Thomas Symphony Concert: 5th

Event Information

Venue(s):
Steinway Hall

Conductor(s):
Theodore Thomas [see also Thomas Orchestra]

Price: $1.50; $1; $.50 extra reserved

Event Type:
Orchestral

Record Information

Status:

This event is still undergoing additional verification.

Last Updated:
19 April 2025

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

21 Mar 1874, 8:00 PM

Performers and/or Works Performed

LIST OF PERFORMER(S)/ORGANIZATION(S)

Participants: Thomas Orchestra; Jacob [tenor] Graf

Euryanthe, overture

Composer(s): Weber

Faust-Symphonie, Eine

aka Faust Symphony

Composer(s): Liszt

Participants: Jacob [tenor] Graf

Symphony, no. 5, op. 67, C minor

Composer(s): Beethoven

Citations

Advertisement: New-York Times, 15 March 1874, 7.

Includes program.

Review: New-York Daily Tribune, 23 March 1874, 7.

“Brilliant as the performances of Mr. Thomas’s orchestra have been during the past two or three years, we are inclined to think that the concert of last Saturdaysurpassed in some particulars all its predecessors. The music was not of the superlative excellence which made the closing entertainment of last season so memorable; but it fell very little short of that extraordinary [illegible], and in the execution of it the conductor and his admirable band secured one of the most glorious triumphs of their whole career. The following was the programme [see above].

The Faust Symphony was given entire several years ago at Irving Hall by the Philharmonic Society under Mr. Bergmann. Parts of the second and third characterbildern have been played from time to time at various concerts. It may fairly be said, however, that the work was a novelty in New York, for extracts give no adequate idea of its character, and the one complete performance was so long ago that our younger connoisseurs can have but a dim recollection of it. We need hardly say, therefore, that its reproduction on Saturday was anticipated with a very general and lively interest. Hardly any symphonic work has appeared since the close of Beethoven’s wonderful series upon which are more conspicuously borne the traces of profound feeling, laborious scholarship, and vast mental power. The fertility of poetic fancy, in which Liszt stands preeminent, is used here to display and adorn a conception far surpassing in grandeur the noblest of his other creations, while the elaboration of the score has hardly a parallel in modern music. Like nearly all this master’s best works it is an attempt to interpret a poem by means of the orchestra, and it cannot be understood without a previous familiarity with the written text. It does not tell, however, the detailed story of Goethe’s ‘Faust.’ Its three scenes are simply great pictures of the three leading characters of the poem and of the three phases of existence which Faust, Gretchen, and Mephistopheles symbolize. The description of Faust in Goethe’s Prologue (we quote from Bayard Taylor’s translation), gives the key to the first characterbild:

His spirit’s ferment far aspireth;

Half conscious of his frenzied, crazed unrest,

The fairest stars from Heaven he requireth,

From earth the highest raptures and the best,

And all the Near and Far that he desireth

Fails to subdue the tumult of his breast.

Here Liszt seems to have carried out the poetical principal in music to its fullest development. He cuts loose from all the restraints of musical forms, following the impulse of the poetic ideal through strange and startling modes of expression, sudden changes of key, and daring violations of the accepted laws of tonality. Vague aspiration and frenzied unrest cry out from the wonderful tumult, but through it all, like the upward tendency which is to save Faust at the last, runs the indefinable sentiment of beauty, triumphing over the broken and discordant phrases. In the second part, Gretchen, we have a milder, gentler, more equable beauty, tinged with soft melancholy strains, and fragments of pathetic melody—symbols of the ‘Woman-Soul’ which ‘leadeth us upward and on.’

And finally in Mephistopheles appears the ‘Spirit of Negation,’ existing in opposition to Truth, Order, and Beauty, yet becoming in his own despite the means of accomplishing the Good while he aims at Evil. It is impossible to describe the vivid and stirring effects of this tremendous movement. Snatches of melody repeated and transformed from the earlier parts, glimpses of the struggles and vain endeavors in which Faust has passed his years, reminiscences of sorrow from the story of Gretchen, mockery, uproar, contest, and final defeat are brought before us with astounding distinctness. The grandeur of the close is awful. The inner sentiment of the poem, shining through conflict, rises higher and higher, till suddenly out of the multitudinous sound of the orchestra surges the deep roll of the organ, and the solemn chant goes up, which Goethe puts into the mouths of the Chorus Mysticus in Heaven:

All things transitory

But as symbols are sent;

Earth’s insufficiency

Here grows to Event;

The Indescribable,

Here it is done.

The Woman-Soul leadeth us

Upward and on!

