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displayed by the strings and the “snap,” if we may so call it, infused into the waltz
movements. The polka had not the same effect as in the Coliseum, where the
pizzicato of nearly four hundred strings was very remarkable. The rest of the
programme, under the direction of Bergmann, consisted of two overtures, “William
Tell” and “Rienzi,” a selection from “Lohengrin,” and one of Meyerbeer’s
“Fackeltanze.” Mr. J. H. Bonawitz played two piano works, an arrangement of the
“Tannhauser March” by Liszt, a very commonplace affair by the way, and a brilliant
transcription of “Luther’s Hymn.” As the audience was entirely taken up by
Strauss, the rest of the bill received a cold shoulder. The composer expressed
himself delighted with his reception in New York and spoke in no measured terms
about the Panjandrum in which he so long suffered. He said he would rather give
concerts in a great city like New York than be the director in a village like that where
the “Jubilee” took place. On Wednesday evening, “The Manhattan Waltz,” which
Strauss has just written and dedicated to the Empire City, will be performed for the
first time in public.
From the New York Tribune, July 9, 1872, p. 5
Johann Strauss
The fascination of the waltz was never better illustrated than at the Academy of
Music last night. There were over 2,000 people, braving heat and multiplied
discomforts, for nothing but to see the great writer of dance music, and to hear the
familiar strains of the “Beautiful Blue Danube” played not by his famous band but
simply under his direction. The ladies nodded their heads gracefully and beamed
with smiles, and some broke out with ecstatic gestures, clapping their hands to the
measure of the waltz, and following every movement of the agile little master with
radiant delight. There were hundreds of the other sex also—ornate party-youngmen,
who know nothing about the music of the heart and head, but are capital
judges of the music of the heels, and they gave Strauss a magnificent reception,
calling him back three or four times after each performance, and venting their
feelings now and then in a complimentary shout. The music of which Herr Strauss
is the best living representative appeals in fact to the tastes of a wider variety of
persons than any other class of instrumental music ever written. And it would be a
mistake to suppose that he merely tickles an uneducated fancy, or writes for the
multitude to which the higher kinds of music are as a sealed book. In the best of
his waltzes there is an abundance of poetry,—grace of movement, tenderness of
expression, refined sentiment,—as well as the undefinable impulse of activity which
is the essence of a good dance. They soothe the mind with gentle melody, and
haunt it afterwards with pleasant memories. Many of them are true inspirations,
while artistically their structure deserves all praise.
Herr Strauss had an orchestra of sixty pieces, selected from our Philharmonic
Society. The musicians played under him in Boston every day for nearly three
weeks, and may therefore be supposed to be tolerably familiar with his style of
conducting. They are good players, and of course their execution of the pieces was
careful and correct; but we must candidly say that they have caught less of the
spirit of their leader than we expected, and are far from that unanimity and mutual
sympathy which we admire so much in the orchestra of Mr. Theodore Thomas.
Strauss himself, however, supplies what slight defects the critical ear may detect in
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