslow Quintet gave a very pleasant entertainment on Monday evening at Chickering Hall, the last concert of their first season of classical soirees. Mendelssohn’s beautiful quintet in B flat, op, 87, for two violins, two violas, and violoncello, was admirably played by Messrs. Philip Färber, George Wiegand, Louis Färber, Michael Brand, and A. T. Schauffler, the opening allegro vivace and the lento passage in the third movement being given especially well, the one with spirit, the other with great delicacy and grace. Messrs. Philip Färber and Caryl Florio gave an adequate interpretation of a fine sonata of Onslow’s for violin and piano (No. 4, in F), and Mozart’s string quartet in G, opus 30, was performed not as well as the Mendelssohn quintet, but still in a very creditable manner. A vocal sestet, composed of Miss Brainerd, Misses Hattie and Anna Bulkley, Mr. Bush, Mr. Beckett, and Mr. Schauffler, sang a difficult madrigal of Henry Leslie’s, ‘Thine eyes so bright,’ and Miss Brainerd, Miss Anna Bulkley, Mr. Bush, and Mr. Schauffler contributed also to the entertainment two four-part songs by the same composer. The three pieces are excellent specimens of the modern English school, two of them being strongly religious in tone, and the reading may almost be called a [illegible]. The singing was very good indeed, except in one little quartet given for an encore.”

“The elegant salle Chickering was well filled last Monday evening, the occasion being the last ‘soirée classique’ of the Onslow Quintet, an organization which has given us many pleasant concerts during the winter. This time they played Mendelssohn’s Quintet in B flat (op. 87) and Mozart’s Quartet in G (op. 30). Besides this there was a very poor Sonata for piano and violin by G. Onslow, and some singing by a quartet who seemed to imagine themselves in some large hall or cathedral which could be filled only by the greatest vocal exertion.”