Scan 36
Groves Dictionary Of Music And Musicians,vol.2, 1906
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1Breslau Philharmonic Society, where his programmes presented, together with the compositions of the older masters, works by Wagner, Liszt and Berlioz—music not then widely admired or appreciated. In 1860 he made concert tours with Von Bülow and Tausig. In 1862 he organised the Orchester-verein of Breslau, with an orchestra of 80 players, of which he remained director till 1871.
3In that year Damrosch was called to New York to become conductor of the Männer-gesangverein Arion, a leading German male chorus. He made his début there, May 6, as conductor, violinist and composer. Damrosch's active personality and strong musical temperament soon made themselves influential in the musical life of New York. There resulted from them, and his marked ability as an organiser, the foundation in 1874 of the Oratorio Society, a mixed chorus devoted to the performance of oratorios and other works. In 1878 a further result of Damrosch's labours was seen in the foundation of the Symphony Society, for the giving of orchestral concerts. (See Conducting, section on Conducting in America; and New York.) Of both of these Damrosch was elected conductor, and occupied that place until his death. In the season of 1876–77 he officiated as conductor of the Philharmonic Society's concerts.
5In 1880 Columbia College conferred upon him the degree of Mus.D. In 1881 he conducted the first great musical festival held in New York, with an orchestra of 250 and a chorus of 1200. In 1883 he made a successful tour through the western States with his orchestra. Damrosch's compositions, published partly in Germany, partly in the United States, were numerous but unimportant. A list was published in the second edition of this Dictionary.
7Dr. Damrosch was also mainly instrumental in the establishment of German opera at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. This opera-house had been opened the previous year with Italian opera, under the management of Henry E. Abbey; the outcome was disastrous failure financially. Damrosch presented to the directors a plan for German opera of which he would assume the management. He gathered a company of German singers, and organised his campaign with a sagacity that led to a brilliant success. The season opened on Nov. 17, 1884, and ended on Feb. 11, 1885. Damrosch conducted all the representations but the last. The previous day he had contracted a cold, and five days later, while all the city was rejoicing at his achievement, he died.
9His son, (2) Frank Heino (b. Breslau, June 22, 1859), conductor and teacher, came with his father to New York in 1871, having already begun the study of composition and the pianoforte.
11Frank Damrosch at first went into business in Denver, Colorado, but soon devoted himself to music, becoming conductor of the Denver Chorus Club and supervisor of music in the public schools. After his father's death he was chorus-master at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York till 1891. In 1892 he organised the People's Singing Classes in New York for the instruction of wage-earners in sight-reading and choral singing, from which he developed the People's Choral Union, with a membership of 1200, chiefly wage-earners. F. Damrosch was also instrumental in founding the Musical Art Society in New York, of which he was conductor till its discontinuance in 1920, a small chorus of professional singers devoted to the performance of a cappella choral works and the higher class of modern choral music. In 1897 he was made supervisor of music in the New York public schools, and in 1898 succeeded his brother Walter (3) as conductor of the Oratorio Society, founded by their father, continuing in that post till 1912. At various times he conducted choral societies in towns near New York. He resigned most of these posts in 1904 to become director of the Institute of Musical Art in New York, to the development of which he has devoted his time since then. He has written Some Essentials in the Teaching of Music (1916) and A Popular Method of Sight Singing (1894). In 1904 he received the degree of Mus.D. from Yale University.
13Another son of Leopold Damrosch, (3) Walter Johannes (b. Breslau, Jan. 30, 1862), is an eminent conductor. He was devoted to music from his childhood, and studied composition and the piano in Germany and in New York, whither he was brought by his father in 1871. When Dr. Damrosch began his season of German opera at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1884, Walter became assistant conductor, and after his father's death was continued in that post under Anton Seidl. He succeeded his father as conductor of the Oratorio and New York Symphony Societies. He was active in the former till he resigned in 1898, and in the latter, with a brief interval owing to its temporary discontinuance, till the present time. In 1894 he organised the Damrosch Opera Company with German singers, which gave performances in New York and many cities throughout the country for five years. In 1899 he retired from his work as a conductor to devote himself to composition, resuming it again in the following year, when he became conductor of the German operas at the Metropolitan Opera House for two years. In the season of 1902–03 he was conductor of the New York Philharmonic Society. The following year the New York Symphony Society was reorganised and continued under his direction. With this organ-
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