James M. Wehli Matinee: 4th

     “Mr. James M. Wehli gives another matinee at Wallack’s on Wednesday afternoon.  Mr. Richard Hoffman assists on the occasion, (playing with Mr. Wehli) Thalberg’s duet from ‘Norma.’  A new singer, Mlle. Ayostsa, will make her appearance as the vocalist of the day.”

     “Mdlle. AYOSTA will make her first appearance on this occasion.”

     “The usual crowded audience of fair ladies was in attendance at Wallack’s theatre yesterday afternoon, to greet Mr. Wehli on his last appearance.  He played his magnificent version of Faust, Trembling Leaves, Polka de Concert, Lucia de Lammermoor, Thalberg’s Norma for two pianos, one of Mendelssohn’s Lider ohne Worte, and the ever-welcome March of the Amazons.  The two first have already been described in the Herald.  The Polka is founded on very simple themes, but abounds in brilliant variations and ingenious grouping of difficult passages, all subordinate to the spirit of the subjects.  The Caprice, from Lucia, for the left hand alone, was a still more trying test of his technique than his Last Rose of Summer or Home, Sweet Home.  How the beautiful airs from this opera could be invested with such vivid and elaborate imagery, by one hand alone, is a matter of astonishment to any one possessing the least knowledge of piano playing.  The piéce de resistance of the concert was Thalberg’s truly great fantasia.  THE introduction is one of the happiest efforts of the great pianist, showing a novel and wonderful power of grasping the ideas of the composer and concentrating them into a few nervous, massive measures.  The march was decked in the richest jewels that music can furnish from her mine of treasures.  One part is particularly beautiful.  A spray of chromatic passages, extending throughout he entire seven octaves of the Chickering grand, is dashed over the last part of the grand march.  The transitions, too, are exquisitely graduated.  No jarring abruptness in loudness or sentiment is to be found in a single measure of the entire piece.  Need we say that Messrs. Wehli and Hoffman interpreted it in a style that would have charmed Thalberg himself?  Next came the March of the Amazons, the best and most popular of Mr. Wehli’s works.  The fantastic coloring which Mr. Hoffman throws over this little gem sets forth its beauties in the strongest light.  The Song without Words was delicately handled by Mr. Wehli, and unmarred by the slightest attempt at meretricious ornament.  With all our respect for his brilliant qualities as a pianist, we would prefer hearing Mr. Wehli as a renderer of Liszt’s music than in his present style alone.  Not that the volcanic and fitful nature of the German monk should be the only spirit that a pianist ought to seek after, but it would set off Mr. Wehli’s delicacy and brilliant imagery in bolder relief.  It would communicate variety and ruggedness to his style, which is in danger otherwise of cloying from its very sweetness and beauty.  Of the vocal part of the programme the less said the better.  Mr. Campbell, of course, sang with his accustomed success; but we have no words too strong to express our indignation at the teacher or friends of Madame Ayosta for permitting her to appear in public before her voice was properly trained or prepared for a debut.  The lady may have a good voice naturally, and with the necessary cultivation of it she may attain a respectable position in the musical world; but we heard nothing yesterday on which such an opinion might be based.  Each note was forced and painful, and her floroturi in the air from Favorita were but aimless and disagreeable attempts to imitate a prima donna.  If Mr. Campbell would also abandon those trashy sentimental ballads, which are entirely unfit for a baritone voice, and undertake the magnificent descriptive pieces of Henry Russell or of the German balladists, he would be doing his splendid voice and his hearers and incalculable benefit.”

     “The female singer [Ayosta] lacks voice, training and education. She should truly look for a different occupation. Of all the singers that Wehli performed with she was the most untalented. Is there a need for singing in piano concerts at all? We do not believe so. There is a special charm in silence. If only most of the pianists and singers would comprehend that!”

     General comments on Wehli’s matinee series.  “The success attending the Wehli matinées has given a marked impetus to this style of entertainments, and it is pretty certain that artists of merit and reputation can attract good audiences in the day-time. The swarms of young ladies who attend these matinées give ample evidence of the beauty and vivacity of the New York fair sex; and for people in the suburbs these matinées are most convenient.”