Bateman Concert: 1st

“Musical.—Mr. Bateman’s forthcoming series of grand concerts promise to be unusually interesting. They will be given in Irving Hall, under the direction of Mr. Theodore Thomas, who provides the orchestra. Mr. Bateman’s artists are entirely new to this country. Mme. Parepa, the primadonna [sic], is, of course, the prominent attraction. She is a thorough artiste of whose success there can be no doubt. It may be questioned indeed if we have had a better vocalist in this country for many years. Her voice is singularly fresh and beautiful, and her skill in using it leaves nothing to be desired. Mr. Dannrenther [sic], the pianist, is an American who has recently completed his studies in Europe. He was eminently successful last season in London, and is known to be a first-class musician as well as an admirable performer. Of the violinist, Sigñor Rosa, we know nothing, but rumor is not silent on the subject of his merits. Lastly, but not leastly, Mr. Bateman has at length succeeded in making an engagement with Mr. Levey, the celebrated performer on the cornet-à-piston, and, since the death of Herr Koenig, decidedly the master of that instrument. With such artists and a full band, we may reasonably look forward to a series of admirable entertainments. The first concert takes place on the 11th of September. Mme. Parepa is expected by the next Cunard steamer.”

Mr. Levey mentioned as one of the performers.

          “We shall be greatly disappointed if the company does not prove to be one of the finest we have ever heard in this country, and as the prices are arranged on a thoroughly popular basis, it will be strange indeed if the concerts are not thoroughly successful, both in a pecuniary and artistic point.”

“The Parepa Concerts.

            On Monday evening next Mr. Bateman will introduce to a New York audience Euphrosyne [sic] Parepa, a vocalist who comes to us with the additional claim of being connected with the Seguin family, so favorably known here. Her first appearance in public was made in Malta, and she subsequently appeared at Naples, Lisbon, Madrid, Genoa and Rome. In 1858 she went to England, where in opera, concert and oratorio she has made a series of undoubted successes.

            Mr. Bateman’s other artists are Carl Rosa, a Hamburg violinist, now twenty-one years old, and Edward Dannreuther, a Cincinnati pianist, who has been studying and concertizing abroad for several years.”

“Mr. Bateman’s attractive and important series of concerts will begin at this establishment on Monday evening.”

Says Parepa will make her debut on September 18.

Briefly previews the program for the concert.

“The celebrated European artist, Madame Parepa, has arrived, and will commence her concerts at Irving Hall on Monday evening next, September 11. As the time for her debut approaches, public curiosity is becoming very much exercised as to who she is, where she sang, and how she ranks. These questions are natural from the fact that but very few know anything about artists resident abroad, and Madame Parepa has had no high-flown biography published about her, and preliminary puffing has been altogether dispensed with in her case. We can answer a few questions about this lady. Madame Euphrosine Parepa was born in Edinburg, Scotland, and is the daughter of Count Demetrius Parepa, a Wallachian nobleman of high rank who left his country for political reasons, and his wife, née Elisabeth or Lisbeth Seguin, the sister of the celebrated and popular basso, Mr. Edward Seguin. The mother had a beautiful voice, was a fine artist, and her devotion to her profession probably influenced the destiny of her daughter, Euphrosine Parepa.

            Her musical education was acquired during her long residence in Spain and Italy, whither her mother’s musical engagements led her, but in neither of these countries did she commence her artistic career. Her debut was made in the Island of Malta, at the Opera House, in 1856, where her success was very brilliant. From thence she took the tour of the provincial operatic cities, Naples, Milan and Florence, where with the unfortunate but great tenor Guiglini, she created a furore in Tantani’s Sonnambula. She was equally successful in Lisbon, Madrid, Rome, Berlin, Wisbaden, Frankfort and Hamburg, and at the Gewandhaus concerts, Liepsig [sic], she commanded the admiration of the most critical audience in Europe.

