Central Park Band Concert

“It is only settled thus far that there shall be music in Central Park during the summer. The commissioners cannot stand the expense of music in all the parks, much as they would wish it. It is a very expensive luxury, and can only be indulged in moderately in these saving and economical times, when necessities and not luxuries are what we look for.”

“It will soon be mid-summer, and yet there have been no free concerts in Central Park, as was the custom in former years. Indeed, we have not even heard of any preparations for music in this magnificent pleasure ground this season. For more than a month our sister city of Brooklyn has been giving free concerts in Prospect Park every Saturday afternoon. Immediate arrangements of a like character should be made for Central Park, and, as the best is always the cheapest, a capable and well-trained band should be engaged, so that the highest class of music may be heard by all the people.”

“Yielding to the universal desire of the public, the Park Commissioners have at last consented to introduce music in Central Park during the summer, as in former seasons, and the first concert took place yesterday afternoon on the Mall. Grafulla’s military band have been engaged, a very wise selection. The popular leader and his ‘merrie men’ occupied the music stand or pagoda, a structure which seems to have been built for the special purpose of keeping the sound within as small an area as possible. The simplest principles of acoustics are violated in the shape of this pagoda, and it is vain to expect satisfactory music while the band are cooped up in it and extinguished by the umbrella-like roof. The following programme was performed yesterday [see above].

It was just such a programme as the occasion, weather and audience demanded. The hearers were very democratic in their tastes, and those occupying the front row (babies in perambulators) either went to sleep or yelled for more. Others of the tender years handled the ribbons with the air of experienced whips over the sedate looking [roats?] that trotted gravely up and down the Mall, while their nurses indulged in endless flirtation with young men who kept the end of their canes in their mouths, probably under the impression that it was candy, or with short haired policemen. Many strayed away from the music to the Terrace and [illegible] some of the boats, to the discomfiture of the stately swans that appeared to be in a brown study near the banks of the lake. As the evening advanced and ominous leaden clouds were piled up against the western sky, many an anxious mind was directed toward home. The slight sprinkling gave a fresher hue to the green carpet that stretched away on every side and glistened in rain drops like gems on the dense foliage that shaded each walk and ramble. The merry voices of the children in the playground, where base ball reigned a favorite, mingled with the chirping of the feathered songsters that sat on the boughs evidently enjoying the gay scene, and on the Drive, the sunlight glancing upon rapidly revolving wheels showed where many a fine equipage was out for an airing. The air was full of the fragrance of nature’s best loved children, the flowers, no thought of the distant Harlem flats or Dispecker perfume marring the full enjoyment of the thousand visitors. At the menagerie the big beasts asleep, with the exception of the camels, and the monkeys played a star engagement in Darwinian comedy to please their young patrons. Even one of the eagles flapped his wings and tried to get up a hurrah. But it was a failure. The music in the Park is such a festive boon to the public that another day might be added to the regular concert day of the week.”

“To the great delight of the public, who take such a lively interest in everything connected with the beautiful summer garden of the metropolis, the first concert of the present season was given in the Mall yesterday. Although the music should have been introduced a month earlier, yet it is a welcome boon now, and the Commissioners might well afford to devote a second day in the week to the same purpose. There is no reason why New York should not have such free open-air concerts in abundance as may be heard and enjoyed in any European city.”