Wolfsohn Beethoven Concer Matinee: 6th

“POSTPONEMENT OF THE sixth Beethoven matinee.-In consequence of the snow storm, Mr. CARL WOLFSOHN was prevented from arriving in town yesterday in time ot give the sixth of his series of Beethoven Matinees, consequently the programme announced for Friday will be fulfilled TO-DAY at Steinway’s Rooms, at 12 o’clock precisely. On this occasion, Mr. WOLFSOHN will play the celebrated SONATA PATHETIQUE in C Minor, op. 13. Admission, $1, subscription $5. Tickets for sale at Steinway’s.” 

“Mr. Carl Wolfsohn begs to express to the patrons of the Beethoven Matinee . . . his regret, owing to an slight accident, which was, however, sufficient to disable him from playing, he has been obliged to postpone the sixth matinee from the date originally named to Friday, January 25.”

“A Steinway piano is used.”

“The pianist Wolfsohn was stricken by bad luck last week: first his train from Philadelphia was delayed 19 hours due to a heavy snow storm. Secondly, the musician’s hand was injured when a passenger closed a door on it. Wolfsohn had to refrain from playing for several days.”

“Carl Wolfson’s sixth Beethoven matinee, postponed from the 11 th [sic] inst., took place yesterday at Steinway Hall. The audience was larger than is generally seen at a piano matinee, and of the most select kind. [Gives program.] These works were probably the most severe test that Mr. Wolfsohn has been subjected to to judge of his powers, and although we might specify the weakness and want of the true Beethoven spirit in some parts of the Pathétique, yet the general effect was deserving of much praise. Mr. Wolfsohn displays much artistic talent, careful study and due respect for the difficulties of the task he has undertaken.”

“Mr. Carl Wolfssohn [sic] is to be highly praised for the intelligence which he brings to the performance of compositions so rich in the emotional and intellectual science of music as Beethoven’s Sonatas. Yesterday, at Steinway’s, he gave his sixth Beethoven matinee, with the Sonata Pathetique, memorable for its sweet-singing adagio, each note of which touches the noblest and most imaginative sensibility; the Sonata in E flat, the Largo passage of which is grandly and skillfully toned and varied—the Allegretto gracious and graceful; and lastly, and perhaps most impressively, the Sonata in A flat major, a work of extraordinary variety and freedom. Mr. Wolfssohn’s interpretation is clear, facile, and versatile, as it should be, and his handling is never too strongly emphatic. Just such qualities as these are needed in Beethoven’s expositor, and it is to Mr. Wolfssohn’s ordinary credit to say that in his performance the composer is seen, and not the player.  Mr. Pollack, a baritone of good feeling and culture, has assisted at the matinee creditably.”

“The concert was well attended as usual. Wolfsohn played with understanding and accuracy.” 

Musical interpretation of the “Pathetique” and a longer quote from the Leipziger Zeitung which also contains an analysis and interpretation of this work; there is more detailed analysis of Sonata opus 7 and opus 110, but no review of the performance.