News of this event first appeared in Prager Morgenpost 12/11/1858, in a brief report noting that the ‘Sophienakademie’ would give a concert during the next month ‘in which many church compositions of old Italian masters (Orland-Lasso, Lotti and others), as well as a new Czech men’s chorus: Na Vltavě [Auf der Moldau]’ will be performed. A similar text relating the same information was published in Der Tagesbote 12/11/1858.

The Czech-language periodical Lumír 27/11/1851 published details of a projected performance to be given by the Žofín Academy under its new director Vogl. The programme for this would not suffer from the unhappily banal material which for a long time local concerts here had suffered, but would include classical names from the major periods of music history back until 1450. The composers being performed were listed. The occasion would take place over two evenings, the first including works from 1450 until 1760, the second from 1760 up to modern times.

Both Prager Morgenpost 5/12/58 and Bohemia 5/12/1858 published a detailed programme for this, the ‘last of this year’s vocal concerts’ given by the Žofín Academy [Sophien-Akademie]. The event, its venue and time was recorded in the Tageskalender of Bohemia 9/12/1858.

According to the review published by Dalibor 16/12/1858, signed ‘-l-’, the soloists in Mendelssohn’s ‘motetto’ were Miss Karolina Jelínková, Miss Marie Cantani, and Miss J. Hegratová [Bohemia 5/12/1858 gave her name as ‘Josepha Hegeat’]. Of the other works performed, the Dalibor critic accorded particular praise to the new chorus by Karel Slavík and to the work by Spohr. The former, it was noted, had to be repeated. Of Spohr’s work, the reviewer remarked that ‘A dignified ending [to the concert] was made with the composition Lasst uns den Dankgesang erheben, in which the great fugue with its introductory chorale inspired everyone.’ Concerning the standards of performance, the critic conceded that the works given had been carefully studied but that an insufficient number of tenor singers had rendered inadequate the quality of the performances. The critic therefore called for these concerts given by the Žofín Academy to cease until more trained singers were found.

A brief report appeared in local news section of the newspaper Bohemia 10/12/1858 noting that the audience attending the concert was very numerous, that all the eight vocal items on the programme received great applause and that the Czech chorus by Slawik [Karel Slavík] had to be repeated. A detailed review of the concert, signed ‘V.’, was published in the next edition of the newspaper on 11/12/1858 under the heading ‘Musik’. This observed that programme of the concert, in particular the mixture of old and new ‘musica sacra’ as reflected in the ‘new’ works by Hauptmann and Kücken, the ‘wonderful Crucifixus’ by Lotti, and the works by Mendelssohn and Spohr. The performance of the pupils of the Academy was praised; it compared favourably with the singing of the local [Estates] theatre in Tannhäuser, the ensemble was very able and expressive. Particular praise was afforded to the soprano soloist in the Psalm setting by Mozart, Miss ‘Jellinek’ [Jelínková]. Her singing was ‘balanced’, of pristine intonation and was accurate; only sonority was lacking in her voice and this was ascribed to her youthfulness. Of the secular works performed in the concert, Marpurg’s chorus was described as ‘interesting’; the critic drew attention to the idiosyncratic ‘Stimm-Expectorationen’ evident in the middle and closing sections of Slawik’s [Slavík] Czech chorus Večerní na Vltavě [Evening on the Vltava]. The review ended by noting that the programme attested to assiduous rehearsals and the capability of all the students. Only an insufficiency of tenor voices detracted from the success of the performance and the overall timbre of the ensemble and, in common with the outlook of the later Dalibor review, the Academy was advised to restrict its activities.

The Prager Morgenpost 11/12/1858 review, signed ‘S.’, noted how a large part of the programme was given to the performance of serious sacred vocal compositions, which reflected the aim and artistic direction of the Sophienakademie. Several numbers of the programme inspired descriptive comment from this critic. The motet Du bist ja doch der Herr by the ‘highly valued Theoretician in Leipzig’ Hauptmann was thought to be ‘cast in a dignified style, an elevated work with ingenious and skilfully controlled handling of the various voices.’ Kücken’s motet ‘stands out as striking in its genre... an austere solemn composition... [in which this] favourite modern song composer is barely perceptible as the author.’ Praise was afforded to the inclusion in the programme of Lotti’s Crucifixus of the ‘glorious old Italian school’, a work that impressed both for its contrapuntal working and for its ‘poignant effect’. No specific comment was made about the choruses by Mendelssohn and Spohr. The former was specified as being given by 3 female soloists and female chorus, but no mention was made of whether the work (originally scored for female voices and organ) was accompanied or by what instrument. The remaining secular ‘novelties’ Abendruh by Marpurg and Karl Slawik’s [Karel Slavík’s] Večerní na Vltavě were simply noted as being more akin in their composition to Liedertafel than to choruses. Of the performances of the soloists in this ‘numerously attended’ concert the Morgenpost critic was generous in praise, relating that the three young singers in the work by Mendelssohn, C. Jelinek [Jelínková], M. Cantani and J. Hegert [Hegratová] were ‘refined’, sang with accurate intonation and were well-matched thus producing a harmonious sound. The first of these also sang the solo part in the Psalm by Mozart (which the text noted was scored for voice and piano accompaniment but originally for violin, violoncello and organ), giving rise to the comment that ‘The stability of her pretty, bell-like voice, her secure articulation and... fluency – qualities that can only be aquired through a course of elementary instruction... in such an institute – can seldom be achieved at this grade’. This was considered to be indicative of the successful teaching method of the Žofín Academy. Of the Institute’s choir the reviewer was more circumspect. Overlooking the ‘at times inevitable pitfalls... and the shrillness of the tenors’ the performances were ‘quite adequate’.