Stella Bonheur Concert

Event Information

Venue(s):
Irving Hall

Conductor(s):
Theodore Schreiner [pf, cond.]

Price: $1.00

Event Type:
Chamber (includes Solo)

Performance Forces:
Instrumental, Vocal

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
21 June 2016

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

22 May 1865, Evening

Program Details


The concert was originally scheduled for April 15, 1865, but postponed because of Lincoln’s assassination. Thomas was not listed among performers for the original April 15th concert.

Mongiardini and Ippolito sang unidentified arias by Verdi.

Performers and/or Works Performed

3)
aka Grand duo concertant on themes from Weber’s Oberon
Composer(s): Benedict
4)
Composer(s): Mills
Participants:  Sebastian Bach Mills
5)
Composer(s): Verdi
6)
Composer(s): Verdi
Participants:  Francesco Ippolito

Citations

1)
Announcement: New York Post, 06 April 1865.

     Announces concert originally scheduled for April 15, 1865.

2)
Announcement: New York Post, 10 April 1865.

     Announces concert originally scheduled for April 15, 1865.

3)
Announcement: Courrier des États-Unis, 10 April 1865, 1.
4)
Announcement: New-York Daily Tribune, 12 April 1865, 4.
5)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 13 April 1865.

      Advertises concert originally scheduled for April 15, 1865.

6)
Announcement: New-York Times, 13 April 1865.

     Announces concert originally scheduled for April 15, 1865.  “Stella Bonheur’s Concert. — This talented lady will be the recipient of a grand complimentary concert on Saturday evening next. She will be assisted by several artists of distinction, and the programme is excellent.”

7)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 13 April 1865.

      Advertises concert originally scheduled for April 15, 1865.

8)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 14 April 1865, 7.

      Advertises concert originally scheduled for April 15, 1865.

9)
Announcement: New-York Times, 15 April 1865, 5.

     Announces concert originally scheduled for April 15, 1865.  “This lady will make her debut this evening, at Irving Hall.  She has a beautiful voice, and much and increasing skill in its use.  Mlle. Bonheur will be assisted by eminent talent.  We commend the entertainment heartily to the attention of our readers.”

10)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 15 April 1865.

     Advertises concert originally scheduled for April 15, 1865.

11)
Announcement: New-York Daily Tribune, 15 April 1865.

      “This evening, Miss Stella Bonheur, a young aspirant for public approbation, gives a concert at Irving Hall.  She has been studying very assiduously, and report speaks of her voice as very fine, and of her progress as remarkable.  In addition to which she is said to have a fine personal appearance.  She will be assisted by several eminent artists, among them Mr. S.B. Mills and Mr. Eben.” 

12)
Announcement: New-York Times, 09 May 1865, 5.

      “Mlle. Stella Bonheur’s complimentary concert, postponed from last month in consequence of the President’s death, will be given at Irving Hall on the 22d inst.  Several first-class artists will assist on the occasion.”

13)
Announcement: New-York Times, 16 May 1865, 4.
14)
Announcement: New York Post, 22 May 1865.

     “To-night, at Irving Hall, Miss Stella Bonheur gives her long postponed concert.  She will be assisted by Mongiardini, Ipolito, Mills and Theodore Thomas.”

15)
Announcement: New-York Times, 22 May 1865, 5.
16)
Review: New York Post, 23 May 1865.

     “After frequent unavoidable postponements the concert of Miss Stella Bonheur took place last night at Irving Hall, before a select and kindly audience.  The debutante of the occasion is a young lady with a rich contralto voice of sufficient compass to be also termed a mezzo-soprano, which has been fairly cultivated.  The lady sings with considerable sentiment and feeling, and though her selections last night were familiar operatic extracts which all her listeners had heard sung by the most noted lyric artists of the day, she yet won a generous recognition in the way of applause.  Released from the cold constraints of the concert room, and allowed the scope of the operatic stage, we apprehend that Miss Stella Bonheur would appear to still greater advantage.  Her operatic debut, though talked of last season, did not take place.  Perhaps next fall an opportunity will be allowed; and then the French vivacity and innate vim of the lady’s style, joined to her really fine voice and pleasing personal appearance, will at least ensure for her a kindly reception.  There are plenty of coldly correct, unimpassioned vocalists for the concert-room; those gifted with enthusiasm and a tact for acting should become the property of the lyric stage.

     Miss Bonheur was assisted by several eminent instrumental and vocal performers.”

17)
Review: New-York Times, 25 May 1865, 4.

     “Mlle. Stella Bonheur’s concert, on Monday evening, was in every respect an agreeable entertainment.  The programme was of judicious length; the artists were all present, (alas, that we should be compelled to refer to this as a creditable circumstance,) and their morceaux were rendered with taste and efficiency.  Mr. Eben, the flutist, who headed the programme, but did not commence it, played a couple of fantasias excellently; Mr. Mill [sic], (piano,) and Mr. Thomas, (violin,) gave us a duo concertante on themes from ‘Oberon’ with great effect – how, indeed, could they do otherwise?  Mr. Mills, in addition, played his admirable ‘Faust’ arrangement—playing it as he alone can play it.  Signor Mongiardini, a pleasant concert singer, sang a couple of Verdian ditties with complete acceptance.  Signor Ippolito also indulged in strains from the same maestro.  We reserve for our last the pleasant duty of speaking of the lady.  Mlle. Bonheur has a charming voice, which a few years since would have been called a contralto, but which at present it is the fashion to style a mezzo-soprano.  In coloring it is still the former.  Few singers possess a purer organ.  It is large, flexible and sympathetic.  The lady has vastly added to her control of it, and is, therefore, able to do some justice to her own conception of the music.  We were both astonished and pleased at the notable progress in Mlle. Bonheur’s method.  It is, we are informed, due to the skill of Signor Errani, a tenor of repute himself, and a teacher who knows the value of largeness and freedom of style.  These he has imparted to his pupil.  We shall be greatly mistaken if, under the gentleman’s advice, Mlle. Bonheur does not quickly attain a prominent position on the lyric stage.  The indications are decidedly in that direction.”