Central Park Garden Concert: John Koch Benefit

Includes program. “During the intermissions the brass band will play promenade music.”

Grand gala concert; complimentary benefit to John Koch. 

Descriptive article on forthcoming program. 

“Last night was assigned for the benefit of Mr. John Koch, the proprietor of the Central Park Garden, and Mr. Thomas prepared for the occasion a remarkable bill. It was as follows [see above].

A military band, stationed in the gallery of the hall, behind the boxes, and led by Mr. Röbbelen, discoursed promenade music during the intermission and reinforced the orchestra in the stronger parts of the programme proper, bringing out some wonderfully brilliant effects. Of course during the Symphony it was silent, and the exquisite work was played with an elegance and verve we have rarely heard equaled. The Tannhäuser selections, culled from each of the three acts of the opera, form a fine addition to the noble series of arrangements by which Mr. Thomas has now made us familiar with at least the spirit of so many of Wagner’s greatest works. They begin with Bacchanale from the opening scene of the opera, and include also the Shepherd Song, Pilgrims’ Chorus, Wolfram’s Song, and the Finale from the 1^st Act; the great March and Chorus of the 2d Act; and the Introduction 2d Pilgrims’ Chorus, Prayer of Elizabeth, Wolfram’s Romance of the Evening Star, and Finale from the 3d Act. In the choruses the vocal parts were played by the military band, and the orchestra took the accompaniments as they were written in the original score. The effect was gorgeous beyond description (to those who were so placed as to escape certain inconvenient reverberations), and the grand march was redemanded with such frantic applause that Mr. Thomas played half of it over again. The crowd all through the evening was enormous.”

“Mr. John Koch, the manager of the Theodore Thomas concerts, and a gentleman who has done much quiet work toward enabling that conductor to establish the series of entertainments that have given such widespread pleasure and satisfaction here, received a benefit last evening at the Central Park Garden. It was a substantial one, and was worthily bestowed. The price of admission was doubled, and so apparently was the throng that attended. The programme was one of the best, Beethoven’s pastoral symphony, perhaps the most popular of all the nine, being the central point. The season of these concerts is drawing rapidly to a close, which is unfortunate, for just now thousands are coming into town of the very class who enjoy them most.”

“A large and enthusiastic audience attended the benefit concert last evening. Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony was played with remarkable delicacy of tone and refinement of execution. Its beautiful melodies were performed with such ease by these great instrumentalists as to appear to be executed without effort.

These melodies are simple in character, and elaborated in such a manner that it does not seem as though they were ‘worked out’ or developed with great thought and study.

The apparent absence of conscious effort on the part of the composer and the performers constitutes one of the special charms of this beautiful, graceful, refined and idealistic idyllic tone-poem. It is unlike all other symphonies by Beethoven, on account of the apparent artless character which pervades the whole work. The motivi are short and simple and often repeated, without the slightest alteration, so that very little demand is made on the reflective powers of the audience. They are not stimulated to exertion, as they would naturally be if their motivi in their evolutions were transformed so as to become highly complex, or very greatly changed in structure, or if they were originally longer, and contained more unusual progressions and complicated rhythmic forms. The progressions, on the contrary, are natural, flowing and graceful throughout, and the rhythms are never strongly marked or accentuated, or strongly opposed antiphonally. The harmonies also are simple and natural. No startling chords, or strange, suddenly-prepared discords arise; nor are the modulations numerous, rapid, or ever allowed to lead far from the original key-note of the composition, so as to create an irresistible, longing desire for a return to this key-note; nor are any discords so vividly brilliant as to produce a similar demand for their resolution. The work does not create longings for repose, by exciting the nervous system, &c, but is uniformly calm and reposeful, and expresses natural and healthful mental states. The movements also are constructed in well-known classic forms, and therefore the mind is not led to endeavor to comprehend some new external design, more or less difficult to perceive and enjoy.

An air of complete repose characterizes the work, and those who contemplate it are not roused to great mental exertion. Even in the andante the winding streams of melody flow gently in undulating courses—do not gush forth with great exuberance. These remarks apply to the work as a whole. Some exceptions must, of course, be made to ‘The Storm.’ Yet this poetical and highly idealized storm is utterly unlike those put forth by the majority of composers. They would at least require full registers of brass, and chromatic scales might be employed ad nauseum. The very title is suggestive of numberless drastic ‘effects,’ and brings before us vivid recollections of many inflictions suffered from organists, pianists and in stage plays. Yet Beethoven is herein content to dispense with the heavy brass instruments and retain the same classic coloring. If space permitted it would be an interesting exercise to compare this work with Raff’s ‘Im Walde,’ which is a symphony also in the key of F major, with a similar subject and well-known to those who attend the symphony concerts here. It would be easy to show how very unlike both works are, from almost every point of view. The performance last night was absolutely faultless; yet it must be said that its perfect enjoyment was marred by the surroundings. With the greatest possible exertions on the part of the audience, still there was perceptible a certain running accompaniment of numberless small or distant sounds, which produced a kind of haze that obscured and made indistinct the softer portions of this gentle, calm and tranquilizing pastoral. And even in the other music the tinkle of car-bells formed a continuous triangle-like accompaniment, and occasionally the signal-whistle employed for regulating traffic intruded among the sounds of instruments consecrated to the service of art.

The selection from ‘Tannhäuser’ gained greatly by succeeding the symphony. For therein no intensely brilliant coloring operated to jade the ear. The Bacchanale was played with great effect. The whole powers of the orchestra are fully engaged in this wonderful production. In no department does Wagner allow the performers to play commonplace passages, which demand little thought or concentration of the attention. Even the castagnet, tambourine and triangle are employed characteristically. The songs of the sirens, far away and invisible, and the song of Venus, are the only points where temporary rest is found. It is wildly exciting, most fierce and tumultuous. It flashes forth with strange, irrepressible bursts, which vividly portray the bacchic frenzy. The whole ‘Tannhäuser’ selection was a great treat to all. But the choral march was followed by such loud and prolonged applause and cries of ‘Encore!’ that Mr. Thomas was induced to repeat it.”