[Met Concert or Gala] CID:24070



Grand Orchestral Concert
Metropolitan Opera House, Thu, March 29, 1900




Grand Orchestral Concert



Metropolitan Opera House
March 29, 1900

GRAND ORCHESTRAL CONCERT

FIRST APPEARANCE IN NEW YORK OF
HERR ERNST VON SCHUCH
(Principal Conductor of Royal Opera House, Dresden),

INCREASED ORCHESTRA of 100
Under the direction of HERR ERNST VON SCHUCH.

Der Freischütz: Overture

Euryanthe: Overture

Oberon: Overture

Beethoven: An die Hoffnung
Anton Van Rooy

Grieg: En svane
R. Strauss: Ständchen
Lillian Nordica

Schumann: Symphony No. 4 in D Minor

Handel: Concerto Grosso in D Minor

La Clemenza di Tito: Vitellia Aria
Ernestine Schumann-Heink

Tannhäuser: Overture

Conductor...............Ernst Von Schuch [First Appearance]








Review 1:

Review in the New York Herald

HERR VON SCHUCH MAKES HIS DEBUT

His First American Audience Enthusiastic Over the Orchestra's Playing Under his Baton

HAS FINE SENSE OF RHYTHM

Does Not, However, Sacrifice Expression to Technical Precision, and Works Up Sonorous Climaxes

RECALLS AND LOUD BRAVOS

The American début of Herr Ernst von Schuch, principal conductor of the Royal Opera House, Dresden, at the Metropolitan Opera House last night was a complete success. The enthusiasm of the audience over the results achieved by Herr von Schuch with the orchestra grew from number to number until, at the end of the concert, he was greeted with recalls and bravos.

Almost at the beginning of the evening the distinguished Dresden director made his impression. The "Freischütz" overture had hardly progressed a dozen bars before the listeners realized that a conductor of the highest order stood before them - a leader, every wave of whose baton was so significant that it conveyed his meaning to the orchestra and audience alike. The hearer felt throughout the evening as if he were being taken into the conductor's confidence, so that he knew what effect to expect before it actually fell upon his ear.

Herr von Schuch's most distinguishing trait is an unerring master of rhythm and the ability to enforce his sense of rhythmic accentuation upon the orchestra. This makes everything played under his baton go with precision. At the same time he is a man of musical feeling to his finger tips, and expression is not sacrificed to technical exactness. The second themes in the "Euryanthe" and "Oberon" overtures, the romanza in the Schumann D minor symphony, the aria in the Handel "Concerto Grosso" for stringed instruments, and many passages in the "Tannhäuser" overture gave ample evidence of the conductor's powers of poetic interpretation. In the finale of the "Oberon" overture and in the concluding measures of the symphony and the Handel number he whipped up the orchestra in splendid fashion and produced fine climaxes.

Both Weber, three of whose overtures opened the programme, and Wagner, whose "Tannhäuser" overture brought the concert to a close, were predecessors of Herr von Schuch at the Dresden Royal Opera, and Schumann was identified with the musical life of that city. Therefore, and quite fittingly, last night's was a Dresden programme.

The soloists, Mmes Nordica and Schumann-Heink, and Herr Van Rooy, sang admirably, and added greatly to the evening's enjoyment.



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