            In London, which has been her home for the past few years, she has always held a first position, and the criticisms of the journals of that city have constantly been of the most flattering description. She sings with equal facility and correctness, in Itailan, French, Spanish and German, and her English ballad singing is said to possess the true national ring, which has descended from Mrs. Bland and Miss Stephens. All concurrent testimony goes to prove her an accomplished artist, and we have little doubt that the New-York public will give her a fair and generous hearing, and we hope to be able to indorse [sic] the favorable judgment passed upon her by the European critics and publics.

            Carlo Rosa, though not much known in Paris or London, has met with marked success in the other principal continental cities. He is said to be a brilliant and impassioned player, and one of whom Herr Joachim, now the foremost violinist of the world, pronounces to be a genius on his instrument. We shall soon hear and know.

            The American pianist, Mr. Dannreuther, has already made a mark in the art world of music, having achieved a signal success on his appearance in London. Although educated in Germany, he is a native-born citizen, Cincinnati being the place of his nativity. His style is said to be of the classic school, with a sufficient dash of the romantic to meet the popular taste. As the concerts will have the advantage of an orchestra, we may hope to hear, from him, some of the great concertos.

            Mr. Bateman, the manager, has conceived these concerts in the most liberal style, and we believe that the public will come forward and support him in his enterprise. If Madame Parepa possesses the singular charm of voice, style and manner of which report speaks, the success of these concerts is assured from the first.

            The sale of tickets commenced yesterday…The demand was active, indicating that the public interest is fairly awakened in these concerts.”

With complete program.

“Mrs. Parepa is said to be able to sing in German, French, Spanish, Italian and English. She comes here with an excellent reputation.”

“The opening of the concert season to-night with the Parepa concert at Irving Hall will be noticeable, not only as introducing three new artists of whom much that is favorable has been said, but for the vast assemblage of musical amateurs, rural artists and concert agents and managers whom it will bring together. Almost everybody in our city who is pecuniarily or artistically interested in musical matters will be on hand.”

The concerts “are decidedly interesting, the artists being entirely fresh and of good repute,” and there will be “an orchestra of thirty-five performers” under Theodore Thomas.

With complete program.

“The New Musical Artists.

          At the opening concert of the Bateman series at Irving Hall last night, the heat of the atmosphere, intensified by the glare of gas lights and the presence of a large audience, indisposed those in attendance to pay much attention to anything but phenomenal performances, such as that of Parepa may be called. The tasteful piano-forte playing of Mr. Dannreuther and the creditable efforts of Mr. Rosa on the violin were, under the circumstances, endured rather than enjoyed, and those gentlemen must wait for another appearance under better auspices before their genuine talent can be fairly recognized, or their performances justly come under the scope of criticism.

          But Parepa, the new prima donna, was quite unaffected by the altitude of the mercury.  No singer who has ever been on our stage is more thoroughly at home before an audience.  Her manner, her person and her voice are each consistent with the other.  Ample, easy and genial, she possesses all the traits required to evoke the heartiest enthusiasm.  A voice of vast compass and power she manages with admirable skill, and while her natural tendency is towards a brilliant, passionate and broad style of singing, she is yet fully capable of those contrasted effects which are obtained by a judicious use of the sotto voce and by delicacy of expression.

          Parepa sang last night [lists pieces]. In all of these she was tumultuously applauded; and, in the latter [‘Il bacio’], lavished all the chief attractions of her noble voice, her dashing style, and her bold courageous vocal execution. She ended the piece with an extremely high note (E flat in alt.), which few singers of her massive voice are physically able to accomplish, the feat usually lying within the capabilities only of the lighter class of high sopranos.

          On Wednesday night Mr. Bateman will give a second concert, when, weather permitting, the other artists of his troupe will receive a greater share of attention. As to the prima donna, she has, in the astonishing language of a well-known theatrical manager, ‘clutched the diadem at a single bound.’”

