Scan 34
Musical Courier 1895-12-25: Vol 31 Iss 825, 1895
55 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026. Printed page 35. See the scan on archive.org.
A town on its own line is one of the directory's headings. That is where the town on a maker's page comes from.
1CINCINNATI
2MUSICIANS.
4THERE was a time when Cincinnati was truly "the musical centre of the West."
6That much hackneyed expression has clung to the city through thick and thin, through periods of barren inactivity as well as times of intense musical enthusiasm and actual accomplishment. Paradoxical as it may seem, the progress of music in Cincinnati has been seriously hampered by the very outbursts of musical activity that have from time to time called the attention of the musical world to the city.
8Cincinnati has been fortunate in having almost from the beginning the elements of a sound musical community. A considerable proportion of her inhabitants are Germans or of German descent, while the New Englanders, who have made fortunes on the banks of the Ohio, were for the most part representatives of that better element of Yankeeland, the class that has done so much for art in Boston.
10The Germans, with natural love for music, and the Yankees, with their keen business instincts, combined to lay the foundation of the great festivals that are still identified with this city.
12The early efforts toward musical advancement were naturally restricted to oratorio, the legacy of our English ancestry. Early in the 40's the German influence began to be felt.
14In 1844 the German Liedertafel, conducted by Carl Barus, came into existence. There had been German singing societies before the Liedertafel, but it is to be feared that music played a second part in most of them. The Liedertafel, the Schweizerverein and other small societies formed the nucleus of a National Saengerbund of North America, which held its first "Fest" in Cincinnati in 1849.
16That event may be regarded as one of the landmarks of the musical history of the city, if not of the West. The May Festivals are a direct outcome of this union of German singing societies. It may be interesting to note in passing that this same Saengerbund will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the first Saengerfest held in America in Cincinnati in 1899 by a festival of vast proportions.
18National Saengerfests were held here in 1851, 1853, 1856, 1870, and 1879. The idea of these great festivals (the Saengerfest of 1870 had a chorus of 2,000) was readily appreciated by the men of business who were anxious to push Cincinnati to the front.
20The day of "booms" and of expositions was at hand. The success of the great commercial enterprises had to be reflected in the artistic development of the city. It was under these conditions that the May Festivals were born. They were first suggested to Theodore Thomas by Mrs. Maria L. Nichols, now Mrs. Bellamy Storer, who is also the founder, by the way, of the now famous Rookwood Pottery. Theodore Thomas was just the man to take hold of a gigantic enterprise such as was projected.
22The first May Festival, held in 1873, was in reality nothing but a continuation of the Saengerfest idea, with some of the objectionable features of the latter omitted. The original circular stated that the purpose of the festival was "to elevate the standard of choral and instrumental music and to bring about harmony of action between the musical societies of this country and especially of the West." Hundreds of invitations were sent to different singing societies, asking for their co-operation. Thirty-six societies joined the chorus, 1,083 singers in all, of whom 640 were Cincinnatians. Mr. Thomas brought an orchestra of 108 men from New York, and an organ was built especially for the occasion.
24The first English festival differed from the Saengerfest in that more attention was given to instrumental music than formerly, and that the libations to Gambinus, that often demoralized the German festivals, were omitted. The principal compositions performed were Händel's Dettingen Te Deum, Beethoven's C minor symphony, scenes from Gluck's Orpheus, Schumann's symphony in C, and his chorus, Gypsy Life; Beethoven's Choral Symphony, Mendelssohn's The First Walpurgis Night, and Liszt's symphonic poem, Tasso. About $50,000 had been raised to guarantee the expenses of this festival, and the deficit amounted only to $350.
26A second festival on similar lines was held two years later, and the deficit had changed to a profit of $1,500.
28Several efforts had been made in the meantime to establish an orchestra. The Philharmonics, instituted as far back as 1857, had a short existence. Just previous to Theodore Thomas' advent in Cincinnati, in 1872, an orchestra of serious purpose was started by Mr. George Brand, who was soon succeeded by Mr. Michael Brand and Mr. Louis Ballenberg.
30Cincinnati was by this time a very hotbed of musical excitement. The College of Music was endowed, and Theodore Thomas was asked to take the musical directorship. "Its purpose," said Mr. Thomas' letter of invitation, "is to establish an institution equal to the great conservatories of Europe, and to establish a permanent orchestra." The founders of the College of Music had laid their plans wisely. The establishment of a great conservatory was to go hand in hand with the creation of an orchestra. The Brand-Ballenberg orchestra was merged into the new orchestra that Thomas formed shortly after his arrival.
32But the building and maintaining of a symphony orchestra, necessary as it is as the foundation, the fountain head of all sound musical progress, did not meet the requirements of those whose ideals were confined to the immediate "booming" of Cincinnati. Something must be done to attract the attention of the world and challenge admiration. It was under these conditions that the May Festivals grew in importance and the opera festivals came into existence.
