Metropolitan Fair: Philharmonic Society of New-York Extra Concert to Benefit the Sanitary Commission

S: NYPhil, Minutes of the Board Meeting 03/25/64. - Decided to give a concert to benefit the US Sanitary Commission.  Eisfeld to conduct.

Program “given in our advertising columns.”

 “went with  Johnny and Temple to Acad of Music. . . It was a new experience for me—there were not 150 people in the all the vast auditorium.  But Eisfeld and his battalion came manfully up to their work, and gave us the glorious, ever-new 5^th symphony, C minor in grand style. Eisfeld seemed to lead with a special dash and freedom, I thought, and wielded his baton half recklessly, emphasizing fortes & pianos & changes of time, as if he meant to say, ‘This is a preposterous, absurd transaction altogether, but never mind. Let’s give this little knot of people their allowance of Beethoven, & pepper with it. Here goes for a real jolly rendering of the C-minor!’ The performance was a little rough here and there, but it brought out the features and contrasts of the symphony most distinctly & beautifully, the transcendent energy of the 1st and 4th movements were made splendidly conspicuous. There is nothing comparable to the outburst of that Finale. It always makes me feel as if the roof of the concert hall were about to be blown off. There were two American overtures also, . . . both creditable productions, notwithstanding a certain amount of claptrap.@

“The members of the Philharmonic Society gave an extra concert on Saturday evening, in aid of the Sanitary Fair.  The Academy of Music has seldom presented so disconsolate an appearance.  The entertainment, so far as the attendance was concerned, was in fact a complete failure, and the disgrace of the failure falls not upon the public but upon the managers, whose mingled conceit and incompetency have led to this unfortunate result.  Had the concert been properly announced, there would have been no question on the subject of a good attendance.  It is folly to suppose that the public regards the Philharmonic Society with any particular degree of favor.  The Society is a very ordinary one in everything save meanness, which is sometimes extraordinary, and assurance which is always remarkable.  It pretends to lead the way in matters musical, when in fact it only follows the lead of others.  The bare external influence that it possesses was illustrated on Saturday.  Instead of the rush which was expected when the direction was grand enough to open the doors, there was a miserable sprinkling of say one hundred and fifty people.  And yet to this same direction the musical affairs of the Fair are to [sic] entrusted.  Truly that department is likely to be a source of considerable profit to the poor soldiers.  We are sorry for the members of the band who sacrificed their time, and for Madame D’Angri, Mr. Lotti, and Mr. Louis Schreiber, who sacrificed their talents in a cause that has only been marred by bad management.  Let us hope that if they try again they may be more fortunate.  The programme on Saturday was really excellent.  One of the most important of the items was a new overture, by Mr. G.F. Bristow, which was played for the first time.  It is named ‘Columbus,’ and the treatment is highly descriptive and suggestive—the themes being elevated and refined, with yet a sufficient amount of brilliancy to make them generally acceptable to the ear.  Mr. Bristow always writes in a clear and masterly vein, and with evident proclivities toward the school of the classicists.  There is a pretty touch of erudition in the agitato, where a fugal subject conveys an excellent idea of the struggles, commotions and doubtful upheavings that preceded the final triumph of the great navigator.  The overture, in fact, is a credit to the Society, and will, we trust, form an item on the next regular program.”

“The Philharmonic Society’s concert for the Sanitary Commission was a failure.  It was not advertised till the last moment.”

Gives the program.  “The Philharmonic Society gave an extra concert for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission. . . .

There were about two hundred people in the house, and the pecuniary result must have been cheering.”

“The Philharmonic Society gave an extra concert in aid of the Sanitary commission, with a very small audience and [a] queer programme.”