Festival Week of Grand Oratorios and Concerts: 1st

“But one advice we give Mr. Thomas. He has a superb orchestra, beyond all doubt the best in America. Let him not waste the talents and energies of this orchestra upon the inane works that represent the school of the future. We have composers here in America—take Bristow as an instance—who write better music than those demented individuals who have, by the sheer force of impudence, forced themselves into positions which are an insult to Beethoven and Mozart. Out upon this school of the future! It was conceived in conceit, brought forth in insanity and saved to maturity by the same reprehensible means that made a notoriety of the Woolly Horse of the Fiji Mermaid. Mere mechanism in music, no matter how clever it may be, cannot be thrust down the throats of an intelligent American public for true art. Let Wagner lobby, à la Albany, mixing music and politics, and let Liszt don and doff the monk’s cowl at pleasure to give the idea of eccentric genius. In this country we want only good music, and trash, whether covered by the purple of Bavaria or the vestments of Rome, cannot and will not prevail.” 

Festival Week of Grand Oratorios and Concerts. “Full particulars will be shortly announced.”

Dates and names of soloists. 

Works to be performed for the first two concerts; participation of Anton Rubinstein and Henryk Wieniawski in later concerts.

Summary of the concerts to be presented. 

Lessons to be learned by New York from the success of Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society. 

“The musical festival opened last night at Steinway Hall under the most propitious circumstances. The audience was very large, and—what is not less gratifying—very sympathetic and demonstrative. Surprise and delight were on almost every one’s face as the superb performance passed on. We assured our readers in advance that the Handel and Haydn Society would give them new conceptions of chorus singing, but we hardly expected that our prediction would be fulfilled in such a brilliant and extraordinary manner as it was last night. We have often heard this great society in Boston, and have made it a practice to attend their triennial festivals, when they muster to the number of 800 in the famous Music Hall; but we never heard them sing so magnificently as they did on this occasion. To say that they gave incomparably the finest performance of ‘Elijah’ ever heard in New-York would be to say very little; there would not be much risk in presuming it to be the finest ever heard in America. The number of singers—about 400 or 500—was well adapted to the size of the hall; they had the help of a much richer accompaniment than they have at home; they were all on their mettle; and it soon became evident that the enthusiasm of the audience was thoroughly enlisted; so what wonder that they surpassed themselves? The solos, too, were all good. Mr. Whitney gave the music of the Prophet with the dignity and feeling which we have so often admired and applauded before. Mrs. Julia Houston West had the principal soprano solos. She has long been a favorite in Boston and is not unknown in New-York, as an artist with an excellent voice, and mistress of the best oratorio school. It seemed to us that she felt the excitement of the occasion and greatly surpassed her usual standard of excellence, especially in the famous duet with Elijah, ‘What have I to do with thee, O man of God?’ Miss Cary’s rendering of the alto music was delightful. The tenor was Mr. Nelson Varley, whose voice is strong and pleasant—in a part of the register delicious—and whose style has been formed on the best models. He sings too much in the throat, and was a little annoyed now and then with huskiness. He sang the aria ‘Then shall the righteous’ admirably. Good service was also rendered by the second soprano, Mrs. Brackett, and the second bass, Mr. Wilde; and the four quartets and the trio were sung with rare precision, neatness, delicacy, and expression. The very difficult quartet, ‘O come every one that thirsteth,’ was better done than we ever heard it before.

It was the chorus, though, that made this performance so remarkable. How shall we begin to point out particular excellences where all was so grand? We did not notice one mistake. We could not detect one false note. Not one passage was slurred. The time was irreproachable. The attack was splendid. The balance of the parts was perfect. How sweet and strong and pure was the glorious volume of the sopranos, how nicely adjusted were the middle parts; how rich and deep the bass. The first chorus, with its solemn opening, ‘Help, Lord! wilt thou quite destroy us?’ and that wonderful passage that follows, ‘The harvest now is over,’ produced an immediate sensation. The effect upon the audience grew more and more marked as the evening wore away. The magnificent crescendo in ‘His mercies on thousands fall;’ the exquisite beauty of ‘Blessed are the men who fear him;’ the splendor of the Pagan chorus, ‘Baal, we cry to thee,’ were all felt; but at the conclusion of the ‘Thanks be to God’ the people broke through the ordinary restraints and many of them shouted with delight. ‘He watching over Israel’ was as good as it possibly could be. ‘Behold God the Lord passed by’ was sublime. No Jubilee chorus, with 10,000 voices, and bells and cannon, ever equaled the majesty of some of these glorious choruses. Here one found the true grandeur of a multitude of trained voices. Here was the music which lifts up the heart and brings moisture to the eyes.

