• Prague Conservatory: participating institution, orch
• DREYSCHOCK, Alexander: soloist, pf
• KITTL, Jan Bedřich: director of institute, conductor
• REMOSANI, Thusnelda: actor / actress / theatre performer

Prager Morgenpost 5/1/1860 published news of this concert and listed the programme in performance order. In addition to the specified musical works a declamation was to be performed by Miss Thusnelda Remosani after Beethoven’s concerto. The cadenzas in this concerto were noted to be Dreyschock’s own.

Der Tagesbote 4/1/1860 prefaced news of this event with the note that Dreyschock had just received a diploma appointing him Court Pianist to the Emperor Franz Josef. This was followed by a listing of the venue, time and programme of the concert. The newspaper then published a review, signed ‘-h.’, on 7/1/1860. This predictably eulogized Dreyschock’s talent as a pianist, but as a composer the text was not wholly effusive; the Overture in D major was criticised for its Mozartean content.

Prager Zeitung first reported Dreyschock’s concert on 5/1/1860 noting that the piano virtuoso to the royal court would give a concert tomorrow at 12 noon in the Sophieninselsaale [Žofín Island Hall], in which Misses Mik [Míková] and Remosani would also be participating. A review of the event, signed ‘!!’, appeared in the periodical on 8/1/1860.

Bohemia 6/1/1860 specified the venue and time of this event in the day’s Tageskalender. The newspaper published a detailed review, signed ‘V.’, on 7/1/1860. This noted the participating orchestra was that of the Conservatory, and that the two concerti and the overture were conducted by Kittl. The declamation given by Remosani was identified as ‘Der Erde Finch und des Himmels Regen by a Viennese poet’. This was identified by other sources as being Saphir, and by the Prager Zeitung 8/1/1860 review as Erdenfluch und Himmelssegens by Seite.

This concert probably constitutes the production referred to in a report published by Dalibor 1/1/1860 which stated that ‘Mr Alex. Dreyschock is arranging in Prague on 8th January before his trip to Russia, one more concert and one soirée for chamber music.’ Either the chamber music soirée did not take place, was a private soirée that subsequently was not reported, or else the Dalibor report was only partially correct in the information it related. A review, unsigned, published by Dalibor 10/1/1860 stated that the ‘Great concert of Dreyschock, which took place on 6th January in the the Hall on Žofín, was an object of wonder and astonishment for the audience.’ The performance began with the beautiful and astutely orchestrated Overture by Dreyschock, which director Kittl with the youthful orchestra of the Conservatory exquisitely performed. After that the concert-giver played the third Concerto (C minor) by Beethoven so flawlessly, so classically, as we would have thought only Beethoven could have. Following a brief interlude in which Miss Remosani gave a declamation Mr Dreyschock played his Nocturne (A-flat major), Romance (D major) and a Fugue (F minor) by Mendelssohn, and on general demanded added the Spinning song by Mendelssohn, after which without any sort of rest he performed Mendelssohn’s Concerto in G minor.’ The critic proceeded to marvel at the pianist’s stamina and then described in detail what might be considered to be the most attractive attributes of his piano style. Particular attention was given to his bravura command of specific technical difficulties, namely of trills, of runs in third and sixths, and of octaves, the review concluding that ‘Dreyschock is without doubt the Alexander the Great of all pianists.’ The pianist was inundated with garlands and bouquets, and each piece received with prodigious applause. Miss Miková it was noted ‘excellently’ performed Schubert’s song ‘Pošta’ [Die Post].

