Besprechung des Konzerts vom 19.2.1904 mit der 9. Symphonie in The Chicago Tribune Nr. 44 auf S. 6:
"          CHICAGO ORCHESTRA CONCERT.

What's in a Name?
     Now of a verity is there much of magic in a name. This was doubly demonstrated at the concert of the Chicago orchestra yesterday afternoon in the Auditorium–once pleasantly and once not so pleasantly. The name of Schumann-Heink drew to the great hall an audience which left not a seat in box, parquet, balcony, or gallery unoccupied. Over 3,700 persons heard the concert–over 700 were turned away, unable to purchase tickets. Such was the pleasant demonstration of "what's in an name." The name of Bruckner caused these 3.700 persons to listen in patient, long suffering to a piece of tedious music which endured for fifty-five wearisome minutes, and to applaud when the trial was at an end. Such was the less commendable demonstration.
     And yet it is well the tiring Bruckner was coupled with the delighting Schumann-Heink. By the saving grace of the singer's presence another filled house is assured for tonight. Were such attraction lacking, certain it is that none who endured the symphony yesterday afternoon would counsel any save their enemies to hear it this evening
     There may have been those in the audience yesterday who did not find the three movements of Bruckner's ninth symphony tedious almost beyond endurance, but certainly their number was small. The visible diligence with which not only every annotation but every advertisement in the program book was read and reread by the great mass of hearers proved more conclusively than all argument how uninteresting and how nerve wearing the last movement of this interminable work seemed to them. It is possible that it is a part of our mental, physical, and psychical well being that in the course of our symphony concerts we should be brought to hear the compositions of every writer whose name is proclaimed in public places, and whose ability to put notes on music paper is abundant. But it is earnestly to be hoped that so far at least as Bruckner is concerned the patrons of the Chicago orchestra concerts have done their duty. We have endured four of his symphonies in the last six years–please, Mr. Thomas, is there not somebody else it would be "good for us" to hear? Anybody will be preferable to more Bruckner!
     The "Walkürenritt," the "Waldweben," and the "Siegfried" Funeral March were as sunshine, spring blooms, and fragrant zephyrs after the Bruckner darkness, and they alone made the afternoon well worth while. Mme. Schumann-Heink appeared in all the charm of her vocal and personal geniality [...].
                                                  W. L. HUBBARD." (*).

 

Nicht sehr viel besser, aber kürzer, fällt die Besprechung in The Inter Ocean Nr. 333 auf S. 6 aus:
"           MUSIC AND THE THEATERS.
     [... Ernestine Schumann-Heink...]. She was obliged to lift a magnificent audience out of a quasi-somnolent state, into which it had been plunged by one of the most tiresome and least interesting compositions Mr. Thomas has yet included in one of his programs.

     An unfinished symphony, in D minor, written by Anton Bruckner, was the direct cause of the lethargic state into which the audience sank. Unfinished it certainly was, and had it remained unwritten little would have been lost. For an interminable space it wandered aimlessly through sound thematic material, but hopeless elaborations, and reminded one of nothing half so much as an ambitious musician's attempt to cover his lack of inspiration with a whirlwind of noise. It was painfully and notably indefinite in all three movements. Being the first time the work had been performed in this country, to many it was sufficiently disappointing to urge the hope that it will be the last.
     But the good-natured and heavenly gifted German contralto was fully equal to the task, and by the time she had finished [...], the old enthusiasm of the orchestra's following had returned.

     [... über die Gesangsstücke und die weiteren Werke ...].

     The audience filled all the seats save those cut off by the council committee in the upper gallery, and there were between 500 and 1,000 would-be patrons turned away. Tonight Mme. Schumann-Heink will sing again, and the orchestra program will be repeated." [keine Signatur] (**).

 

Amerikanische Erstaufführung der 9. Symphonie [am 19.2.1904 öffentliche Generalprobe] unter Theodor Thomas in Chicago (***).
Außerdem erklingen Werke von Gluck, Mozart, Schubert und Wagner mit der Solistin Ernestine Schumann-Heink (°).

 

The Sydney Morning Herald Nr. 20578 (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) bringt auf S. 6 einen Rückblick auf die Konzertsaison 1903 in England, in dem auch die Aufführung des "Te deum" [am 16.10.1903] erwähnt wird:
"       MUSIC AND DRAMA.
     [... mangelnde Publikumsresonanz bei den Beethoven- und Richard-Strauss-Festivals in London ...]. At the autumnal oratorio gatherings in the provinces we are told that the only important novelty was Elgar's new work, "The Apostles," shortly to be produced by the Royal Choral Society. Bruckner's "Te Deum" (Birmingham) is objected to as the work of a modern dry-as-dust, Wolfrum's "A Christmas Mystery" (Hereford) is declared to be overrated, and Coleridge-Taylor's "Atonement" is regarded as a doubtful quantity. This list of financial failure as regards the great art efforts in the metropolis, and of dubious artistic achievement in the provinces, does not point to 1903 as fruitful in good results. [...]" (°°).