We have said a word about the accompaniment. It was furnished by Mr. Thomas’s orchestra, enlarged to about 80 players, and supplemented by the organ, especially in the pedal bass, Mr. Lang from Boston being the organist. The instrumental part of the performance was so gorgeous, so beautiful, and so different from anything we have heard at any rendering of this oratorio before that it took us greatly by surprise. The extraordinary quality of the reeds, as well as the extraordinary drill of the band, was first noticed in the ‘Baal, we cry to thee’ chorus, the first part of which is accompanied by wind instruments alone. In that passage of one of the last choruses, ‘Lo, there came a fiery chariot,’ the tone of the brass was fine beyond all precedent; and in every part of the work the orchestra played with remarkable sentiment and precision. Mr. Zerrahn, of course, was the conductor, and he received a very cordial welcome when he came upon the stage. We may add that the ‘Elijah’ was sung in its integrity—not a single measure being omitted.

Thus the festival makes a grand beginning, and we are sanguine that it will have a permanent effect upon musical culture in this city.”

“Mr. Thomas’ festival week was commenced at Steinway Hall, last evening, with a recital of Mendelssohn’s oratorio of ‘Elijah.’ We can recollect no equally symmetrical rendering of the composition. The work of most of the soloists was exceedingly impressive; that of the chorus has never been outdone in point of precision; and the orchestral accompaniment was absolutely faultless. Hence it will be inferred the rehearsal was a very satisfactory one. The oratorio of ‘Elijah’ is perhaps the most attractive of the ponderous scores bequeathed us by Handel, Haydn, and the successors of these giant composers; and as a reasonably good vocal and instrumental delivery brings the highly-descriptive story within the comprehension of any music-loving audience, its interpretation by skilled artists may be depended upon to supply something more than the pleasure derived from the generality of oratorio performances. In this respect, the soloists, the choral forces, and the band, yesterday, succeeded fully. The former were [see above]. Mr. Whitney has a magnificent voice, and he uses it with much art; his articulation is perfectly distinct, and his style, in recitative, is that of a master of oratorio singing. We are not prepared to say that Mr. Whitney effaced the recollection of Mr. Santley, whose dramatic picture of Elijah was as replete with details as the closest student of Mendelssohn’s words and note could exact, but he executed his numbers with unswerving dignity, and with a vocal charm to which we could scarcely wish more potency. In Mr. Nelson Varley, the public greeted a very valuable accession to the concert-room. Mr. Varley is a tenor of rather limited compass, as the taking of A flat is a serious matter for him; but his tones are those of a genuine tenor robusto, and are sweet as well as powerful; there is no break in the passage from the chest sounds to those for the production of which the voice is directed toward the head; the gentleman has a capital method both as regards attack and phrasing; and his reading of the text is as clear as can be heard. Mr. Varley’s merits were apparent after the first bars of Obadiah’s solo, ‘If with all your hearts;’ and his final solo, ‘Then shall the righteous,’ afforded fresh proof of his talent. We cannot write with the same admiration of Mrs. West, whose voice is worn; nor of Miss Brackett, who is but an acceptable soprano, though the efforts of both ladies bore the impress of experience and conscientiousness. The honors in reserve for the fair sex were borne off by Miss Cary, whose exquisite voice and pure style wrought an effect familiar to all who have attended concerts in this City during the past few years. Miss Cary distinguished herself in the trios and quartets with which the severity of ‘Elijah’ is happily diversified; and the delicious aria ‘O, rest in the Lord,’ allotted to the lady, only escaped repetition by her unwillingness to accede to the demand. Of the labors of the chorus it is not necessary to speak at length. As announced, the choral music in ‘Elijah’ was sung last night by the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, and was rendered with unexceptionable sentiment and nicety of shading. The orchestra consisted of Mr. Thomas’ men, largely reinforced, and, as implied above, was quite up to the standard Mr. Thomas’ musicians have set themselves. Mr. Carl Zerrahn conducted the recital, which was enjoyed and loudly applauded, by a numerous assemblage.”

“We probably speak quite within the mark in saying that the finest choral performance ever given in this city took place last evening at Steinway Hall. We might even go further and assert that nowhere either in this country or in England could so complete and intelligent an interpretation of Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah’ be heard.

