Thomas Popular Musical Matinee: 5th

“Several novel orchestral features.”

“[T]here was a small audience. . . . The orchestra played with great ensemble and effect. . . . [Campbell] sang in fine style arias and ballads.  Two young prodigies—Masters Bernard and Emil—played the violin and cornet a piston in so superior a manner as to elicit great applause.  In short, the concert was a great success.  We recommend this undertaking to the patronage of the public.  It is intended to be music of high order at such prices as shall make it a matter of popular amusement and benefit.”

“The fifth popular matinee . . . inaugurated the fifth rainy Saturday of the season.  Irving Hall was thinly attended.  How could it be otherwise?  The programme was excellent, and received the best of attention from the admirable orchestra and the talented conductor.  Mr. S.C. Campbell sang a couple of pieces in his usual effective and intelligent style.  The Bretto children also assisted.  They are prodigies who astonish more than they please—one on the violin, the other on the cornet.  That they happen to play well on those instruments is an accident of birth.  The children of a musician, they have from infancy been brought up in an atmosphere of music.  Constant application has made them already proficients [sic].  They play remarkably well.  But the question always suggests itself, at what sacrifice of general health and mind has such precocious skill been attained?”