Philharmonic Society of New York Private Rehearsal

“Private Philharmonic rehearsal at Academy yesterday. With me as audience, Edmund Schermerhorn, Johny, & Mr. Frank Work. I had given them passes, a privilege they seem to value—Edmund especially. Mendelssohn’s overture to Ruy Blas & Cherubini’s to Anacreon—both good, but not of the first water. Rubinstein’s symphony, ‘Ocean.’ Didn’t expect to like it at all, & don’t like it much, but there are good points in it. The scherzo, though tetanic, is effective. But why ‘Ocean?’ A certain undulating phrase runs through the first movement—somewhat like the lovely accompaniment to ‘The Mermaid’s song’ in Oberon, but the symphony as a whole is neither oceanic, nor lacustrine, nor even fluid, but remarkably hard, dry, & angular. To be sure, the 2^nd movement might pass as a musical picture of a Cunard steamer lying to in a fog, but then it is equally suggestive of a fly in a glue pot, or a cow in a quagmire. So the title ‘Ocean’ seems an impertinence, & the work might just as well be labeled ‘Halley’s Comet’ or ‘Bismark, a life poem’ or ‘The Objective & the Subjective’—or ‘Reineke Fuchs’ [a narrative poem by Goethe].

Told Schaad this morning to cut out of our Philharmonic programmes all reference to Mme. Anna Bishop as the ‘distinguished vocalist’ & Mr. C. D. as the ‘celebrated pianist,’ etc. The society is strong enough to dispense with claptrap. Schaad acquiesced cordially.”