Prager Zeitung 8/1/1860 published a review, signed ‘!!’, of Dreyschock’s concert, relating: ‘For the musical public of Prague, this week was in some ways a rare delight. Hardly had Vieuxtemps taken his leave from the stage at the end of a concert on Monday than the concert given by Alexander Dreyschock on Friday in the Žofín Hall brought with it pleasant surprises. Thus we heard in close succession two artists, each of whom may be called ‘the greatest technical performer of our time’ on their respective instrument. What surprised us with Vieuxtemps, we find in Dreyschock already familiar, because the latter is... [well-known to us and a compatriot]. Thus the most that we could be surprised at would be if his performances were to cease to proliferate in such quantity [combined] with such quality. Yesterday he played the grandiose concerto in C minor by Beethoven, adorned with his own new cadenzas, added by himself and indeed only accessible to him, and also the concerto in G minor of Mendelssohn, a coequal of the former work. In his performance of the Allegro movement, nobody has so far approached him in recent times in the rapidity and clarity of his performing the octave passages. He is equally unmatched in the F-minor fugue of Mendelssohn and in the Rhapsody of Liszt. Of his own piano compositions we heard only two Romances, the one in A flat [major] and the one in D [major], and then only after thunderous demands were we treated to the exorbitant variations on an English hymn written for the left hand alone. In the course of the concert Dreyschock also added the so-called Spinnerlied by Mendelssohn. The piano pieces were separated by the fervent performance by Miss Remosani of the already excessively heard Erdenfluch und Himelssegens by Seite, and by Schubert’s Post - beautiful, but a little slow, sung by Miss Mik. The concert began with an overture by the soloist, which was new to us although according to the programme was already known. The audience comprised mainly the highest social groups and turned out in good numbers, and did not allow any lack of flattering acclamations or indeed gifts of bouquets.’

A review of this event, signed ‘**’, was published by Prager Morgenpost 7/1/1860. The correspondent remarked: ‘A concert by this singular hero among piano heroes now living, whether given in this art metropolis or that, currently enjoys the fullest right to constitute a highlight of the season in which it occurs. This [was] indeed recently the case even at the imperial seat of Vienna, where Mr Dreyschock, whom we are proud to call our compatriot, gave a concert to the highest acclaim. The review of the concert given yesterday at midday in the hall of Žofín Island can do little more than to enumerate the latest triumphs that this renowned artist could celebrate under a storm of general acclaim from a capacity audience of sparkling society. Once again the performer made it manifestly evident that he, governed by a true artist’s vocation and permeated with the purest aesthetic outlook, lives with constant freshness through this time of purely mechanical, dazzling virtuosity, out of which he originates along with so many other artists whose meteoric careers have fallen to earth without trace; and the unfading allure of his artistic performances [is that] even today he has remained true to a direction that places greater value on the inner kernel of virtuosity. This was clear from his dignified performance of Beethoven’s [Piano] Concerto in C minor, and likewise from the cadenza of his own composition interlaced into that work, in which he closely combines a faithful adherence to the style of the work with the consummate skill of latter-day technical illustration. Mr Dreyschock next played his own Nocturno op.120, a salon piece in the manner of Chopin, and then Mendelssohn’s Fugue in F minor and his Romanze op.17. In the final movement of the latter composition, deviating - if we are not mistaken - somewhat from the original [writing in employing octave doubling], the soloist achieved, through his wonderful octave playing, as also in Liszt’s Rhapsodie, a truly masterful rapidity such as could hardly be expected of the piano, which thus heightened the tonal effect. On the other hand, however, the soft and measured sections that he performed, such as in the Spinnerlied included as an extra, and in Mendelssohn’s Concerto in G minor, came over enchanting beyond compare. Notoriously well-known, incidentally, is the ravishing fire of his performance in the finale of this concerto.

Following this, and at the end of the concert, the artist received many gifts of flowers, and only after an encore, the famous Variations for the Left Hand [Variationen für die linke Hand], did the storm of applause die down. The filler pieces of this highly interesting concert comprised a declamation (a poem by Saphir) given by Miss Remosani, and a Lieder performance (Schubert’s Post) by Miss Mik [Miková]. The event opened with a Concert Overture in D by Dreyschock, which, as with the concerto accompaniment, was performed by the pupils of the Conservatory.’

The Spinnerlied by Mendelssohn and Dreyschock’s Variations on God save the Queen were played by the Czech pianist as encores.