Thomas Central Park Garden Concert

Opening concert of the season; includes program.

“The opening of Thomas’s Summer series of concerts at the Central Park Garden last night attracted a brilliant and overwhelming audience. The hall was crowded in every part with a multitude in which musicians, connoisseurs and fashionable society were about equally represented, and Thomas was welcomed on his entrance with the utmost heartiness. The performance began with a very bright and impressive rendering of Weber’s ‘Jubilee’ Overture, and included some of the best of the standard selections from the repertory of last season, besides one novelty. This was the Ballet Music added by Gounod to his ‘Romeo and Juliet’ when that opera was produced at Vienna. It consists of a number of short movements, in several of which we can easily trace the same hand that wrote the charming dance measures in ‘Faust,’ and though it will add nothing to the composer’s fame, its vivacity, variety, and elegance will make it a welcome addition to concert programmes. One of its divisions, a little melody which opens with an oboe solo, accompanied by the harp, will be particularly admired. The execution of the violin parts in this Ballet deserves the very highest praise, alike for precision, delicacy, and intensity of expression. There was some remarkably good playing also in the sonorous and well-built though not altogether original ‘Coronation March’ of Svendsen, while the selections from the 3d Act of ‘Lohengrin’ showed the full glory of the orchestra more perfectly than anything else during the whole evening. The overture to the ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ the Allegretto from Beethoven’s 7^th Symphony, and the Brahms ‘Hungarian Dances’ were among the other pieces on this attractive programme. There are several novelties to be produced this week…

The Central Park Garden has been renovated and considerably improved, both in doors and out; the seating capacity of the hall has been increased, and the corridor opposite the main entrance has been enlarged and made more attractive.”

“The summer season commenced brilliantly last evening at the Central Park Garden. Theodore Thomas and his orchestra have just returned from their Western trip and their attendance upon the Cincinnati May festival, which in a great measure, through their exertions, proved to be one of the most complete and satisfactory musical festivals ever held in this country.

Mr. Thomas and his musicians were greeted, on this first night of their summer season, with as large an audience as the hall could hold, even with the additional space furnished by the new room, at the side of the main hall, which was formerly merely a passage way, but in which chairs and tables have now been placed, adding several hundred to the capacity of the house.

The programme contained only one new composition, and that was the ballet music furnished by Gounod to the Royal Opera House in Vienna for his Romeo and Juliet. Sopendsen’s [sic] [illegible] Coronation March, selections from the 3d act of Wagner’s Lohengrin, and Brahms’s very popular Hungarian dances formed part of the programme, which was an interesting one throughout. These concerts will be continued every evening during the summer, and will form no inconsiderable part of the entertainment of the coming season. They have grown in popularity every year, and residents and visitors cannot be too grateful to Mr. Thomas for the courage, persistency, and pluck with which, through many discouragements, he has held his fine orchestra together through so many summers and winters. Such a man is a treasure to the city that is fortunate enough to possess him, and it would be an ill day for us and for the cause of musical art in which he were lost to us.” 

“The first of the summer night’s concerts of Mr. Theodore Thomas was given last evening at the Central Park Garden. The Music Hall was crowded during the performance, and many ladies and gentlemen, unable to obtain seats, were content to stand near the orchestra. On the first appearance of Mr. Thomas the applause commenced, and it continued until he arrived at the desk, when it became unanimous, and threatened to become greatly prolonged, but the conductor waved his magic wand, and called up the Jubilee overture of Weber. The audience became as it were spell-bound, and, from the magnificent chord of E major, with which it began, to the final accent, maintained the most respectful silence.

The Coronation March by Svendsen, the Norwegian composer, that was written for the coronation of King Oscar of Sweden, and gained for its composer a yearly pension of four hundred reichsthalers, was one of the most admired pieces in the first part. The splendor and richness of the harmonies, the boldness and novelty of the modulations, and the gorgeousness of the orchestration were fully made manifest. The entire program was listened to with great attention, as if the entire audience came with the sole intention of enjoying the music.”

“The musically inclined people of the metropolis seemed determined last night to show their appreciation of the magnificent orchestra, that came back flushed with Western triumphs, and once more occupied their accustomed seats at the favorite summer garden of New York, under the able direction of Mr. Theodore Thomas. The garden and hall were crowded to their utmost extent. The programme was one that comprised some of the most diverse schools in the vast répertoire of Thomas.”

“New York, May 24. This popular place of resort opened for the season on Monday evening, May 17. [Description of the hall and slight changes since last year].

But to return to my subject, which is the opening night. On this occasion the weather was anything but Spring-like. It was chilly, damp and disagreeable; overcoats were in order, but let no one suppose that this made any difference. I really believe that a snow storm would not have induced one in that audience to remain at home. The place was filled to its utmost capacity. It was in the nature of an ovation to Thomas, fresh from his triumphs in Cincinnati. The programme was attractive. It contained among other novelties Gounod’s Ballet-music to ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ written for the Royal Opera House in Vienna.”