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THE
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
AN HISTORICAL SKETCH
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THE BOSTON
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
AN HISTORICAL SKETCH
BY
M. A. DeWOLFE HOWE
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
I914
COPYRIGHT, I9I4, BY M. A. DEWOLFE HOWE
ALL KIGHTS RESERVED
Puhlished November igi^
PREFACE
IT is to be said at the outset that this book is
not the work of a musical critic, but of an
editor and annalist. The task has been to con-
struct from a considerable body of record the
story of the Orchestra. Much of the material —
especially in papers relating to Mr. Higginson's
more personal dealings with the enterprise — has
never been in print before. Much has been found
also in the bound volumes of newspaper clippings
about the Orchestra brought together by Mr.
Allen A. Brown and preserved in the Allen A.
Brown Collection at the Boston Public Library.
The critical passages drawn from this source, in
their reflection of the local musical opinion of
the Orchestra in its successive stages, are believed
to contribute an important element to the record.
To Miss Barbara Duncan, custodian of the Allen
A. Brown Collection, the author is indebted for
the preparation of the Appendices at the end of
the volume. To Mr. Ellis, Mr. Walter, and other
members of the staff of Symphony Hall, and to
V
PREFACE
several unofficial friends of the Orchestra, many-
thanks are due for suggestion and advice.
It is a fortunate coincidence that the book can
appear at the time of Mr. Higginson's eightieth
birthday.
Boston, October 15, 19 14.
CONTENTS
I. Preliminary i
II. The Beginnings under Georg Henschel, i88i-
1884 25
III. The Establishing under Wilhelm Gericke,
1884-1889 lOI
IV. The Service of Arthur Nikisch and Emil Paur,
1889-1898 153
V. The Second Term of Wilhelm Gericke, 1898-
1906 182
VI. Dr. Karl Muck, Max Fiedler, and again Dr.
Muck, 1906-1914 209
VII. Conclusions 222
Appendix
A. The Soloists 231
B. The Personnel 242
C. The Repertoire 252
Index 275
ILLUSTRATIONS
Henry Lee Higginson (photogravure) .... Frontispiece
From the bust by Bela L. Pratt, placed in Symphony Hall,
Boston, igil. From a photograph by Curtis £5" Cameron.
The Germania Orchestra 8
Carl Bergmann, Conductor, seated at center.
Carl Zerrahn standing at extreme left.
From a lithograph in the library of the Harvard Musical
Association.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra before the
" Great Organ " in Music Hall. Georg Hen-
SCHEL, Conductor 66
From a photograph by James Notman.
Three Conductors 114
WiLHELM GeRICKE, 1884-1889, 1898-I906.
From a photograph by Elmer Chickering.
Arthur NiKiscH, 1889-1893.
From a photograph.
Georg Henschel, i 881-1884.
From a photograph.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra in Symphony
Hall, Boston, 191 3. Dr. Karl Muck, Conductor 192
From a photograph by Newcomb ^ Robinson.
The Six Concert-Masters 204
BeRNHARD LiSTEMANN, 1881 iSSj.
From a photograph.
Willy Hess, 1904— 1907, 1908-1910.
From a photograph by Garo.
ix
ILLUSTRATIONS
Franz Kneisel, 1885- 1903.
From a photograph by Gassford, New Tork.
Carl Wendling, 1907- 1908.
From a photograph by Garo.
Anton Witek, 191 o-
From a photograph by Garo.
E. Fernandez Arbos, 1903-1904.
From a photograph.
Three Conductors 216
Karl Muck, 1906-1908, 1912-
From a photograph by Garo.
Max Fiedler, 1908-1912.
From a photograph by Garo.
Emil Paur, 1893-1898.
From a photograph by Notman Photograph Company.
THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
THE BOSTON SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA
I
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ABOUT twenty years ago the amusing Max
Beerbohm wrote an essay on " 1880," as a
year already so remote that it should be subjected
to the historical method of treatment. "To give
an accurate and exhaustive account of that pe-
riod,'* he said, "would need a far less brilliant pen
than mine." Perhaps it is better that the compre-
hensive narrative should remain a little longer
unwritten. But before it is too late to profit by
personal memories, there are many pieces of the
story to be told.
One of them has to do with the Boston Sym-
phony Orchestra, which was established in 1881.
It is a local matter, and it relates to the single art
of music. But it is also much more than a local
matter, since the Orchestra has exerted a wide-
spread influence ; and it relates to more than one
I
BOSTON/SyMPHONY ORCHESTRA
art, since the founding and maintenance of the
Orchestra have exemplified a spirit applicable to
many opportunities for enriching the life of a
community and a country. Regarding the Orches-
tra, then, as the flourishing plant which, since
1 88 1, it has grown to be, we should look first of
all at the soil in which it was planted — and at
the planter.
The musical history of Boston before the mid-
dle of the nineteenth century is a somewhat bar-
ren field of study. The earlier Puritans did little
or nothing to cultivate music. Indeed, they con-
fined the practice of the art so strictly to psalmody
that the development of Boston into a home of
the best music may be counted one of the anom-
alies of evolution. The first considerable organ-
ization of music-lovers in Boston owed its origin
to a religious and patriotic occasion — the Peace
Jubilee in King's Chapel on the conclusion of the
War of 1 812. From the excellent choir of Park
Street Church and from other sources a chorus
was brought together for the singing of portions
of the "Creation," the "Messiah," and other
works appropriate to the celebration of peace,
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and from this chorus the Handel and Haydn So-
ciety was formed in 1 8 1 5. " The ambitious char-
acter of the society," writes Mr. Louis C. Elson
in his "History of American Music," **is indi-
cated by the fact that, in 1823, it wrote to Bee-
thoven offering him a commission to write an
oratorio especially for its use." The commission
was never executed, though an entry in one of
Beethoven's notebooks shows that he intended to
do something about it.
For the most part the town relied for its music
upon what it could provide for itself — and that
was not much. In 1837a seceding society, " The
Musical Institute of Boston," sought to divide
the field of oratorio with the Handel and Haydn.
It is a curious circumstance that musical journals
— the "Euterpiad" (including the "Minerviad"
for feminine readers), the " Boston Musical Gaz-
ette," and the "Musical Magazine" — existed
in the second, third, and fourth decades of the
last century ; as if to say that music must be dis-
cussed in Boston even when there was least to
provoke remark. The fact is that there were
always amateur musicians, and the amateurs —
3
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
the real lovers — of an art are frequently those
who save it.
So much of the spiritual awakening of New
England is identified with the movement which
expressed its " transcendentalism " in the ** Dial"
and the Brook Farm experiment, that it is inter-
esting to find in the first number of the " Dial "
(July, 1840) an article on "The Concerts of the
Past Winter," by John S. Dwight, soon to be-
come a Brook Farmer, and long to remain the
chief apostle of music in Boston. He described
a concert of the "Amateur Orchestra," assisted
by the " Social Glee Club," and, more than half
prophetic of things to come, wrote : —
This promises something. We could not but feel
that the materials that evening collected might, if they
could be kept together through the year, and induced
to practise, form an orchestra worthy to execute the
grand works of Haydn and Mozart. Orchestra and
audience would improve together, and we might even
hope to hear one day the " Sinfonia Eroica," and the
" Pastorale " of Beethoven. . . . We want two things:
Frequent public performances of the best music, and
a constant audience of which the two or three hundred
most musical persons in the community shall be the nu-
cleus. Good music has been so rare that, when it comes,
PRELIMINARY
those who know how to enjoy such do not trust it,
and do not go.
To secure these ends, might not a plan of this kind
be realized ? Let a few of our most accomplished and
refined musicians institute a series of cheap instrumen-
tal concerts, like the Quartette Concerts, or the " Classic
Concerts" of Moscheles in England. Let them engage to
perform quartettes, etc., with occasionally a symphony,
by the best masters and no others. Let them repeat the
best and most characteristic pieces enough to make
them a study to the audiences. To insure a proper au-
dience there should be subscribers to the course. The
two or three hundred who are scattered about and really
long to hear and make acquaintance with Beethoven
and Haydn, could easily be brought together by such
an attraction, and would form a nucleus to whatever
audience might be collected, and would give a tone to
the whole. ... It might be but a labor of love at the
outset; but it would create in time the taste which would
patronize and reward it.
The fulfilment of some of these dreams for
music in Boston was nearer than Dwight him-
self may have realized. In the winter of 1 840-
41, the Boston Academy of Music, formed in
1833 for educational purposes, gave a series of or-
chestral concerts, at which the symphonies of Bee-
thoven were first heard in Boston. "Some may
yet remember," wrote Dwight in 1870, "how
5
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
young men and women of the most cultured
circles, whom the new intellectual dayspring
had made thoughtful and at the same time open
and impressible to all appeals of art and beauty,
used to sit there through the concert in the far-
off upper gallery, or sky-parlor, secluded in the
shade, and give themselves up completely to the
influence of the sublime harmonies that sank into
their souls, enlarging and coloring henceforth the
whole horizon of their life." To the other orches-
tral concerts which followed in due course upon
this first series, the young enthusiasts of Brook
Farm, as George William Curtis long afterwards
recalled the experience, " would come to town
to drink in the symphonies, and then walk back
the whole way (seven miles) at night, elated and
unconscious of fatigue, carrying home with them
a new genius, beautiful and strong, to help them
through the next day's labors."
The temptation to look carefully at every step
in the local history of music must be resisted. It
is sufficient to say in this place that the Academy
concerts, ending in 1 847, were followed by those
of the Musical Fund Society, and the Germania
6
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Orchestra, an excellent band of travelling musi-
cians, who left Berlin in the upheavals of 1848,
and visited Boston and other American cities from
1849 ^° 1^54- Their personal history and for-
eign origin added a romantic element to the pro-
nounced artistic appeal of their music. The in-
fluence they exerted on musical taste, not only
in Boston but throughout the country, has won
the warmest acknowledgments. Yet the primi-
tive taste of the time is suggested in a bit of
reminiscence preserved by William F. Apthorp
in his annotations upon a Symphony Concert pro-
gramme of 1 896 : —
At one of the public afternoon rehearsals, — for we
had afternoon rehearsals then, as now, — all the seats
on the floor of the Music Hall had been taken up, and
the small audience occupied the galleries. There used
to be no printed programmes at these rehearsals, but
Bergmann [leader of the Germanians] would announce
the several numbers viva voce — often in the most re-
markable English. One of the numbers on the occa-
sion I now speak of was the " Railway Galop," — com-
poser forgotten, — during the playing of which a little
mock steam-engine kept scooting about (by clockwork ?)
on the floor of the hall, with black cotton wool smoke
coming out of the funnel.
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The vagaries of taste, however, did not end
with the fifties. The " Great Organ " was not
installed in the Music Hall till 1863. It lent it-
self, said Mr. Apthorp in the reminiscences al-
ready quoted, to " adventurous combinations. I
remember one evening when a fantasia on themes
from Wallace's * Maritana ' was played as a duet
for mouth harmonica and the Great Organ ; a
combination, as the programme informed us,
* never before attempted in the history of mu-
sic ! ' "
It should be said at once that crudities like
these were sporadic, not typical, and that the soil
was really undergoing a constant and effective
preparation for the flourishing of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra. The Music Hall was built
in 1852, from which time forward it was un-
necessary to ask a visiting Jenny Lind to sing in
the Fitchburg Railroad Station. In the project
of building the Music Hall, as in many other
musical enterprises of the time, the Harvard
Musical Association bore a leading part. This
club, founded in 1837 by a group of young
Harvard men who wished to continue beyond
8
I
^
— <-. as
^■«^^^
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their college days the musical interests which had
brought them together in the Pierian Sodality,
never ceased in its private meetings to nourish a
local devotion to the best music. Its dominat-
ing spirit for more than a half-century was John
Sullivan Dwight. Through his "Journal of Mu-
sic," begun in 1852 and continued until 1881,
the Association, responsible in large measure for
the Music Hall, may be said to have related
itself again to the public. The " Journal " was,
to an uncommon degree, a personal product, —
the utterance of a man wholly devoted to an art
and firm in his belief that it must be practised
and enjoyed according to the severest canons of
classical taste. If this was a personal view, it was
also fairly representative of the Association upon
which Dwight so strongly impressed himself. As
time went on, younger men chafed against his
extreme conservatism ; but now that the period
has passed into history, there can be little doubt
that the Boston community was fortunate in hav-
ing throughout its musically formative years a
leader of taste and opinion whose standards were
so substantial and high as those of Dwight.