And why should this not be so? Every condition to that result was present. First, a chorus backed by the discipline, the slow growth and the traditions of more than half a century, and secondly, a surprising orchestra that confessedly is without rival. The Handel and Haydn Society stands at that point in its history when it no longer has to seek for voices, but voices seek to be admitted to its ranks. Consequently it can select and reject. It discards poor material and gathers to itself good musicians, men and women, who already, through the admirable system in vogue in the common schools of Boston, are good sight readers and thoroughly well taught in all the rudiments of the art of music. This new material, added to the long training of the elder members, has created a superb organization.

Under the direction of their distinguished conductor, Mr. Carl Zerrahn, they gave to our people last evening a realizing sense of how a great oratorio should be performed. From beginning to end there was scarcely a blemish in the performance. Every point had been looked to and provided for by the most careful rehearsals. The words were well and distinctly spoken, notes were given their full value, held out to the end of the beat, and finished by all the voices together. The marks of expression were in no case slighted, and every singer seemed to know the oratorio by heart, and to be able to look as much at their conductor as at their books. The firmness, certainty, and unity with which the initial notes of the musical phrases were attacked gave a sense of strength, evenness and repose to the whole performance. One marked feature of it all was the calmness of the leader. Most conductors of large bodies of singers seem to have to drag their choruses after them, and labor and gesticulate in the most painful manner, lugging sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses by turns or all at once through difficult passages. But under Zerrahn all went like clock work. The chorus was always prompt and even with the beat, and the voices kept almost perfectly together, the tenors only once in a short phrase—‘The infant children ask for bread,’ in the first chorus—falling apart.

We shall not pause to analyze the work itself. That has been done often and well, and it makes a part of the history of the oratorio music of our generation. Probably no oratorio, save only the ‘Messiah,’ has given such great and abiding pleasure to an equal number of people. Those who heard it last evening were evidently deeply impressed. The more dramatic portions of the work—the contest between the prophets and the priests of Baal, and the final victory of the man of God—were especially received with every evidence of emotion and sympathy by the large audience.

The Handel and Haydn Society itself presented an imposing appearance, filling, with the orchestra, about one-third of the concert room. The stage had been carried forward so far that the first eight rows of seats were covered by it. And yet the vocal effect was simply one of fullness and richness—there was not at all an overpowering sound—though it was as well that the remaining 250 of the society were not present.

Solo voices always are placed in a very trying contrast when heard in connection with such a chorus as this, especially so far as the solo quartette and double quartettes are concerned, and these were the weakest part of last evening’s performance, though really very well sung.

The solo artists were [see above].

There were also Miss Carrie Brackett and Mr. Hiram Wilde as supplementary soprano and bass. The chief weight of the solo singing fell upon Mr. Whitney, and how well be bore it those who have heard him sing this difficult part can judge. Except Mr. Santley, no one that we can recall has ever done it so well. Miss Cary’s singing, too, is familiar to us all, though not faultless in the oratorio. The fine arias for contralto that Mendelssohn has given to this work were worthily rendered by this firm, true, and excellent singer. Mr. Nelson Varley, the tenor, made his first appearance here in public, and the impression he produced was most favorable, for he made it evident that he possessed not only a voice of great purity and sweetness, but was also master of a good and true method.

Mrs. West has long been a favorite in Boston, and certainly is a most correct and intelligent singer; but considering how much the soprano is looked to by the public as the mainstay and support of such a festival as the present, we cannot but regret that fortune had not permitted the Handel and Haydn Society to entrust this important part to stronger hands. Nevertheless, though without the ability to fully command the enthusiasm of an audience, Mrs. West is too conscientious an artist not to be entitled to its respect.

Finally, we bid the good old Boston Society a hearty welcome, and hope that their visit here may be as pleasant to themselves as they are sure to make it to their audiences.”

“Next in popularity to the ‘Messiah’ undoubtedly stands ‘Elijah,’ and those who were present last night at Steinway Hall will not easily forget the very grand performance of the latter work by the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston. From the first chorus, ‘Help, Lord,’ to the final hymn, ‘Praise,’ all was, in a great measure, good—singers and orchestra alike exerting themselves with a strong will, which showed their love for the task, and producing a commensurate effect upon their hearers.

