New-York tribune., 1878-09-27
MUSIC.
AUGUST WILHELMJ.

No such scene as that of last night has been
witnessed in Steinway Hall since Rubnsten stormed
the town. sx years ago. Even that memorable triumph
has been surpassed by the overwhelming success Of
WIhelmj. The great violinst has captured all
lie has dazzed us by his brilliant and perfect technque
he has excited us by his fiery sprit he
has awed us by an indescribaby of force
and he has seized upon sympatbies; and he
wOD by this Of victories over the intellect and the
affections most absolute mastery Of his audience We
have artist take such complete and such
sudden possession Of public After the first minute
the house seemed TO under the spell Of magnetic
power. 1t hung upon every motion Of his magic hands
it was gay pensye his biddng and at the end OF
the first Of his selections the applause amounted
uprOar. The audience was superb gathering The
hall full; many stood In the rear; strange med
ley Of musicians OF all ranks, from the first
to the last might have been in the thrOng; and
large proportion Of the frequenters OF the symphony
concerts their accustomed places. Mr. Wihemj
was recalled Eve times after his first piece, and
three times after each Of the Others and he retired
at last In the midst OF tempest. He
played, for a beginning, the first movement
Of Paganini's famous violin concerto In d. work
bristlng with enormous difficulties, and studded with
very various beauties. But it only the beauties
that appeared to US. The difficulties gracefully
and 80 thoroughly overcome that we did not
tice them until they we're passed, and we
stopped to think what rough road we
had over This OF is the very perfection Of
playing. the execution goes The rarest feats
seem to be as easy to Mr. whem any of the rest Of
his work. The sharpest detect no fault In his
intonation, no blemish in his pure, and rich,
and sonorous tone. II we say that in the most
trying passages every individual note drops from
his bow a finely polished gen. we shall not much over
state the case Tone and technique were both grandy
displayed in the concerto Next came the VoInsts
own arrangement OF Walters Prize Song" from the
oF Frinan IN m
which Wilhelmj shows bis loving devotion to
Wagner whose most enthusiastic disciple II
is his pride be- The inmitabe sweetness and ten
derness Of his playing whereof we had felt something
in the concerto, out here with rayishlng eHeet;
but II the favOrtte Bach AR. from the suite IN
D. which he gave for recall, that he eame closest to
our hearts, and made the impression that we shall long
estoye TO preserve Lastly he ecDsed even the amazing
exhibition Of the concerto by performance OF Ernsts
Airs Hongros" Of which only say that Il was
bewdering He uses stradiyarius violin OF extraoR
binary beauty.
There is no difficulty about fixing Wilhelmts place in
the world He is only the first of living voinists'
and one OF the foremost living musicians in any branch
of the art-we knew that beiore-but he Is so
great that he enables to forget all other
yiollnists who have been here before him. Greatness
is PERHAPS the quality which first impresses us In MS
playing And IL Is a greatness all the more imposing
because it s(assOoiated with the most perfect proper
tlons-perfect proportions In the art' the m-
teleet, the temper, the very person and de-
meapor OF the man. When he stands before us, tail,
sbapely nODly poised, with magnificent head iresn,
open handsome winning face, clear blue eYe genial
sme that is majestic from It's very slmphciy'
we can not help thinking OF beautiful and lovely giant
Next to the quality of greatness in Wlheuj Is thaS
psmeless charm OF which can only con-
vey FAINT idea when we say tna'
he ia sympathetic We know of hardly any who take SO
strong hold upon the feelings Of their admirers as no
does upon his.
An orchestra under the intelligent and spirited con-
ductorship OF Dr. Damrosch, accompanied tie yolinst
in all his selections, aud added great deal to tho
success OF the concert IN other ways. Madame
Julia Rve-King played the first movement OF Beetho-
ven's minor concerto with that fine intelligence, and
clear precise face touch which have so often had
occasion 10 praise in the work Of this accomplished
young pianist She repeatedly called back after
this as well az her second selection, transcription Oy
herself OF a Prelude and Fugue by Harberoier and
GuiImant Miss Kate L. James gave two operate AIRS
10 the satisfaction OF her many friends.