9
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The orchestral concerts of the Musical Fund
Society continued until 1855. In 1857, the
Philharmonic Society concerts began, under the
leadership of Carl Zerrahn, one of the musicians
who found his way to Boston with the Germania
Orchestra. These concerts formed an important
link in the chain of which the next link was pro-
vided by the Harvard Musical Association. They
came to an end in 1863 — when martial music
was inevitably drowning out all other. When the
war was over, the Harvard Musical Association
inaugurated, in the season of 1866—67, the series
of orchestral concerts which did not come to an
end till the Boston Symphony Concerts were
firmly established. Carl Zerrahn was the con-
ductor of the Harvard concerts; the orchestra
numbered fifty — the best available local play-
ers. Through the first five or six seasons they
were so successful that a loss of popularity after
this time did not cause any financial loss to the
enterprise as a whole. For the decline in popu-
larity two causes may be assigned : the classical
severity of the programmes, leading, as Mr.
Apthorp has written, to the almost proverbial
10
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phrase of the time, " dull as a symphony con-
cert"; and the revelation of what such concerts
might be that came with the early visits of Theo-
dore Thomas's Orchestra to Boston. It was this,
probably more than anything else, which pointed
the way to still better things, orchestrally, than
Boston had known. Yet it is true that the Har-
vard Musical Concerts were what Mr. Apthorp
has called them — the link between the old and
the new musical Boston ; and because this is so,
it is well to quote Dwight's own words, as the
words of highest authority, about the underlying
aims of these concerts : —
The strength of the enterprise lay in these guaran-
tees : I. Disinterestedness : it was not a money-making
speculation ; it had no motive but good music and the
hope of doing a good thing for art in Boston ; in that
it took up the traditions of the old Academy. i. The
guarantee of the nucleus of fit audience, — persons of
taste and culture, subscribing beforehand to make the
concerts financially safe, and likely to increase the num-
ber by the attraction of their own example. 3. Pure
programmes, above all need of catering to low tastes;
here should be at least one set of concerts in which one
might hear only composers of unquestioned excellence,
and into which should enter nothing vulgar, coarse,
" sensational," but only such as outlives fashion. 4. The
I I
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
guarantee to the musicians both of a better kind of
work and somewhat better pay than they were wont to
find. It was hoped that the experiment would "pave
the way to a permanent organization of orchestral con-
certs, whose periodical recurrence and high, uncompro-
mising character might be always counted on in Bos-
ton." It was in fact a plan whereby the real lovers of
good music should take the initiative in such concerts
and control them, keeping the programmes up to a
higher standard than they are likely to conform to in
the hands of those who give concerts only to make
money.'
The ideals thus described by the authoritative
spokesman for the Harvard Musical Association
were substantially realized in the concerts which
for seventeen years prepared the Boston public
for the orchestra it has now been enjoying for
more than thirty years. The soil was well pre-
pared for the planting. We may now turn to the
planter.
Henry Lee Higginson, born in New York,
November i8, 1834, of the New England stock
which for two centuries before his birth had done
less for the arts than for the virtues, departed
early from the accepted paths of the young men
' Memorial History of Boston, iv, 446.
12
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of his time and station. He ought to have grad-
uated from Harvard College, which he entered
in 1 85 1 with the class to which Alexander Agas-
siz and Phillips Brooks belonged. But lacking
the best of health, he left it after two years. He
ought to have continued — if precedent were to
rule — in the Boston counting-house of S. and E.
Austin, in which he then took employment; but
before the end of 1856, he found himself in
Europe, where he stayed for four years, devoting
himself chiefly to the study of music at Vienna.
Many letters to his father are preserved, and from
these it may be seen that in his early twenties
his views on the place of money-gathering and
spending in the general scheme of life were —
thanks to the example and influence of an unself-
ish parent — definitely formed. From Paris, for
example, he writes to his father, January 21,
1857: " What is money good for, if not to spend
for one's friends and to help them ? You 've done
so all your life — let me do so too while I can,
for it is in me (I have always known it) to be a
close man, a miser. I know about this." This
frank recognition of the personal danger involved
13
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
in the pursuit of money for its own sake — with
its bit of self-analysis reading so strangely after
the lapse of nearly sixty years — is expressed with
some frequency in these early letters. They re-
veal no less clearly the writer's lively interest in
business matters and his shrewd intelligence about
them. In definite outline also they image forth
the young man's feeling for music, and the satis-
faction he found in self-expression by means of it.
At first he is seen travelling about Europe.
For a companion he had his cousin and most in-
timate friend, Charles Russell Lowell, who wrote,
in May of 1857, *° another close friend, John C.
Bancroft : —
Henry is going to study music for three years. . . .
With immense good sense he sees that he will be far
more of a man and no less of a merchant when he has
duly cultivated the best gift nature gave him. It is the
first good fruit of his coming abroad. He is even now
engaged in India adventures which are likely to be good :
that is clearly his vocation, to be a sound merchant and
true friend.
In September the young student of music is
established in Vienna, and writes thus to his
father : —
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As every one has some particular object of supreme
interest to himself, so I have music. It is almost my
inner world ; without it, I miss much, and with it I am
happier and better. You may remember that I wished
to study music some few years ago when in Europe
before.
On my return home other studies took up my time
so much that music had to be neglected, much against
my will. The same was true when in the store. It is
quite true that I had plenty of spare hours during my
apprenticeship, but it is, in my opinion, very false to
suppose that a knowledge of anything so difficult as
music can be gained, when the best hours of the day
and the best energies of the man are consumed by the
acquiring of another knowledge. Of course men more
busily employed than I was have applied themselves to
and conquered great things in science, in art, etc., etc.;
but they are exceptions certainly, and / nothing of the
kind. At any rate, I did not learn anything more of
music during those nineteen months. I felt the want
of it greatly, and was very sorry to give up the thing
dearest to me. When I came out here I had no plans,
as you know. Trade was not satisfying to the inner
man as a life-occupation. Out here I have consulted,
and have decided to try to learn something of music
ex- and internally, i.e., of playing and of harmony or
thorough-bass. If I find that I am not profiting at all
by my work, I shall throw it up and go home. If I gain
something, I shall stick to it. You will ask, " What is
to come of it all if successful ? " I do not know. But
this is clear. I have then improved my own powers,
15
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
which is every man's duty. I have a resource to which
I can always turn with delight, however the world may
go with me. I am so much the stronger, the wider, the
wiser, the better for my duties in life. I can then go
with satisfaction to my business, knowing my resource
at the end of the day. It is already made, and has only
to be used and it will grow. Finally it is my province
in education, and having cultivated myself in it, I am
fully prepared to teach others in it. Education is the
object of man, and it seems to me the duty of us all to
help in it, each according to his means and in his sphere.
I have often wondered how people could teach this and
that, but I understand it now. I could teach people to
sing, as far as I know, with delight to myself Thus I
have a means of living if other things should fail. But
the pleasure, pure and free from all disagreeable conse-
quences or after-thoughts, of playing and still more of
singing myself, is indescribable. In Rome I took about
eight lessons of a capital master, and I used to enjoy
intensely the singing to his accompaniment my exer-
cises and some little Neapolitan songs. My reasons for
studying harmony are manifest. I cannot properly un-
derstand music without doing so; moreover, it is an
excellent exercise for the mind. As to writing music, I
have nothing to say ; but it is not my expectation. It
is like writing poetry ; if one is prompted to do so, and
has anything to say, he does it. But I entirely disavow
any such intention or aim in my present endeavor, —
and this I wish to be most clearly expressed and under-
stood, should any one ask about me. I am studying for
my own good and pleasure. And now, old daddy, I hope
i6
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you will be able to make something out of this long
letter. You should not have been troubled with it, but
I thought you would prefer to know all about it. It is
only carrying out your own darling idea of making an
imperishable capital in education. My money may fly
away ; my knowledge cannot. One belongs to the world,
the other to me.
This long passage from a longer letter, written
by a young man only twenty-three years old, will
serve at least to show how vital a place the love
of music held in his plans for the years ahead.
There was yet, of course, no indication of the
form in which his devotion to music should ex-
press itself. The money, which might fly away,
while knowledge remained a permanent posses-
sion, was at that time slender in amount. But in
these limited resources there was far less of trial
than in a serious misfortune which early befell
the young student. A severe headache lasting for
three days drove him to a bleeder, — a barber,
— who drew eight ounces of blood from his left
arm. This was on a Saturday. On the following
Monday and Tuesday, Henry Higginson returned
to his piano practising, with the consequence of
a long-enduring and hampering lameness. The
17
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
pains in the head were nothing new, and before
long there were added to them the suffering and
inconvenience resulting from a blow upon a knee
which had been hurt in boyhood. Altogether
the letters, unconsciously, give a picture of the
determined fulfilment of a purpose under condi-
tions of extreme difficulty. At the same time
there are frequent tokens of keen pleasure in the
daily life and the results of devoted study.
A few passages from letters, which in their en-
tirety give evidence of the most affectionate re-
lations with a devoted father, will afford glimpses
of the Vienna experiences. On October 27, 1 857,
he wrote : —
I am in Vienna, studying music hard and economiz-
ing hard, and here I am a fixture for six months or a
year at least. It is pretty hard and stupid work, but it
is work and to my taste^ and makes me happier and
more contented than I have been for a long time.
A year later, after the disabling of his arm,
and learning from an eminent physician that it was
injured probably for life — not so much from the
blood-letting as from over-exertion in early prac-
tising, he wrote, October 19, 1858: —
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When I look back at those six weeks when I played,
I could cry heartily. It is a hard line for me, and cuts
deeper than you think. What I had wished for years
was at hand, with every possible help; and in that time
I really learned much. Now it is over forever. I can
never play freely again. I almost wonder that I man-
aged to bear up as much as I did. If you will sit down and
play the same five keys with your five fingers for five min-
utes, you '11 feel it sharply in your arms as I did then ;
yet I forced myself to play about two hours (with many
intervals, of course) these same things and, besides, to
read and play new pieces too, three and four hours a
day. It made my arms, back, and head ache. Yet I,
relying on my strength, went on, and when this trouble
began, I had got so hardened as to mind it but little
in the body; the head was suffering somewhat, at times
severely. In reality, I 'd reached the last limit, and
when the severe headache and bleeding came and were
over, I went hard to work again, and the game was
over.
Thus a young man ruins himself. I came home and
swore like a pirate for a day; then coming to my senses
I decided to sing away, study composition, etc., hard,
magnetize, and await the result. The playing is very
necessary to me now to carry on the other studies, but
I cannot have it yet. ... I 've hurt myself many
times by doing things which other people avoid as a
matter of course.
On March ii, 1858, he wrote: —
About myself, my arm and shoulder are still very
19
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
lame and prevent me from playing. I 've lost five
months' practice. Dear old daddy, you don't realize
the magnitude of the work which I 've undertaken.
I 've already told you that I must ascertain my own
abilities in music, if there be any, in what direction they
lie, and what I can best do. This requires much time.
Consider the time given to the study of medicine or
law in our superficial country, two or three years or
more. Music requires as much time at least. I do not
take it up as a business, a calling for life, but I do hold
myself free to do that same if it seems worth while.
Do not you see the economy of making yourself the
means of so much pleasure to yourself?
The practice of economy is suggested in the
following bit from a letter of March 7, 1859: —
I 've given lessons in English here this winter, but
it is very hard to compete with the Germans, who will
work for 25 to 50 cents an hour, which I cannot do.
I shall take pupils again, if I get them, but this means
of getting money saves me much time, which I can
well otherwise employ. A little English instruction is
agreeable and good as an exercise in German for me.
Hopes of recovery for the injured arm kept
recurring, and at one time led to the serious con-
sideration of going into business in Vienna, for
the sake of keeping in touch with music. The
long-protracted absence from home called for no
little explanation and defence. At length, on
20
PRELIMINARY
March i, i860, Henry Higginson wrote to his
father that he was preparing to leave Vienna:
"I have long intended to go at about this time,
but have avoided saying anything about it, be-
cause my plans might have been altered by cir-
cumstances and thus disappointed." After telling
how much he has enjoyed his musical life, and
especially the companionship and playing of his
friend Epstein, he says: " Up to the present time
almost I have hoped to be able to play, but it
cannot be, and therefore I, seeing that my musi-
cal studies cannot be prosecuted to advantage
without playing, have determined to leave here.
If you consider the whole thing, and remember
that I enjoy in the depths of my soul music as
nothing else, you '11 easily comprehend my stay."
Early in May he bade good-bye to Vienna ; and
after about six months of travel in Europe sailed
from England for home in November of i860.
