General Meeting of the Philharmonic Society of New York

“10 a.m. General meeting of Philharmonic Society at Steinway. Schaad had his resignation in his pocket ready to be presented if the society would decide to break faith with its subscribers, & to withdraw its announcement of the Ocean symphony, after tomorrow (thereby tempting them to give up the opportunity of hearing Rubinstein conduct the rubbish on Monday at Grau’s concert). I had not put my resignation on paper, but had settled its wording in my own mind.

We sat long, but were spared the heated discussion I thought likely. We had cooled down somewhat. Johnson moved that we adhere to our programme, & was seconded by Hill. The motion was supported by Sohst, Schwartz, Reiff, Reitzel, Matzka, etc. My opinion was called for, & I gave it, in an oration of ten minutes, which was applauded & may have done some little good. One man taunted the opponents of the proposed course with their unaccountable silence. ‘Last Sunday,’ he said, ‘my golleagues were what you call savage. They would never blay mit Herr Rubinstein. I bray them that they will now be so good as state their views & their gonsiderations. The Zociety has not yet heard their views & their gonsiderations.’ This adjuration called up the little timpanist, Senia, who talked broken English for a quarter of an hour, but made no impression at all. The question was called for. I named tellers, & the motion was carried (47 to 15, I think). Bergmann voted aye, but I think dear old peppery Bergner voted no. Saw Steinway thereafter—telegraphed & wrote. It is possible that Grau may yet refuse to let Rubinstein & Wieniawski, who are sold to him, body & soul, for a certain period, fulfill his engagement for them. If he do [sic] so, we cannot help it. We have done our best to fulfill our pledges to our subscribers. N. B. I begin to perceive in the Philharmonic Society, what I suppose a shrewder person would have perceived long ago—viz., an intense jealousy of Theodore Thomas & his orchestra.”