Thomas Annual Benefit Central Park Garden Concert

Program to be one of the finest ever given at Central Park Garden concerts.

Includes program. 

Includes program. 

Includes a descriptive analysis of Schubert’s symphony.

Includes program. 

“The benefit concert of Theodore Thomas last night at the Central Park Garden was a remarkable testimonial to the [illegible] musician who has laid our public and [illegible] of obligation. The hall was densely crowded and applause was very demonstrative, mingling with its personal greeting of Mr. Thomas a good deal of [illegible] shouting; and two rich laurel wreaths were presented to the conductor, one of them [illegible] embroidered with the letters T. T. [illegible], and supported by an enormous base of flowers. [Illegible] the programme [see above].

The Schubert Symphony, No. 6, is one of the newly recovered relics of ‘the most poetical of musicians’ for which the world is indebted to the researches of Mr. George Grove, in Vienna. Mr. Grove caused it to be performed once in London, a few years ago, but we do not believe it has ever been played any where else. It has never been published, and Thomas obtained the MS. from Vienna. Written in 1818, when the composer was 21 years of age, it was the fruit of the happiest period of his life, and betrays very little of that vein of delicious sadness which runs through his more mature works. In style it marks the transition from the imitative productions of his boyhood to the originality, strength, and profound sentiment of such masterpieces as his great 9^th Symphony. The influence of Beethoven is especially perceptible in the Scherzo, and a great deal of the instrumentation throughout is quite in Beethoven’s manner. The bright and joyous spirit of the symphony, however, is much more suggestive of Mozart. It opens with a short Adagio introduction, and then the first theme of the Allegro is given out by the flutes and hautboys and repeated by the full orchestra. The entire movement is fresh and cheerful, abounding in characteristic beauties, and much more compact than Schubert’s later work was apt to be. The Andante is an exquisite cantabile in F major, which ought to become popular at once. The Scherzo (in C) reminds us of the allegro vivace of Beethoven’s 4^th Symphony, though its trio is rather ponderous, and perhaps not quite in character with the rest of the work. The Finale, an Allegro Moderato, is bright and fascinating, and brings to a cheerful close one of the pleasantest though by no means the greatest of Schubert’s works. The symphony is of moderate length, concise, clear, and overflowing with gladsome melodies. The scoring is for the usual instruments of the grand orchestra, trombones excepted.

The other novelty of the programme was the new ‘Hungarian Rhapsody,’ No. 6 of the set instrumented by Liszt and Doppler, but No. 9 (‘Carnival of Pesth’) of the original piano-forte series. It is full of the spirit of noise and show, as a carnival piece ought to be, and many of its effects are astonishing for their rich color. It does not seem to us, however, after a single hearing, that the themes are at all equal to those of the other Rhapsodies in poetical beauty. The Wagner selections were received with the greatest enthusiasm. Mr. Remmertz delivered Wotan’s Farewell with his accustomed dignity and feeling, and though the hall is not well adapted to vocal music his noble voice was heard without difficulty. The arrangement of the 'Meistersinger' selections is one of Mr. Thomas’s happiest thoughts. Beginning with the beautiful introduction to the third act, it leads naturally to Walter’s Prize Song, which Mr. Bischoff rendered with a fervor and intelligence that won a hearty encore; and then last of all comes the overture to the opera, that marvelous composition in which the spirit of the whole work is condensed into such a gorgeous and impressive epitome. It is hardly necessary to add that the performance all through the evening was extremely good, while in certain places it was unusually magnetic.” 

“The concert at the Central Park Garden, last evening, was for the benefit of Mr. Thomas, and was largely attended. A manuscript symphony by Schubert opened the performance. It has never before been interpreted by Mr. Thomas’ forces, but its vivacity and its tunefulness were so striking that it was at once received with favor. The Symphony in C is certainly not a deep or a powerful work; the themes and their treatment, however, indicate no other end than the painting of a series of pretty tone-pictures expressive of the fancies of a cheerful temperament. Without quite attaining to Handel’s naïveté, there is much of the old master’s merry writing in the first, and, to our thinking, best movement in allegro; and also in the comparatively feeble finale. The two other movements are a melodious andante, and a somewhat labored scherzo, if a scherzo can indeed be so called if it bears any trace of effort. The piece was finely played, and at its close Mr. Thomas was summoned to the front and complimented by the gift of a laurel crown resting on a cushion of satin, which in turn rested on a bed of flowers. The first part of the concert closed with the familiar and rather noisy selections from ‘Die Walküre,’ which lose half their effect when given without the scenic adjuncts. Mr. Remmertz, as usual, sang the vocal portion of the music. The second part of the programme commenced with the Turkish March from ‘The Ruins of Athens,’ whereof Herr Rubinstein’s piano-recital left a much more detailed impression on the listener. Then the well-known selections from ‘Die Meistersinger,’ were executed, Mr. Bischoff’s singing of Walther’s ‘Prize Song’ causing a great excitement and being redemanded at once, and the highly pictorial overture, with its well-defined episodes, sounding more welcome than ever from its earlies bars to its magnificent peroration. The third and last part of the bill included a new Hungarian rhapsody (No. 6) by Liszt, which is in close kinship to the second of the series, but which disclosed no marked excellence or novel traits on its first hearing; Gounod’s ‘Nouvelle Méditation,’ rendered by all the first violins, and a waltz and the ‘Persian March’ by Strauss.”