Testimonial Concert to Charles G. Bush and William H. Beckett

Includes program.

The honorees belong to both clubs, but are about to retire them both, intending to pursue their art studies in Europe.

“It is so rarely that the general public has an opportunity of hearing the Mendelssohn Glee Club, that any concert in which they take part acquires unusual interest. Messrs. Bush and Beckett were fortunate enough to secure their cooperation at their concert last night, as well as that of the English Glee Club, the latter comprising two quartets, one of mixed and the other of male voices. In the concert, Mr. Beckett gave a fair but not very striking rendering of Blumenthal’s ‘My Queen,’ and Miss Beebe sang Arthur Sullivan’s song, ‘Orpheus with his Lute,’ very nicely. She has a pleasant voice, with rather a colorless style, but lacks the power to fill so large a room as Steinway Hall. Miss Finch gave Sullivan’s ‘O Sweet and Fair,’ and for a recall the ‘Little Maid of Arcadee,’ by the same composer. The English Glee Club gave some delightful glees, among which one by Callcott, ‘Hark! the Cock Crows,’ and Arne and Jackson’s delicate and tasteful ‘Where the Bee Sucks,’ were admirable examples of the old school of English glee singing. Their work was very good, and it harmonized nicely with that of the Mendelssohn Club. The members of this latter organization have sung so long together, and practiced so assiduously, that one could hardly expect a less degree of perfection in them than they showed last evening. They constitute perhaps the best trained musical society that we have, and it is unfortunate that they are not oftener heard in public. They sang very smoothly, and showed unusual delicacy of shading and precision of attack, but their style is somewhat cold and at times mechanical. They gave Greger’s ‘To Joy,’ two ritornellos of Schumann’s, a piece which Mr. Mosenthal, their conductor, composed expressly for the Club, ‘Blest Pair of Sirens,’ two charming little songs of Abt’s, with Miss Beebe, in which she made her greatest success, and Mendelssohn’s beautiful ‘Serenade.’”

“The concert of Messrs. C. G. Bush and W. H. Beckett, which took place at Steinway Hall last evening, was attended with the most gratifying success. The hall was crowded with an appreciative audience, and the melodious and delightful selections on the programme were rendered in a most agreeable manner. The soloists were Mr. Beckett, Miss Beebe and Miss Finch. The English Glee Club sang Stevens’s ‘From Oberon in Fairy Land,’ the delightful quintet of Mr. Robert Goldbeck (which they sang at Mr. Goldbeck’s concert last week), ‘Whence comes it that thou art so sad?’ Callcott’s ‘Hark! the cock crows,’ and Arne and Jackson’s ‘Where the bee sucks.’ These songs were rendered with charming delicacy, and were received with great favor by the audience. The Mendelssohn Glee Club, which give the public entirely too few opportunities of hearing them, were heard in five selections. The characteristics of this little band of singers, who have been so admired by persons lucky enough to obtain tickets to their semi-occasional private concerts, were pleasantly manifested last evening, and were thoroughly enjoyed. The precision of their attack, the excellence of their phrasing and the thorough unison of their voices were noticeable in every piece. They sang Greger’s ‘To joy,’ two delicious ritornellos of Schumann, Mr. Mosenthal’s masterly and noble setting of Milton’s lines, beginning—

"Best pair of sirens, pledges of Heaven’s joy/Sphere-born harmonious sisters, Voice and Verse!"

two songs of Abt, the solos of which were charmingly sung by Miss Beebe, and a ‘Serenade’ of Mendelssohn.”