• Prague Conservatory: participating institution, orch
• KITTL, Jan Bedřich: director of institute, conductor

Mercy’s Anzeiger 3/3/1857 reported that ‘On Sunday 8th March takes place the first concert of the Conservatory at 12 o’clock in the Konvikt Hall.’ The programme was then listed in projected performance order, together with the participating soloists whose dates that they entered the Conservatory were also noted. An almost identical report appeared in Tagesbote aus Böhmen 3/3/1857. This related: ‘Sunday 8th March this year takes place the first Concert of the Conservatory at 12 noon in the Konvikt Hall. The programme is as follows: First part. 1. Nachtklänge von Ossian. Ouverture by Gade. Variations and Rondo for bassoon by Kalliwoda [Kalivoda], performed by Josef Chalupecký (received [into the Conservatory] in the year 1852). 3. Aria from the opera Johann von Paris, by Boieldieu, sung by opera school pupil Karoline Kropp. 4. Fantasie for violin by Ernst, performed by Johann Hřimali [Hřímalý] (received in the year 1855). Second part. Symphonie (Nr.3 in A major) dedicated to the King of Würtemberg by J.J. Abert (new).’

Lumír 5/3/1857 also published advanced news of this event, announcing that ‘On Sunday 8th March will be the first concert of the local Conservatory, at 12 o’clock in the Konvikt [Hall]. It begins with Gade’s Ossian Overture and concludes with the Symphony in A major by our talented countryman Abert, pupl of the Conservatory. Pupils Josef Chalupecký and Jan Hřímalý will play; the first, variations for bassoon by Kalivoda; the second on the violin a Fantasie by Ernst. Pupil Karolina Kropová will sing an aria from Boildieu’s opera „Jan Pařížský“.’

A general review of all three Conservatory concerts given in March and April 1857 was published by Lumír 9/4/1857. The correspondent remarked that the concerts given by the Conservatory stood out from almost all other local concerts through their aptly chosen and perfectly performed programmes, combined with  deeper expression that... [characterizes] the fundamental musicality of our nation. With these characteristics were this year’s three concerts on 8th, 22nd March and 2nd April. Among the instrumental compositions attracted particular attention the Symphony in A major from the deep-thinking Beethoven, Symphony in G minor by capricious Mozart and Symphony in A major of our excellent countryman Abert, in lyrical and deftly worked themes, in varied orchestration and instrumental effects proving himself to be an auspicious follower of Beethoven. In addition we heard the well-turned [ladný] Overture „Nachklänge von Ossian“ of the dreamy [snivého] Gade, then the Overture to King Lear by the fantastic Berlioz, and a romantic Overture by Count z Adelbergů. The performances of all of these works was so tasteful and so precise that some of the old guard of our musicians should give way to these young novices. Of pupils’ solos particularly liked were the bassoonist J. Chalupecký, flautist Václav Strnad, clarinettist Josef Hensl, violoncellist F. Klomínek and oboists V. Ludvík [Ludwig] and V. Dvořák, who difficult, yes conertante compositions slickly and cleanly performed and showed themselves to be worthy pupils of their teachers. A great sensation caused the young violinist Hřímalý, who was accepted into the institute last year, and who with rare ability and bravura performed a Fantasie by Ernst, and together with his master Mr Milder was [curtain-]called. So too were the 12 violinists who performed an adagio and rondo by Bériot in unison. Upon finishing this formidable work, the audience responded with so noisy applause that the pupils had to repeat part of the composition. Less splendid success had however the arias sung by Misses Kropová, Medalová and Soukupová. The fault lies more in impractical education and pedagogical thoughtlessness of their teacher than in the voices of the pupils themselves. All of the young ladies have pleasant and sonorous voices, that of Miss Soukupová especially voluminous and sweet. Nevertheless, their progress is not as great as we would expect from so talented singers. Of all the pupils of this year we prophesy Soukupová to have the prettiest future... [possessing] unmistakable ability and her voice has already has stood examination with complete safety. Finally, it is appropriate for us to praise the director Bedřich Kittl, who has tried everything possible to improve the institute and raise it above others of this type.’

The Lumír correspondent’s criticism of the singing pupils was directed at the incumbent Professor of song, Gordigiani.