Mrs. J. Houston West gave the principal soprano music with but tolerable success, her voice being neither clear nor powerful enough for the part she assumed. Miss Annie Louise Cary sang with considerable artistic skill Jezebel’s denunciations and the more tranquilly beautiful ‘O, rest in the Lord.’ The quartet ‘Cast thy burdens upon the Lord’ was encored, but the trio ‘Lift thine Eyes’ was fortunately not interrupted, and consequently the chorus with which it is connected, ‘He Watching over Israel,’ was heard to the best advantage. If ever music deserved the term heavenly, it is doubtless something like this. Mr. Varley, an Englishman, has not completely identified himself with the music of ‘Elijah.’ His co-operation, however, was pleasant, if not great, ‘If with all your hearts’ and ‘Then shall the Righteous’ being given with smoothness, without much attempt at grandeur or effect of style. Upon Mr. Whitney fell the most arduous labor. The character of the Prophet was sustained with much impressive dignity. He did not deliver his music with very much power nor expression, for some parts of Mr. Whitney’s voice are not particularly rich nor musical; nor is it very much under control; but the part of Elijah is a trying one, and one of the most difficult ever written for a bass voice.

The choruses, with one or two exceptions, were everywhere effective, so much so that it would be invidious to single out any of them for special notice. The orchestra was no less effective in the overture and accompaniments; but there was evident a palpable want of fullness in the ‘Celli and Contra-Bassi.

In short, this is, altogether, one of the finest performances of Mendelssohn’s work ever given in this city, and speaks well for Boston’s culture, pride and unanimity of purpose. Would that New York, with its superabundance of talent—probably three times that of Boston—might emulate that musicality; then New York would be spared the humiliation of having to look to a provincial city for the only complete performances of the choral works of Handel, Haydn and Mendelssohn.

Carl Zerrahn was the conductor, and fully proved his title to a position he has been allowed to steadily work in for a period of nearly twenty years. Long association with choruses and orchestras is the only true way of producing satisfactory results in great choral and orchestral performances.”

Anticipation of the forthcoming festival; “..a week of music of the highest standard is welcomed by thousands of refined and cultivated people, and welcomed because the great works of the masters are rendered with as much skill as would be the case in any musical city in Europe.”

“The musical season, which is now drawing to a close, has been singularly barren of interest, or, rather, the principal artistic interest has been concentrated upon two special features, the ‘few and far between’ visits of Theodore Thomas’ orchestra and the concerts of Rubinstein. The opera, in its two subscription engagements, has been confined in attraction to a single prima donna, and our local organizations, except a few unimpressive attempts of the Philharmonic Society, have slept peacefully during the Winter. Now and then portentous promises were made and rumors of coming festivals filled the air, but when the time of fulfillment came they passed harmlessly away. There was a danger that the Empire City was to be deprived of her annual feast of oratorio, and that the customary invocation of the manes of Handel, Haydn and Mendelssohn would be omitted. But Mr. Theodore Thomas came pluckily to the rescue. As he has been the most successful apostle of the divine art in this country it was meet that he should not forget, in her direst need, the city in which he first won his American triumphs. The absence of his orchestra and the apathy of local managers left a void which daring characters might attempt to fill with a festival of Offenbach sandwiched between Lecocq, Hervé, and Max Brüche. Instead of ‘He Watching Over Israel,’ we were threatened with ‘Ah! que j’aime les militaires,’ and for Schiller’s ‘Hymn of Joy’ an eruptive chorus from New Jersey or Westchester in a ‘Jubilate’ by the local organist. But, thanks to our young representative conductor, New York witnessed last night at Steinway Hall the commencement of what promises to be one of the most successful festivals, in a popular as well as artistic point of view, that has ever taken place in this country. The elements congregated together were, as a body, in chorus and orchestra of the best description. The work combines all the solidity of the oratorio with the dramatic quality of the opera. The strange and romantic story of the prophet of Israel, from the time he announced to the stiff-necked people the awful mandate of God that their land should be cursed by Heaven for their sins until his miraculous translation to the realms above in a fiery chariot, is told with a power which may be called inspiration in music, and yet a vividness of illustration which is understood by all. ‘Elijah’ will stand as one of those imperishable monuments of genius while music is dear to the human soul. And yet some of those ‘musicians of the school of the future’ dare to sneer at Mendelssohn.

