Vocal Society Concert: 1st

“The first concert of the third season of the New-York Vocal Society was given at Steinway Hall last night under the direction of Mr. Mosenthal. The audience was as large and brilliant as usual, and the entertainment was in all respects successful. The following was the programme [see above].

This selection was well made. All the pieces were good; the variety was abundant; and the indifferent solos which have detracted somewhat from the excellence of former madrigal concerts were entirely avoided. Three of the choicest of our old favorites figured in the list—Bishop’s ‘O by rivers,’ Stevens’s ‘Sigh no more, Ladies,’ and that model of old-time music, Ford’s ‘Since first I saw your face.’ The modern compositions were worthy of the elegant antiquity into whose presence they were ushered. Sir Julius Benedict’s ‘Sylvan pleasures’ is delicate, refined and fanciful enough to have been written by Ford or Wilbye, and the specimens of Henry Leslie, Agnes Zimmermann and W. Macfarren are full of the true spirit of this most graceful and delicious of the lighter varieties of music. Then there was the beautiful ‘Ave Maria,’ from Mendelssohn’s unfinished opera, the solo very nicely rendered by Miss Beebe. The two numbers from Schumann’s mass were interesting, not only as a fine study in counterpoint, but also from their strong contrast to Schumann’s song-writing. They are almost entirely for mixed chorus, (with a short soprano solo in the ‘Gloria,’ sung by Mrs. Hoyt), solemn and religious in character, and simple in structure. The song of Kucken’s has a pretty melody, the effect of which is rendered very [illegible] by an accompaniment not played upon any instrument, but sung à la bouche fermée, by the full male chorus. Mr. Baird delivered the solo with great taste, and a recall was loudly given. The glee of J. Stafford Smith’s was [illegible] pretty well sung by Messrs. Bush, Rockwell, Baird, and Aiken, but the same gentlemen did much better with the breezy song of Hatton’s, and the mixed quartettes, by Misses Beebe and Finch and Messrs. Bush and Aiken were excellent. The chorus singing generally, except in Wilbye’s madrigal, was correct, and well colored, and the readings showed a nice taste and [illegible]. Possibly there was a trifle less of that fine sentiment and precision in little things, for which the madrigal concerts three years ago used to be so remarkable; but then it may be that the Vocal Society has cultivated in its audiences so fastidious a temper that they notice small defects which would formerly have escaped them.”

“The Vocal Society of New-York gave its first concert, this season, at Steinway Hall, last evening, in presence of an audience that filled the place. The chorus included about seventy voices, and the perfect recital of the part-songs, which made up a most interesting programme, reflected great credit upon the members, and mainly upon the talent and industry of Mr. Joseph Mosenthal, the conductor. The bill of the entertainment compassed [see above]. All the selections were sung with intelligence, precision, and delicacy.”

“The first concert of the Vocal Society of New York took place last evening, at Steinway Hall, in the presence of a large audience. There were more than seventy choristers, and Mr. Joseph Mosenthal conducted the singing.”

“The Vocal Society is an organization that preserves for us the art of choral singing, almost lost otherwise in this city. What the Handel and Haydn Society so nobly does for Boston in the matter of sacred music, this society does with equal excellence in the direction of English glee and madrigal music. If only the organization were multiplied by ten and the standard of individual merit kept as high as it is now, we should have an oratorio society that would nowhere be excelled—but then we should lose our madrigals.

The first concert of the present season was given on Thursday evening at Steinway Hall. The programme, which, by the way, was a beautiful specimen of typographic skill, and a true index of the good taste that rules in the society, contained a selection of glees, madrigals, and part songs, and also a selection from Schumann’s Mass. This latter composition was of larger and nobler purpose than any of the other music. It never before, so far as we know, has been made part of any concert programme in this country. It has an extrinsic interest from the fact that it was one of Schumann’s later compositions, and was written at the time when the great calamity that was to befall him already overshadowed and saddened his mind and colored his work.

The only two movements performed were the Kyrie and the Gloria, but these clearly enough indicate the nobility and earnestness of feeling with which the work was composed. They were imperfectly presented on Thursday evening for the reason that, instead of an orchestra to sustain the voices, there was only a piano. Nothing can make that instrument appear so insignificant as to contrast it with the fullness and richness of a chorus. This was especially noticeable in the Kyrie, where the dull thud of the piano seemed like an impertinence, and was a positive detriment to the enjoyment of the music. What in the orchestral parts were doubtless chords firmly held out by the stringed instruments in equal measure with the voice parts, became in the piano accompaniment disagreeable and jerky staccato notes, distracting the attention instead of adding to the enjoyment. And this was by no means the fault of the accompanist, who was one of the best in the city, but grew out of the limitations of the instrument. The performance was, therefore, of necessity, pale and cold, without the orchestral color and richness and without any firmness of foundation for the voices.

Among the points of greater interest in the entertainment were a part song by Benedict—to whom the programme makers failed to give his knightly title, though they accorded it to Sir Henry Bishop—and a madrigal by Henry Leslie, ‘Thine Eyes so Bright,’ which was like pure gold. In the second part occurred a lovely part song by Agnes Zimmermann, the same lady who has made so excellent a pianoforte arrangement of Handel’s second organ concerto, and who has distinguished herself in various other directions in her art.

The concert was exceptional in that there was no solo singing, unless we may class Mr. Baird’s song, with humming choral accompaniment, in that category. This was very carefully sung, and was one of the most effective pieces of the concert. The glees were sung by Messrs. Bush, Rockwood, Baird, and Aiken, whose voices harmonize most happily.

Two other concerts will be given by this society during the winter. We regard them as at once the most artistic and the most enjoyable vocal concerts given in this city.”