Thomas Popular Garden Concert: 52nd

"We have never yet heard or seen in the metropolis at any place of amusement such enthusiasm on the part of the listeners, such genuine life and spirit in the playing of the performers, and such crowded audiences and of so superior a class as at the orchestral concerts at Terrace Garden. The success of Mr. Thomas' risky undertaking is unequivocal, and the garden concerts for the future will be as necessary an element of amusement and recreation in the summer as the Philharmonic or symphony soirees are in winter. There is something of real enjoyment to sit in one of the cool, shady [illeg.] of Terrace Garden and listen to a symphony, overture, pot pourri or salon piece interpreted by the best artists in America. On Friday night there were nearly two thousand people present, the majority of whom were of a class whose rank might be easily determined from the number of equipages drawn up at the entrance, from the resepect and attention paid to the music and the order that prevailed. Occasionally a few disorderly persons get in and attempt to create a disturbance, but happily such occasions are rare, and the parties are quickly expelled. It is very strange that in this public resort, where every evening are assembled from one to two thousand people, there should not be a solitary policeman detailed to preserve order. The Superintendent of the Police as repeatedly refused, we are informed, to allow any of the force to enter the garden on duty, owing to the injunction obtained against the Excise Commissioners by the proprietor. Now, [illeg.] Thomas' concerts have nothing whatever to do with excise or injunctions, and certainly deserve more consideration."

[Review of Friday night's concert.] ...On Saturday evening the audience was smaller on account of the rain, and the concert was given in the large hall attached to the garden. A lighter but equally attractive programme [to Friday night’s] was presented. The overture to Maritana was repeated, and Kreutzer’s charming overture to the Night in Granada was played with spirit and feeling. One remarkable feature in the music of these concerts is that some of the most humorous and laughable pieces are frequently introduced. Of this character is [sic] the Bauern Polka and the Fool’s Galop. Pot pourris, embracing an endless variety of airs, choruses, &c., are also given. Riede’s Humoresken and Bach’s March pot pourris are the best types of the latter style of composition. The selection from L’Africaine gave the most comprehensive idea of Meyerbeer’s opera that could be comprised in a single orchestral piece, but the African is a hard subject to manage without the ship and tree. It is unworthy of the composer of the Huguenots, Robert le Diable, or the Prophet, and is entirely dependent on scenic effect and the stage carpenter for success. There are not only numerous reminiscences in it, but positive plagiarisms, and we doubt very much if Meyerbeer would have ever permitted it to appear in public had he attended one rehearsal of it.”