The one fault to be found with the extraordinary work is its over-elaboration. Liszt shows here the rare poetic perception in which he is perhaps the first of living composers after Wagner; but he does not reach an adequate expression of his ideal without a painful and and constantly conspiruous art. Hence the symphony fatigues the listener who hears it for the first time. The poem is not conveyed at once to the sensibilities; it taxes the imagination and keeps the intellect at a strain. Yet when the performance comes to an end, and the final chorus dies away, one sits bewildered and profoundly moved by the grandeur of the full result. The connection and development of the various parts are revealed at once, and the sentiment which binds the long work together in the chain of one continuous melody becomes perfectly clear. We should have been glad of a few moments profound silence just then, to collect our impression of a tone poem which seems greater and greater the more we reflect upon it.

For the execution of the trying work, Mr. Thomas has increased his orchestra to nearly 80 pieces. Long and patient preparation had been given to it, for its difficulties are literally tremendous, every instrument—and more particularly the strings—being tested to the utmost. No language can overpraise the perfect performance which rewarded the persevering zeal of the conductor and all his men. It was more than correct; it was more than delicate, refined, graceful, brilliant, and spirited; it was one of those stirring, magnetic performances which the best orchestras attain only once in a while, when their members are in a particularly enthusiastic mood, and the conditions of time, place, and audience are all in their favor. Nor was their exceptionally fine work reserved entirely for the Liszt Symphony. It was lavished with most affectionate care upon the ‘Euryanthe’ overture which opened the concert, and upon the great C minor Symphony of Beethoven, which brought the evening to a glorious climax. A grander performance of this noble work we have certainly never heard.

The male chorus in the Liszt Symphony was supplied by the Turner Liedertafel, under the direction of Mr. Henry Greiner, and the accompanying tenor solo was sung by Mr. Graff. It is praise enough to say that both soloist and chorus were worthy of the occasion. Audience, albeit opinions as to the character of Liszt’s work differed widely, were unusually excited by the surpassing excellence of the performance, and Mr. Thomas was called out after the first part with every demonstration of enthusiasm—a tribute which he acknowledged with characteristic modesty by transferring the compliment to his orchestra.”

Review: New-York Times, 23 March 1874, 4.

“While we cannot say that Mr. Thomas’ recitals of the elaborate achievements of the ultra-romantic modern school are always fruitful of enjoyment for his audiences, the desire to depart from the beaten track of concert programmes and the willingness to expend upon a work of doubtful issue unlimited time and trouble, are not to be disregarded. He is to be warmly praised on this account for Saturday’s performance of Liszt’s ‘Faust Symphony,’ while we could not but wish, after the hearing, that his labors had been bestowed upon a worthier task. The ‘Faust Symphony’ seemed to us the most thankless he has ever undertaken. It is noisy, and almost always without purpose; queer, without being quaint; lacking in the strong contrasts of rhythm and tune which might excuse many meaningless passages, and continually disappointing. The listener is tempest-tossed throughout three long movements, and before the first terminates the discovery that the ocean of sound is never to be calm and rarely majestic, fairly produces the sentiment that maketh the heart sick. Whether Gounod has illustrated Goethe’s ‘Faust,’ or has ignored everything but the title of the poem, we need not here discuss. Liszt has certainly not contributed to make the second part of the poem as intelligible to the musical sense as the French composer has done in dealing with the first part. Of the age and form of the symphony the following data are supplied:

The ‘Faust’ Symphony is the largest and most important of Liszt’s orchestral works, and belongs, with his other ‘Symphonic Poems,’ (Symphonische Dichtungen) to the third period of his art career, extending from 1847 to 1861, during which time he resided at Weimar as Grand Ducal Music Director. Unlike the other symphonic poems, the present work is written in three separate movements, thus more nearly approaching the regular symphonic form; the attentive listener will, however, recognize certain themes as pervading the entire work, particularly that introduced by the flutes at the beginning, and which, with its various tonal and rhythmical modifications, seems to be the central theme of the symphony, as Faust is the central figure of the drama.

The three movements referred to above are held to be as many ‘character pictures,’ after Goethe. The first is an allegro personifying Faust, the second an andante typical of Gretchen, the third (a scherzo and finale with chorus) is to picture the doings of Mephisto, and his ultimate otherthrow. No musician can fail to admire the vigor of the orchestral writing, but the might of the composer sounds as if put forth without the slightest impulse to use it, and the ear wanders in a maze, ever longing for an idea or a phrase of even relative power or beauty, and ever doomed to deception. The first movement was the most wearisome of the three, although a strongly marked march at the close rather aroused the audience. The andante, of which the dullness was now and then relieved by a graceful passage, is at all events harmonious, although not to be cited in this respect with a score of less pretentious compositions. The third movement—such a scherzo, at different stages, as an army of sturdy urchins might supply if left in possession of the instruments of the band—embodies, in a very effective setting, the march tempo already adverted to, and terminates, quite impressively, with a choral. The execution of this trying work, Saturday, was faultless. The difficulties with which it is replete disappeared, and the orchestra, both in point of volume of sound, unanimity, and delicacy of shading played like a soloist. There was loud and prolonged applause at the end of the symphony, and Mr. Thomas had to come to the front and bow his acknowledgements. How welcome, after the din of Liszt, was Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, we need not say. The clear cut thoughts, the lovely themes, the crystalline purity and giant force of the treatment were never more perceptible. Mr. Thomas’ men attacked this con amore; it was never rendered better, and, we are convinced, never hearkened to with greater delight.”

