Central Park Band Concert

“Nearly sixty thousand people visited the Park yesterday afternoon, and the walks and Drive presented an ever-shifting spectacle of summer dresses, gay equipages and pretty faces (as the ladies were out in full force).  The concert commenced at half past three o’clock.  The selections from Lurline, arranged by Godfrey, comprised some of the gems of Wallace’s charming opera.  It was rendered with spirit and sentiment by Mr. Dodworth’s admirable band.  The overture to Stradella was also given with a true appreciation of the meaning of the composer.  The present Park band numbers thirty-eight performers, and it has been organized by the conductor with great difficulty and inconvenience.  The marked success of the last two concerts is an unerring proof of the efficiency of this band.  In the potpourri of national melodies which concluded the concert, the effect, looking down from the Casino, was very beautiful.  The buzz of conversation and the silvery laugh of the fair promenaders mingled with the strains of music from the Pagoda; the moving crowds on the Mall, the sparkling fountain, the parroquets [sic] looking out from their gilt cages and mocking the many sentimentalists that passed them, the gleam of jeweled fingers and bright eyes from the carriages on the Terrace, where richly harnessed horses tossed their heads and chomped at their bits with a truly aristocratic air, and the glaring sun that threw lances of light athwart the gay scene, presented a coup d’oeil  of Oriental magnificence.  Long after the last notes of the band died away on the summer air, the Mall, Ramble, Terrace and walks were crowded with visitors, all anxious to breathe the fresh atmosphere of the rural retreat of Gotham’s sons and daughters.”

Includes contents.  “Central Park. Yesterday being one of the finest days with which we have been favored this fickle Summer, the Park was thronged with visitors from early morning. … But the music, a word must be said for the music. It was everything that it ever was before, and if it were possible it was something more. Dodworth did it well, aided and abetted by the gentlemen with the dome-crowned craniums, and this is what they did, and everybody who came within reach of it was happy, and after it was over they went home in the same state, wherein it is fervently hoped they may remain for at least seven days more.”