What he brought back, with him cannot well
be measured in concrete terms. It was not the
technical mastery of voice, piano, or composi-
tion which might have served as the starting-
point of a professional career in music. It was
21
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
rather the broader apprehension of what music
might mean to an individual and to a commu-
nity, even to a nation. It was also an intense patri-
otism nourished as patriotism often is by absence
from home, and a strong sense of the responsibil-
ity resting upon every one to give what he best
can give to the world in which he lives.
The native country to which he returned was
on the eve of war. What he could give at once
was himself; and this gift he made, going early
to the front, and fighting hard and late. The
cause for which he fought, the love of his coun-
try, became the dearer to him through the death
of some of his best friends. One of them, Charles
Lowell, wrote to him only a month before he
met his soldier's end : —
Don't grow rich; if you once begin you '11 find it
much more difficult to be a useful citizen. Don't seek
office ; but don't "disremember" that the useful citi-
zen holds his time, his trouble, his money, and his
life always ready at the hint of his country. The useful
citizen is a mighty, unpretending hero, but we are not
going to have a country very long unless such heroism
is developed. There ! what a stale sermon I 'm preach-
ing ! But, being a soldier, it does seem to me that I
should like nothing so well as being a useful citizen.
22
PRELIMINARY
Mr. Higginson's own use of these words in
his speech at the presentation of Soldiers Field
to the students of Harvard justifies others in
regarding them almost as a commission under
which he proceeded to act as faithfully as under
his commission as an officer of the United States
Government. One injunction of his friend —
" don't grow rich *' — he seems to have re-
garded rather as a challenge than as a command.
If he could disobey it and still become a useful
citizen, might not his usefulness be even the
greater? Whether he ever asked himself such a
question or not, the circumstances of his life in
the years immediately following the war lent
themselves to his accumulation of abundant
means. The native aptitude for business which
appeared in the letters of his student days at
Vienna found sufficient excuse for exercising it-
self as soon as the pursuits of peace called for
rehabilitation ; for, in the midst of the war-
time, — in December of 1863, — he had mar-
ried, and thus incurred all the responsibilities
which provide the incentive for successful work.
The time and the young man's surroundings
23
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
yielded golden opportunities. In 1865 he was
working in Ohio at the development of oil wells.
Active devotion to other interests qualified him
to enter on January i, 1868, the Boston banking
firm of Lee, Higginson & Co., and through the
decade of the seventies — the years, as we have
seen, in which the concerts of the Harvard Musi-
cal Association and, especially, the visits of the
Theodore Thomas Orchestra were emphasizing
the need of established music in Boston — he
toiled at his business, all the more eagerly, one
may well imagine, because of a vision constantly
behind it. The time came when he could say
at home : " I can drop businesss now, retire, and
lead a life of comparative leisure ; or I can con-
tinue to work and by my earnings establish an
orchestra. This has been the dream of my life.
I should like to do it if you agree with me."
Because there was no disagreement on this
point, there is a story of the Boston Symphony
Orchestra to be told.
II
THE BEGINNINGS UNDER GEORG HENSCHEL
1881-1884
THE history of an institution must resolve
itself, more or less directly, into a record
of the work of individuals. Whether an orches-
tra contains seventy men, as the Boston Sym-
phony Orchestra did at first, or a hundred, as at
present, it is obviously impossible to tell what
each of these players has done for it. Without
their work it could not have existed ; yet the
story, if it is to hold any elements of life, must
be a personal story — and the present story can
be told only with special emphasis upon the aims
and performances of the founder and sustainer
of the Orchestra, and the work of its successive
leaders. It is inevitable also that a special interest
should attach to the records of the early years.
It was then that the Orchestra had its place to
make with a public, the articulate portion of
which, as represented in the press, was given
perhaps more freely to hostile than to friendly
25
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
criticism, to a questioning suspicion of motives
than to a generous acceptance of intention and
results. This was not wholly unnatural. There
were generals before Alexander, and there were
orchestras in Boston before the Boston Symphony
Orchestra. Their struggling existence was clearly
endangered by the appearance of a new organi-
zation with a "backing " of conspicuous strength.
But the endurance of this strength had still to
be proved. Meanwhile local musicians, single
and collective, had their supporters, honestly
jealous of any usurpation of an established place
in the local scheme of things. From their sup-
porters came much of the opposition to the new
orchestra. If some of their expressions are now
brought to view, it is with no desire to revive
forgotten hostilities, but merely that the stages
through which the Orchestra attained its later
place may be duly recorded. By the time that
place was attained the enterprise had acquired a
momentum which permitted the guiding to sup-
plant the forming hand. It is therefore in the
earlier annals of the Orchestra that the larger
measure of interest is contained.
26
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
The records in general are fairly abundant.
They are chiefly to be found in the columns of
contemporary newspapers. From that source
alone nearly all the story might be drawn ; but,
fortunately, it is not necessary to restrict the pres-
ent narrative to the already printed word. In the
spring of 1 88 1, while the plans for the enterprise
to be launched in the autumn of that year were
still in process of formation, Mr. Higginson wrote,
under the heading " In Re the Boston Symphony
Orchestra," a statement of his own purposes re-
garding the project he had had so long at heart.
To those who may have read it at that time it
must have seemed a document of surprising prom-
ise. The surprise after an intervening third of
a century must be that so many of its promises
have been fulfilled. Thus it reads : —
My original scheme was this, viz: To hire an or-
chestra of sixty men and a conductor, paying them all
by the year, reserving to myself the right to all their
time needed for rehearsals and for concerts, and allow-
ing them to give lessons when they had time; to give
in Boston as many serious concerts of classical music
as were wanted, and also to give at other times, and
more especially in the summer, concerts of a lighter
kind of music, in which should be included good dance-
27
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
music; to do the same In neighboring towns and cities
as far as is practicable, but certainly to give Harvard
University all that she needs in this line ; to keep the
prices low always, and especially where the lighter con-
certs are in question, because to them may come the
poorer people ; 50 cents and 25 cents being the meas-
ure of prices.
Such was the idea, and the cost presented itself thus :
Sixty men at $1500 = $90,000+^3000 for conductor
and + $7000 for other men (solo players of orchestra,
concert-master, i.e., first violin, etc., etc.) = $100,000.
Of this sum, it seemed possible that one half should be
earned, leaving a deficit of $50,000, for which $1,000,-
000 is needed as principal. Of course, if more money
came in by means of larger earnings or of a larger fund,
men should be added to the orchestra.
The plan adopted has been to engage such good
musicians as are in Boston for twenty concerts in Bos-
ton, paying them each $3.00 for every rehearsal (two
private and one public rehearsal) and $6.00 for every
concert, the days and hours being specified. Subse-
quently, six concerts, to be given in the Sanders The-
atre of the University, were added, for which $6.00 a
concert was to be paid to each musician, no rehearsals
being needed, as the programmes can be selected from
the Boston concerts. The concert-master, Mr. B. Liste-
mann, as being in charge of all the stringed instru-
ments (such is the custom everywhere), and as having
the scores and the parts to mark, is paid more than the
other musicians. Of course the same is true of the con-
ductor of the orchestra, whoever he may be, and is a
28
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
matter of agreement. This latter gentleman should, in
my opinion, select the musicians, when new men are
needed, select the programmes, subject to the judgment
or criticism of myself or my representative, conduct all
the rehearsals and concerts, rule over the orchestra and
the soloists, whom he should also engage, and gener-
ally be held responsible for the proper production of
all his performances. I think that he would need assist-
ance in some of the business part of his work, — and
think that a librarian of the music and assistant in de-
tails might easily be found.
At present my belief is that we shall incline after one
season to the following course : To engage a conductor
for the whole year at a fixed salary, and to give him
sundry jobs to do ; to engage eight or ten musicians of
a superior grade, younger than those here, at a fixed
salary also, who should be ready at my call to play any-
where ; — and then to draw around them the best of
our Boston musicians, thus refreshing and renewing the
present orchestra, and getting more nearly possession
of it, and so to give more and more concerts, govern-
ing ourselves by the demand here and elsewhere. Nat-
urally, it is impossible to say what is wanted, but ex-
periments will tell. I do not know whether a first-rate
orchestra will choose to play light music, or whether it
can do so well. I do not believe that the great opera-
orchestra in Vienna can play waltzes as Strauss's men
play them, although they know them by heart and feel
them all through their toes and fingers — simply be-
cause they are not used to such work — and I know
also that such work is in a degree stultifying. Myjudg-
29
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
ment would be that a good orchestra would need, dur-
ing the winter season, to keep its hand in by playing
only the better music, and could relax in summer,
playing a different kind of thing. But I should always
wish to eschew vulgar music, i.e., such trash as is heard
in the theatres, sentimental or sensational nonsense ;
and on the other side I should wish to lighten the
heavier programmes by good music, of a gayer nature.
This abounds, is as classical and as high in an artistic
sense, and is always charming. For instance, in operas
the best old French musicians gave us gems, — like
Mehul, Boieldieu, Auber, Gretry, etc., — and their
overtures are delightful. In short, all the catholicity
possible seems to me good. I do not like Wagner's
music,' and take little interest in much of the newer
' Writing from Vienna to his father, December 23, 1883, Mr. Hig-
ginson said : "The opera house has been chiefly occupied with Wag-
ner's operas of late. The whole list of them (excepting the last) has
been given, and I 've heard them all as a matter of education. They're
very exhausting from their noise, length, and intricacy in form and
Btructure, They appeal far too much to the senses of various kinds, and
I 'm very glad that they are past." In writing for the Transcript about
a "Wagner Matinee" which, on December 31, 1890, followed a
regular concert at which Beethoven, Schubert, and Mendelssohn were
represented, John Sullivan D wight expressed himself as follows : " Was
there really so much deep, sincere, heartfelt enjoyment ? To what ex-
tent was the crowd composed of the same musically loyal spirits ?
Does not the music appeal more to the unmusical, at least to many
whom better music had always failed to reach ? Was not the enjoyment
more sensational, the charm most operative on more coarse-grained
natures ? ' '
The extent to which Wagner has been played from the very begin-
ning is a token of the entire freedom with which the leaders have made
their programmes.
30
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
composers, but I should not like to bar them out of our
programmes. People of education equally objected to
the later compositions of Beethoven as those of a luna-
tic. Possibly they are right. But of course anything
unworthy is to be shut out.
I would ask that the soloists sing good music always
and that if possible concerts for the production of the
best songs be given. I would also originate if possible
good chamber-concerts. They are very charming and
peaceful — the proper place for the best songs and for
piano music. All in good time, such concerts might be
given by the men, who should be fetched out on fixed
salaries, and by the local or by star-pianists. It is always
pleasant to give any new singer or player one or two
chances to appear for the first time, if the aspirant is
good.
As regards public rehearsals, the conductor should
be instructed that he is to drill his orchestra, and to
correct it and to cause it to repeat again and again dur-
ing these, just as during any rehearsals, and in no way
to regard them as concerts.
If the general plan of giving concerts succeeds, which
the public will determine, and if we fetch out a con-
ductor and ten musicians or so, and find that also suc-
cessful, I should incline to engaging the full orchestra
as originally intended, with a view to enlarging the
present scheme. The men will gladly come in, because
this orchestra will be the chief concert-orchestra of this
city, and because a fixed salary is agreeable. Then, I
think that the orchestra might play with the singing-
societies, one and all, and perhaps with the opera-corn-
31
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
panics coming here, and also on any extraordinary
occasions. I should not care to do such work for less
than a fair market price, except in the case of the sing-
ing-societies, which seek only education and legitimate
pleasure. These societies might use well a larger orches-
tra, but probably take as few men as possible to avoid
expense. The good of the cause requires us to furnish
what the music of the concert needs, — and that is our
only gauge of price.
I think the orchestra should be composed as fol-
lows : —
Wind instruments, etc., about 20
1st violins, 12
2d violins, I2
Violas, 10
Violoncellos, 8
Bass-violins, 8
In all 70
If we could have 14 first violins, etc., so much the
better, and perhaps the proportions are not quite
correct.
Of course much of this depends on the sum at com-
mand. It is my intention to bring this up to one mil-
lion dollars and as much more as may be, for two
million dollars might well be used. I think that 70
men could be engaged and kept at 1 1,500 apiece yearly,
giving us all the time needed for rehearsals and concerts.
This, with a good salary for the conductor and for two
concert-masters, 1 5,000 + $3,000 + $1,000 = $11 5,000.
The winter-concerts which we give should bring in
on average $1,000, —
32
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
And with fifty concerts, we should have $50,000
The summer-concerts and the other earnings
might be 35^000
$85,000
This leaves against us a balance of $25,000
To which add for the hall, soloists, advertis-
ing, etc. 25,000
To be supplied $50,000
The chance is that more would be needed, but time
will tell. But, assuming these figures to be right,
1 1,000,000 would suffice. I think that we shall need
soloists for great orchestral concerts in the winter, and
at times in the summer.
