Blind Tom Concert

Event Information

Venue(s):
Steinway Hall

Price: $.50; $.75 reserved

Event Type:
Chamber (includes Solo)

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
3 March 2025

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

25 Nov 1873, 8:00 PM
28 Nov 1873, 8:00 PM
29 Nov 1873, 1:30 PM

Performers and/or Works Performed

1)
LIST OF PERFORMER(S)/ORGANIZATION(S)
Participants:  Thomas (Blind Tom) Bethune
2)
Sonata, piano, no. 8, op. 13, C minor. Adagio cantabile
Composer(s): Beethoven

Citations

1)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 21 November 1873, 7.
2)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 21 November 1873, 2.
3)
Announcement: New York Post, 24 November 1873, 2.

“Blind Tom, it is said, is gradually regaining his eyesight, and can now see imperfectly. He retains all his marvellous [sic] mnemonic faculties and his extraordinary and inexplicable skill of piano-forte manipulation.”

4)
Announcement: New York Herald, 24 November 1873, 7.

Brief. “His remarkable natural gifts are about as much a wonder as when he first appeared.”

5)
Review: New York Sun, 26 November 1873, 2.
“That curious compound of imbecility and talent, Blind Tom, gave the first of a series of three concerts at Steinway Hall last evening. Although the whole care of entertaining the audience devolved on Tom, there being no other performer, the concert was not in the least dull, or even monotonous.
 
Those who have the direction of the matter have managed to present a varied programme consisting not only of the pianoforte playing but of many curious examples of Tom’s great faculty of imitation, such for instance as his remembrances of banjo and guitar playing, the singing of an old hurdy-gurdy woman, the starting of a steam train, the whistle of the locomotive and the putting on of the brakes. This last imitation is done by the voice and not with the piano.
 
Another thing that makes these concerts interesting is the entire naturalness of the exhibition. Tom is free and easy to the last degree, applauding himself, spinning about on one leg, and chuckling idiotically. There is about the poor fellow a simple kindliness of manner and a good nature that makes his audience well disposed toward him. Whatever he does is performed with ease and facility, and there is not only none of the restraint and formality of an ordinary concert but there is also no striving to do a fine thing or to produce a fine effect. The half-witted pianist has happily not brains enough for any display of vanity.
 
Finally, he has decided and undeniable talent. Leaving out of the question the wonder that with his blindness and ignorance he is able to do anything whatever, and judging him simply as a pianist he is a good one; not always exact, striking in fact many false notes, but invariably playing with correct feeling, a delicate and sensitive touch, and a refined, [sic] appreciation of the meaning of his composer even of such a composer as Beethoven, the slow movement one of whose sonatas—the pathetic—he played with grace and finish.
 
Many a pianist who has performed at Steinway Hall with more flourish and greater pretensions has been a far poorer player than this benighted but interesting negro.”
6)
Review: New York Post, 26 November 1873, 2.

“Blind Tom. This curious musical phenomenon gave a concert last night at Steinway Hall, at which he played a variety of different and interesting selections. The audience was limited in size, but was thoroughly appreciative and enthusiastic.”

7)
Review: New York Herald, 26 November 1873, 6.

“Last evening Blind Tom, the negro pianist, performed to a house at Steinway Hall which was about one-third filled. There was not any programme printed or distributed to the disconsolate audience, and yet every one was satisfied with the delicate fingering of the colored lad and his imitations of Thalberg and Liszt, and the touching manner in which he played ‘Home, Sweet Home,’ was deserving of much commendation.”

8)
Review: New York Herald, 27 November 1873, 2.
Quotes a review from the Daily Sun in a card on the advertisement page. “…a varied programme, consisting not only of the pianoforte playing, but of many curious examples of Tom’s great faculty of imitation, such, for instance, as his remembrances of banjo and guitar playing, the singing of an old hurdy-gurdy woman, the starting of a steam train, the whistle of the locomotive and the puffing on of the breaks. This last imitation is done by the voice, and not with the piano.
 
Another thing that makes these concerts interesting is the entire naturalness of the exhibition. Tom is free and easy to the last degree, applauding himself, spinning about on one leg and chuckling idiotically. There is about the poor fellow a simple kindliness of manner and a good nature that makes his audience well disposed toward him. Whatever he does is performed with ease and facility, and there is not only none of the restraint and formality of an ordinary concert but there is also no striving to do a fine thing or to produce a find effect. The half-witted pianist has happily not brains enough for any display of vanity.
 
Finally, he has decided and undeniable talent. Leaving out of the question the wonder that with his blindness and ignorance he is able to do anything whatever, and judging him simply as a pianist, he is a good one; not always exact, striking in fact many false notes, but invariably playing with correct feeling, a delicate and sensitive touch, and a refined appreciation of the meaning of his composer, even of such a composer as Beethoven, the slow movement one of whose sonatas—the pathetic—he played with grace and finish.
 
Many a pianist who has performed at Steinway Hall with more flourish and greater pretensions has been a far poorer player than this benighted but interesting negro.”
9)
Review: New York Post, 29 November 1873, 2.

“Blind Tom. This phenomenal performer gave another of his unique entertainments at Steinway Hall on Friday evening, playing a variety of classical and miscellaneous music. There were no programmes, but the manager announced each piece before it was performed. One of the audience played a short fantasia on the piano, which Tom had never heard before, but which this strangely-gifted negro repeated with fair accuracy. Other experiments in the mnemonic faculties of Blind Tom were tried, and at the close of the concert the youth played a descriptive piece of his own composition, entitled ‘The Battle of Manassas,’ in which the movements of the army were imitated, and the various incidents of the battle skilfully [sic] suggested.”

10)
Review: New York Clipper, 06 December 1873, 286.

Brief. “Blind Tom entertained respectable-sized audiences at Steinway Hall on the evenings of Tuesday and Friday, and the afternoon of Saturday, with the exhibition of this peculiar and wonderful musical gifts, which gave much satisfaction.”