Philharmonic Society of New York Public Rehearsal

Event Information

Venue(s):
Academy of Music

Conductor(s):
Carl Bergmann

Event Type:
Orchestral

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
16 October 2025

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

12 Dec 1873, 2:30 PM

Performers and/or Works Performed

1)
LIST OF PERFORMER(S)/ORGANIZATION(S)
Participants:  Philharmonic Society of New York;  Mrs. Philip [soprano] Gulager

Citations

1)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 11 December 1873, 7.
2)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 11 December 1873, 2.

“Grand orchestra of 100 performers.”

3)
: Strong, George Templeton. New-York Historical Society. The Diaries of George Templeton Strong, 1863-1869: Musical Excerpts from the MSs, transcribed by Mary Simonson. ed. by Christopher Bruhn., 12 December 1873.

“Philharmonic rehearsal this afternoon. Ellie not well enough to attend. In my box were Temple, Mr. Samuel Bulkley Ruggles [Strong’s father-in-law], the Lord Bishop of Zanzibar, and, for a season, Carroll. Mr. Ruggles pumped national statistics into the Bishop during pauses. The Bishop seems genial and nice & says that the name of his first native convert was a mere monosyllable, but that he has been vainly trying to pronounce it for years.

Sorry to see that Mr. Ruggles tended to doze off a little now and then while the music was going on. I fear that one of the most powerful and magnificent brains in the country has never recovered from the shock [a stroke] it suffered a year ago, and probably never will.”

4)
Article: New York Post, 13 December 1873, 4.

“Chattering at Places of Amusement.

To the Editors of the Evening Post:

Allow me to make a public complaint through the columns of your paper of the great annoyance to which those who attend the Philharmonic Rehearsals are subjected by the talking of certain ladies in the audience during the performance of the music. Is it not strange that persons who do not appreciate the music themselves sufficiently to listen to it, should attend the rehearsals week after week and, by their conduct, prevent others from enjoying it?

In the faint hope that my protest may help to do away with this really distressing disturbance, I am, respectfully,

One of the Sufferers.

December 12th, 1873.”