• BONDY, Josefine: soloist, pf

News of this event was published on the previous day by Tagesbote aus Böhmen 15/11/1857. The source noted: ‘The Concert Season will open on Monday with a concert given by Miss Josefine Bondy in the Konvikt Hall at 5pm. Being performed will be: ‘Beethoven’s Sonata in C minor for pianoforte and violin, performed by Mr Wichera, member of the Royal Estates Theatre and the concert giver. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy „Reiselied“, Esser’s „Abschied“, both performed by Mr F.J. Fekter. Fugue in D by Bach, „Grillen“ Fantasiestück by Schumann and „Bercesuse“ by Chopin Fr. performed by the concert giver. Romance from the opera „Traviata“ by Verdi, performed by Mr F.J. Fekter. Declamation, spoken by Mrs Alram-Lechner. Polonaise in F by Liszt, performed by the concert giver.’

A review, signed ‘-h.’ of this concert appeared in Tagesbote aus Böhmen 17/11/1857. This related that ‘The pianist Miss Jos. Bondy yesterday gave a not very well-attended concert in the Konvikt Hall. In place of the Sonata for piano and violin by Bethoven [Beethoven] previously announced in the programme, Miss Bondy opened the concert with the G major Sonata by that same master. The immensely strong, yet at the same time, elastic bowing, well-practised fluency and tasteful performance by the concertgiver was in the first and third movements to be commended; the middle movement lost its character through the overly vigorous application and through the excessive prominence of the accompaniment figures in the left hand. Of the remaining pieces, Chopin’s „Bercesuse“ and Liszt’s E Polonaise were very clean and ably performed; Schumann’s „Grillen“ are too much by the way mood pieces [‘Stimmungsstück’] to make a good effect in the concert hall, and the „D-Fugue von Sebastian Bach“ needed the modest and pertinent Prelude. The concertgiver, who received much applause, was supported by Mr Fektér, who sang two Lieder and a „Traviata“ Romanze, and by Mrs Allram-Lechner, who declaimed a witty poem ‘die neue Eva’. No further details of the event were given by the source. The Sonata by Beethoven was almost certainly op.30 no.1, given the correspondent’s description.