One more thing should come from this scheme,
namely, a good, honest school for musicians. Of course
it would cost us some money, which would be well
spent.
I think that younger musicians, the scholars growing
up here, should be taken into the orchestra as a school
of training, and should be gradually incorporated into
that body, thus supplying fresh and good material, —
this of course hingeing on their quality as musicians,
and on their education.
I should hope also that a thoroughly good society
of men and women, who each can sing at sight, would
be formed for the purpose of studying the old church
music, like the old Italian and old German composi-
tions. This work which might be taken by our con-
ductor in his spare hours — but it is beside our purpose.
The question of pensions for the members of the
orchestra has been on my mind, but it seems better
33
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
that each musician should lay aside yearly something
and thus pension himself. However, I may be wrong
in all this.
My two best advisers outside of my own household
have been Mrs. George D. Howe, who knows and
loves music well, and who has been most cordial and
efficient in the whole matter, and Mr. John P. Lyman,
who has a great love of music, excellent sense-training,
and ability as a business man, and who is attending to
the business details of the scheme. These two friends
will help the good cause to the end, no doubt.
If this scheme seems too extensive, I will only add
that it is a wish and not an intention — to be carried
out exactly according to the judgment of my executors.
H. L. HiGGINSON.
Such was the carefully thought-out plan.
Whether the paper embodying it was written
just before or just after the choice of a first con-
ductor for the Orchestra, it seems to have been
**in the air" that the project was near its birth,
and that that event would occur immediately
upon Mr. Higginson's discovery of the leader for
whom he was waiting. The local conductors,
Carl Zerrahn, Bernhard Listemann, Louis Maas,
and others, had, in varying degree, done notable
service to the cause of music in Boston ; but the
concerts occasionally given by Theodore Thomas
34
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
had set a standard which the local leaders could
hardly have been expected to attain ; and per-
haps some true instinct may have whispered that
the quickest and surest way to prestige and pop-
ular success lay through the glamour of a pic-
turesque and striking personality, a man whose
laurels had been won in foreign cities and not in
the Music Hall of Boston. There is nothing to
show that such an instinct was at work, yet there
can be little doubt that the selection of Mr.
Georg (now Sir George) Henschel to lead the
new orchestra brought to the undertaking an ele-
ment of the romantic, the debatable, the essen-
tially popular, that stood it in good stead.
The very circumstances of his choice were such
as to arrest the public attention. On March 3,
1 88 1, the Harvard Musical Association gave the
last concert of its sixteenth season. One of the
numbers on the programme was " Concert Over-
ture [Ms. 1870] First time. Henschel." Mr.
Henschel, composer, baritone singer, and teacher,
born in Germany thirty-one years before, had
recently come from London with his pupil, Miss
Lilian Bailey, a Boston singer of rare musical and
35
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
personal charm, whom he was soon to marry.
As a compliment to Carl Zerrahn and J. S.
Dwight, who had shown them many kindnesses,
they offered their services at the Harvard Mu-
sical Concert. Their offer was accepted, and Mr.
Henschel was asked to conduct his own Concert
Overture. For the purposes of this volume he has
recently recalled his connection with the Boston
Symphony Orchestra. His Concert Overture, he
writes, " received an excellent rendering and had
quite a success. Whether it was that perhaps I
had succeeded in infusing some of my own youth-
ful enthusiasm into the orchestra, among the
members of which there was many a one who in
point of age could have been my father or even
my grandfather — anyhow, a few days after the
concert, I had a letter from Major Higginson,
asking me to meet him."
Another version of the occurrence was given
by William F. Apthorp in the "Boston Evening
Transcript" of September 30, 191 1. The result
of the young leader's conducting, according to
this account of the matter, " was an overwhelm-
ing *Veni, Vidi, Vici' success. It may even be
36
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
said that the quality of the composition itself
was well-nigh lost sight of in the general enthusi-
asm for the vigor, power, and effectiveness of the
performance. Here seemed to be a man who held
an orchestra in the hollow of his hand, and could
make it do what he listed! Mr. Higginson, who
was in the audience, may be fancied as breath-
ing a soft, but heartfelt, * Eureka ! ' "
An early friend and servant of the Orchestra
has recalled the further fact that when Mr. Hen-
schel took the baton to lead the playing of his
composition he did not mount the conductor's
platform, but stood among the musicians, of whom
he seemed thus to be remarkably one. In the
recalling of this circumstance it is also remem-
bered that so signal an identification of leader
and orchestra impressed Mr. Higginson as a
strong point in favor of Georg Henschel as the
man he was seeking.
As an evidence that the impression made by
his performance was not confined to the one or
two hearers who had the needs of a new orches-
tra in mind, it is worth while to give portions of
a letter to the "Courier" signed "W," and dated
37
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
March 6, three days after the Harvard Musical
Concert: —
We have always been impressed that Henschel had
some great trait about him. As a singer he has been
seen at his worst; as a pianist he must be regarded as
possessing rare abilities; as a composer he is eminent;
but as a conductor he rises preeminent. Let it be said
to his great credit that since Anton Rubinstein con-
ducted his "Ocean Symphony " at the TremontTemple,
no such masterly, magnetic conducting has been seen
in Boston as was observed in Mr. Henschel while di-
recting his Overture at the last Harvard Symphony
Concert. When we say this, we bear in mind every
conductor, local and otherwise, who has wielded the
baton before a Boston audience. No doubt many recol-
lect the wonderful results that Rubinstein produced at
once with an orchestra wholly unused to his conducting.
From the moment Rubinstein took the baton the mu-
sicians became something else than what we had al-
ways known them. His magnetic presence and the
power of his genius possessed them and awakened them
to a new life. They saw and felt before them the man
that controlled them. Their best efforts were at his
command. It has remained for Mr. Henschel to repeat
this revelation, and to show a Boston audience in what
consists a great conductor. . . .
The Harvard Musical Association announces that
during the season of 1 8 8 1-8 2 it will give its seventeenth
series of symphony concerts. Let them make no mis-
take now that accidentally, but fortunately, the man
38
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
has been discovered whose powers are eminent enough
to raise orchestral music from its languishing condition
in Boston. Let them see to it that your concerts are
not to furnish an opportunity for further exhibition of
mediocrity in conducting, nor for the trial of a novice
in the case of a change, or to furnish routine towards
the cultivation of one whose ambition looks toward the
goal, but whose abilities can never reach it, except in
imagination. In our opinion, with Mr. Georg Henschel
as conductor and with the old fogyism wiped out and
more progressive ideas substituted in the counsels of
the managers, the Harvard Musical Association will
receive the support of the patrons of music in this city,
and become, next season, an artistic and financial success.
The success predicted here for the Harvard
Musical Association was, however, destined for
the organization at the head of which Georg
Henschel was to stand. A few words from his
recollections of these early days have already been
used. The rapid progress of events may now
be followed by proceeding with the narrative
dropped at the point of his summons to a meet-
ing with Mr. Higginson, at the house of Mrs.
George D. Howe: —
At that meeting Mr. Higginson revealed to me his
plan of founding a new orchestra in Boston, and asked
me if eventually I would undertake to form such an
39
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
orchestra and conduct a series of concerts with it; add-
ing that of course he quite understood singing to be a
more lucrative thing than conducting so that, as — if
I accepted — I could not earn as much money by sing-
ing as if I were free, he would make my salary such as
to make it worth my while. I would be absolutely my
own master, no one would interfere with my programme
making — there would, in fact, be no committee, etc.
I answered that it had always been my ambition to be
a conductor, that I just had quite a success as such in
London when I did Brahms' "Triumphlied" for the
first time in England, that the offer was a very tempting
one, and, that if he would give me a little time for con-
sidering the matter, I was almost sure I 'd be glad to
accept it.
That was the first interview. We agreed not to speak
about the matter to any one, and Higginson said I'd
hear from him again. In March of that year, I was
married to Miss Bailey, and the very day after the wed-
ding I received a telegram, at Washington, from Mr.
Higginson offering me the engagement, which I ac-
cepted. A week later I returned with my young wife
to Boston where Mr. Higginson and I settled details.
In order not to make "boses Blut" — as Mr. Higgin-
son, who was an excellent German scholar, put it —
i. e. to say, in order not to give offence at first, Mr.
Higginson advised me to engage for the first season
only the available local players. I submitted to Mr.
Higginson my idea of what I thought the programmes
of such concerts should be, viz.: in the first part:
Overture, a Solo, either vocal or instrumental, and the
40
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
Symphony; the second part to be short and of con-
siderable lighter, popular character. He approved of
that, as also of my plan of giving — in so long a series
of concerts — every one of the nine Beethoven Sym-
phonies, of course in numerical order. We both thought
it wise to make the contract for one year only, so as to
leave us both free at the end of the season.
The understanding at which Mr. Higginson
and Mr. Henschel arrived must have been reached
with some celerity, for on March 30 the Boston
newspapers contained the following announce-
ment: —
THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
IN THE INTEREST OF GOOD MUSIC
Notwithstanding the development of musical taste in
Boston, we have never yet possessed a full and per-
manent orchestra, offering the best music at low prices,
such as may be found in all the large European cities,
or even in the smaller musical centres of Germany. The
essential condition of such orchestras is their stability,
whereas ours are necessarily shifting and uncertain, be-
cause we are dependent upon musicians whose work and
time are largely pledged elsewhere.
To obviate this difficulty the following plan is offered.
It is an effort made simply in the interest of good music,
and though individual inasmuch as it is independent
of societies or clubs, it is in no way antagonistic to any
previously existing musical organization. Indeed, the
41
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
first step as well as the natural impulse in announcing
a new musical project, is to thank those who have
brought us where we now stand. Whatever may be done
in the future, to the Handel and Haydn Society and to
the Harvard Musical Association we all owe the greater
part of our home education in music of a high charac-
ter. Can we forget either how admirably their work has
been supplemented by the taste and critical judgment
of Mr. John S. Dwight, or by the artists who have
identified themselves with the same cause in Boston?
These have been our teachers. We build on foundations
they have laid. Such details of this scheme as concern
the public are stated below.
The orchestra is to number sixty selected musicians ;
their time, so far as required for careful training and
for a given number of concerts, to be engaged in ad-
vance.
Mr. Georg Henschel will be the conductor for the
coming season.
The concerts will be twenty in number, given in the
Music Hall on Saturday evenings, from the middle of
October to the middle of March.
The price of season tickets, with reserved seats, for
the whole series of evening concerts will be either ^lo
or $5, according to position.
Single tickets, with reserved seats, will be seventy-five
cents or twenty-five cents, according to position.
Besides the concerts, there will be a public rehearsal
on one afternoon of every week, with single tickets at
twenty-five cents, and no reserved seats.
The intention is that this orchestra shall be made
42
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
permanent here, and shall be called " The Boston Sym-
phony Orchestra."
Both as the condition and result of success the sym-
pathy of the public is asked.
H. L. HiGGINSON.
For the immediate public reception of this an-
nouncement, a single article from a daily news-
paper will sufficiently speak: —
The straightforward, business-like statement concern-
ing a series of symphony concerts to be given next
season, which appeared a few mornings since over the
signature of H. L. Higginson, was entirely satisfying
to those personally acquainted with Mr. Higginson, but
the independent character of the statement left the pub-
lic at large in doubt as to its genuineness. It is hardly
a matter of surprise that, after the problem "How can a
permanent orchestra be sustained in Boston ? " had puz-
zled the brains of enthusiasts in the cause of music here
for a decade or more, the reliability of such a complete
solution should be questioned at first. Mr. Higginson
has practically said by his announcement: "I will supply
Boston with an orchestra of 60 musicians. Mr. Georg
Henschel will conduct it, and 20 concerts will be given,
with programmes selected by Mr. Henschel, each Satur-
day evening from the middle of October, 1881, to the
middle of March, 1882 ; the admission will be 25 and
50 cents, and the tickets will be put on sale to the pub-
lic at large without restrictions." It is perfectly evident
that, under no circumstances, will the receipts equal the
expenditures for this series of concerts, and Mr. Hig-
43
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
glnson does not expect that they will. . . . He desires
no assistance and has made his plans public, after the
careful consideration which any successful business man
gives all matters before entering upon their accom-
plishment. It is entirely safe to assert that no citizen
of Boston ever matured a plan for the advantage of his
fellows with less ostentation than Mr. Higginson in
this affair, and the practical benefit to Boston can
hardly be overestimated. No programme will be pre-
sented until the orchestra has had it in ample rehearsal,
and no pecuniary considerations will hamper the con-
ductor in this careful preparation for each performance.
