Popular Concert

Includes program.

“The second of the new series of popular Saturday matinées was given by Mrs. Imogene Brown, Mr. M. W. Whitney, and their associates, on Saturday last. The concert was quite a success, nearly every member being encored, and the audience was more numerous and perhaps more fashionable than that of the previous week. It is noticeable that nearly all our concert-singers come from Boston. We are not prepared to admit that there is more musical talent in Boston than in New-York; nor that fine voices are more scarce here than in the chosen home of the east wind. We account for the fact in two ways: First, the last generation of Bostonians having cultivated music far more assiduously than ourselves, their descendants learn singing with great ease; secondly, by the absence in Boston of that stupid prejudice which, in New-York, forbids a man of education to make music the business his life. While all philosophers agree, if in nothing else in this, that the cultivation of the arts is an antidote to many of the evils which now beset us, the career of an artist is still held in too little esteem. To return to our concert. Mrs. Imogene Brown sang ‘Batti, batti o bel Masetto,’ with that refinement of method which is one of her greatest charms; and a liquid sweetness of voice which only needs a more sustained evenness of tone and greater calm of manner to make her singing of Mozart’s music perfectly classical. The deserved encore drew from her the arch little song, whose refrain is whistled everywhere, ‘And I will marry my own love.’ This showed the lower notes of her voice to great advantage. Later on, Mr. Alfred Pease’s brilliant song, ‘I love my love,’ with his own brilliant accompaniment, displayed the lady’s facility in a bravura style, and the inevitable encore produced another sparkling aria, doubtless by the same facile composer. Mr. Pease’s solo consisted of a fine piano-forte transcription of the march from Tannhäuser; and for the encore he gave the little melody so popular just now, ‘Amaryllis,’ said to have been composed by Louis the Thirteenth. Whether by a royal composer or not, it is very lovely and apparently very ancient; and Mr. Pease must allow us to observe that no music of that period was ever played so fast as he gave it. Mr. Carl Feininger played a violin solo, introduction, air, and variations, which, as no reliance could be placed on the programme, we attributed to De Beriot. This showed Mr. Feininger’s command of a pure, and at times a delightful, tone and an elevated style of playing, much better than either of the fantasias, bristling with difficulties, which he played last week. Miss Barron’s singing of ‘The Garden of Roses,’ by Virginia Gabriel, was tranquil and modest, and deepened the impression produced by the richness and evenness of her voice. The quartet of the previous week, ‘O Hush Thee,’ was again delightfully sung and warmly received. Mrs. Imogene Brown and Mr. Whitney sang—where did they find it?—the quaintest, queerest old Scotch dialogue, called ‘Hunting Tower,’ to the immense satisfaction of all present. Mr. Packard and Mr. Whitney had each done themselves an injustice, the one by singing an aria, ‘Di quella pira,’ just a little beyond his abilities; the other by choosing two German ballads not worthy of his [sic]. They, however, sang a melodious and spirited duet, by Parry, ‘Flow Gently, Deva,’ which made amends; the bright and original music, and the two fresh, virile voices bringing the concert to an agreeable conclusion.”