Camilla Urso Concert: 2nd

Event Information

Venue(s):
Niblo's Concert Saloon

Price: $1; $1.50 reserved

Event Type:
Chamber (includes Solo)

Performance Forces:
Instrumental, Vocal

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
29 December 2019

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

23 Feb 1865, Evening

Program Details



Performers and/or Works Performed

Citations

1)
Announcement: New York Clipper, 18 February 1865, 358.

2)
Announcement: New York Post, 21 February 1865.

3)
Advertisement: Courrier des États-Unis, 22 February 1865.

4)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 23 February 1865.

5)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 23 February 1865, 7.

6)
Review: New York Post, 24 February 1865.

“PRIESTESS URSO. Another charming concert was given . . . by Camilla Urso, the lady playing with exquisite taste and skill some of the best pieces in her repertoire, and receiving the thorough sympathy and hearty applause of her audience. Teresa Carreno was the sole pianist, and while her playing has increased in vigor and effect, she yet preserves the charms of early youth. Madame Varian has been the sole vocalist at these concerts, and her style and abilities are singularly well suited to the concert room. She makes selections that are sure to please an audience; she sings them with grace and yet with dash; and she dresses so admirably and possesses such personal charm that eye and ear share in the admiration.

A new singer, Mr. Conradi Colliere, made his debut last night. He is French, and exaggerated in manner.”

COMMENT: He is first baritone of the Opera Comique, Paris.

7)
Review: New-York Times, 24 February 1865.

“[Urso] is undoubtedly one of the best violinists before the public. She plays with consummate skill and exquisite taste; every note is clearly and beautifully produced, and her perception of passages robs them of all noticeable toughness and difficulty. In the ‘Don Giovanni’ caprice the best qualities of her style were charmingly illustrated.

Miss TERESA CARRENO, the child pianist of three years ago is rapidly merging into a woman. Whilst in the transition state we can hardly express the same wonder at her performance as heretofore, but we can certainly detect better reasons for anticipating a brilliant future for the young artist. Miss CARRENO plays remarkably well, and gives abundant proofs of good and conscientious study. Her touch is unusually brilliant, and her execution brilliant and clear.

Mme. VARIAN sang acceptably, with neatness and good taste. An unaccountable break-down occurred in the first part, arising, we presume, from the pianist not having the music of the song which the lady was trying to sing. The trouble was speedily remedied.”

8)
Review: Courrier des États-Unis, 27 February 1865, 2.

“I wasn’t at the first [concert of Urso] last Monday, but at the second, on Thursday, I experienced, I would say hauntingly, plainly, without holding back, one of the most gripping emotions that music has ever made me experience in my life. I had never heard Mlle. Urso. But someone, an old musician . . . had said to me one day: ‘I know all the violins of Europe, and I give you my word that only Vieuxtemps . . .’ ‘Stop right there!’ I began to cry out, ‘This speech feels like hyperbole.’ Well! Now I believe it, I’m sure of it, and I would respond that Vieuxtemps would hold that bow with reverence. Ah! What a bow! And what grace, and what amplitude, and what feeling, and what perfection! Yes, Vieuxtemps, and Allard, and de Beriot, and Sivori, here’s the beautiful audience of artist-Kings who I would like to see assembled around this virtuoso; and how they would flutter with gladness, these geniuses, and how a breath of inspiration would caress their august brows! One moment, when she had played a melody for us, so sweet that the soul had to have an ear to grasp it, I heard only a great silence. One would have photographed the entire room, where not one pose would varied by an atom. All breath was suspended. Only the hearts were throbbing. The beautiful thing and the beautiful power to enchant an entire audience in that manner, and to spread thus around oneself, by a single opening up of the soul, a radiance as pure and divine as the sparkling of a star! The marvelous artiste, in truth! May she travel across the Ocean, and she will make a tour of Europe receiving triumphal crowns.

At the side of Mlle. Urso, the public saw again with great pleasure a young girl who is also a great artiste, Mle. Teresa Careno [sic], a pianist as possessed as Camille [sic] Urso is an enchanted violinist. Then, a very likeable singer, Mme. Varian, and M. Conradi Colliere, to whom the audience gave a warm reception, in exchange for a happy surprise.”