“Amusements. The Bateman Concerts.—New York is by no means a favorable place for miscellaneous concerts. The business has been overdone, and we have passed to a condition where nothing short of the best will suffice. Mr. Bateman, whose entertainments commenced last evening at Irving Hall, has prudently recognized this fact, and comes to us with a company of unquestionable excellence. He adds to it the local power of an orchestra, and leaves nothing in freshness or strength to be desired. We trust sincerely that his venture may prove successful. Without treading on the higher ground of the Philharmonic Society, or the symphonic soirées of Theodore Thomas, he provides a neutral programme of great merit—one, in fact, which must appeal more directly to the public taste than either of those furnished by the institutions just named. Of Mr. Bateman it is almost unnecessary to speak. He has been before the public for a full quarter of a century, and his family have carried the name honorably and triumphantly through Europe. Miss Kate Bateman has been for many months in England, and her return to America will be an occasion of public demonstration. Her success on the other side has been ample and satisfactory. Few artists have received so warm an approval, so persistent a regard from the English press. Mr. Bateman appears before us now as a concert giver, and comes with an entirely fresh batch of artists, engaged, it seems to us, judiciously, and with every prospect of winning more than an average success.

          Mlle. Parepa is unquestionably a great, a grand, an undeniable artist. Her voice is fresh, round, strong and beautiful.  It is an honest and penetrating soprano still in the first bloom of youth, and with all the facility that nature in her most prodigal moments bestows on this ductile organ. In its lower notes it is not absolutely steady, although free from any defect than [sic] can occasion serious uneasiness in the listener. For more than two octaves upward it is simply perfect, touching and resting on E flat with absolute certainty and ease. The quality is full and luscious; so admirable indeed that we doubt if any singer has surpassed Mme. Parepa in this respect. The effect of the first piece, when the lady was naturally uneasy before a strange audience, can barely be described. It was our old friend ‘Ernani involami’—a cavatina always vigorous and pleasing, but very materially overdone, and not more than tolerable to an average concert-goer. The fire, delicacy and dramatic meaning thrown into this piece can hardly be exaggerated. From the first note to the last the audience simply waited for an opportunity to applaud. The second piece was a serenade by Gounod, comparatively unknown here, and not worth serious consideration.  It furnished Mlle. Parepa, however, an opportunity to show how completely she has her voice in command, and to exhibit in the last stanza the richest and best mezzo-voce that has ever been heard in New York—full, pulpy, tender, unfaltering. There was no defection in the intonation, no effort, no paltry trick of cheap vocalism. The slightest whisper went to the end of the hall with clearness and brilliancy, and the phrasing was exquisite and musicianlike. The ‘Nightingale’s Trill,’ in the second part, is a simple show piece, not very pungent in melody, or important in any sense. It served, however, as a vehicle for exhibiting a very perfect shake. In Arditi’s well-known and charming waltz, ‘Il Bachio [sic],’ Mlle. Parepa gave us not only the shake, but every other quality of a first-class artist. Many times as we have heard this morceau, we have never known an artist who gave it so exactly in tempo, so brilliantly in execution or so fully in voice. We have only to add that in all these pieces the lady was enthusiastically applauded; but—we are glad to say—not a bit more than her merits deserved. Mlle. Parepa is a singer whose equal we have not had for many, many years. If she does not create a furore it will prove that we have lost that enthusiasm for voice which we formerly possessed.

          Mr. Dannreuther, an American pianist, who has recently returned from his European studies, played two movements from Chopin’s F minor concerto. His reading of the work is delicate, consistent, and pretty, but it lacks breadth. Mr. Dannreuther is, however, a man of many merits. His touch is exquisite, and according to his way of thought, he plays intelligently. In the way of execution he is clean and confident, seeing directly what he wants to do, and doing it temperately and well. This concerto has been played by Mr. S. B. Mills, who takes a different view of it, and the one which we prefer. But this does not blind us to the fact that Mr. Dannreuther is an artist of great merit, and that whoever may have played the concerto before him, he himself has still another meaning to impart which is worth hearing. The ‘Rigoletto’ fantasia—which is one of Liszt’s poorest—was interpreted by this gentleman in a satisfactory manner. By this we mean that he did not add to the limited charms of the piece, or increase it by strength of his touch, or the elan [sic] of his style.