The Boston Handel and Haydn Society, numbering 500 voices, and Thomas’ orchestra, were the attractive elements of the performance. Both organizations have had the great advantage of long and constant experience in standard works, and both have attained a degree of perfection scarcely attainable otherwise. Under Carl Zerrahn, the conductor last night, the vocal society has acquired a national character for its finished and conscientious rendering of oratorio music, and certainly the fame of Thomas’ orchestra has spread beyond this country. The opening chorus, ‘Help, Lord,’ gave the immense audience a satisfactory proof of the admirable discipline and spirit of the chorus and orchestra. Then the despairing wail of the people of Israel, ‘Yet doth the Lord see it not,’ with its grand declamatory effect, was given with an intensity and unanimity of expression rarely to be expected from an American vocal society. The angry reproaches of Ahab’s courtiers against the bold denouncer of the King and the frantic prayers of the priests of Baal to their deity were effective in the highest degree in the rendering. The prayer of the converted people and the glorious ‘Thanks be to God,’ with all its wondrous grandeur and beauty, brought the first part of the oratorio to a triumphant close. In the second part the most successful choruses were, ‘He, Watching Over Israel,’ ‘Behold, God the Lord!’ and ‘Then Did Elijah.’ The few blemishes which marred the efforts of the chorus in one or two of their ‘numbers’ consisted principally of a want of promptness in attack, especially at the commencement of some dramatic phrase calling for marked emphasis. But the general effect was so good that one is inclined to forget slight irregularities in detail. As for the orchestra it was simply perfect. It is the fate of oratorio societies generally to have a miserable orchestra, which flounders about amid the sea of voices like a whale in shallow water. Mendelssohn has written some trying things for the instruments in this work. Thomas’ orchestra omitted nothing in unanimity of tone, tempo and expression that the composer himself, were he present, would desire.

The principal solo singers on the occasion were Mrs. J. Houston West and Mrs. Carrie Brackett, soprani; Miss Annie Louise Cary, contralto; Mr. Nelson Varley, tenor, and Mr. Myron W. Whitney basso. With the exception of Miss Cary, who sang the lovely music allotted to her in the oratorio like a conscientious artist, the solo singers were not a success. Mrs. West has a voice which, in the middle register, is pleasing and well trained, but its upper notes are hard, strained and anything but flexible. In the entire range of oratorio there is hardly any music so expressive, so intensely dramatic or so varied in emotional quality as the dialogue between the prophet and the widow, whose son he rescues from the grave. A soprano must have a voice and soul capable of giving utterance to the most touching expression, to sing this music properly. Mrs. West did not invest it with the slightest degree of interest. Mr. Varley is an English tenor who brings with him a name of considerable magnitude, bestowed upon him by our brethren across the water. In his first air, ‘If with all your hearts,’ the pleasing hope that we had at last secured a satisfactory tenor for oratorio was dissipated. Above E his voice is of the ‘throaty’ order, the tones being singularly unnatural and forced. There are some agreeable notes in this organ, however, which, if a peculiar, affected style of singing were absent, might modify the unpleasant effect produced upon an audience by his singing. But when a tenor cannot sing even G above the line without throatiness, there is little to be hoped from him. Hard, metallic, unsympathetic tones in such a case are unpardonable. Mr. Whitney is an admirable basso, but the music of the prophet was never written for such a voice as his, which cannot go beyond C without straining and consequent huskiness. With a pure baritone like Santley, for instance, the effect is very different. Consequently although Mr. Whitney sang the music of the prophet with the air of one who thoroughly understood its meaning and vividness of dramatic power, yet his voice refused to carry him through successfully. The double quartet, ‘For He shall give,’ the incomparable trio, ‘Lift thine eyes,’ and the quartet, ‘Come every one that thirsteth,’ were not delivered with even tolerable effect. The last of these concerted pieces was atrocious in execution, the soprano singing out of tune from beginning to end. The charming quartet, ‘Cast thy burden,’ met with a better fate, and received a deserved recall. But the weakness of the solo parts was more than compensated for by the splendid triumph of the chorus and orchestra.”

Lists program and performers for the entire festival. “The attendance was good, the largest audience being present on Friday evening, but the ‘festival’ cannot be recorded as a success.

[preceded by several paragraphs on the lack of ventilation in Steinway Hall] “I can give but a brief notice of the Festival week, as I was enabled to attend but two of the concerts. The Festival, which has been pecuniarily and musically a complete success, began on Tuesday evening with the ‘Elijah,’ which was rendered as never before in New York.

The Boston Handel and Haydn Society are too well known to need praise; but if they had had their reputation to make, it would surely have been earned by their superb performance on this and the other evenings during the Festival; and their success is all the more creditable from the fact that they sang in an atmosphere which, as I have already hinted, approached that of the Black Hole of Calcutta.”