The final rehearsal will be made public at a uni-
form charge of 25 cents, and, as these will occur in the
afternoon, opportunities will be afforded for all classes
to hear the Boston Symphony Orchestra during the
coming season, that being the name selected. Mr. Hig-
ginson claims no merit for this radical innovation upon
the traditions of public concert giving, holding it to be
a duty, which every American owes, to do something
with the means at his command for the benefit of his
fellows. He has not taken this step with a view to an-
tagonize any one, or any body or association, but merely
to supply Boston with a permanent orchestra which
shall reflect ^credit upon the city, and he has taken
what to him was the most practical way to accomplish
this result.
It was not in Boston only that the project at-
tracted attention and commendation. As if to
foreshadow both the possibilities and the realities
44
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
of the effect in other cities of such a foundation as
the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a San Francisco
paper soon exclaimed : " What a wealth of enjoy-
ment is promised in Mr. Higginson's modest little
circular ! Oh ! for a few such men in our midst !
We could name half a dozen of our wealthy
citizens, who, either individually or collectively,
would not feel a pang at the paltry loss of a few
hundred dollars ! " Thus at the very outset the
significance of the enterprise was capable of more
than a local interpretation.
That the documentary character of this record
of beginnings may be resumed, it is well to turn
at the present point to an " Account of the Bos-
ton Symphony Orchestra" dictated by Mr. Hig-
ginson in October, 191 1, — just thirty years after
the opening of the first season. Though its earlier
paragraphs touch on matters with which the pre-
ceding pages have dealt in some detail, they could
not be dropped without a loss in that sense of
unity which binds together the vague and the def-
inite plans for a permanent Symphony Orchestra
in Boston. The opening pages of this "Account"
are as follows : —
45
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
During some years of my youth, spent in Germany
and especially in Austria, whither I went to study mu-
sic, I conceived the hope to see an orchestra in Boston
which should play as well as the great orchestras of
Europe and give concerts at a reasonable price.
Naturally, I lived much with musicians as well as
with other people, and came to know their ways and
methods of study and of execution, and saw how good
concerts were produced.
After two years, it became clear that I had no talent
for playing or for composition ; that there was, in short,
no soil in which to cultivate a garden ; and so I came
home to the troubles of i860 and the Civil War.
That war taught a great many men that if we were to
have a country worthy of the name, we must work for
it, educate it, as well as fight for it, and this duty lay
upon every individual citizen, be it man or woman.
Such had been the creed of the men with whom I had
lived from boyhood, and as most of them were killed
in the war, my duty was the greater in order to fill up
the gap which their death had left.
The end of the Civil War left me without an occu-
pation or money, and with a wife whom it was my first
duty to support ; so for many years my hope for music
lay asleep. At last, in one or two years ending in 1880,
luck had turned my way, and enabled me to take up
this project in earnest early in 188 1. I knew where to
ask about the cost of musicians, and knew what musi-
cians went to make an orchestra.
I needed a conductor, as Mr. Zerrahn was worn out,
and just at that time Georg Henschel came to this town
46
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
to sing, and from the way he conducted an overture of
his own at a Harvard Musical concert, it seemed that
he might be trusted to begin my work. He was a mu-
sician of varied talents, but had no experience as a con-
ductor. With his assistance and approval I engaged
the needed men — almost all musicians who lived here.
The plans were made, the announcement of the con-
certs was put forth, and we were to be ready to start in
the autumn of 1881. I had reckoned that the concerts
would cost me about $20,000 a year deficit, for I knew
the prices necessary to pay the men, and reckoned on
low fees for entrance.
By the help of a kind friend, control of the Boston
Music Hall had been acquired, which was necessary,
as many and long rehearsals were essential to my idea
of an orchestra. I told Mr. Henschel that the concerts
should be short — an hour and a half to an hour and
three-quarters ; that they should begin punctually at
eight o'clock in the evening and at half past two o'clock
in the afternoon, the latter being the public rehearsal,
and the former being the concert ; that the conductor
was to have the sole artistic direction of everything ; that
he was to have the right to demand as many rehearsals
as he saw fit ; and that, in my opinion, nothing but con-
stant, steady, intelligent playing and rehearsing under
one conductor and one conductor alone would make
the Orchestra good.
From long knowledge of the Austrian ways, I knew
that all these points were essential, and also was sure
that we must not bore the public by long concerts. At
first, Mr. Henschel did not agree that the men should
47
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
play only under one conductor, but in a few weeks he
came to see that this condition was right. . . .
As the professional musicians of the town played
here and there, gave lessons, took out-of-town engage-
ments, and, in short, were unable to rehearse as much
as was necessary, the concerts could not rise to the
proper point. At any rate, such was my idea.
Two questions were before me: Could I bring the
Orchestra up to the proper point, which meant an able
and experienced conductor and good musicians devoted
to the work, and could I pay the bill ? The latter point
I was willing to risk, and for the former I was willing
to struggle.
Considering the newness of the scheme, the concerts
went on well enough during the first winter, and were
well received. The public was generous and kindly
then, as it always has been. Toward the end of the
season I gave out that the concerts would go on, and
that I should ask the men to play only under one con-
ductor. This caused trouble at once, and all but four
men of the Orchestra refused my terms. The news-
papers took their side, and one prominent critic accused
me of trying to make a "corner in musicians." The
men sent a delegate to see me. This delegate was pleas-
ant and clever and laughed at my statement that the
concerts would go on and that it was only a question
of who would play. Therefore, on the next public re-
hearsal day I went to the green-room of the Music
Hall and asked the men to come in after the rehearsal,
which they did. I then said to them : " I made a propo-
sition to you which you have rejected. I withdraw my
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
proposition. The concerts will go on as they have this
year, and in this hall. If any of you have anything to
say to me in the way of a proposition, you will make
it" — and that meeting was over. During the next few
days almost every man came to me and asked to be
engaged. The delegate from the Orchestra was not one
of them.
During the second and third years Mr. Henschel
conducted as before, gaining experience and skill in his
work, — and the concerts, so far as I remember, were
fair, and were growing better. People would say to me:
" Is n't the Orchestra splendid ? " to which I replied :
" It is not, — it is learning, and will be good by and
by."
Mr. Henschel was engaged for one year and then
for two years more, and toward the end of the second
year I went to Europe for pleasure, and with the in-
tention of seeking another conductor. Therefore, I did
not hear the concerts the third year, except the last of
the season.
The one year and two years more of Mr. Hen-
schel's conductorshlp in Boston were years of
vivid excitement in the musical community. The
very idea of an orchestra established on the basis
of the new organization — under private auspices
for public benefit, with a conductor to whose
hands were committed the resources of an un-
heard-of artistic and financial freedom — was
49
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
startling enough to account for many early mis-
conceptions. The unconventional aspect of the
whole affair was rendered the more striking by
the pronounced personality of the first conductor.
Somebody more nearly colorless might have car-
ried the Orchestra through its early years without
exciting special remarks. By slower degrees the
Orchestra might have become the "institution"
into which it rapidly grew. In the eighties the
word " temperamental " had not acquired the
vogue it has had through some of the interven-
ing years ; but the quality for which it stands
existed then as now, and it was precisely that
quality — in Mr. Henschel and his conducting
— which divided the local music-lovers into the
camps of his admirers and his opponents. Now
that it has all become a matter of history, one can
see in the very brilliancy of the first season — in
the conductor's fire which brought delight to
many but led one critic to remark, "Not that we
object to fire, but we would rather be warmed by
it than roasted in a furious conflagration" — an
element of the highest value to the young organi-
zation. In the strangeness, then, of the enterprise
50
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
as a whole, and in the impossibility of looking
with mere indifference upon such an artist as
Georg Henschel, must be found the reason why
the record of the early years is so largely a record
of partisan discussion.
Hardly had Mr. Henschel's appointment to
the leadership of the Orchestra been announced
when a local journal, on April i6, 1881, de-
clared : —
Some protest is certainly needed to stem this tide
of adulation that rises and breaks at the feet of Mr.
Henschel. We have had conductors in Boston and
good ones. It is a mistaken idea of Mr. Henschel's
friends — if not of his own — that we have waited here,
all unconscious of our own poverty and great needs,
for this musical trinity combined in the person of Mr.
Henschel — oratorio exponent, composer, and orches-
tral conductor. We are not, and have not been, half as
ignorant as they suppose.
Whatever the musical needs of Boston may
have been, Mr. Henschel lost no time in pre-
paring to meet them. Of these preparations and
of his own attitude toward the reception of his
work by the public and the critics, he has written
as follows in the statement from which extracts
have already been made : —
51
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
As it was my intention to take my wife to Europe
that summer, Mr. Higginson commissioned me to ac-
quire, whilst there, a Hbrary for the Orchestra and
when, after a few months' sojourn in Europe, I returned
to Boston I brought with me a fairly representative
library of orchestral music, classical and modern, which
I myself indexed, catalogued, placing each separate
work in a case of its own, numbering, entitling the parts,
etc., thus forming the nucleus of what now must be a
formidable fine library. A month before the first con-
cert — [October 22, 1 88i] — we commenced to rehearse
and, needless to say, there was much speculation going
on in the papers as to how the matter would turn out.
Popularly, it was a decided, genuine success from the
first. The public rehearsals for which tickets were only
issued at the doors — indeed, I am not sure if the
people did not simply pay their twenty-five cents at the
door in passing into the building — were crowded. I
remember my surprise when, on going to the public
rehearsal for the last concert, at which the Ninth Sym-
phony was performed, I found a crowd waiting for ad-
mission which reached from the old Music Hall to the
church on Tremont Street. Of course a great many peo-
ple had to turn back and I myself, in the Hall, had diffi-
culty to reach the conductor's desk, as every available
space even on the platform was occupied by audience.
The press, however, as you will see in the papers of
the period, was rather divided in their opinion of Mr.
Higginson's wisdom as regards the venture, especially
as regards his choice of a conductor of so little experi-
ence. One paper — I think it was called the " Saturday
52
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
Gazette," a distinctly society paper — showed, and for
some time maintained, a decidedly hostile attitude.
The musical season to which Mr. Henschel
returned in the early autumn of 1881 gave every
promise of uncommon richness in orchestral con-
certs. Besides the twenty performances of the
Symphony Orchestra, the Harvard Musical Asso-
ciation and the Philharmonic Society announced,
between them, forty-one concerts — sixty-one
in all. It was correctly pointed out in one of the
newspapers that, in spite of the presence of three
leaders — Henschel, Zerrahn, and Maas — there
would be "but one orchestra in Boston, larger,
better rehearsed, with its good elements made
more of, and its weak points better strengthened
than we had ever had before. Each society will
have its own conductor, but the orchestra will be
essentially the same." When the tickets for the
first season of the Boston Symphony Orchestra
concerts were placed on sale, early in September,
there was an astonishing demand for them. At
six o'clock on the morning when the sale began,
seventy-five persons stood in the line, some hav-
ing been there all night, and one being credited
53
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
with appearing on the scene at three o'clock of
the previous afternoon. " Some people," said the
** Transcript," on September 9, " aghast at the
rush for tickets, ask, in astonishment, where all
the audience comes from. Where have all these
symphony-concert goers been during the last ten
years, that they have hidden themselves so com-
pletely from public view ? . . . Cheap prices
have had some effect, but not so much as many
persons suppose. * Fashion ' is an ugly word to use
in connection with art matters, but all matters
have their nether side." The taunt that " fash-
ion " was a powerful motive with many concert-
goers was frequently repeated through the early
years. No doubt its operations were as strong in
certain quarters as a genuine love of music was
in others, for fashion is bound to exert its sway.
The fortunate thing for Boston during the reign
of this motive was that fashion had such an art
as that of the best orchestral music to wreak it-
self upon. It is reasonably certain that some of
those who came, if not to scoff, at least to endure,
remained, if not to pray, at least to enjoy.
While the devout and those who would seem
54
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
so were preparing themselves for the first con-
cert, Mr. Henschel and the Boston musicians
were more definitely doing likewise. The spirit
in which the early rehearsals were undertaken
may be felt in the following letter from the
leader to his men: —
To THE Members of the Boston Symphony Or-
chestra.
Gentlemen, — I beg leave to say a few words to you
now, in order to avoid waste of time after our work has
once begun.
Wherever a body of men are working together for
one and the same end as you and I, the utmost of unity
and mutual understanding is required in order to achieve
anything that is great or good.