          It is hardly fair to speak of Herr Carl Rosa.  The heat and moisture of the evening were sufficient to destroy the prospects of the best violinist in the world—which Herr Rosa is not. It was almost impossible for that gentleman to ‘stop’ in tune. He tried his best, and his best was very good. In the Andante of the Mendelssohn concerto he displayed good feeling, and the accurate bowing which that necessarily involves. The quick movement was injured by the trouble which we have named. Vicuatemp’s [sic] ‘Polonaise’ suffered even more grievously. But it was apparent that Mr. Rosa is a good executant, and a gentleman toward whom we may look for positive enjoyment hereafter.

          The orchestra, under the direction of Theodore Thomas, played three overtures efficiently, and accompanied all the artists in their several pieces.”

“It is pleasant to record a success—a genuine success achieved by sheer force of genius, unaided by adventitious circumstances, such as hosts of friends, a claque, of the prestige given through elaborate and pretentious articles in the press. The debut of Madame Parepa was attended by no such fortuitous circumstances, and yet she compelled the admiration of her entire audience, and gained a verdict of approval from those whose judgment is not easily misled. Madame Parepa is of ample proportions, but she carries herself lightly and easily, and her manner is graceful and engaging. She was very cordially received, and curtsied first to the audience and then to the orchestra, a mark of respect to which that intelligent body is not very much accustomed. Her first selection was that hackneyed scena ‘Ernani involami.’ The first few notes of recitative proclaimed by their fine phrasing, and emphatic declamation that Parepa was an artist; the slow movement so finely sung, confirmed the impression, while the brilliant rendering of the stretto satisfied every doubt as to her artistic position.

          Madame Parepa has a voice of rare beauty and a compass, we believe, of full three octaves.  This range is not composed of notes forced out above and coughed out below.  On the contrary, every note is pure, rich, rounded and well formed, and her generous nature has been given the power to hold her voice under control, so that we have a true unwavering tone.  Her intonation is perfectly true, and the blending of her registers is absolute perfection, giving the voice a homogeneity and equality but rarely to be found even in singers of the highest class. Her execution is clean and rapid, and whether in the plain scale or in groups, or in chromatic runs is most beautifully articulate. It presents none of the glissando, which is so facile and so impure, but every note is fairly attacked and sufficiently individualized. Her staccato passages are particularly brilliant and sharply pointed, and are consequently very effective. Her trillo is clear, open and decided, and always upon the right interval, and is rounded off with scrupulous finish, while her grufetti [sic] are executed with exquisite grace and just balance. We have said that Madame Parepa holds her voice completely under control. This is evident in all she does, but one particular point must strike everyone—for instance, where she holds a high note and leaves it for the note above, which commences a rapid down-scale passage. The voice must have a wonderful a plomb to execute such a feat so perfectly as Madame Parepa does. In her singing she acknowledges a middle tint, and not only can but does sing pianissimo, another proof of that vocal subordination which she compels at will.

          Madame Parepa’s voice is of a quality but rarely met with; we have had a few here equally good during the last 24 years.  The nearest to it in outspoken power was Mrs. Woods, the next in spontaneity was Pedesco’s when she first woke the musical enthusiasm in the Park Theatre.  Castelan, Truffi and Bosio had each beautiful voices, but neither had the great range nor the mastery of the registers that Parepa possesses. One thing will specially please our people; her voice is not worn, but is fresh, vigorous and resonant. Her style, so far as her performance has developed it, is unimpeachable. It is free from affectation and vulgar exaggeration, while she sings with infinite spirit and zest, and exhibits passionate utterance, which must render her andante singing a luxury worth listening to.

          Her first aria was, of course, encored, but although she was recalled twice, she did not repeat it. Her second selection was Gounod’s quaint and charming serenade, published here by Beer & Schirmer, to which Mr. Rosa played a violin obligato very tastefully. This was sung smoothly, gracefully and earnestly through two verses, but its climax of beauty was the third verse, which she literally breathed out, causing an outburst of ‘bravas,’ which attested how deeply the audience was moved. This was a great artistic success.

