Strakosch Italian Opera: Opera Concert

Program.

“The Messrs. Strakosch, not content with the successes of their company on the operatic stage, have arranged a concert at the Academy of Music for next Tuesday evening, the 28th inst. All the prominent artists of the company, excepting Mme. Nilsson, are to sing, and the public will have an opportunity to make those closer comparisons of, and to discover those contrasts in, the methods of the performers, which could not be made or discovered while they were performing at separate and distant times.”

“Mr. Strakosch purposes initiating a season of opera concerts at the Academy of Music, commencing on Tuesday evening next. They will be similar to the celebrated Floral Hall concerts in London, at which the artists of the Royal Italian Opera may be heard at popular prices.”

“An operatic concert at the Academy, Tuesday, is also promised, it being intended, we believe, to arrange a series of entertainments of the kind. The opening affair could not have a more enticing programme. [Lists highlights of program.] …the whole concert may be enjoyed at prices fixed upon with a view to ascertaining the possibility of making choice entertainments profitable because popular.”

“On Tuesday night at the Academy of Music the principal artists of the opera company will sing in a concert, after the manner of the well-known opera concerts in London. The programme will bring out the artists now before the public in their favorite selections. At an opera a singer has to interpret the music to the best of his or her ability, no matter whether it may be suited to the voice or not. In a concert the vocalist is free to select whatever he or she may prefer, and can thus always appear to the best advantage. The price of admission to these concerts is lower than on opera nights.”

At the conclusion of a review for the previous night’s performance. “Tonight most of the artists of this extensive and well organized company are to appear in concert at the Academy. The addition of chorus and orchestra fairly entitles this concert to the epithet ‘grand,’ which legitimately designates a musical entertainment that scale, though it is usurped by every singer who appears on a bare stage with a piano for sole instrument of accompaniment.

There are many of our citizens whose scruples or those of others, do not permit them to attend operatic performances, and this will be to them an occasion on which their tastes can be gratified without offence [sic] to their consciences, however sensitive.”

“The Strakosch company appeared last evening in concert at the Academy, drawing together quite a large audience, made up largely of those who are seldom seen at opera. The concert passed off very pleasantly, though without any special enthusiasm on the part of the audience.

The company as very fully represented, the most important member of all, however, Mme. Nilsson, being absent. The programme was judiciously selected, giving to each of the singers some special piece in which they appeared at their best.”

“Mr. Strakosch was fairly successful last night with his experiment at the Academy of Music, and we see no reason why concerts on the plan he proposes should not become very popular. The principal members of his company—Mme. Nilsson excepted—with the whole orchestra and chorus, appeared in a varied selection of pieces, most of them from operas which have not been too often heard of late, and a large proportion of the members on the long programme were listened to with evident satisfaction. Of course the concert was not all excellent; but there was merit enough in the performance to justify a very favorable verdict. The boxes were not well filled, but the lower floor was crowded.”

“In variety and wealth of vocal selections we have rarely had in this city a concert which could surpass that given by the Strakosch management at the Academy of Music last night. With the exception of Nilsson, the full strength of the opera troupe was brought into requisition, the individual artists all selecting their favorite arias as the vehicles for vocal display. Maresi in an aria from ‘Puritani’; Torriani in the polacca from ‘Mignon’; Cary in Rossini’s Fac ut portem; Capoul in the love song from Martha; Maurle, in the Eri tu from ‘Un Ballo,’ and Del Puente in the brindisi from ‘Hamlet,’ all sang well and were cordially applauded. A scene from ‘Puritani’ and the finale of the third act of ‘Ernani’ were given with good effect by principals and chorus. In the orchestral line, the gem of the evening as the overture to ‘Dinorah’—one of the most original and melodious of Meyerbeer’s compositions—which, with its frequently recurring invisible chorus, was admirably performed and was one of the marked features of the evening.

There was a large attendance in the parquette, balcony and gallery, though the boxes were but scantily occupied. We trust that this was but the first of a long series of successful operatic concerts. The Strakosch troupe contain all the elements required, and the orchestra could readily contribute two or three solo instrumentalists to vary the vocal pieces.”

