Philharmonic Society of New York Public Rehearsal: 1st

Includes program.

Description of Dietrich’s concert overture.

Forthcoming season: dates of concerts and principal works to be performed.   

“The first public rehearsal of the season of the New York Philharmonic Society was given yesterday afternoon at the Academy of Music. The works then studied were [lists works].

These compositions were heard with greater enjoyment than is usual at the first rehearsals of the society’s orchestra. It is only fair to assume that the conductor has committed the compositions to memory, and that errors in the orchestral parts, and in the technical execution of the performers, have been previously corrected, when subscribers are invited to attend, for it is evident that they can receive little edification in witnessing such preliminary operations, but will be greatly benefited by noticing the varied forms of expression which may be imparted to particular passages by alterations in the style of bowing, phrasing, &c., and the manner in which the conductor indicates to the executants his conception of the meaning of the composer, and finally the most perfect presentation of the same.

Those parts which require a gradual increase or diminution of the weight of tone, or rate of motion from one point to another, require special attention that the gradients may be regular in the degree of inclination.

These perfect gradations alone induce very considerable pleasurable feeling. The constant variation in one direction or the other increases sensibility by the continuous change of effect. This fact accounts for the fascinating influence of curves and waving lines of beauty—wherever they are perceived—whether in visible forms and actions or in the natural cadences of ordinary speech.

By most delicate, almost imperceptible, degrees the orchestra may be led from the faintest whisper to the most overwhelming fortissimo; from an extremely slow progression to the highest conceivable speed, and vice versa; meanwhile it exercises an irresistible sway, solely by these materialistic means.

The Philharmonic orchestra is very large. This is readily known by the fourteen scrolls of double basses which are at once perceived. But it would present a more imposing sight if the platform were sloped upwards from the front, that the performers might all be seen. The effect would be improved if the wind instrument players were actually mounted. For it must be borne in mind that Beethoven designed his symphonies for an orchestra of sixty performers. If now it is increased to one hundred by reinforcing the stringed band, the soft instruments may not be heard at all, or they may be overblown and forced in tone, and the heavy brass instruments be comparatively less imposing. The extreme difficulty of ‘toning down’ this large body of strings to allow for the effective entry of flutes, clarinets, &c., when playing softly, is always perceptible with the best conceivable arrangements as to position. Unless, however, the conductor succeeds in his endeavors to preserve the balance, so that the wind instruments may not be tyrannized over by the strings, a rendering of classic works cannot be given. The enormous pecuniary expenses attending concert performances renders the engagement of extremely large buildings a necessity. To fill the cubic contents of such vast hall with sound it is not permissible to increase the intensity of the tones so that they may be called loud, for no such term has reference to art. By augmenting the intensity a quality of tone may be produced which, being highly stimulating, might cause excessive nervous irritability and consequent depression. For this reason the only method of proceeding is to increase the volume, breadth and quantity of the tone, by additional performers spread over a larger area; and thus the enlarged orchestra finds its justification, as also the German organ with its numerous soft stops combined for fullness. The voluminous, massive effects gained by this amplification are most mighty and grand. They are sometimes almost sublime, from material wealth alone. This expanse or multiplication of tone is more agreeable than increased force, for though the stimulus is increased the nervous system is no more liable to irritation and fatigue than by the resonance of clouds in thunder, the stormy winds, the roaring cataract or tempestuous waves of the mighty ocean lashing ‘with idle rage the foaming strand.’”

“The first public rehearsal of the New-York Philhamonic Society for the season of 1874-75 took place at the Academy of Music yesterday afternoon. The opening of the series of entertainments by this honored organization is always one of the pleasantest musical incidents of the musical year, and it was celebrated yesterday by a numerous company of the old friends and patrons of the Society. The orchestra seemed to be in excellent trim, and gave a particularly graceful and poetical interpretation of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, with which the first concert is to begin. The other selections for the orchestra are Dietrich’s ‘Normanneuzu’ overture, which is pretty certain to please, and the overture to Weber’s ‘Euryanthe.’”