          Her third piece, ‘The Nightingale’s Trill,’ a song both melodious and passionate, displayed the artistic management of her voice, her fine trill, and her prompt, delicate and brilliant execution. In this she was vehemently encored. Arditi’s show song, ‘Il baccio,’ afforded ample scope for the display of her faultless execution, and called forth repeated bursts of applause, but when at its close, she mounted with the delirious ease of a bird’s warbling, from B flat, up to E flat in Alt, the applause was uncontrollable. It was wonderfully executed. Each note was produced as easily, and was as round, pure and true as the tones of the middle register. Jenny Lind, Lagrange and Carlotta Patti reached F in Alt, but with an effort that was painful to their hearers, while the production of Parepa’s tones was perfectly effortless.

          Madame Parepa made a genuine and complete success. In what she has yet done she has shown herself an incomparable artist, and we congratulate New-York on the presence of one whose exquisite singing offers so pure a model of high and refined culture.

          Mr. Dannreuter [sic] made a most favorable impression.  He is an accomplished and elegant pianist; his style is pure, his execution clear and rapid, and his touch is good, although not sympathetic. We did not admire his reading of Chopin’s concerto.  It was weak and lacked breadth, especially in the recitations.  The execution was, however, unexceptionable.  Liszt’s Fantasie, ‘Rigolette,’ was brilliantly and correctly played; the delicate fioriture was finely rendered, and the spirit was well sustained. The theme was given out at too slow a tempo, and was worked up a little too fast. Mr. Dannreuter [sic] is evidently a well-educated artist, a master of technique, and will prove a valuable addition to our corps of admirable resident pianists.

          Carl Rosa is a very charming violinist. He plays smoothly, sweetly, bows gracefully and neatly, and has much and very excellent execution. His style, however, is not of the grand school; he lacks breadth, and force, and passion, and is entirely unequal to interpret Mendelssohn’s music.  His tone, though pure and sweet, is weak, and he seems not to have reached that point where he can give emphasis to expression. His staccato bowing is good, and his shake well articulated, but his coups d’archet are very feeble indeed. Mr. Rosa is a very sweet and elegant performer, and should make selections more suitable to his style.

          The orchestral pieces were well performed, with the exception of ‘Der Freyschutz’ overture, which was executed with but little dramatic effect.”

“The concert was one of the most interesting we have had in a long time. Mlle. Parepa, the ‘star’ of the concert, is a singer rarely found anywhere; she possesses a splendid soprano voice with a wide range which has been formidably trained. Mr. Dannreuther and Mr. Carl Rosa are virtuosos who can only be heard in first-class concerts. A more detailed review of the artists will follow later.”

“The Bateman Concerts.—The first of a proposed series of grand concerts under the management of Mr. Bateman took place at Irving Hall last Monday evening, introducing to us Mlle. Parepa, prima donna soprano; Herr Carl Rosa, violinist, and Mr. Dannreuther, pianist, assisted by a full orchestra under the direction of Mr. Theodore Thomas. Notwithstanding the intensely warm weather the new artists were greeted by a large, fashionable and critical audience. The first number on the programme was Mendelssohn’s overture to ‘Fingal’s Cave,’ which was smoothly and discriminatingly rendered by the orchestra, after which Mr. Dannreuther made his first appearance, and performed with effect two movements of Chopin’s grand concerto in F minor. This concerto requires for its due execution a pianist capable of sympathizing with the imagination and enthusiasm of the composer in order to do it full justice, or to produce anything approaching its legitimate effect. It is not strange, then, that Mr. D., owing to the nervousness incidental to a first appearance before a New York audience, did not come fairly up to the requisitions of the occasion. The event of the evening was the appearance of Mlle. Parepa, who sung with remarkable success the ever beautiful cavatina from Ernani, ‘Ernani Involami.’ Mlle. Parepa has a clear, pure, powerful and metallic voice, of good compass and flexibility; the medium register of her voice is well sustained, and under good control. Her method and execution of scale passages are excellent. Her most successful effort of the evening was the rendering of a charming serenade, by Gounod, with piano accompaniment and violin obligato. Her voice was more adapted to this style of composition than the preceding one, and she sang it with a tender pathos and affect altogether delightful. In the second part of the programme Herr Rosa performed the ‘Polonaise,’ by Vieuxtemps, with orchestral accompaniment. Owing, no doubt, to the effect of the heat on the strings of the violin, Herr Rosa was unable to make himself heard with advantage, his violin being most of the time sadly out of tune. Taken altogether, the concert was a success, both artistic and pecuniary, and the audience left well pleased and satisfied.”