Every one of us, engaged for the concerts we are on
the point of beginning, has been engaged because his
powers, his talents have been considered valuable for
that purpose. Every one of us, therefore, should have
a like interest as well as a like share in the success of
our work, and it is in this regard that I address you
now, calling your attention to the following principal
points, with which I urgently beg of you to acquaint
yourselves thoroughly : —
I. Let us be punctual. Better ten minutes before
than one behind the time appointed.
II. Tuning as well as playing will cease the moment
the conductor gives the sign for doing so.
III. No member of the Orchestra, even supposing
55
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
that his presence be not needed for the moment, will
leave the hall during the time of the rehearsals and con-
certs without the consent of the conductor.
IV. The folios containing the parts will be closed
after each rehearsal and concert.
V. Inasmuch as we are engaged for musical purposes,
we will not talk about private matters during the time
of the rehearsals and concerts.
Hoping that thus working together with perfect un-
derstanding, our labors will be crowned with success, I
am, gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
Georg Henschel.
Mr. Henschel's idea of the kind of programme
to be chosen, as expressed in his words already
quoted, was well exemplified at the first concert.
When the first audience of the Boston Symphony-
Orchestra assembled in Music Hall, it was pro-
vided with the programme here reproduced.
With the audience the concert found the high-
est favor. The construction of the programme,
with overture, soloist, and finally the symphony
before the intermission, which was followed by
lighter music intended to send the hearers home
in good humor, seemed ideal. Indeed, it is held
by some of the most faithful of Boston concert-
S6
Boston Music Hall.
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA,
MR. GEORG HENSCHEL, Conductor.
I. C0NCERT.
Saturday, October 22d. at 8, P. M.
PROGRAMME.
OVEUTUKE, Op. 124, "Dcdiciilion of the IIou.se." BEETHOVEN.
AIR. (Oiphous.) ......•• CLUCK.
SYMPHONY in B flat. JtAYDN.
(No. 12 of nieilkoprs edition.)
BALLET MUSIC. (Rosamundc.) .... SCHUBERT.
SCENA. (Odysseus!) MAX BRUCH.
FESTIVAL OVERTUliE WEBER.
SOLOIST:
MISS ANNIE LOUISE GARY.
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
goers that no subsequent leader has surpassed
Georg Henschel in the difficult art of programme-
making. The fervor with which he inspired the
Harvard Musical Orchestra in the momentous
concert of March 3 made itself felt once more.
In the belief of William F. Apthorp, expressed
thirty years later, it was, for some strange rea-
son, never so fully shown again. However that
may be, the spirit of the music so affected the
audience that when the English national air was
recognized in Weber's Festival Overture, " the
people" — in the "Traveller's" account of the in-
cident — "arose en masse and remained standing
until the close. This delicate and appropriate
compliment was a feature not down on the pro-
gramme, and was all the more worthy of praise,
coming as it did from a universal sentiment of
respect to Her Majesty and the mother country."
The strangeness of the circumstance, as it appears
to our later view, is that so recently as 1881 the
melody which brought the audience to its feet
was known for " God Save the Queen," and not
"America."
The musical critics of the local press found
58
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
much to commend in this first concert, though
there was dissatisfaction with the seating of the
Orchestra according to a plan which was not long
retained, and — more particularly — with Mr.
Henschel's "un-Haydnesque" and altogether un-
traditional manner of conducting Haydn's sym-
phony. The tempi at which, especially for the
first year, he took familiar pieces of classic music
afforded one of the chief grounds for adverse criti-
cism. Before many concerts had been given, this
criticism, in some of the local journals, became
positively clamorous. Before the end of Novem-
ber such violent language had been used that a
writer, over the signature " Pro Bono Publico,'*
felt called upon to contribute to the " Herald "
a long letter entitled " Mr. Georg Henschel's
Critics Criticized." After reviewing the musical
situation in Boston, the letter proceeded with
severe and specific personal comments upon the
writers connected with the " Saturday Evening
Gazette," the "Advertiser," and the "Tran-
script," and brought itself thus to an end: —
Let me ask, is it fair, just, honorable, or even decent
for the managers of these papers to permit such critics
59
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
to vilify, malign, abuse, and ridicule a gentleman of Mr.
Henschel's abilities, a born musician, a student of or-
chestra music for years, an artist, who has appeared be-
fore the public, under the leadership of no less than
eighty different conductors in various parts of the world,
and who has passed all his time, when not profession-
ally engaged in the great musical events of the last dec-
ade, in watching the methods of the master musicians
of Great Britain and the Continent ; a man who is re-
cognized as a brother musician and peer by the leading
composers of Europe, and, withal, a simple, earnest,
devoted worker for the highest and best in music at all
times ? Is it courteous, to say no more, to permit such
criticisms upon concerts given under circumstances never
known before in the world's history, concerts given to
the people of Boston, as an educational institution,
through the public spirit and liberality of a single pri-
vate citizen, and he a man so modest and unassuming
that he selects the name, Boston Symphony Orchestra,
for the organization which, but for his own efforts and
generous expenditure, would never have existed ?
If the gentlemen of the press desire to organize a
clamor against Mr. Henschel, they will find his friends
quite ready to meet them. The fact has been established
that Mr. Henschel is a success as a conductor. He has
had serious difficulties to overcome on account of the
indifferent and demoralized condition of his men. He
has not yet been able to prevent some of the old fid-
dlers from doubling their backs like a cobbler, and draw-
ing their bows as they would so many wax-ends ; but
he has, nevertheless, added new blood, and imparted
60
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
much of his own enthusiasm, ardor, and life into the
mechanical old stagers, so that the result has been an
agreeable surprise to all of us, and which has never
been seen under the baton of any other conductor. As a
whole, the orchestra is certainly equal to any one we
have ever had in Boston, and, if it is not already, by
the end of the season I doubt not it will be the best
one of its class in America.
To this the criticized critics made eager re-
sponse. "Of course," said the "Saturday Even-
ing Gazette," in a reply some thousands of words
in length, "we have not the remotest intention
of replying to the ill-mannered scurrilities of a
poltroon who sneaked into print and into ma-
licious representation under a false name. The
only real injury he has done has been to Mr.
Henschel, who may exclaim, *Save me from
such friends as this ! ' "
A less partisan writer on musical matters de-
plored the arraying of opinion "*on sides,' the
one side only vaunting the merits, the other only
decrying the defects. Letters have been published
on both sides, and, as is usual in such cases, con-
vince nobody, but add to the acrimony of the
debate."
6i
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
In a letter to John S. Dwight, Mr. Higgin-
son wrote, March i8, 1882: —
The papers, as representing a few uncandid or hasty
and at least ill-mannered so-called critics, have lashed
themselves into a fury which is truly comic. It suggests
a little boy making faces at himself in a mirror. But I
am rather surprised that should allow himself to
write false statements and then to comment on them in
so childish a fashion. Of course he does n't intend to
utter lies, but he does, for half-truths are lies in mean-
ing. Of one certainly can expect only the habits
of a wild beast.
Altogether there was exhibited a temper which
did scant credit to those who expressed them-
selves most freely. Some of the humor which
naturally found its way into the discussion was
good-natured, and some the reverse. One of the
occasions for jocose remark sprang from that
versatility of Mr. Henschel's which permitted,
and amply justified, his appearance in various roles.
Writing one week of a concert to come, Mr.
Louis C. Elson, with characteristic vivacity, fore-
saw "a good deal of Henschel in the programme.
That gentleman will appear as pianist, composer,
and conductor, and he has already appeared as a
62
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
singer in the series. That is a good deal for one
man to do. But he will do it all with satisfaction
to the public, which seems to be entirely capti-
vated by him. The only thing he cannot do is
to appear as a string quartette, or sing duets with
himself." There was considerably less of friendly
feeling in an elaborate mock-programme of an
" Eggschel Concert; Conductor, Henor Egg-
schel," brought out in a form modelled upon
that of the Symphony Concerts. Conductor,
composers, performers, manager, all bore the
name of " Eggschel," and the titles of the vari-
ous numbers were "Zum Andenken," "Vergiss-
mein-nicht," "And Don't you Forget it," "Sou-
viens-toi," "Non ti scordar di me," "Ne obli-
viscaris," and "Then you '11 remember me."
There was indeed no danger that Georg Hen-
schel would escape the attention of the Boston
public. The very purveyors of such wit as that
of the mock-programme were helping to hold
the gaze of the community upon him. Mean-
while his own hold upon members of the Orches-
tra bore its testimony to the true success of the
work he was doing. On February 20, 1882, the
63
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Boston correspondent of "Music," a journal pub-
lished in New York, wrote: —
The musicians are very fond of their leader, and
thoroughly dislike the naughty critics, when they find
fault with him. This makes criticism in Boston very
lively, and gives a degree of excitement to the writing
of reviews, which prevents the critic from suffering
from ennui. This fermentation occasions a mild sur-
prise in London, where the "Musical World" blandly
remarks : " Henschel is still in vogue in Boston." The
expression "in vogue" does not express it by any
means. He is a creed — devoutly accepted by some;
scornfully rejected by others. The last concert, Feb-
ruary 1 8th, occurred on the occasion of his birthday
(he was thirty-two years old), and was not celebrated,
as those of Mozart and Beethoven had been, by a
series of compositions from the pen of the maestro;
but the Orchestra, nevertheless, observed the occasion
by presenting him with a silver salad set, after the con-
clusion of the symphony. It was a fitting recognition,
and one which we were glad to see made in public.
Those who carp at its pubHcity should remember the
many tokens which Mr. Zerrahn has received under
similar circumstances. I, for one, am glad to recognize
the great merit and services of this conductor. He has
done more for Boston's music than any other man
has accomplished in the same space of time. I earnestly
hope he may stay to reap the result of the harvest he
has sown. And as the blind, unreasoning flattery of his
too enthusiastic admirers fades out, the antagonism which
64
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
it awakes in the critics will also die away, and the real
worth of the great musician stand more firm than ever.
In his letter of the following week, the corre-
spondent of "Music" pronounced Henschel "a
veritable Brahmin in his passion for Brahms,"
and declared, "there are more dissonances in
Music Hall now in a week than there used to be
in a year. The medicine administered to Boston
at present may be thus analyzed: —
Extract of Brahms . . . .3 parts.
Essence of Berlioz . . . .2 parts.
Spirit of Henschel . . . . .1 part.
Shake well before taking."
His next communication (March 11) con-
tained a document of such moment in the annals
of the period and so comparatively temperate an
expression of the feeling which the document
excited that the letter may well be used entire : —
March 6. — It is a good thing for Mr. Henschel
that he received his silver salad set from his Orchestra
two weeks ago. Just at present there is no desire to
give Mr. Henschel anything except censure. The cause
of this sudden revulsion of feeling is that Mr. Hen-
schel's efforts at musical reform appear to have sud-
denly become a little too sweeping, and seem to include
6s
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
the centralization of Boston's music in the hands of this
conductor. Within a few weeks past the members of
the Boston Orchestra have received a circular, of which
the following is a copy : —
Boston, Feb. 25, 1882.
Mr. ,
Dear Sir, — I wish to engage you for the next season as
. . . under the following conditions : —
I. The Orchestra will have as conductor, Mr. Georg Hen-
schel, and as leader, Mr. Bernhard Listemann.
II. Your services will be required on each week, between
October i and April i, on the following days: Wednesday
morning, afternoon and evening: Thursday morning, after-
noon and evening : Friday morning and afternoon ; Saturday
morning and evening.
III. On Wednesday and Thursday all your time will, of
course, not be required, but you must be ready when needed.
You will be expected to play during these four days either at
concerts or at rehearsals, as required. If it is necessary to give
a concert occasionally on Friday you will be asked to give that
evening in place of another.
IV. On the days specified you will neither play in any other
orchestra nor under any other conductor than Mr. Henschel,
except if wanted in your leisure hours by the Handel and Haydn
Society, nor will you play for dancing.
V. I offer you . . . weekly, and also your expenses when
travelling on business of the Orchestra.
It is the intention, if the circumstances are as favorable as
at present, to make this a permanent orchestra of the highest
order.
Its success will depend very greatly on your efforts and on
your cooperation.
I wish to offer my sincere thanks for your labor and zeal
66
THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHE;
BEFORE THE " GREAl
A, GtOkG HENSCHEL, CONULCTOR
<GAN" IN MUSIC HALL
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
during the present season, and hope for your services in the
next.
In order to facilitate the needed arrangements, your answer
is expected by March 2. Yours truly,
Henry L. Higginson.
