Philharmonic Society of New York Private Rehearsal

“Private Philharmonic rehearsal this p.m. A very weak programme. ‘We’ did a symphony by Carl [i. e., Frédéric Louis] Ritter—tolerable & pretty. If the late W. Babbage had given his mind to the subject, he could have devised & constructed a machine that would turn out such music by the page & very neatly printed, as long as one kept working the crank. Such machine would need to be ‘fed’ by the introduction of a ‘subject’ now & then, printed on card paper in relief. Then ‘we’ did Schumann’s extremely uninteresting overture to Manfred—and then we agreed to substitute for that, Beethoven’s Coriolanus. A little Hess boy [Willie] of about 12 had a hearing, long solicited, & played a movement from a violin concerto of Beethoven’s, wonderfully well. But he is naturally without the force needed for a big concert room.”