The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-06-12
A BATTERY CONCERT.

Last evening for the second or third time since
Comptroller Green, after much hesitation. decided
to have music not only In Central Park but in a
couple OF the parks down town well, there was
music at the Battery. The greatest pains, how
ever, seemed to be taken TO make It as unenloya-
bic an afrair as possible. There was certainly
q band, composed of some forty or fifty very
well dressed young gentlemen all OF whom wore
high-crowned white hats OF exactly the same shape
but they played with painfully apparent air Of
condescension, and disdaned to exert themselves
except In the mldest possible manner, while the
pauses between the pieces were expanded to the
utmost extravaganza dimensions You were treated
TO feeble infection OF Strauss Meyerbeer or
some other classic composer familiar to the in
habitants OF the First ward for the space OF
three minutes and then had to wait another ten
while the band men chatted in German, and looked
contemptuously round at the crowd gathered about
them. And, to tell the truth, the crowd attracted
by the performance was not altogether one calcu-
lated to inspire profound respect even among
men less exclusive and heightened than those
who belong to the Protective Musical Union.
Round the band stand which was constructed OF
few trestes and planks OF implanted
OF park benches, most OF which were
occupied by young ladies varying in age from nine
to fiteen-precsely that period of feminine exist
ence when even rich maidens are more or less ad-
dcted to careless toilet, and when madens of the
lower social strata are almost sublime in the reck-
part OF the audience aisO were some elderly ma
irons OF the Sarah Camp type. The men and the
boys, mo, most Of whom seemed more or less de-
moraized by lOailng, or perhaps politics. formed In
circle behind the ladies, and skirted. like sort of
shabby shabby fringe, the main body OF the au-
two or three hundred persons present, even though
you counted in children of tender age as full
fares" Now and then a party of cmigrants lin
n mr. lint
were evidently under the impression that IL was a
sort OF street-mnstrel troupe, and they therefore
expected that the hat would be passed round for
contributions Nowhere at any time did the crowd
stantly may be found at Central Park. composed OF
people attracted to the concert by a real love
Tor az Jresco music and of refined
been drawn thither they would have soon dis
covered that they were not wanted by the rest OF
the audience and certainly not by the Park author
ties The site selected for the band is precisely that
where it Is impossible for you to listen to the music
without enduring the greatest personal discomfort
lt Is at the corner OF the Battery Park Immediately
at the foot of Broadway, and stone walks, heated
by the fierce summer sum- and sheltered only by the
commodation provided with the exception Of
the score or so of benches already alluded to-
one side OF this miserable auditorium, 1t may also
De sad hes directly In the main track OF passengers
from Castle Garden, and emigrants with sharp
cornered boxes every now and then run you down,
danger How different from the charming con-
certs at the Park, with the gayly painted band
stand stand ana the thousands Of awning canopied
with velvet turf! And why could not the
Park Commissioners II they really desire to
summer treat In the way Of music, throw open for
these special occasions the central patch Of lawn
me me only trouble involved In doing so would be to
that they might enter, for 1t would be as easy to
erect band stand such as Is used, In one
place as another And even II the grass did suffer
little the public would at least get their
moneys worth out OF the musicians, whose
EFFORTS are at present almost utterly
wasted Unless the present design OF the authorf
ties Is simply to keep the sword Of promise to the
ear and break to tho hope" reforms OF this
kind are absolutely necessary. Battery concert,
as at present conducted, Is simply dismal sham,
unproductive OF enjoyment and provoking In the
minds OF the poor bitter sense of the difference
involved In living down town and living in the i'm
mediate neghborhOod Of our great Park.