34Theodore Thomas was at the head of every branch of musical enterprise in the city. Had Mr. Thomas had a conservative, restraining influence behind him Cincinnati's musical future would have been vastly changed. Instead of starting all over again on a firm footing in 1895, after years of disheartening inactivity, we might have accomplished something of enduring importance. But this utopian dream was not to be.
36Mr. Thomas became a resident of Cincinnati in 1878. He had at his disposition the May Festival Association, the College of Music and an orchestra. He soon gathered about him some able lieutenants. Otto Singer was called to the College of Music and appointed assistant conductor of the festival.
38The musical sky at this moment was wonderfully clear. The public stood ready to support the most ambitious projects. Col. George Ward Nichols, a man of extraordinary executive ability, had been the prime mover in the festival as well as in the establishment of the college, of which he was chosen president. In will power and unbending energy he was the equal of Theodore Thomas. Both were dominating and aggressive. A clash between the two dictators was inevitable.
40When it came Theodore left the College of Music and the city. The public was divided in its sympathies. The Festival Association stood by its director and Colonel Nichols severed his connection with the association. The college and the Festival Association were hereafter absolutely and irrevocably separated.
42Colonel Nichols immediately started a plan to eclipse the May Festivals. He proposed an opera festival on a scale that had never before been attempted in America. He found ready support. The project was a dazzling one. A huge operatic chorus was organized from the ranks of the Cincinnati Maennerchor, the Cincinnati Choral, the Germania Maennerchor, the Welsh Chorus and the College Choir. It will be noticed that even here the German predominated. Otto Singer and Max Maretzek were the local conductors, while Arditi was appointed conductor-in-chief. The irrepressible Colonel Mapleson furnished most of his soloists, the most noted of whom were Etelka Gerster, Annie Louise Cary, Del Puente and Novara. The orchestra numbered 100. The festival opened February 21, 1881, with Lohengrin. Other works given were The Magic Flute, Mefistofele, Lucia, Aida, La Sonnambula, Faust and selections from Moses in Egypt. Popular enthusiasm bordered on frenzy. It was a musical revival the like of which had never been seen in this portion of the globe.
44The following year a similar festival was held and Adelina Patti held the place of honor. Minnie Hauck, Emma Juch and Marie Vachot were among the other newcomers. The repertoire was The Huguenots, Carmen, Fidelio, William Tell, The Magic Flute, Lohengrin and parts of Aida, Il Trovatore and Faust. Miss Dora Hennings, student at the college, sang Fidelio. Of her reception by the press one of the spectators afterward wrote: "If one of the critics ventured a statement in one sentence, he wept tears of repentance for his rashness in the next, so that the débutante must yet be at a loss to know exactly what was thought of her highly creditable beginning."
46This illustrates well the spirit that was abroad. The untamed spirit of "boom at any cost" had fastened itself to the May Festivals as well as to the opera festivals, and in the case of the former has been continued to this day. So much so in fact that when Mr. H. E. Krehbiel, the music critic of the New York Tribune, and the staff critic of the Cincinnati Times-Star ventured to talk plainly of the results of the last festival in '83, the old guard rose in arms and filled the sympathetic papers with virulent letters of protest. It is this spirit, technically known as "the festival spirit," engendered by twenty years of intermittent "booms," that has done much to retard the real advancement of music in Cincinnati.
48But to return to the opera festivals. A third great festival was given in '83, and the climax was reached in '84 when Christine Nilsson, Sembrich, Lablache, Trebelli, Scalchi, Fursch-Madi, Campanini, Victor Capoul, Del Puente, Novara, and a dozen other celebrities were brought together for a two weeks' festival, to cost $150,000. Vianesi and Cleofonte Campanini conducted. At the festival the limit was reached. To eclipse the operatic festival of '84 was an impossibility, and the attempt was never made. The operas given were Faust, le Prophète, Lucia, la Gioconda, Il Trovatore, Don Giovanni, la Sonnambula, Mignon, Robert le Diable, Hamlet, Martha and Mefistofele.
50During the festival the great Ohio flood, like the musical public's enthusiasm, was at its height. Suffering and starvation formed a vivid contrast to the great gatherings in Music Hall. A benefit performance was organized that will be handed down to history. The receipts were $6,250. Sembrich, Nilsson, Trebelli and all the great artists gave their services.
52Opera never flourished from that day in Cincinnati until Walter Damrosch brought his German company here last month. The public had its appetite whetted for the gigantic and the impossible. The successive engagements of the Damrosch (conducted by Walter Damrosch shortly after his father's death), the American and the National Opera companies were but meagrely patronized.
54Shortly after the cast opera festival, Col. George Ward Nichols passed away. The position of musical director at the college was left vacant. Mr. Peter
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