A detailed review, signed ‘z.’, was published in Mercy’s Anzeiger 10/3/1857. The correspondent reported ‘The first concert of the year by the Conservatory took place two days ago in the Konvikt Hall. As usual, the first part consisted of solo pieces performed by the pupils, to the great satisfaction of the large audience. A notable talent is the little Johann Hrimali [Jan Hřímalý], who appeared in public, exceptionally, in only the second year of his studies. He performed a Fantasie for violin by [Heinrich Wilhelm] Ernst with a power and bravura that belied his tender years and won him rapturous praise. It seems that this boy has a great future ahead of him. Miss Kropp [Kroppová] also demonstrated a pleasant coloratura in the Princesses’ Aria from Johann von Paris, with a softly attractive voice particularly in the range up to D”. Like Hrimali, she received repeated curtain calls. Mr Chalupecký likewise excelled in his mastery and confidence on the bassoon, [allowing him to obtain] the highest notes available on this instrument. The young orchestra, made up of pupils of the institute under the discreet conducting of the Director, Mr Kittl, performed [Niels] Gade’s Ossian Overture and a new Symphony No.3 by the former Institute pupil J. Abert with great precision. So far as can be gathered from a single hearing, the latter is, for all its difficulties for ensemble playing, a richly-endowed piece that does not lack strokes of genius in invention and excels still more in its orchestration and musical development. In terms of form the composer seems to have borrowed mainly from Mendelssohn... His use of orchestral forces blazes with much-travelled experience; as regards content, the scherzo and the highly-developed finale deserve special mention. The introduction is also very exciting and original.’

Tagesbote aus Böhmen 10/3/1857 also reviewed the concert in detail. The correspondent, signed ‘-h.’, remarked that: ‘On Sunday at lunchtime the Conservatory gave the first in its series of Lent concerts. The two [purely] orchestral works in this first concert comprised a new Overture, Nachklänge von Ossian [Echoes of Ossian] by Nils Gade and a new Symphony by Abert (the third, dedicated to the King of Württemburg). Gade’s Overture (in A minor) is one of the most beautiful in the romantic tone-poem genre: masterfully faithful in its depiction in sound of the subjects it describes, and fascinatingly original without resorting to bizarre effects. Attempting to measure Gade’s work against the textbook form of an overture would be just as fruitless as was always the attempt to squeeze the rhapsodies discovered by Macpherson of the Old Nordic singer who, like Homer, doubted greatly his identity, into a metre more familiar to us. Gade’s ‘Ossian echoes’ is a tone-picture... a piece of real genius with its calmly serious motifs, presented by the great, strong brass instruments, and by the strings, like bards’ harps flowing in full spate. Even the formlessness of the work, alluded to above, is in no sense such a chaotic morass of all its ideas as we once noted in Wagner’s one major aberration, his Faust overture; and although Gade does not join up his motifs in the textbook manner of „first and second subjects, then development, then recapitulation“ and so on, he sets them out broad and clear. What is more, the softly breathed finale, beautifully evoked on a harp and looking back to the introduction, gives a very pleasing final impression.

We are offered less individuality in Abert’s new symphony. Yet the fact that a mind deriving from the powerful forces of the artistic revolution of our times, that is yet still in its earliest creative period should remain so pristine as that of Abert, revealing itself in his symphony through form that is merely an epigone of the classicism of Haydn and Mozart, does not seem to us a good sign... factors that Abert’s work needs to address are the indecisive mood of the piece as a whole, the splitting of the instrumental forces into absurd little groups, the lack of big, clear motifs; the first movement (A major) is based on one only [theme], excessively laboured; the last movement contains more, but they are unclear and undeveloped. The symphony’s best moment is the introduction; the atmosphere of happy cheerful is finely expressed here, and the use of half of the principal subject that follows for the exposition is a successful piece of craftsmanship which enables us to hope that this composer will later have more to offer us. The dull dutiful labour, the harmonic and artistic development, come to the fore in the first and last movements; but the fixed habit of chasing every idea through four or more groups of instruments from top to bottom and back again tends to detract from the overall impression. The scherzo (E major), whose purely formal character is better suited to this technique, makses... the greatest effect: it is fresh, animated, alive, a quality also excellently achieved in the exposition of the first movement – and with very pretty, colourful combinations of instruments. The Andante (E major) lacks emotion; it is a rather cheerful march tempo obtained through a regularly moving bass, varied... in the widest variety of ways, and interrupted only by a brief, half-recitative lyrical [section] (C-sharp minor). The Overture was decisively more successful than the Symphony. Of the [Conservatory’s] music pupils, the opera student Miss Caroline Kropp [Karolina Kroppová] (in the aria of the Queen of Navarra from Johann von Paris), demonstrated a pleasant, trainable voice and a considerable upper range (d”), together with plenty of natural flexibility in smoothness of tone for the coloratura genre. The bassoonist Chalupecký has a particularly beautiful, mellow sound, and the violinist Hřimali [Hřímalý] (admitted only in 1855), excels in purity and firmness of touch, to which the sympathy that always accompanies so young an appearance only added to make his success an especially happy one.’