Omaha daily bee., 1883-07-02
THE THOMAS CONCERT.
A Noteworthy Performance at The
Opera House.

Saturday evening, were the most elabo-
rate, brilliant and successful instrument
tai performances ever given in the city.
The orchestra numbered sixty pieces,
every one of which was in trained and
skillful hands. Mr.. Theodore Thomas,
who is the best equipped leader in the
United States, conducted the entire per-
~formances, and nothing whatever was
wanting to the perfection of the whole.
Mr.. Thomas system of leadership reach
es to the bottom. and overlooks nothing
essential to success in every respect. Not
least among it's excellencies is the hand
ding on the instruments, and this is best
seen perhaps in the system of bowling he
he has introduced. Every stringed in
strument falls into the system, the bows
of all moving together in the same di-
%rection. This method not only affords
the appearance of perfect unison among
the performers, but also insures absolute
uniformitysof treatment, and places the
volume of sound, at every moment at the
perfect disposal of the leader.
The BEE, in this general reviewal of
the concerts. will not aim at a systematic
notice, but will content, itself, with a
grouping of the chief character star fea-
lures.
And, first, as to what were presented,
here are the purely orchestral features of
the three programmes. From Beethov-
en- one piece was given at each concert:
The dnddnte from the second symphony,
the allegretto from the eighth symphony,
and the famous LeOnOre overture, No. 3.
From Mendelsson two instrumental Sc
l~ections were given: the overture to Ruy
Bus and the overture to Midsummer
Nights Dream. OF Weber also two
specimens were given-the Invitation to
the Dance, adapted by Hector Berloiz,
and the Jubilee overture. Three charac-
~teristic pieces of List were given-the
Hungarian Rhapsody; a .fantas ia on
Hungarian airs, with Rive-King at the
piano, and the Symphonic Poem Ros-
sini's William Tell overture was present
ed; Schumann's Trdumerei, a largo from
Handel, with violin obligato, and the
Strauss waltz, beautiful Blue Danube.
The pieces de resistance, along with
the pieces from List were the selections
from Wagner-the LOhengrin VOrspiel
and the IdWhduscr March and overture
and the celebrated Berloiz composition,
the DamndtiOn Of Faust. This last was
first produced in this country about two
years since by Mr.. Thomas. Itembraces
three movements (a) the Invocation Min
uet of the Will o the Wisps; (b) Dance
of the Sylphs; (c) the Rakoczy March
These were the purely instrumental num-
bers. Then there were the following vo-
cal numbers by members of the
company, each with full orchestra accom-
payment: Schubert's Am. Nicer, by
Frank Remmery; RondO, from the HUI
guenots by Mrs. Cole: Scenes from Lo-
hengrin;. Sound an Aidrn', from Han
dts Judds; La Refine de Saba (Gou-
nod) by Mrs. Allen; the RigoiettO quar-
tette; the Evening Star rOn1dnzd from
T~annhauser, by Reenmary; o! Fdtimo
from Weber's -Iba Hussdn, by Mrs.
Cole; and the Beethoven Trio.
Nine Rive-King played Saint Saens'
concerto in G minor; the Liszt fantasia
on Hung on an Ain, and the Chopin con
certo in r minor.
The Omaha chorus sang two choruses
from Wagner's LOhengrin at the first
concert and closed the second concert
with four selections from Hondit's Mes.
sidh. In this last, however, the orchestra
pretty nearly drowned the singers out, a
circumstance wholly unnecessary, mas
much as the chorus was thoroughly up in
tha n,pctn Rnt fnr thio ,,f,rtt,n,t n,,l
needless circumstance the choruses,
Lift up your Head and HaHclujah
would have been among the prime at
fractions of the concert. In both OF
those elaborate selections the chorus was
fully prepared, and did a work which
only needed to be heard to be fully APP
preciated. There were about 100 voices
engaged, with the Harmonica Society
and the Omaha Glee Club as a base. The
services of Mr.. David Blakely, who has
had the voices i'll the immediate training
for two weeks should not be overlooked;
while those of Nelson, Mayer and Smith,
the leaders of the clubs, must
not be forg often. The
local singers had, at best, an ungrateful
task, and it isto be regretted that through
the manifest inattention of Mr.. Thomas
their efforts should not have been per,
mitted to speak for themselves,
Among ths orchestral selections, all OF
which were given in a perfectly charac'
~teristic manner, the most notable were
the Beethoved dnddnte at the first con
cert, a composition in perfect classical
style; the music from the I'd symphony,
which was very peculiar, and was beauti
fully rendered, the Invitation to the
Dance, which is German to the last de,
gree, and embraced a vast deal of fine
playing, with great rapidity and precision
of movement, and last, but not least, the
ddmndtion of Faust, in which every re-
fnement of orchestral playing is required.
To these should, however, be added the
Hungarian Rhapsody, which is an orig
inal composition of LISTS in the Hunga-
rian style.
Mr.. Thomas singers all did better in
the concerted pieces than in single selec-
tons, and did best of all in the o~ratorio
pieces; and they did best of all in the
Messiah selections, particularly Miss
Cole in the latter song, with sustained
and equable power, and left an impress
sion which will not soon be forgotten.
Mime. Rive-King is, in technique GER
talnly a consummate pianiste. She plays
without the score; and what seems sur
prising is that one who is such n master
of the technical peculiarities of the pecul-
%iarities of her instrument should still be