“Mr. Strakosch’s full company, with the exception of Mme. Christine Nilsson, took part in a concert given last evening at the Academy of Music. The entertainment was, we believe, the first of a series, and viewing its success in point of impressiveness and attendance, we should not be surprised if the series were of unusual length. We do not remember any occasion on which so many first-rate artists have contributed to a single programme. Signor Campanini, it is true, did not venture, on account of hoarseness, to recite the delicate ‘Spirto [sic] gentil,’ and confined himself to the tenor’s share of the concerted pieces, but all the remaining performers interpreted solos; several morceaux d’ensemble were done, and the orchestra, under the skilled direction of Mr. Behrens, added to its accompaniments three important numbers. The first part of the performance was commenced with the overture to ‘Tannhäuser.’ Miss Cary and MM. Capoul and Maurel then sang the ‘Gratias,’ from Rossini’s ‘Messe Solennelle,’ with more charm of voice and style than reverential feeling, and afterward Signor Nannetti lent his pleasant bass tones to the air ‘La Calunnia,’ from ‘Il Barbiere.’ Mlle. Maresi’s execution of the bolero from ‘I Vespri’ was precise and creditable, though not particularly brilliant. For the fifth selection Rossini’s ‘Messe’ was again drawn upon, Miss Cary delivering, with much expressiveness and considerable breadth of style the ‘Fac ut protem.’ An encore of this air was not acceded to, but the demand of a repetition of M. Maurel’s solo, which came next, was too imperative to be disregarded, and the fine scene from ‘Il Ballo,’ beginning ‘Eri tu che macchiavi,’ had to be repeated in its entirety. M. Maurel is not a concert-singer, and there would have been no cause for wonderment had he been less at ease last night than in the world of fiction in which he habitually moves. Spite of the change, however, he contrived by the thoroughness of his art to endow with their fullest eloquence the recitative and air in which Renato reproaches his wife with her faithlessness, and weeps for the dolcezze perdute. Nothing could have been better in the matter of sentiment and phrasing. The quartet and chorus of ‘A te o cara,’ from ‘I Puritani’ ended this portion of the concert. The second opened with the overture to Meyerbeer’s ‘Dinorah,’ and embraced, besides the brindisi—not to say drinking song—from ‘Hamlet,’ rendered by Signor Del Puente; the polonaise from ‘Mignon’ slightly simplified, toward the close, by Mlle. Torriani, and recited twice by that lady; ‘M’appari’ interpreted with much fervor by M. Capoul; ‘Miei rampolli,’ from ‘Cenerentola,’ rattled off with a good deal of spirit by Signor Scolara; and the splendid finale of the third act of ‘Ernani,’ (from ‘O Sommo Carlo,’) in which, by the way, M. Maurel was again conspicuous. Mendelssohn’s ‘Wedding march’ was the final line on the bill.”

“Mr. Strakosch’s first essay to establish this season a series of concerts in connection with the opera, similar to those at Floral Hall and Albert Hall, London, met with encouraging success last evening. The emptiness of the boxes was more than compensated for by the large audience in the parquette and dress circle, and a few of the artists who appeared were honored with recalls, a recognition of merit which is seldom granted by an Academy audience. With the sole exception of Mme. Nilsson, every artist belonging to the Strakosch company appeared. The concert commenced with the ‘Tannhäuser’ overture, rather too ambitious a work for the calibre [sic] of the orchestra, conducted on this occasion, by Mr. S. Behrens. The materials in this band are excellent and a little preparation in the shape of a rehearsal or two before the concert might have placed them in a very favorable light. In two of the vocal numbers they completely swamped the singers in a tidal wave of brasses and reeds. The fantastic introduction to ‘Dinorah’ (Le Pardon de Ploermel [sic]), with the pretty effect of the ‘Satcts [sic] Maria,’ sung by the chorus behind the scenes, and Mendelssohn’s ever fresh wedding march were given with satisfactory spirit and finish, the only drawback being the undue predominance of the horns and trombones. The celebrated quartet ‘A te, o cara,’ from ‘Puritani,’ written for Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini and Lablache, and sung here twenty years ago by Bosio, Salvi, Badioli and Marini, closed the first part of the programme. It was rendered with effect by Maresi, Campanini, Scolara and Nannetti, if we except the weakness of the lady’s voice beside the full, rounded tones of the tenor. The chief feature of the evening, however, was the magnificent rendition of the great aria, ‘Eri tu,’ from ‘The Masked Ball,’ by M. Maurel. The nobility of the voice, the spirit and expression of the delivery and the high intelligence shown in the interpretation of this trying aria, all testified to the completeness of the art of M. Maurel. Capoul’s singing of ‘M’appari’ is too well known to opera goers to need an additional word in its praise at the present day. It received an overwhelming enchore [sic]. Mlles. Cary, Maresi and Torriani sang in selections from Rossini, Verdi, Bellini and Thomas, and Signor Del Puente created a very favorable impression in the brindisi, from ‘Hamlet.’. [sic] Nannetti essayed ‘La Calunnia,’ from ‘The Barber of Seville,’ but without any particular success. After Mme. Nilsson the chief strength of the Strakosch troupe rests in the two barytones. Maurel is second to none on the stage to-day, and it would be worth Mr. Strakosch’s while to bring out ‘Un Ballo’ to give this artis an opportunity to sing ‘Eri tu’ with its proper surroundings.

The absence of instrumental solos gave the concert a monotonous character which detracted much from the individual excellence of the vocal members. We have in this city at present pianists and violinists occupying very high positions in the artistic world, and they would prove of incalculable benefit in an opera concert. A programme made up wholly of vocal selections becomes necessarily tiresome. Had such works as Vieuxtemps’ ‘Ballad and Polonaise,’ the Hensell concerto or a Chopin concerto been on the programme last night the attractions would have been increased a hundred fold. The management should take this into consideration at the next concert.”

“Musical Notes” column. “Campanini, at the opera concert the other night, omitted his principal aria, spirito gentil, and seemed otherwise indifferent to the audience.

The singers of the Italian opera troupe seem ill at ease on the concert stage. They sing well enough, but they need the vivacity of action to give due effect to their efforts.”