Now this circular is a direct stab at the older organ-
izations and rival conductors of Boston. It means that
one or two organizations may make efforts to place their
concerts on the off days which Mr. Henschel has been
pleased to allow them, but some must be left in the cold,
orchestraless and forlorn. I do not deny that it may make
Mr. Henschel's musicians work with better effect under
him, but I wonder (as the boy did when he had com-
pleted the study of the alphabet) whether it is worth
while to go through so much to gain so little. Mr.
Henschel is a good conductor and a thorough musi-
cian, but he is not the only one that Boston possesses.
Years ago Boston was ruled by a ring of musicians with
as much musical and administrative ability as Mr. Hen-
schel possesses, yet their rule was held to be detrimental
to the highest art interests of the city. The manner in
which the proposal was made was also one which fore-
bodes tyranny. Some of the oldest members of the Or-
chestra, men whose services to music in Boston have
entitled them to deference and respect, were omitted
altogether, and will be left out of the new organization.
It was intimated strongly that in case the offer was re-
jected by the men, their places would be filled from the
ranks of European orchestras. An innovation was also
made in the salaries (none of which are very high), and
many of the musicians find that the new scale of com-
67
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
pensation ranks them below others of the Orchestra
whom they had never regarded as superiors.
Spite of the excuses and explanations offered, I can-
not but view the scheme as arbitrary, and thoroughly
adverse to the real growth of music in Boston. The
musicians have rejected it, and it remains to be seen
whether the conductor will perceive his mistake and
gracefully yield his point, or will punish the resisting
ones by glutting the Boston music market with orches-
tral performers.
The local newspapers were more violent in
their condemnation of a plan of which the sole
object was — in the words just quoted — to
" make Mr. Henschel's musicians work with
better effect under him." The "Transcript " re-
coiled from Mr. Higginson's proposal and its
"extraordinary stipulation that all the players
shall bind themselves by contract to give him
their whole time for four consecutive days of
every week. . . . He thus * makes a corner ' in
orchestral players, and monopolizes them for his
own concerts and those of the Handel and Haydn
Society. . . . Mr. Higginson's gift becomes an
imposition, it is something that we must receive,
or else look musical starvation in the face. It is
as if a man should make a poor friend a present
68
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
of several baskets of champagne, and, at the same
time, cut off his whole water supply." Still
harsher words are found in the "Transcript's"
further comment on the matter, though the critic
held himself well within the bounds set by the
"Gazette" in describing the " monopoly of mu-
sic" as "an idea that could scarcely have ema-
nated from any association except that of deluded
wealth with arrant charlatanism."
This particular tempest in a tea-pot was fortu-
nately of short duration. Misconceptions were
soon removed, and the situation was clearly pre-
sented through an article in the "Advertiser,"
evidently authoritative, from which the follow-
ing passage is taken : —
And this brings us to the subject of Mr. Higgin-
son's relations to the enterprise. That these should
have been from the outset misunderstood is, perhaps,
not very strange, but some of the recent criticisms seem
particularly mistaken and unjust. Mr. Higginson has
established a permanent orchestra. His plan is not for
next year or a few years only. What exact shape it will
finally assume, and what will be the machinery of its
administration, cannot yet be said. Mr. Higginson has
very wisely postponed giving it any unalterable char-
acter, and the first arrangements are necessarily tenta-
69
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
tive. Therefore for a time the direction is largely in his
own hands. But to assert that this is because of a de-
sire for autocratic control, and that Mr. Higginson is
disposed to improve the occasion to gratify a fondness
for arbitrary dictation, is a reckless charge so particu-
larly wide of the truth that all who know Mr. Higgin-
son must have read such intimations with almost as
much amusement as indignation. That the management
is principally in him is for the present necessary, but it
is exercised with a very earnest desire to serve the pub-
lic in the best way. Those who consider how many
clashing, selfish interests the project has already aroused
may well think it fortunate that its first tender begin-
nings were not entrusted to any general board made up
in the vain attempt to conciliate opposition.
The proposal which Mr. Higginson has made for
next season to the musicians has been fir^t misrepre-
sented and then severely condemned. The facts are
these : It has become plain, after this season's expe-
rience, that a permanent orchestra must be kept more
rigidly together, and that the members must be some-
what restricted in their miscellaneous outside engage-
ments. These would seem to be movements most
obviously in the direction of better discipline and effi-
ciency. No one could long assume the responsibility
of educating a permanent orchestra and not tighten
the discipline in this manner. Without this, improve-
ment is restricted, and beyond a certain near limit be-
comes impossible. No musician can do his best in the
midst of a highly trained orchestra, who has played all
the night before at a ball, or who plays every alternate
70
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
night under a different leader and with different asso-
ciates.
In offering engagements for the ensuing season, Mr.
Higginson has accordingly required of each musician a
large part of the last four days in the week for work in
this orchestra. On one of these days is to be the pub-
lic concert, on two of them public rehearsals,' and on
one or another of them probably a concert in some
suburban place. Other work on those days is not ab-
solutely prohibited. Teaching and even playing in small
groups is allowed, but large orchestral work is forbidden.
Such is the proposal, but it is subject to modification.
Each musician is free to accept or decline. Some have
already accepted, some declined, many have not yet
answered. It is hard to see how any musician can com-
plain of an offer coupled with restrictions so obviously
necessary to the success of the work at large. That the
offer is unremunerative is not contended. If it so hap-
pens in any case, the musician will naturally decline.
The pay is adjusted to the grade of the musician, and
is meant to give a good return. Mr. Higginson has
dealt with the musicians in the fairest and pleasantest
way, and invited every one to come and discuss his
case with him; and if any of the musicians are not yet
persuaded of his desire to deal fairly with them, it must
be those who have not taken him at his word, and
talked the matter over with him face to face.
When the first season was virtually at an end
a correspondent of the "Advertiser," writing as
' There was only one such rehearsal.
71
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
" one who knows," made the further statement,
here given : —
Now that the first season of the Boston Symphony
Orchestra is drawing to an immediate close, it might be
well to say a few words, as from one who knows, about
its maintenance and its permanence as an institution,
two points which would seem to have been but vaguely
understood or appreciated by the majority of the con-
cert-going public.
Last year, when Mr. Higginson told us that he was
going to give us an orchestra, to have and to hold, he did
it in so few words, and so quiet and almost over- modest
a manner, that, perhaps, it was natural that many of us
should not have really understood the nature of his
donation. The fact is that he gives to Boston a stand-
ing orchestra, just as another might give a library or a
collection of pictures, to be enjoyed for such very mod-
erate prices that the pleasure and privilege is open to
all. And this is not for one year, or for two years, but
for all the years that we will enjoy it by being interested
and educated and comforted by it. The material of
which this orchestra may be composed, and the artist
who may conduct it, will always be the best that can
be found here, or brought from over the seas to recruit
the ranks. This is not an enterprise, or a business spec-
ulation, and the terms loss and gain, which we have
heard so often lately relating to it, are not in its
conception or nature. The expenses of outlay are so
very much larger than any possible income of re-
ceipts could be that if the plain figures could only
72
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
be seen there would be no misconception in any one's
mind.
Of the many worries and the annoying details which
have necessarily attended the carrying -out, single-
handed, of this wide and serious plan, of the patience
and forbearance which have been shown, not only to
misconception, but to malicious and futile detraction,
we say nothing because silence is best and worthiest;
and we say no word of thanks to the giver of this good
thing, because we know that he wants no thanks in
words. But we do think it right that all the people
who have been to the concerts this year, feeling that
they could enjoy good music with no strain upon their
purses to interfere with their pleasure, and all those
who shall go next year, should know what is being
done for them and for their children. In their gratifi-
cation will be his gladdest reward.
Soon afterwards, Mr. Higginson, himself, in
the "Advertiser*' of March 21, 1882, published
the following letter: —
To THE Editors of the Boston Daily Adver-
tiser : —
When last spring the general scheme for the con-
certs of the Boston Symphony Orchestra was put forth,
the grave doubt in my mind was whether they were
wanted. This doubt has been dispelled by a most
kindly and courteous public, and therefore the scheme
will stand. The concerts and public rehearsals, with
Mr. Georg Henschel as conductor, will go on under
73
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
the same conditions in the main as to time, place,
programmes, and prices. Any changes will be duly
made public when the tickets are advertised for sale.
Henry L. Higginson.
The continuance of the Symphony Concerts
having been thus quietly assured, the interested
contemporary must have looked with some so-
licitude for the opening of the second season.
He may not have been aware how enormously
he and his kind outnumbered the vociferous
critics. The figures, however, tell a suggestive
story. The twenty concerts of the first season
were attended by 49,374 persons; the twenty
rehearsals by 33,985 — a total of 83,359, the
average total being 4,168. That they were well
pleased with what they heard may be inferred
from the fact that in the second season, when
the number of concerts was raised from twenty
to twenty-six, the total attendance, at concerts
and rehearsals, was 1 1 1 jj"]"], an average total of
4,299. There could hardly have been stronger
evidence that the Orchestra was achieving its
intended purpose.
Yet in the very popularity of the concerts
74
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
lay an occasion for dissatisfaction — an occasion
which during the first two seasons, when all the
season tickets were sold at the box office of
Music Hall, caused the management most anx-
iety. There seemed no way of preventing the
ticket-speculators from buying the seats, and sell-
ing them at such an advance of price as quite to
frustrate the purpose of providing the best music
at charges within the reach of all. A clipping
from a daily newspaper recalls the situation at
the opening of the second season : —
The interest taken in the coming series of sym-
phony concerts by the Boston Orchestra, under the
direction of Mr. Georg Henschel, is shown by the
demand for season tickets. A few appeared at the box
office at Music Hall on Saturday morning for the pur-
pose of securing positions in the line of purchasers.
As Music Hall was to be used they were not allowed
to stand in the passageway, and, accordingly, stood in
line on Winter Street. Some time yesterday afternoon
others came and formed a line in Music Hall Place.
When this was noticed those around the corner made a
rush, and some who had secured good positions in the
first place were not so fortunate at the time of the
change. Early Sunday evening the line rapidly length-
ened, and at seven o'clock there were more than a
hundred persons in line, and at nine o'clock the num-
IS
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
ber had increased to at least two hundred. Chairs,
camp-stools, and even a long wooden settee were in
the service of these patient ones, and the floor of the
doorway leading to the vestibule was covered by about
ten individuals lying packed as close as sardines. The
time was passed in smoking, chatting, and by occa-
sionally taking a promenade, a neighbor securing the
seat of the absent one until he returned. When the
sale of tickets began there were about three hundred
and fifty persons in line, many of them being boys who
were holding positions for others. Some who intended
purchasing only two tickets would take orders for four
more, six tickets to each person being the limit. It is
said that the second man in the line sold his position
for thirty-five dollars. When it began to rain, um-
brellas were raised and a few left the line.
A correspondent signing himself " Book
Keeper," writing to the press about the plan to
provide music for the less prosperous lovers of it,
and commenting on the audiences of the previous
season, declared : —
I saw but few whom I should believe to be poor
or even of moderate means. A large proportion of the
audiences were as " swell " as those seen at the Italian
Grand Opera. " Full dress " was to be seen on every
hand. I should be very glad to take my family to hear
these educating and refining concerts, but I have not
the means to go in full dress ; neither can I afford to
pay a speculator double the price for tickets that is
76
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
asked by the manager. Is not Mr. Higginson's scheme
a failure, practically ?
To relieve the pressure upon the box office
somebody also suggested two rehearsals a week,
which led still another observer of the situation
to write : —
Goodness gracious ! how the symphony has become
the very breath of our nostrils ! And this after sym-
phonies have been played for years to a few handfuls
of aesthetic Boston ladies of either sex in the self-same
hall, with about the same performers !
Still there were doubts whether the enterprise
could go on. In the "Home Journal" of Sep-
tember 30, 1882, it was said: —
Symphony concerts may be given for a number of
years in Boston at a rate which will certainly involve
pecuniary loss ; but it is not at all probable that Mr.
Higginson will have his successor in any such unap-
preciated system of philanthropy. . . . Concert man-
agers generally complain of the prospects of a dull
season; and the public is likely to be forsaken by
those who have long been counted as among its best
friends. Now how long the role of King Ludwig is to
be played in Boston, it is impossible to determine.
Certain it is that no one is profiting by it save the
distinguished conductor of the Boston Symphony Or-
chestra.
77
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
From the very beginning of the second season
it was evident that the hostile critics had spent
most of their fury in the course of the first year.
