The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-02-09
SCHUBERT CONCERT.
Rare Musical Treat at the
Tabernacle Admir-
able Soloists.

tions and precedents of late, and last
night it smashed this one.
The concert was the second of the pres
| ent season, and When it is recorded that
many who heard it pronounced 1T the pest
ever given by the club. little more need
be said regarding its general excellence.
Perhaps this appraisal was too hfgh- Ihe
concert was not exactly the best, But II
was in the same class with the best, ana
what more can be asked for. There being
no orchestra, the variety of effect was
missed by the audience, which the strings
contribute. 1t was also considered thai
| the club itself fell rather below It's usual
| standard. not in artistic Interpretation or
perfection of touch, but in quantity and
| sometimes quality of sound. But two OF
the three soloists We're artists of delight
| full capacity:: the selection of the evening
numbers was happy throughout, and II
there were any small deficiency in one
direction it was more than counter
| balanced by some excellence in another
| place, so that, as has been said before,
the concert as a whole ranks among the
| genuine successes of the club.
The opening number was THE Anvil,
a chorus by Gounod. with mimetic sug-
/ gestions. As the club was arrayed for 1t
upon the stage, it at once became appar-
| ent that the prevailing influenza had made
| its inroads in Mr.. Victor Baier's noble
| band of singers. There could hardly have
been present more than seven out OF ten
| of the full Schubert force, and among
| those under the weather was at least one
| of the best voices, for President John j..
voorhees, prefaced the music with an am
nouncement that owing to an attack OF
| sore throat Mr.. S. s. Jordan would not
be able to assume the tenor solo part in
1.-THE ANVIL and Mr.. Thomas J. Adams
would take his place. Mr.. Adams did so.
and his voice, which bound in head
notes of what might be called clarinette
quality, proved beautifully suited to the
occasion. There was also a baritone solo
overwhelmingly a very small one, for
Mr.. Gillies charmed every one by the
graceful and sympathetic manner in
which he sang it. Neither in this first
selection nor in the second which it gave,
Far Away" by Engelsberg, did the
chorus show any impairment due to
| paucfty of numbers. The rhythm of the
former, and the warmth and softness OF
the latter were the qualities which de-
lighted the audience. The Engelsberg
selection afforded Mr.. Baier the oppor-
tunity for one of those almost orchestral
effects TO which allusion has heretofore
been made in these notices. By the selec-
ton of voices to be brought into promi-
nence in the tenor parts and by a mar
vellous power of blending bass voices in
homogeneous volumes of euphony, Mr..
Baier elicits phases of musical emotion
fvar, hic nharl1c ctlch aS one iS arpllS-
toned to look for only in h~igh-grade
orchestral work. So far as Mr.. Baier is
personally concerned. we regard this Sec
ond piece, the Engelsberg Far Away"
as affording the best example of the
night of his exquisitely artistic style of
leadership. In a later selection by. the
club, Pache's Moonlight it seemed as
if the quality of tone was somewhat
rough. Both the highest and lowest
voices seemed weak, and the b%aritones
were heard too much, producing a hard
effect. The Phantom Band" by Thayer,
a pleasant piece of musical drolery,
showed somewhat the same faults, but
as it did not call for the same grade of
musical refinement, and as it was sung
with a jolly spirit and an easy movement,
it made a great hit with the audience.
The soloists of the evening were three
in number: Miss Charlotte Maconda. So
prano; Miss Olive Mead, violinists and
Mr.. Smock, tenor.
Miss Maconda has been heard in Jersey
City before, and she confirmed every
favorable impression that she had pre-
yiously made. She opened with an aria
from Mozart's Magic Flute.v Her brill
liancy of information and marvellous fexi-
bility make her a worthy interpreter of
the music of the Queen of Darkness. The
score of this part has been likened to the
cries of the stars to each other through
the Joyous spaces of night, and, adopting
tho idea. we might say that if a star
should have a voice, it might be such a
Que as Miss Maconda delights her hearers
with. AS an encore she sang a Lullaby
by Luckstone. and in this was her artistic
riumpft. for never was there a contrast
more astonishing than hat between her
open. ringing notes in the great operate
aria. and the yelled and duleified head
tones in which She breathed the maternal
tenderness OF the simple ballad.
Later Miss Maconda took the soprano
part in the presentation of the closing
scene of III TrovAtore," in which Mr..
sang the part of Manrico and the
club took the choral work. In this, she
again showed herself an accomplished
vocalist, and a musician of passion and
intensity. Near the close of the concert
she a Little Bird at My Window
Pane" by Franz Ries. 1t was q mistake
to do SO, as such a triviality could not
fail to be an anti-climax to her former
glorious work.
The "Trovatore,' scene was slightly inn
paired by MIR. Smock having to sing in
the yestry, instead of in the
tionaf tower of the lyric stage Even
his voice which is nothing if not audi
BILE. Yves smothered by the walls and the
distance, and in the concerted parts,
much OF the beautiful effect of the rapid
alienation between the tenor and So
prano was lost. The club sustained its
part well, and Mr.. Edward J. Groeble,
who accompanied at the piano, deserves
more than a word of c-oInmendation for
his Judgment and taste.
Miss Olive Mead is a very young and
very pretty yiolinist, and a very good
one. too. Space fails us to do justice to
her. and perhaps the technicalities of vio-
lin nlayjng would not make entertaining
reading. She opened with a 'sRhapsodie
Honsroise.'s By Auer, in which she ex-
hibIted bott skill and temperament. As
an encore she gave an amazing arrange
merpt of the great sextette from Lucia
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