Scan 304
The American history and encyclopedia of music, 1908
8 lines. Read by computer on 11 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1following year he again figures in a benefit concert given by the St. Cecilia Society at Charleston, S. C.
3It is very evident that the organists in the early days had a hard struggle to make both ends meet, for a later organist at Trinity Church, Newport, John Owen Jacobi, wrote to a friend in Philadelphia as follows: "The want of instruments, together with the niggardliness of the people of this place, and their not having the taste for music, render it impossible for any one of my profession to get a competent maintenance here; and their feuds and animosities are so great concerning their government, that a man can take but little satisfaction in being among them."
5In 1796 John L. Berkenhead, who was known as the "blind organist" was appointed to Trinity. He evidently supplemented his meager salary by giving concerts throughout the surrounding country, for his name frequently appears on the concert programs of his time. His star performance seems to have been the rendition on the harpsichord of a composition entitled "Demolition of the Bastile." The Salem Gazette in 1798 published a report of a concert in which it states: "The Bastile, by the Doctor, was admirably played on an elegant harpsichord belonging to a respectable family in that town." According to the advertised programs of concerts in and around Boston, Dr. Berkenhead must have demolished the Bastile many times with the aid of the harpsichord.
7St. Philip's Church, Charleston, S. C., from 1753 to 1764, had as organist Benjamin Yarnold. He was followed by Peter Valton, Yarnold having gone to St. Mary's. In 1765 Valton's name appears associated with two lady vocalists in the giving of a concert, in which the instrumental music consisted of "concertos and overtures—likewise a concerto on the harpsichord." Peter Valton had been an organist in London, England, and on coming to America he found, as did all of our pioneer organists, that he was compelled to supplement his meager salary. This he did by opening a shop for "musical merchandise," selling spinets
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