"Indeed, so admirably did the chorus sing, that we hope to hear them in a mass or an oratorio at some future time, being satisfied that they will make a most favorable impression."
From "The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin," Feb. 22, 1873:—
"A company of colored persons appeared at Horticultural Hall last night in Eichberg's opera, 'The Doctor of Alcantara.' The opera was given in a really admirable manner by singers who understand their business, and have vocal gifts of no mean description. The leading soprano, Mrs. Smallwood, has a full, round, clear, resonant voice of remarkable power; and she uses it with very great effect. She sang the music with correctness and precision, and played her part capitally.
"The tenor and bass are both excellent; but, while they display fine voices, they show a want of high training. This is also the single defect of the two subordinate female voices of the company.
"The chorus was very fine indeed; and its performance, like that of the principal singers, proceeded without a flaw or blunder from first to last."
From the Washington correspondent of "The Vineland (N.J.) Weekly," February, 1873:—
"On Tuesday evening it was the good fortune of your correspondent to attend the opera rendered by the 'Colored American Opera Company,' of which I spoke in my last.
"To say that every thing passed off well, simply, would be but faint praise. We all know that the colored race are natural musicians; and that they are susceptible of a high degree of cultivation is evinced by their rendition of the opera on the occasion of which I speak.
"As for the chorus, it is not saying any thing extravagant when I make the assertion, that it has never been excelled by that of any of the professional opera-troupes which have visited this city."
The comments just given, taken, as it may be seen they are, from the principal journals of Washington and Philadelphia, without regard to party bias, would be of little value here, were it not for the vein of candor that runs through them all. In them the writers have tempered very high praise with the faithful pointing-out of such defects as to them appeared in the performances. This is the spirit of true criticism, which, while it ever eagerly seeks to discover all the merits of a performance, fails not also to note, in the interest of true progress, all its errors. Praise, then, from such a source, is praise indeed. Moreover, it is not pretended that our little troupe of amateurs presented a perfect performance. Others of longer experience and of far more pretentious character had not done this. Nor was or is such a thing possible; for, as Pope says in his "Essay on Criticism,"