M. Bateman’s Concerts. “The series of M. Bateman’s concerts was inaugurated Monday evening with the greatest brilliance. Three artists hitherto unknown in New York: Mme Parepa, M. Carl Rosa, and M. Dannreuther, were heard during this soirée.

          Mme Parepa is a singer of the first order. She possesses a voice of exceptional expanse, richly timbred, and she manages it with an art and a sureness that one doesn’t always meet in artists who enjoy a big reputation. In the air from Ernani, which she sang first, Mme Parepa gained the commendation of the audience. Her style is of a great purity, her voice of an irreproachable accuracy. The most extended voices aren’t always the most flexible; many female singers, who shine by the strength of their organ and dramatic expression, are powerless to make their voices supple and to bend them to “vocalises”, to turns, to grupetti. This isn’t the case for Mme Parepa, who vocalizes to perfection and expresses with the same felicity all the nuances of the pieces she is called upon to render. Thus, she sang Gounod’s delightful serenade with great charm, with the usual violin accompaniment. What pleases in Mme Parepa is the secure intonation; scarcely does she strike up an air than the audience is peaceful. Their enjoyment isn’t paralyzed by any of the fears that make one say: Will the singer get to the end? Will she stumble in this passage or that? Will that trill in a high register be executed without faltering? With Mme Parepa, apprehensions of this sort are impossible. Thus let’s applaud, heartily, the tremendous success that has accompanied the debut of the new singer. A final praise: Mme Parepa sang Gounod’s serenade in French, and we have verified that she pronounced our language without any accent. It’s a rare enough quality in foreign singers that we’re permitted to make mention of it.

          M. Carl Rosa is a distinguished violinist. He has charm, but he lacks amplitude. He hasn’t yet appropriated the grand manner of the great masters. M. Rosa doesn’t merit any the less the encouragements he has received; his talent isn’t ripe, but he has only to develop in himself the fortunate seeds that we have noticed in him.

          M. Dannreuther is one of those innumerable pianists who tap well on their instrument, the most disagreeable and ungrateful of all the instruments. But M. Dannreuther seems to us not at all endowed with sacred fire; he’s a good mechanic. It takes uncommon courage to brave the performing of a piano piece, even if the pianist is called Listz [sic] or Chopin: a stronger reason yet, when he possesses only soulless fingers, to animate them and move us. The piano piece, in our modern concerts, is an unpleasant necessity which one has to submit to: one endures it before coming to the sweetest melodies, as the Hebrews had to cross the desert before attaining the Promised Land. We understand M. Auber very well, when he said one day to Mme. Farrene, professor of piano at the Paris Conservatoire: ‘Madame, I prefer a clarinet piece badly executed to a piano piece played by your best pupil.’ Why doesn’t the piano confine itself to the modest role of an instrument for accompaniment, which it fills so well?

          We have only praises for the orchestra directed by M. Thomas. The overtures to Fingal’s Cave and The Merry Wives of Windsor were executed perfectly. There was a little lack of ensemble in the overture to Freischutz. Would that M. Thomas could think also of the relative smallness of the hall, and moderate the sometimes too-loud sound of the orchestra.”

“Mr. Bateman is the first impresario this season who successfully gained the attention of the public. Last Monday he led his troupe ‘into the fire’ for the first time, and they passed with flying colors. Bateman’s star clearly is Parepa, a singer with a rare gift. Mlle. Parepa’s voice is a strong, clear soprano with a significant range. Due to her excellent training, she is able to skillfully cover up the weaknesses in her voice, of which there are some. Her specialty and excellence is bravoura singing, as it showed last night in songs like the “Baccio Waltz” and in the “Nightingale’s Trill,” by Ganz. Trills, cadences and difficult figures are executed with seeming ease, which is amazing.”

