Philharmonic Society of New-York Pubic Rehearsal: 4th

“To Philharmonic rehearsal, Steinway Hall. Beethoven’s 4^th Symphony is the most radiant and joyous of all his symphonies. No. 1, 2, and 8 are lurching, but none of them as bright as this. Its final movement is as full of healthy fun and high spirits as anything Haydn ever wrote. The jolly scherzo is Haydnoid in feeling, too, indeed it recalls the minuet of a noble symphony of Haydn’s in F. Their phrases are certainly akin, but Beethoven makes the orchestra speak them with a fire and emphasis beyond Haydn.  The movement includes a well-remembered and most exquisite trio--almost intolerably lovely--that suggests Mozart. So does the noble and stately adagio or andante (whichever it is) with its beautiful pulsating accompaniment to its fluent noble melody, and its delightful contrasts of light and shadow and orchestral coloring. After the symphony came an overture by Hector Berlioz ‘Carnival Romain.’ It opened with a long chapter for the strings, pianissimo, rather pretty-ish and somewhat tedious, at the close whereof the Berliozian trombones and trumpets were let loose upon us, con furia. We waited till Bergmann the leader tapped for a pause, and then escaped, reaching the door just as the insane clangor tubarum was beginning again a few bars back.  Berlioz and Beethoven differ not merely in genre: they are incommensurable, like a mile and a ton, like a protochloride and an easement.”