Strakosch Troupe Concert: 2nd

Dates for three concerts and matinee; prices.

“The second of the Patti and Mario concerts was not quite so well attended as the first, although the audience was a very good one. Of the chief performers there is little to be said in addition to what we wrote after the entertainment of Monday. Miss Patti has not yet exhibited the phenomenal change of style which has been attributed to her; but she revels as of old in the brilliant feats of vocalization which delight the majority of people much more than depth of feeling or simplicity of expression. Signor Mario again had a generous reception, and was again recalled after his one solo, when he gave a French chanson. If his romanza from ‘Faust,’ the ‘Salve dimora’ was but a faint reminiscence of the Mario of other years, it at least exhibited the beautiful phrasing and tender feeling for which this great artist has been so remarkable. The sensation of the evening was made by M. Sauret. After a second hearing of this young artist we feel safe in calling him one of the best violinists ever heard in New-York. He played the well-known ‘Ballade and Polonaise’ of Vieuxtemps which that performer—who was Sauret’s master—so often rendered here; Paganini’s immensely difficult transcription of the ‘Di tanti palpiti;’ and Ernst’s beautiful ‘Elegie.’ The purity of his tones, the grace and freedom of his bowing, the accuracy of his execution, and the sentiment of his playing, all called for the warmest praise. Miss Carreño threw a wonderful vigor and warmth into the ‘Ballade’ in A flat of Chopin, and Miss Cary and Signor Ronconi were as usual acceptable.”

“The good impression of Monday’s Patti-Mario concert was deepened by yesterday’s performance to an extent the most enthusiastic admirer of the artists concerned could scarcely have foreseen. A more comprehensive programme, and one more skillfully interpreted, could not have been desired. The fourteen numbers of the evening were rendered with uniformly satisfying results, and, had the desires of the audience been heeded whenever expressed, each of the selections would have been repeated, to the indefinite prolongation of the entertainment. The expectation that the huskiness which affected Signor Mario’s voice on the night of his reappearance would depart without delay was happily realized. Very slight traces of the indisposition remained; and if, in one or two instances, the high notes were not promptly responsive to the singer’s summons, Signor Mario generally not only attained, but sustained them; while, at the close of the sestet—recited as a quartet, by the way—the production of a tone of unquestionable power caused an outburst of applause. To say that Signor Mario delivered his lines with infinite sentiment and consummate art must add little to the enlightenment of most of our readers. The tenderness of his utterances in the duet ‘Se la stanchezza,’ from ‘Il Trovatore;’ The poesy of his delivery of ‘Salve dimora,’ to the music of which, as to that of ‘Spirito gentil,’ the singer has wedded Italian words embodying the sense of the original French verses in a degree the authors of the familiar Italian version never cared to secure; and the merry grace of his French chansonette did not suffer for any lack of vocal resources, and all the artist’s work was redemanded and done anew with an increased spirit which naught but success can beget. Miss Carlotta Patti triumphed over her hearers as gaily and as easily as usual. Her execution of ‘Caro nome’ was not deficient in expressiveness, and its comparatively small exigencies were scarcely trying to the songstress who, on Monday, made so light of the difficulties of Proch’s ‘Air and Variations;’ and that of the waltz from Ricci’s ‘Folie à Rome’ was firmer and more brilliant even than the composer could have foreseen as in store for his composition. In acknowledgment of the encores, Miss Patti sang a Spanish song and the ‘Laughing Song’ from “Manon Lescaut.’ M. Sauret’s experience, yesterday, was fully as gratifying as that of an earlier occasion. M. Sauret is aged about eighteen; in spite of his extreme youth, his technique is perfect. To a thorough command of the finger-board and to a management of the bow, he unites sensibility and taste rarely apparent in artists so immature in years. M. Sauret played last night, Vieuxtemps’ ‘Ballad and Polonaise’—a perilous experiment, with the broad and powerful rendering of the author still in one’s ears—and Paganini’s exceedingly exacting variations on ‘Di Tanti Palpiti,’ the last named number compelling an unanimous demonstration of delight by the exhibition of immense difficulties quietly overcome. Mlle. Carreño was listened to twice. We cannot but say that we have enjoyed more thoughtful readings and more finished execution of Chopin’s ballad in A minor; but unreserved praise can be bestowed upon the recital of Gottschalk’s arrangement of the ‘Miserere’ from ‘Il Trovatore,’ the finale of the piece being delivered with astonishing vigor and unexceptionable clearness. Miss Cary, had she returned to us unchanged since last year’s concerts, would have been deserving of a hearty welcome. Her re-entrée, however, has revealed her possession of the superb organ admired since Miss Nilsson’s début in the United States; and the supplemental fact that her style has been much bettered. Miss Cary sang the rondo, ‘No, no, no, no, no,’ from ‘Gli Ugonotti,’ with equal charm of voice and method, and the contralto’s share of the duet with Signor Mario. The solo was followed by an English ballad. The remaining feature of the bill were ‘Largo al Factotum,’ delivered with all his wonted humor by that best of buffo-singers, Signor Ronconi; and three selections for the orchestra, capitally directed by Mr. S. Behrens.”

“The second concert of the Strakosch troupe, last evening, at Steinway Hall, confirmed the impression made by the first. The large hall was well filled, and the audience rose several times to the point of enthusiasm. Signor Mario made the best use of the resources time has left him, and in the duet from ‘Favorita’ with Miss Cary, which that young lady sang charmingly, he manifested all the intelligence and something of the tenderness, with scarce a trace of the power, of years gone by. Mdlle. Carlotta Patti produced her usual sparkling effects, and Mdlle. Carreño played a ‘Ballade’ of Chopin in A flat that showed immense force and feeling, exactly the qualities that were not strikingly discernible in her performance at the first concert. Mdlle. Carreño is so very lovely and graceful, that one is apt at sight of her to challenge her possession of the highest art, and to reject the idea that all the gifts of the fairies have been given to one favored mortal; but when she plays one forgets her beauty altogether, and is absorbed in her music, and this is the highest compliment that can be paid her. In Monsieur Sauret, the young violinist, Mr. Strakosch has drawn a prize. When he comes to the front, one is apt to resent the claim of first excellence for so youthful a performer and to bid him tarry at Jericho until his beard be grown, but one or two passes of the bow across the strings are enough to convince the most exacting listener that a very fine player is before him. Last evening M. Sauret played a most difficult arrangement by Paganini of an air from Trancredi, and a composition of his master, Vieuxtemps, with brilliant success. This modest young gentleman has in him the making of one of the best violinists of his time.”