Exposition Hall (December 17, 18, 19, 21, 1872)

Announcement: The Daily Picayune, 5 December 1872, 8.

Announcement: New Orleans Republican, 29 November 1872, 1. 

Advertisement: New Orleans Republican, 15 December 1872, 1. 

Review: New Orleans Republican, 19 December 1872, 1.

New Orleans Republican, November 29, 1872: 1. 

The Strakosch Concerts.

The remarkable success of the Camilla Urso concerts, at Exposition Hall, affords conclusive proof that the musical sentiment of New Orleans, slumbering since the French opera has been withdrawn, may be readily awakened. The Urso entertainments will be followed by a series of grand vocal and instrumental concerts, at Exposition Hall, commencing on the sixteenth of December, in which members of the Strakosch company will appear, among them the celebrated artists, Mlle. Carlotta Patti, Miss Annie Louise Cary, Mlle. Teresa Carreno, Signor E. Scolara, Mons. E. Sauret, Signor Mario and Signor Marzo.

The Cincinnati Commercial of the twentieth instant contains an elaborate and favorable criticism on the firstol Max Strakosch's concert in that city. Of Carlotta Patti the writer says "she asserted by her simple presence the title which has been given her in both hemispheres of queen of the concert room." Mlle. Carreno as a pianist "has great power as well as delicacy, and her style is brilliant."

Tickets may be obtained at Grunewald's music store, Canal street.

The Strakosch Concerts.

Carlotta Patti sung in the second concert last night the "Sicilian Vespers." When called again, the singing of a pleasant French air was delightful to those who understood the language, and to those who did not the music of it was a language in itself.

"The Swiss Echo Song," in the second part, is a marvel of vocalization. As the singing went on the air was filled with shapes of men and things, all alive, as long as the music lasted. It seemed as though a voice was calling loudly to another and receiving answers from a distance. Then it appeared as if the wild hallo of the hunter came ringing down, leaping from crag to crag. The singer tossed her voice like a ball, batted it from side to side, bounced it from the ceiling to the floor, and caught it crashing in a final gasp. Then the lady was encored. She returned to sing a gay and lively French air, containing merry, rippling laughter falling from her lips like pearls. Throwing away the music book with its series of definitions of tones it is only necessary to say that every accent was well rounded and nothing was out of time; but the remarkable trait in case was the nonchalance with which the notes are finished.

Miss Annie Louise Cary sung with Mario a duet, being an extract from "Ii Trovatore." There were many there who recognized the music, and who appreciated it warmly. The lady has a voice of great flexibility and sweetness. Music has a tongue, but only a good singer can wag it. There is in a song, whereof one hears not a word, that which wiil tug at the heart strings with as much strength, and go as deep into the heart as the words themselves. It is the articulation that is distinct and clear, the tone which Cary's singing is clear cut and sharply defined, that is her special trait. Indeed, the reality of words lies in sound, for it is as they are pronounced that distinguishes one word from the other. The language of passion is the same throughout every division of the human family. Hence those who had no thought for the words had ear for the music, aud appreciated it. In the aria from "Mignon," one traced the same musical powers, and welcomed the singer warmly. Having been encored, the conductor struck on the piano the first notes of "Home, Sweet Home." This alone brought down the house. The ballad can never be worn threadbare. From the first words: "Mid pleasures and palaces tho we may roam" to the last, every idea was tossed out. as if the big ball were only a parlor and the large audience a tea party. The audience could not restrain their applause, which broke into the song so often it sounded like a diapason, and when it finished there was a greediness to hear more, which was not gratified.

Right here we may as well remark that in concert-going generally there is too much attention devoted to the operatic phase of music and the fantasies, while the simple melodies which tell the story of a people's heart or call the roll of every emotion, are left out in the cold. There are few occasions any one of these ballads has been struck that it has not met with every welcome the hearer can give it. And yet to catch a note or two of these one has to sit through the whole round of fantasies and extras, which is like going to ride and being treated with the cracking of a whip.

On the violin we were treated to the play of Emilio [sic] Sauret who, after the duet from "The Kreutzer Sonata" (the piano being played by the lively and independent Mlle. Teresa Carreno), sent off a fantasie of not much significance, then a fantasy which embraced several of the "melodious Hungarian airs. The violinist has touches only of great power with capacity for future development.

Signor Mario sustained his well known reputation as the first tenor of the day.