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The Stage of the 'Forties 81 |
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for tickets? The following advertisement10 represented the standard rate: "Private Boxes 75 cents; Dress Circle 50 cents; Second Tier 50 cents; Pit 25 cents; Boxes for persons of Color 30 cents; Gallery 20 cents." Prices varied somewhat for minstrel shows and for ballets and pageants, with an occasional record rate11 such as the Herz and Sivori concert, when the announcement read: "One person $1. Five persons without regard to sex $3."
2.
The winter seasons abounded in concerts both amateur and professional. Among the former were subscription concerts by the Choir of St. Xavier Church, by the Amateur Vocal Society, the Amateur Musical Society and the Philharmonic Society.12 In their programs classical music was interspersed with sentimental ditties, a culmination of the "musical soirees" given in numerous residences. It was doubtless amateur programs such as these that suggested "Foster's Social Orchestra/' a collection of "Popular Melodies, arranged as Solos, Duets, Trios, and Quartets by Stephen C. Foster,"13 published in 1854.
There is every likelihood that Stephen heard the brilliant performances in July 1847, given by Henry Herz, pianist, and C. Sivori, violinist, inasmuch as we have the word of a contemporary14 that these "artists of the highest distinction favored him with their friendship." As a special feature of their farewell |
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