Review: New York Post, 23 March 1874, 2.

“The voice of the singing bird is heard in the land. The air is resonant with the sound of concert singing. On Saturday night, for instance, Theodore Thomas gave his fifth Symphony Soiree. To be sure there was not much singing in it, but what there was was good in its way, being furnished by a band of trained German vocalists, with Graf, the tenor, as the soloist. The vocal passages occurred in Liszt’s ‘Faust’ symphony, which was the feature of the programme. It had been given in this city some years ago by the Philharmonic Society, but to most of those who heard it on Saturday night it came as a novelty. In it the composer has sought to depict musically the characters of Faust, Gretchen and Mephistopheles, and when his intent is once known the work assumes great significance. Apart, too, from its poetic meaning, it is wonderful if viewed only as a study of orchestral treatment. Beethoven’s fifth symphony and Weber’s ‘Euryanthe’ overture were also included in Saturday’s programme.”

Review: New York Herald, 23 March 1874, 7.

“A most remarkable musical work was presented for the consideration of a very numerous audience on Saturday evening at Steinway Hall. One of the grandest of all the works of German literature is the ‘Faust’ of Goethe, and it is suggestive of sublime ideas to any composer. Liszt has made it the medium of introducing to the world a symphony in three character pictures (characterbildern), divided as follows:--‘Faust,’ allegro; ‘Gretchen,’ andante; ‘Mephistopheles,’ scherzo and finale, for grand orchestra, tenor solo (Mr. J. Graf), and male chorus (Turner Liedertafel). Mr. Thomas has nobly fulfilled the purpose to which years ago he devoted himself, organizing an orchestra capable of producing any work and giving to the public from an exhaustive répertoire everything that can be found in the realms of classical music. Through him the American public have learned to know and revere the glorious names that adorn the pages of musical history. In the production of a work like the ‘Faust Symphony’ of Liszt Mr. Thomas does good service to the music. He strips off the disguises which the disciples of the ‘music of the future’ throw around it by learned disquisitions and elaborate theories, and exposes it in all its grotesqueness and deformity. Such a work as the one under consideration may be taken as a fair specimen of the extravagances to which this school will drive composers. A wilder, more incoherent and more thoroughly audacious composition has never been submitted to any audience. It seems more like the phantasmagoria of a disordered mind than anything else. Yet there are some interesting features in it, the principal one being the wonderful instrumental effects to be found in every number. There is one little theme particularly that runs through the work and is presented at the most unexpected places, always in a different form. But the general tenor of the music is unhealthy. Strange effects, fragmentary phrases and chaotic thoughts do not constitute music. The performance was absolutely perfect, and considering the enormous technical difficulties of the composition, no higher compliment could be paid to this orchestra. Still it seemed akin to desecration of the talents of the noble band to give them a work which is fitter for Charenton than Steinway Hall. The glorious fifth symphony in C minor of Beethoven was like ‘the balm of Gilead’ after Liszt, as was also the ever fresh overture, ‘Euryanthe,’ that preceded ‘Eine Faust Symphony.’ Both works were played to a charm. Mr. Thomas was called out repeatedly by the unanimous voice of the audience, and bowed his acknowledgments amid the wildest enthusiasm.”

Review: Dwight's Journal of Music, 04 April 1874, 208.

“New York, March 30.—At the fifth Symphony Soirée, by Mr. Thomas, in Steinway Hall, March 21, the following pieces were performed [see above].

Old concert-goers will remember that, years ago, Liszt’s Faust symphony was played at a Philharmonic Concert in this city. Since then parts of it have been performed at various times, but, from these fragments the hearer gains an imperfect idea of the work. The present performance was one which left nothing to be desired. The Thomas Orchestra made light of the difficulties with which the work abounds, and their playing, both in this and in the Beethoven Symphony, was beyond praise. I mentioned recently the fact that Mr. Thomas kept a number of experienced artists as a sort of reserve force, and this force was largely drawn upon to meet the exigencies of the occasion, so that Mr. Thomas had some 80 players under his bâton.

The chorus was supplied by the Turner Liedertafel, and the tenor solo was sung by Mr. Graff. The performance, as a whole, was one of which Mr. Thomas may justly feel proud.”