Scan 13
Musical Courier 1897-07-14: Vol 35 Iss 906, 1897
88 lines. Read by computer on 21 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 14. 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.
1Music in Philadelphia.
32043 CHESTNUT STREET,
4PHILADELPHIA. July 10, 1897.
6LIKE many of my confrères of THE COURIER, I find my letter writes itself quite as easily now that I am out of town. The country will often afford a healthy bit of criticism.
8There is a story told of a good old lisping clergyman of Virginia who was low church enough to have an objection to any unnecessary manoeuvres in service. He had a summer parish among the mountains, where the singing of an anthem during the offertory had been introduced in his absence. The good clergyman remonstrated in vain, so one Sunday he took the plate, waited patiently until the flowery anthem was finished and then said: "Dear friend, don't you think that it a lot of futh to make over eleven thenth? Let uth pray."
10One of the ancient institutions dear to true Philadelphians is the Musical Fund Society. Within a year or so a history of the society up to 1858 has appeared, the material for which was collected and partly arranged by the late Louis C. Madeira, and finished and edited by Philip H. Goepf.
12With apologies and thanks to Mr. Goepf, I am going to draw upon his book for much of the information in this letter. The book is interesting. It is a pleasing, kaleidoscopic record of times of conscious preparation for what is excellent in music; of manly, systematic effort to establish a foster home for music; of the hearty welcome accorded to its master interpreters, and all this in spite of the Quaker traditions and their indifference to the art.
14The essence of Philadelphia is in the history of its music. The lack of spring, of life, electricity, buoyancy, can be felt in those past years as the high-spirited exile in Philadelphia feels it to-day, but a certain deep respectability and earnest desire to advance the interests of good musicians are evidently so strong as to be a surprise to the modern Philadelphian. No gossip, no immortal scandal, as in Mr. Walpole's matchless epistles, but a naive and artless discussion of almost Utopian ideas, discouragement, vanity, extravagant elation or financial troubles in the early records, which make a most diverting history.
16To go back a little. At the close of the eighteenth century Quaker influence was still dominant and music had received but scant encouragement, except from a few broad minded men such as Bishop White or from the personal friends of musicians. In 1809 the Haydn Society was formed with eighty ladies and fifty gentlemen. An early announcement tells us that the object of the society "has been for many years to introduce and improve themselves in psalmody." To which the author remarks that they might have studied rhetoric also.
18Other societies sprang up, fostered in many cases by churches, Episcopal or Presbyterian, and in 1815 a concert was given at the Tabernacle Church for the benefit of the poor which yielded the handsome sum of $1,017.95. At this time, 1815, a group of musicians such as Benjamin Carr, Raynor Taylor, C. F. Hupfield, Benjamin Cross and others were gradually forming the nucleus of what became, in 1820, the Musical Fund Society, of Philadelphia. Their avowed purpose was to introduce the best music they could get, and they followed their intention with energy worthy of the cause. As an excuse and at the same time a means of life the society made it a secondary object to enlist the purses of a choice few of the non-professional but music loving public, whose subscriptions and fees should place the society on a firm financial basis, and what was quite as important, should establish a fund for the aid of "decayed musicians."
20London had a fund for the help of such monstrosities at that time. Would a musician or any one else ever present himself as a "decayed" member even for pecuniary benefit? Will the New England Conservatory perhaps tell us when an artist may legitimately blossom, ripen and decay? So, as I said, or meant to say, the society came into existence with a name, a constitution and by-laws in 1820. A goodly representation of the medical and legal professions was on the list of directors: William Strickland, the architect; Thomas Sully, the painter, and many honored and well-known names were on the first membership list, which numbered eighty-four. I quote: "The even distribution of names among the several professions is no weak test of the homogeneous quality of musical taste and culture. It is very doubtful if to-day the love of music is equally widespread. There could have been in those days none of the pride in musical ignorance which it is common to see boasted. On the other hand, musical cliques were probably less marked."
22The early programs are of more credit to the society than the later ones. A taste for oratorio grew up, and for a number of years the society produced The Creation, Elijah, Messiah and other such works with increasing success. These were, in fact, great undertakings in those days, with incomplete orchestra, scarcity of orchestral scores and trained musicians. Strange as it may seem, the music loving Moravians at Bethlehem, Pa., had produced The Creation almost entire in 1811, eight years before the first entire performance in America by the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston.
24The Musical Fund Society produced it in 1822, borrowing but three trombonists from Bethlehem for the occasion. The admission was $1, with programs at 12 1/2 cents. A Mrs. French, pupil of Benj. Carr, sang at this performance with unquestioned triumph. Mrs. French was a most popular singer and, according to the author of my history, the inspirer of many a laudatory verse. On a former occasion, while Mrs. French was singing in Washington Hall, the ceiling fell about the ears of singer and audience, which was the occasion of the following appreciative lines from a local newspaper critic:
26'Tis said that Orpheus played so well,
27He raised Eurydice from Hell;
28And St. Cecilia sang so clear
29That angels leaned from Heaven to hear.
31But our Cecilia far excels
32These fabled feats. Her trills and swells
33Enchant the vaulted roofs and walls,
34Until the azure ceiling falls.
