• BECKER, Jean: soloist, vl
• MONARI-ROCCA, Jean: soloist, v

Národní listy 11/12/1861 noted that Jan Becker was Kapellmeister at the Imperial court in Baden, and Monari-Rocca was a singer [baritone] at the opera house of La Scala, Milan. No specific details of the programmes of the concert appearances given in Prague by this pair twice during December 1861 were published by Národní listy, the Národní listy 11/12/1861 report only describing the programme of the ‘second and final’ concert given by these artists, on 12/12/1861, as ‘very interesting’. The participants in the first concert, which took place on 5/12/1861 were noted by Národní listy 4/12/1861 as comprising in addition to Becker and Monari-Rocca, the singer Miss Johanna Brennerová and the pianist Mr [Franz] Decker. News of the violinist Jan Becker’s arrival in Prague and his intention to appear in a concert had first been published by Dalibor 1/12/1861.

Prager Morgenpost 4/12/1861 and Čas 4/12/1861 published programme details for this event and noted its date, time and venue.

The unsigned Dalibor 20/12/1861 review did not describe the individual concerts given by these two soloists, but was more generalized in its coverage of their performances, noting that Becker and Monari-Rocca ‘arranged 3 concerts here, of which the last two were abundantly attended. Mr Becker is a well-known violin virtuoso; he plays classic and modern compositions spiritedly, with the greatest precision and nuance, and is always certain of success. We heard from him compositions that require the greatest bravura, for example, [works] by N. Paganini, Antonio Bazzini, by Seb. Bach (Chaconne [from Partita, vl, no.4, D min., BWV1004]), and he performed all with the greatest certainty and clarity. His colleague Mr Monari-Rocca is a cultured singer, and although his voice is not great it stands out for its excellent and universally refined skill. He sang mainly arias by Italian masters and duets with Miss Brennerová. Miss Vilemína Čermáková also participated in the concerts, and testified to her magnificent [pianistic] ability. Both concert-givers [Becker and Monari-Rocca] always gained copious applause.’ The three concert appearances of Becker and Monari-Rocca in Prague took place on 5/12/1861, 7/12/1861, and 12/12/1861, the second appearance being in a musical soirée arranged by the music society of the Umělecká beseda (Artistic Society).

A detailed review, signed ‘!!’, was published by Prager Zeitung 7/12/1861. The correspondent reported that: ‘The era of the virtuoso is over, but not that of the artist. He who takes the oath before the banner of the latter will always find a friendly reception. In the present concert season, where already six pianists have rendered halls and theatres unsafe, yesterday’s concert, given in the Konvikt Hall by Messrs Jean Becker, Konzertmeister of the Grand Duke of Baden, and J. Monari-Rocca, the Italian opera singer from the Teatro della Scala in Milan, came as all the more welcome as, in saluting the two performers, we greeted two artists proficient in their spheres. We can only be astonished that the reputation of the violinist Jean Becker has only recently reached us from Leipzig, as he proved himself a master of the first rank on his instrument. He is fluent in every style of playing - and, as is well known, for the violin these are myriad. Faced with the most fabulous technical difficulties, he trifles with them as a giant with a child’s toy. In particular he demonstrates bowing that is both energetic and daring and a large, expansive sound, the production of which did not require the trembling movement of the fingers that is so popular here, since the elastic muscles of the finger tips and joints are in his case more than adequate tools for the job. What is most remarkable is his exploitation of the diverse bowing techniques and their concurrent application to create combined sounds, while the left hand plucks pizzicato notes on other strings. His performance of Kaskade by Koutski was a real work of art, with tremolo bowing throughout, in which the bow often skips daemonically on two strings simultaneously that are separated by a third, for instance on the G and A strings. With every bow the sound of the principal motif sounded out four times in flighty and rapid vibrations, while for the most part the tonic note of the chord, either above or below, formed an accompaniment. Grander and truly stunning was his rendering of Paganini’s great fantasia Nel con piu non misento. Even the theme, produced with ease by the bow, amazed on account of the pizzicato accompaniment, often on two strings. In a subsequent variation this simple accompaniment was developed into a multiplicity of independent figures that often appear contrapuntally, and even into fast scale passages in which the first and third degrees are played staccato with the bow, the second and fourth pizzicato by the left hand alone. If these two pieces allowed the soloist’s virtuosic facility to appear in the most dazzling lustre, then his artistry was proved in his reading of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and the Sonata in D [minor] by Schumann. The life he could bring to a cantilena [suggested translation - the translation of this sentence beginning ’Welches Leben er einer getragenen Kantilena einzusumsen vermag...’ is problematic], was evident in Vieuxtemps’ Elegy. Here we gave credence to the lyrical tone of Vieuxtemps himself, which Jean Becker seems well equipped to comprehend. Mr Becker had in Mr Monari-Rocca a good companion. The singer has a fine-sounding, sonorous baritone of unusual mellowness. His singing method impressed us repeatedly, in that in Italy there are only good singers, and that bad ones are only found on stages outside Wälschland. His performance of Camoen’s aria from Dom Sébastien by Donizetti and from Figaro’s Hochzeit speak unreservedly of his qualities as an opera singer. He also sang the Cavatina David before Saul by Bordese (an Italian maestro now living in Paris) in French, and the duet of Belisar and Irene from Donizetti’s Belisar with Miss Brenner. Miss Brenner performed the Karneval von Venedig with her usual virtuosity, [including] a variation by Massé not heard here before, in which the singer, in addition to asserting the proficiency of her throat as an instrument, used the unrivalled richness of her voice to give a beguiling imitation of the contrast between the intensity of the G string and the sonority of the E string of a violin. The orchestral accompaniment of the Mendelssohn concerto was replaced with a piano, entrusted, as also the Schumann sonata, to the pianist Mr Decker. The audience was not large, but was all the more animated. The Kaskade by Koutski and the aria from Figaro’s Hochzeit provoked stormy demands for repeats.’