THE PRESS CLUB ENTERTAINMENT
The entertainment given last night in Steinway Hall under the auspices of the New York Press Club was in every respect a gratifying success. The hall was filled with a truly representative audience, large numbers of prominent men and women who dignify and grace metropolitan life being among the spectators. The gathering, while an elegant one, was by no means formal, for hundreds met who were in daily intercourse, and hence the occasion was as pleasing in its social aspect as in its financial results. The programme was very liberal, but its variety and excellence were so uncommon as to hold the audience to the end, and the performers were freely and warmly applauded, and frequently constrained to return to the stage. The President of the club, Mr. Charles H. Pulham, explained the unavoidable absence of Miss Kellogg, who had kindly volunteered to be present and sing, but who had afterward been compelled to withdraw her promise. Mr. Horatio C. King then opened the entertainment proper with a graceful organ performance, and was followed by the choir of Apollo Bays, who appeared under the direction of their popular teacher, Mr. William Francis Williams, and sang Spofforth,s delightful "Hail, Smiling Morn," and the well-known chorus from "Ernani" in a manner that secured for the vocalists a deservedly cordial round of applause. Mr. S. L. Clemens--"Mark Twain"--was gracefully introduced by the President of the club as an old member, and gave an account of his "Encounter with an Interviewer" and his "Dueling Experiences," which kept the audience in constant laughter. Messrs. A. D. Woodruff, A. T. Hills, G. E. Rockwood, and Jules G. Lumbard sang Hatton's songs "King Witlat's Drinking Horn" and "The Happiest Land" with rare skill, and the warm plaudits which followed them from the stage were general and prolonged. Mme. Pappenheim, always a favorite, was last night received with more than usual heartiness. She sang "Robert, tei que j'aime" so superbly than an encore rewarded her and brought forth Abt's "Gate nacht, mein herziges kind," which the prima donna rendered so acceptably that the audience would have insisted upon hearing her gain but for fear of actual indiscretion. In the second part of the concert Mme. Pappenheim sang Millard's pretty "Waiting" charmingly.Mr. George Werrentrth needed no new test to make him a popular singer, and he rendered Robaudi's "Alla Stella Confidante" in a very tasteful manner, while Mr. F. Boscovitz created a flutter of delight among enthusiastic pianists by his execution of a quaint old composition, "The Village Bell." Mr. Boscovitz afterward gave his "Steinway March." Mrs. Zelda Sequin, a favorite among favorites, not only with the journalistic fraternity, who have always expressed good wishes for her success, but with everybody else possessed of taste and feeling, raised a whirlwind of applause by her singing of Hullah's "Storm." The excitement could not be stayed by anything less than a ballad, and the lady sand a pretty little Irish song--"I wrote my love a letter." Mr. Castle, the distinguished tenor, was greeted as another welcome friend, and he sang Salaman's "Celia" with capital effect. In the second part of the programme Mrs. Sequin and Mr. Castle sang very sweetly together in the famous duet between Manrico and Azucena from "Il Trovatore." Mr. Jules Lumbard's noble voice was heard to good advantage in Ricci's "Here upon my vessel's deck," and he was generously applauded. Mr. A. P. Burbank, one of our most skillful elocutionists, gave everybody a chance to laugh heartily at "Schneider's Account of the Performance of Leah," and Mr. Charles Roberts in his wonderful recitation of Poe's "Bells," made it almost possible to forget that the poem had even been thought hackneyed. Mr. Roberts was compelled to return at its close, and he then recited and sung the comic ditty from the Bab Ballads--"The Yarn of the Nancy Brig." Mr. Werranrath next interpreted a sprightly composition by Mr. Horatio C. King, to words by Mr. Bayard Taylor, with great vivacity, and Mr. William Carleton, whose beautiful voice has been admired for some years, already, on the operatic state, sung Faure's "Rameaux" with fine effect. The quartets "When evening's twilight" and "Sailor's Song," by Harton, rendered by Messrs. Woodruff, Rockwood Hills, and Lumbard, concluded the entertainment, which was certainly one most creditable to all the artists concerned in it, and a thoroughly satisfactory and memorable one for the club under whose auspice it was given.
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