36The society seemed to have a prejudice against certain things, for instance, a by-law was passed early in its history by which no lady who was a professional singer could become a member without a letter of recommendation from some matron of established position. The society met in the old Carpenter's Hall and various other places, used candles for lighting, gave their concerts and grew popular, until no later than 1824 their great hope was realized and Musical Fund Hall, almost as it stands to-day, was built on Locust street, near Eighth. Alterations in 1847 enlarged the hall, and moved the stage from the north to the south end.
38The hall is worthy of notice and has been mentioned before in my letters. It is unsurpassed in acoustic properties by any hall in the country, and by few in the world. Its dimensions and structure have been copied in other buildings, but without a similar result. It is a bare, flat roofed building, 106 feet long, 60 feet wide and 26 feet high, with a seating capacity of 1,500. William Strickland was the architect.
40The dedication concert took place in the new hall December 29, 1824. The program is exceptional for the times. Händel's name stands on it four times, Mozart's twice with the Dettingen Te Deum for Part I. There were analytic comments for each piece of music, with the full text of the words and a little sermon from the directors at the end, exhorting the public to become worthy of such a temple of art and patting themselves with pardonable pride.
42And so the musical education of our city, once fairly begun, progressed with commendable speed. In 1825 an "academy" was established for orchestral instruction, intended as a "feeder" for the regular orchestra. A fine plan! The next year a scheme was set forth for publishing a quarterly journal of arts. The academy languished through seven years and died. A similar idea was born again sometime in the forties, again took shape and died. The journal never arrived at its first number. To quote again, "perhaps it was smothered in the pomp of preparatory detail."
44Yet very much had already, in the early thirties, been accomplished. The society had made "classic" music popular and fashionable, had enlisted wealth on the side of a half-despised art, had helped musicians in misery, had started or renewed the crusade against hats in the concert room and had done many other good things. In fact, the society had almost become of more importance than the city.
46The death of Benj. Carr in 1831 removed one of the most active and musicianly workers of the society. He is honored with a monument in St. Peter's, whose inscription speaks eloquently of the man. Raynor Taylor was organist in that church for years. The society was representative of the best in the city, not only in ancestry, but in wit and genius.
48In 1827 the first of many similarly auspicious and stirring events occurred in the visit to the city of Madame Malibran, June 16. She was the first of a long list of illustrious singers, violinists and pianists who won glorious triumphs in our wonderful hall, or "saloon," as they termed it then, and unlike many of them her triumph here preceded her European successes. She was announced as Signorina, and gave two concerts in which Mozart, Haydn, Gluck and Rossini were represented. The acoustic properties of the hall so pleased Madame Malibran that it is said she walked up and down the empty hall after the concert extemporizing as she walked.
50The brilliant period, however, so far as the visitation of great European talent lends lustre to a period, was not to come for many years, with the concerts of Sontag, Grisi and Lind. As far as home talent was concerned, I think the period of best work was the early period when the German oratorio masters were so zealously studied. The later programs of florid Italian music seem not to indicate so healthy a musical taste. But I will wait until another week for discussing that.
52M. FLETCHER.
54Apollo Sixteen at Larchmont.—The Casino at Larchmont is to have a series of subscription musicales this season, to which all the élite of the place have subscribed, and which promise to add an additional attraction to that favorite near-by summer resort.
56The first was given on Wednesday evening, June 23, with the Apollo Sixteen and Mr. Hans Kronold, violincellist. After the delightful rendition of the program the floor was cleared, and Bent's orchestra invited all to the dance, which was kept up to the "wee sma' hours." "A good time" was enjoyed by all. These concerts are under the direction of Mr. W. R. Chapman, conductor of the Apollo Club, and at the next one, to be given July 14, Madame Methot and the Richard Arnold String Sextet will take part.
58The Kaltenborn-Beyer-Hane String Quartet.—Mrs. Louise B. Kaltenborn announces that the new circulars of the popular Kaltenborn-Beyer-Hané String Quartet are now out and may be had upon application. These pamphlets contain a full account of the remarkable success of this new organization, with numerous press notices of their excellent work.
60Mrs. Kaltenborn is already booking engagements for the quartet for next season, and is in correspondence with colleges, clubs, societies, churches, &c., which work they make a specialty of, having in readiness a large repertory of both classical and popular music. The quartet has a number of summer engagements to fulfill, such as afternoon soirées and several evening concerts.
62Joseph S. Baernstein,
63BASSO.
64Concert, Oratorio, Opera.
65For Terms and Dates address one of two readings
66For Terms and Dates one of two readings
67address one of two readings
68117 West 61st Street,
69New York.
71A NATIONAL SCHOOL OF MUSIC
72Endowed and Incorporated
73Superior advantages to students.
74Dean of the Faculty:
75Send for a Catalogue!
76FRANK VAN DER STUCKEN.
78Katherine Kautz,
79PIANIST.
80CONCERTS and RECITALS.
81Address:
82Care THE MUSICAL COURIER.
83CHARLES MEEHAN
84Soprano Soloist.
85Returned from Europe.
86Concerts at Paris, London, Berlin, Munich, Lisbon.
87128 East 26th Street, New York.
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