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)

02 Jan 1874, 2:30 PM

Performers and/or Works Performed

1)
LIST OF PERFORMER(S)/ORGANIZATION(S)
Participants:  Philharmonic Society of New York
2)
Märchen von der schönen Melusine, op. 32
aka Melusine; Fair Melusine; Schönen Melusine; Marchen von der schonen Melusine
Composer(s): Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
3)
Fantasie, piano, 4 hands, D. 940, F minor [arr. Rudorff]
Composer(s): Schubert
4)
Symphony, no. 1, op. 38, B-flat major
aka Spring symphony
Composer(s): Schumann

Citations

1)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 01 January 1874, 7.
2)
: 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., 02 January 1874.

“Philharmonic rehearsal at 2:30. In the Strong box were Johny & Temple, Sherwood, Dick [Richard Henry Derby], & Carroll. The Melusine overture is unutterably exquisite. Its opening phrase, obviously suggestive (as I think Mrs. Jameson says somewhere) of the water nymphs or the undine—& of a little springlet or stream in which she is embodied, as the dryad in the oak reminds one of…Mendelssohn could have written effective music for a great deal of the Ancient Mariner—not the whole of it.”

3)
Review: New York Herald, 03 January 1874, 5.

“The Philharmonic Society had a public rehearsal for the third concert yesterday at the Academy of Music. The programme was more interesting than any we have had for some time from the society. Mendelssohn’s lovely overture, ‘The Fair Melusine,’ one of the most genial and poetic of the gifted composer’s works, was revived, after many years’ absence from Mr. Bergmann’s list, and was received with manifest delight. Schubert’s piano fantasia in F minor was produced in an orchestral setting of Herr E. Rudorff, and does not appear to advantage in its new shape. The first symphony of Schumann in B flat, opus 38, is the third orchestral work on the programme, and its clever, elaborate instrumentation cannot remove from the mind a sense of weariness from its gloomy character. Mr. S. B. Mills is engaged as soloist for the third concert.”