Farewell Combination Concert: 1st

Includes program.

“The first of these delightful entertainments (the second and last being announced for to-night) took place yesterday evening at Steinway Hall. Some admirable violin performances were supplied by M. Wieniawski; M. Maurel sang four times, and Mr. Thomas’ forces contributed to the affair several excellent selections from their ever-welcome repertoire. The violinist’s first piece was Vieuxtemps’ A minor concerto No. 5, to the classical elegance of which M. Wieniawski’s bow, notwithstanding its revels in Paganinian fancies, was fully equal. Justice was dealt in succession to each of the three parts into which the work can be broadly divided, the sweetness of the opening andante, with its embroidery of the utmost fitness; the chords and diverse technical difficulties of the allegro, and its cadenza, in which a theme is carried on under a continuous trill; and the pathetic song of the closing andante all being endowed with their intended effectiveness. An enthusiastic recall compelled the return of the artist of his own poetical ‘Légende;’ during the second half of the concert he played a delicious adagio from a concerto by Rubinstein, and a dashing scherzo of his own, a supplementary rendering of ‘Le Carnaval’ following. M. Maurel sang the well-known baritone aria from Haydn’s ‘Seasons,’ which, however, needs an orchestral accompaniment; one of Schumann’s songs came next as an encore, and, later in the evening, a splendid delivery of the air, ‘O possente maggia’ from ‘Dinorah’ revealed the beauty of the performer’s voice and the perfection of his declamation and cantabile. De Paladilhe’s ‘Mandolinata’ was done by M. Maurel in acknowledgment of the inevitable encore. Beethoven’s ‘King Stephan’ overture, the ‘Rhapsodie Hongroise’No. 2; an andante and the march from Raff’s ‘Lenore,’ and some excerpts from Wagner’s ‘Flying Dutchman’ made up the band’s share of the programme. Spirited and finished as was their interpretation of every number, one could not help singling out for special admiration their reading of the ‘Rhapsodie;’ in variety of color and nicety of detail orchestral performances cannot further go.”

“The concert given last evening at Steinway Hall was one of extraordinary excellence. Every part of the programme was so adequately interpreted that there was nowhere any weak point. It was distributed in nearly equal proportions between the violinist, the vocalist, and the orchestra. The singer was the best baritone that we now have in this country, and one of the best we have ever had here. The violinist, Mr. Wieniawski, holds the foremost rank in his profession, and as to the orchestral part, it is sufficient to say that it was interpreted by Theodore Thomas’s orchestra. The honors of the evening were very evenly divided, and it would be difficult to say to whose share the greater portion fell, or where it was most deserved.

Mr. Maurel gave a fresh display of that catholic spirit which recognizes the essential truth that art belongs to no one country. Though a Frenchman, the most of his selections were from German sources, one being an aria from Haydn’s ‘Seasons,’ another being from Meyerbeer’s ‘Dinorah.’ While for an encore to the first of these he gave Schumann’s ‘Widmung’ (Du meine seele, du mein herz), and to the second Palhadille’s ‘Mandolinata,’ which last he sung with such abandon and spirit as to delight every hearer.

Wieniawski played with exquisite sentiment an adagio from the violin concerto that Rubinstein wrote for him.”

“The first of the Wieniawski-Maurel-Thomas combination concerts was given last evening, at Steinway’s, to an appreciative audience. Mr. Thomas’s superb orchestra rendered the ‘andante quasi larghetto’ and ‘March’ from Raff’s superb Lenore symphony, Liszt’s great ‘Rhapsodie Hongroise, No. 2,’ and the selections from Wagner’s ‘Flying Dutchman’ in a manner that brought forth loud and well earned applause.

But the principal feature of the concert was Wieniawski’s rendering of Vieuxtemps’s superb ‘Concerto in A minor, No. 5’ accompanied by Thomas’s orchestra. Such a treat the New York public has rarely, if ever, enjoyed. The work itself is at once the most beautiful and the most difficult that the great Belgian violinist ever wrote, and in it Wieniawski’s wonderful skill was shown to the best advantage. His broad, magnetic tones, seconded by the full orchestra, were magnificent, and the audience were not slow in demanding an encore, a compliment extended also to Wieniawski’s rendering of Rubenstein’s [sic] ‘Adagio’ and his own ‘Tarantelle.’

Mr. Victor Maurel sung an aria from Haydn’s ‘Seasons’ and the great baritone aria from ‘Dinorah.’ He was, as usual, cordially welcomed and heartily applauded.”

“A very interesting concert was given last evening at Steinway Hall, in which M. Maurel, the celebrated barytone of the Strakosch Italian Opera Company, M. Wieniawski, the distinguished violinist, and the unrivalled orchestra of Mr. Theodore Thomas took part. M. Maurel sung an aria from Haydn’s ‘Seasons’ with such success that he was recalled and gave a very effective rendering of Schumann’s ‘Widmung.’ M. Wieniawski’s interpretation of the Concerto in A minor, No. 5, of Vieuxtemps, was marked with the full, resonant tone, artistic finish and wealth of expression that characterize his violin playing, and in response to an encore he presented a wonderfully sympathetic performance of his own ‘Légende.’ The orchestra selections comprised a Beethoven overture, two movements of Raff’s great ‘Lenore’ symphony, Wagner’s ‘Fliegende Holländer’ and the Second Hungarian Rhapsody of Liszt. The last mentioned work has become a sterling favorite in its orchestral form, for which Herr Müller-Berghaus is responsible. The instrumentation is so clever and effective that even those who are intimately acquainted with it in its original form as a piano work are astonished at the transformation. When its stirring characteristic measures are interpreted by such an orchestra as that of Mr. Thomas the effect is of an electric kind.”