[Met Concert or Gala] CID:4830



Grand Concert
Metropolitan Opera House, Thu, February 25, 1886




Grand Concert


Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major

Parsifal: Good Friday Spell

Götterdämmerung: Siegfried's Death and Funeral March
Albert Stritt

Beethoven: Leonore: Overture No. 3

Götterdämmerung: Act III: Trio of Rhinemaidens
Lilli Lehmann
Auguste Seidl-Kraus
Marianne Brandt

Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod
Lilli Lehmann

Conductor...............Anton Seidl

[This performance was a benefit for the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. The program states that the orchestra consisted of "114 artists of the Metropolitan Opera House, the Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras."]

There were two concerts this season.





This performance was a benefit for the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. The program states that the orchestra consisted of "114 artists of the Metropolitan Opera House, the Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras."
There were two concerts this season.

Review 1:

Review and Account in the New York Times :

IN AID OF BAYREUTH

A concert was given at the Metropolitan Opera House last evening by Herr Seidl, with the co-operation of Herr Stritt, Fräulein Lehmann, Frau Krauss, Fraulein Brandt, and the orchestra of the establishment, largely reinforced for the occasion. The object of the concert was to add to the Bayreuth stage fund, the purpose of which is to hold occasional representations of Wagner's works in the theatre the master himself had erected in the little Bavarian town where his mortal remains repose. The auditorium was not filled, but the attendance was sufficiently large to indicate a probability of the fund's reaping material benefit from the affair. The programme included the "Eroica" symphony, the "Leonora" overture No. 3, and some excerpts from " Götterdämmerung," "Tristan and Isolde," and Parsital." The proceedings were laid out and conducted by Herr Seidl, who was the most conspicuous personage throughout the evening. From what has been seen and heard of Herr Seidl during the operatic season now approaching a close it was tolerably easy to foresee in which direction he would be likely to excel. He is, above all, a conductor of Wagnerian music, with all the qualities and defects of the average leader of that school. Though far below Richter in point of musical intelligence, experience and skill as a disciplinarian, it would not be easy to find among his fellow-workers abroad a more efficient director of the Wagnerian repertoire. Further than this there is no distinct evidence that Herr Seidl's talent is of an extraordinary nature. In many respects his production of " Carmen" and "Faust" revealed, if not ignorance of the requirements of Bizet and Gounod's music, a singular indifference to its needs, and the performance of the "Eroica" last night showed still more plainly that those persons that would hear Herr Seidl at his best must attend such Wagnerian performances as he may control. All this, it should be observed must be understood as applying to Herr Seidl in a comparative sense. To affirm that there are a dozen musicians in the United States that could direct the "Eroica" with greater sensibility, firmness or vigor than he would be to assert too much; we have certainly, however, had very superior expositions of that noble work in this city--expositions standing on a much higher plane than Herr Seidl's as to breadth, dignity of feeling, placid elegance and absolute precision of execution. If the " Eroica" is to be viewed as a picture of the "emotions and passions that make up the life of a human soul"-to quote from one of Beethoven's commentators-the strong and warm individuality that Herr Seidl throws into its interpretation has a claim to admiration. The symphony was conducted last evening with sustained fervor and power, but in many places its purity of outline was impaired and the perfect tonal beauty of the music lessened, while the technical faultlessness stamping Mr. Thomas's rendering was missed almost throughout. The scherzo, trio and allegro vivace forming the third division of the work were the most creditable part of Herr Seidl's achievement and the assertion of his personal spirit and strength was less disturbing here than in any other portion of the composition. The performance of the "Leonore" overture was full of fire, but it was made more melodramatic in its character than would be acceptable to most music-lovers. On the other hand, the Wagner excerpts were magnificently interpreted, the frequent uncertainty of the horns being scarcely chargeable to the leader. In the funeral march from Gtötterdämmerung" Herr Seidl would have done well, perhaps, to moderate the zeal of the brass, but it would be unjust to pick flaws in playing distinguished by equally vivid expressiveness and brilliant tone color. In addition to the funeral march, the " Charfreitagzauber" from " Parsifal" was tenderly and effectively rendered, the Rhinedaughters' terzett was sung by the artists above mentioned-and sung shockingly out of tune-Herr Stritt was heard in the few measures prefacing Siegfried's death, and Fräulein Lehmann came forth as Isolde and gave voice to the impressive farewell to Tristan, this being preceded, as usual, by the well known "vorspiel."



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