Central Park Band Concert

“Regularly, at least once a week, do throngs of the residents of the metropolis and its sister cities who, during the rest of the time, are obliged to remain in crowded localities shut out from the sweet companionship of nature, flock to the Park—that great, inestimable boon—and there while away a few hours enjoying the sight and sound of the many beauties which Providence has bestowed, and to which human hands and human art have given form and tone. Yesterday afternoon the peculiar rarity of the atmosphere doubtless deterred many from their hebdomadal visit to the Park, but there were many whom nothing less than a direct assault upon earth by that much abused individual, Jupiter Pluvius, could deter from embracing the opportunity to view, within a few short hours and in close proximity, the rare animals and birds, the working by art of things inanimate and the training by art of things animated, full of beauty and of loveliness. The museum duly visited, the mazy paths and passages of the Ramble explored, the cliffs and rocks, the silvery lake with the gay craft gliding on its surface, the Terrace and the numberless points of interest having undergone inspection, the crowds collected at the Mall, and there were enlightened and delighted by the sounds of sweet music which flowed from the trusty instruments of the trained troupe, who, in obedience to the twirling of the magic wand of Dodworth, sent forth the soul entrancing strains of Abt, the heavy but heartfelt melodies of Mendelssohn and Beethoven and the sentimental and beautiful effusions of Wallace. The light and flippant compositions of the French schools, the delicately rounded works of the Italian, and the ponderous utterances of the German, together with the homely but ever welcome airs of American nationality, were treated most masterly. The Common was alive with people, old and young; the Mall covered by ever changing groups of gaily dressed ad apparently light hearted damsels, whose intelligent glances and ready smiles spoke well for the training of the fair daughters of the metropolis, for as the band essayed each air they did not seek the telegraph to learn the name of the composition, because to most of them it was evidently familiar.  There were also young men, dressed in their best, and enjoying a holiday in this beautiful breathing ground, which is acknowledged throughout the world to be a credit to the liberality and good taste of the residents of New York and a blessing to hundreds and thousands who might otherwise be deprived of the rich treats which nature can bestow.”