Remainder of review is about the second Bateman concert. See: 09/13/65, Bateman Concert: 2nd.

“Mme. Parepa’s first concert at Irving Hall, last Monday evening, may be regarded as the opening of the musical season.  We have already briefly alluded to her coming from England, with Messrs. Dannreuther, pianist, and Rosa, violinist, for a concert tour in this country under the business management of Mr. Bateman. The Tribune answers a few questions about their antecedents thus:

     Madame Euphrosine Parepa was born in Edinborough, Scotland, and is the daughter of Count Demetrius Parepa, a Wallachian nobleman of high rank, who left his country for political reasons, and his wife, née Elizabeth or Lisbeth Sequin, the sister of the celebrated and popular basso, Mr. Edward Seguin. The mother had a beautiful voice, was a fine artist, and her devotion to her profession, probably, influenced the destiny of her daughter, Euphrosine Parepa.

     Her musical education was acquired during her long residence in Spain and Italy, whither her mother’s musical engagements led her, but in neither of these countries did she commence her artistic career. Her debut was made in the island of Malta, at the Opera House, in 1856, where her success was very brilliant. From thence she took the tour of the provincial operatic cities, Naples, Milan, and Florence, where, with the unfortunate but great tenor Giuglini, she created a furore, in Tantani’s Sonnambula. She was equally successful in Lisbon, Madrid, Rome, Berlin, Wiesbaden, Frankfort and Hamburg, and at the Gewandhaus concerts, Leipzig, she commanded the admiration of the most critical audience in Europe.

     In London, which has been her home for the past few years, she has always held a first position, and the criticisms of the journals of that city have constantly been of the most flattering description.  She sings with equal facility and correctness in Italian, French, Spanish and German, and her English ballad singing is said to possess the true national ring which has descended from Mrs. Bland and Miss Stephens.  All concurrent testimony goes to prove her an accomplished artist.

     Carlo Rosa, though not much known in Paris or London, has met with marked success in the other principal continental cities.  He is said to be a brilliant and impassioned player, and one whom Herr Joachim, now the foremost violinist of the world, pronounces to be a genius on his instrument.  We shall soon hear and know.

     The new American pianist, Mr. Dannreuther, has already made a mark in the art world of music, having achieved a signal success on his appearance in London. Although educated in Germany, he is a native born citizen, Cincinnati being the place of his nativity. His style is said to be of the classic school, with a sufficient dash of the romantic to meet the popular taste. As the concerts will have the advantage of an orchestra, we may hope to hear, from him, some of the great concertos.

     The concerts are arranged upon a generous scale, having the aid of an orchestra under the direction of Theodore Thomas. This was the programme of Monday: [gives program].”

Musical Review. Parepa is a tall, strong woman with a tall, strong voice. However, her range in both directions of the scale is limited. One and half octaves of her range, though, are very respectable; she is very well trained and endowed with a skill for artistic expression. However, a coloratura singer she is not. Her strength lies in powerful, glorious expression, rather than in the coquettish, playful or graceful. She does not touch the soul in her listeners, though. In arias from Ernani and Freischütz she was less convincing, yet she excels in pieces like “Il Bolero.” She must be doing very well with church music and oratorios. Compared to other singers, she has the advantage that she can sing in several languages with excellent pronunciation.

          Mr. Dannreuther, as one of the other two new artists introduced by Bateman, performed fairly well. Certainly, he is still a young talent and we can not expect excellence yet. His strength seems to lie in the tender, graceful and dreamy style rather than in the strong and powerful, which explains his lack of strength in the touch of the piano keys and the excessive use of the pedal. If he stays with his direction of tender music, he will do well.

          Carl Rosa, in comparison, has less of an individual style to his performance. However, his performance might have been influenced by the rain and his stage fright. He leads his bow well, shows respectable technique and being aware that he is still very young, we would not be surprised if his skills will improve greatly and he will reach excellence sooner than others his age.

          Since we have a full orchestra, why not give it bigger tasks than performing overtures and Meyerbeer marches?