LISZT Symphonic Poem “Triumph and Death of Tasso” WEINGARTNER Symphony No. 2, E flat major GLÜCK Overture “Iphigenia” MOZART Overture “Zauberflöte” WEBER Overture “Oberon” He was well received by the audience and by the critics, one of whom wrote thus: _Public Ledger_, February 17th, 1905: “WEINGARTNER CONCERT” GERMAN COURT CONDUCTOR’S FIRST APPEARANCE HERE DIRECTS PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA IN HIS OWN “SECOND SYMPHONY” AND OTHER WORKS “One of the incidental advantages of a permanent concert orchestra is the opportunity afforded from time to time to invite distinguished musicians to conduct performances of their own compositions, or of other works for which they may have a particular penchant. We had an interesting example of this last season in the concerts of the Philadelphia Orchestra at which Richard Strauss directed that expert band of executants in his own interpretation of some of his tone poems. Last evening in the Academy of Music, Felix Weingartner—less widely known as a composer than as a chief orchestral authority in Germany at the present day—similarly conducted the orchestra in a performance of his latest symphony, with an accompanying programme of his own choice, representing classic, romantic and modern music. “In the remarkable organization of accomplished and enthusiastic musicians which has grown up within a few seasons under Fritz Scheel’s masterful direction, the leader of the Berlin Court Orchestra found a perfect instrument of expression ready to his hand. It is not, of course so large an orchestra as that to which he is accustomed, but there could be no doubt that it played the music exactly as the conductor wished it played. While last evening’s concert was thus in one sense a glorification of the Philadelphia Orchestra and its distinguished leader, the interest of the occasion was centered entirely in the guest and what he might have personally to express. “Herr Weingartner is a tall, slim man, erect and precise, but with a winning personality that puts him at once in harmony both with the orchestra and his audience. His manner in conducting is usually quiet and firm, but he employs a great variety of detailed gesture that is expressive and obtains its results. He plays everything with a strongly marked accent, with more care for clarity and precision than for suavity, and makes very strong and abrupt contrasts with tremendous climaxes and with sharp periods. There is not a great deal of attention to grace of phrasing or delicacy of nuance, but evidently the strong effects he gets are what he thinks important.”