As one of the newspapers remarked, " Either
Mr. Henschel has converted the critics, or the
critics have converted Mr. Henschel. Which is
it?" Where there had been nothing but objec-
tions to Mr. Henschel's methods and manner,
tacit acceptance and even positive approval began
to appear. Doubtless the effect of playing con-
stantly under one leader was revealing itself in
the work of the Orchestra. Possibly the force
of public satisfaction with the results already at-
tained was telling upon the critical mind, just as
any strong popular sentiment will affect the
spokesmen of a democracy. Whatever the causes
may have been, the inevitable happened: the
Harvard Musical and Philharmonic concerts gave
place to those of the stronger and younger organi-
zation, and the fears of those who foresaw disas-
ter to the cause of local music proved groundless.
While the Orchestra, through its perform-
ances, was making its way with the general public,
it was establishing itself, sometimes by vigorous
78
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
assertions of independence, with professional mu-
sicians outside its immediate ranks. On one occa-
sion in the early days, a foreign pianist of the
highest fame was engaged and announced as the
soloist for a certain concert rehearsal. Before the
time set for his appearance, he demanded payment
in advance for his two performances. The ques-
tion was considered, with the result that the pian-
ist promptly received the information that either
the concert would proceed as announced, with
the stipulated payment after the Saturday night
concert, or the piano solo would be dropped from
the programme, and the audience would be told
precisely why. The great soloist immediately
abandoned his contention, and the concert was
played complete. As with pianist, so with piano.
There had been a general practice, which older
concert-goers will remember, of hanging on the
side of the piano used on the concert platform
an enormous gilt sign giving the name of the
manufacturer. The elaborate Gothic " Miller,"
"Steinway," or "Weber" still presents a distract-
ing image to musical memory. The manage-
ment of the Boston Symphony Orchestra early
79
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
decided that such a sign was misplaced and intol-
erable. The local purveyor.of pianos to the con-
certs in Music Hall was told that his sign could
no longer be used. He replied that there would
then be no piano. Very well, the piano solo would
accordingly be omitted, and the reason would be
announced to the audience. Like the pianist, the
dealer immediately came to terms, and the present
use of unlabelled instruments was inaugurated —
with such comforting salve to the dealer's feelings,
however, as a note on the programme giving the
name of the piano might well afford.
In the first two seasons of the concerts may be
found the beginnings of the special benefit and
memorial performances which have since become
familiar. On the afternoon of November 9, 1882,
a portion of the programme of the first concert
in the Cambridge series was publicly rehearsed in
Music Hall for the benefit of the widow and four
children of a German musician and composer of
merit, who, on September 30, succumbed to the
fever at Pleasant Hill, Washington County,Texas,
in the thirty-fifth year of his age. The dead mu-
sician, E. A. Weissenborn, had recently come to
80
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
the United States, from Vienna, full of pleasant
anticipations. Bernhard Listemann, first violinist
of the Orchestra, conducted. Mrs. Henschel sang
alone, and she and Mr. Henschel gave his most
popular of duets, " Oh, that we tw^o w^ere may-
ing." As it has frequently done in later years,
the Orchestra gave of its best in a moment of
special need.
Later in this season the programme announced
for February 17 was suddenly changed because
of the death of Richard Wagner on February
13. In view of the many memorial programmes
given since then, it is interesting to see, from the
facsimile on page 83, how the first of them —
except for a Beethoven anniversary concert of the
previous winter — was constructed.
Both the appearance of the hall and the feel-
ings of the still unregenerate with regard to
Wagner are suggested in the following passage
from the "Gazette": —
A tribute of respect to the dead composer crowded
the front of the first gallery, and consisted of some
mourning drapery decorated with laurel, and a portrait
of Wagner. The Orchestra wore black instead of the
81
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
customary white neckties. The programme was gloomy
enough in all conscience, and the necessity for its
performance gave one more cause for regret at the
composer's death. The whole concert was an elegiac
nightmare. We doubt if ever Music Hall echoed to a
longer stretch of cacophonous dreariness within the
same length of time.
Such expressions about the music of Wagner
were but representative of the feelings of many
music-lovers, whose critical faculties had received
their chief stimulus from " Dwight's Journal of
Music." By no means the least part of Georg Hen-
schel's service to the musical public lay in his
sympathetic productions of what was then the
most modern music. In November of the second
season, for example, he gave the Vorspiel of
"Parsifal," a month after its first American pro-
duction by the Philharmonic Society in New
York ; and that the audience might miss none of
its beauties the music was played at both the be-
ginning and the end of the concert — an arrange-
ment much commended at the time. As a warm
personal friend of Brahms, Mr. Henschel gave
his music its first real familiarity to the local
public. The Adagio of the "Serenade in D " was
82
Boston Music Hall.
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA.
MR. CEORC HENSCHEL, CONDUCTOR.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17TH, AT 8. P.M.
PROGRAMME.
fV^ RICHARD WAGNER. ^ ^
1^^ BORN MAY 22d, 1813. ^^J
PRELUDE. (TrUtan. 185a )
LOItENORirrS LEGEND AND FAREWELL (Lohengrin, 1847.J
SIEGFRIED-IDYLL. (1871.1
ELISABETH'S GREETING
TO THE HALL OF SONG. (Tannhaeuser. (1845.)
INTRODUCTION.
(The Mastersingers of Nuremberg. 1867.)
POGNER-S ADDRESS. "
PRELUDE. (Parsifal. 1881.)
SCENA AND ARIA. (Oberon.) WEBER.
"The stone that covers thy reinaing, shall b«come the rock tn the desert,
out of wliich once the Almlehty struck the fresh spring. From it shall flow
until most distant times a glorious stream ot ever young and new creating
Jlfe. IFrom U'agntr'i Funiral Oraiio* at Wtbtr't Graw.)
DEATH MARCH. (Goetterdaemmerung. 1874)
SOLOISTS t
MME. GABRIELLA BOEMA.
MR. CHAS. R. ADAMS.
MR. HENSOHEL.
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
likened by one critic to " the sapient musings of
some brilliant idiot" ; and the writer went on to
say : "We are told by an eminent musician of the
Orchestra that thirty years will make a wondrous
change in our views concerning Brahms's idiosyn-
crasies. Let us not run so unwelcome a risk. Let
us die in peace, with none of the abortive transi-
tion to plague our life away, that might be ex-
pected by some of the so-called future school of
music." William F. Apthorp, looking back upon
these earlier years wrote: —
I think the only Boston musician who was really
enthusiastic over the Brahms C Minor from the first
was B. J. Lang. But the rest of us followed him soon
enough, I myself bringing up in the rear, after six years
or so. It took considerably longer than this, though,
for Brahms to win anything like a firm foothold in
Boston. It was the old story over again. Schumann
had to fight long for recognition from the public; Wag-
ner did anything but come, see, and conquer. Liszt
and Berlioz frightened almost all listeners at first. And
when Brahms came, he seemed the hardest nut to crack
of all. . . . The public persistently cried for new things,
and turned up its nose when it got them.
The education which Henschel and the Or-
chestra were bringing to the public was by no
84
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
means confined to the twenty-six concerts and
rehearsals of the second season in the Boston
Music Hall. The needs of Harvard University,
clearly in Mr. Higginson's thoughts from the
very inception of the project, were met by six
concerts in Sanders Theatre in Cambridge. There
were besides three concerts each in Salem, Provi-
dence, and Worcester ; two each in Portland,
Lowell, Fitchburg, and New Bedford ; and one
each in Newport and Lynn, — a total of fifty-one
concerts for the season. The deficit was consid-
erably larger than at the end of the first season
— and was seldom exceeded afterwards, yet it is
an interesting fact that neither from the manage-
ment, which understood the entire situation, nor
from the public, which could only guess at it,
were there from this time forth any important
expressions of the doubt that the Orchestra had
become a permanent institution. For its estab-
lishment on a business basis as firm as the artistic,
the long-continued services of Mr. John P. Lyman
as volunteer treasurer of the organization from its
origin were inestimable. The present treasurer
is Mr. F. G. Roby. At the very first, the actual
8s
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
management of the concerts was in the hands of
the officials of Music Hall, which was rented
week by week. Before long Mr. Charles A. Ellis,
employed in the Calumet and Hecla office, was
asked and consented to take charge of the out-
of-town concerts. On the death of Mr. A. P.
Peck, manager of the Music Hall, in 1885, Mr.
Ellis took his place, giving up his position in the
Calumet office. Since that time he has managed
all the affairs of the Orchestra — a task of great
labor, including attention to contracts, to the
whims and difficulties of musicians, their disci-
pline when not in concerts and rehearsals, the
business of travelling, which has been great, and
the details of preparation for concerts all over
the country. Any record of the organization
which omitted a full acknowledgment of what
it owes to Mr. Ellis would fall far short of com-
pleteness. In a confidential letter to Mr. Hig-
ginson regarding the choice of a new conductor,
a certain musician under consideration for the
post — given ultimately, by the way, to another
— was described by one thoroughly conversant
with the ways of the Orchestra as a man whom
86
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
" it would take twenty kind, patient Charley
Ellises to manage." In this fragment of sugges-
tion much of the story is told. To round it out
an account of the business organization which has
grown up with the Orchestra should be written.
In such a narrative the work of Frederic R.
Comee, assistant manager for many years before
his death in 1 909, and of his successor, Mr. Wil-
liam H. Brennan, who now holds the post, would
appear as bringing important elements of tact and
devotion to the successful management of the en-
terprise. Besides the treasurer, the manager, and
the assistant manager, the present force includes a
manager of Symphony Hall, Mr. L. H. Mudgett,
and a publicity representative, Mr. W. E. Walter
— filling out a staff of marked efficiency.
In one of the most important practical matters
in the early business of the Orchestra, it appears
to have been Mr. Henschel who proposed the
solution of a real difficulty. This lay in the
method of selling the seats for the concerts. It
was at the beginning of the third season that the
plan, pursued ever since, of disposing of a large
number of tickets by auction was introduced.
87
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Thus was the plan made known to the public in
a letter from Mr. Higginson ; —
To THE Editor of the Transcript: —
The arrangements adopted for the past two years for
the sale of tickets to the concerts of the Boston Sym-
phony Orchestra have not, apparently, satisfied the
public and have certainly somewhat disappointed the
managers. I have wished to distribute the tickets with
the least inconvenience to buyers and to keep the prices
at the fixed rates, but the demand for tickets being
large, it has not been possible at the usual office sale to
prevent a long line of buyers, or to prevent the resell-
ing of some tickets at an advanced price. It is doubt-
ful whether any plan can be devised which will remedy
both of these difficulties so long as the present demand
for tickets continues, but it has been decided to make
trial of another method in the hope that the public may
be better accommodated.
The prices of seats will remain as before, but a por-
tion of the seats on the floor of the hall and in the first
balcony will be disposed of, for this season, at auction.
A large diagram of the seats will be put before the bid-
ders, who will thus see each seat marked off as sold.
The seats will be offered in regular succession accord-
ing to their place on the plan, and not in order of
superiority, nor will the right to select be offered. From
one to four seats, as desired, may be bought on one
bid. Bids must be made in person or by an agent.
No effort will be made to stimulate prices, but on
the contrary it is hoped that this open sale of seats in
88
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
regular order and the use of the plan, which will con-
stantly show how large the supply really is, may have the
effect of quieting competition. A small number of seats
will be reserved for the directors, the press, and for my
own use, and these will be plainly marked upon the
plan. The seats not disposed of at auction, and also
all the seats at twenty-five cents and all the rehearsal
tickets, will be sold as usual at the ticket office. If this
plan does not work satisfactorily some other will be
tried next year.
Henry L. Higginson.
It is obvious enough that this plan was devised
with the best interests of the public in view.
That no substitute for it was tried in the follow-
ing season, and that it has now stood the test of
more than thirty years, may be taken as an indi-
cation that it proved reasonably satisfactory. Yet
the determined objectors who form a part of
every community ascribed all manner of sordid
motives to the management. One of the mildest
expressions in a Boston letter to a Chicago news-
paper was that "the hoi polloi, for whom Mr.
Higginson has been ostentatiously posed as a
patron, will have to put up with the leavings —
a few back seats." The newspapers made much
of the charge that the best tickets were reserved
89
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
for the special friends of the management, and in
an obscure item presented the fact that the
highest premium for a seat was paid by Mr. Hig-
ginson's father. As the years went on, the hu-
mors of the auction sale became more noticeable
than the supposed injustices. In spite of the
brightly visible announcement that bids are the
premiums on each seat to be added to the regular
price of it, there have often been ladies who have
failed to grasp the methods of the auction-room.
At least one has been seen to start the bidding for
a certain seat at five dollars, raise it by degrees to
ten, and then sink back in disgust at having lost
what she so much desired. It is told of another
concert-goer that one year he wanted four seats
together, and, having missed the auction sale,
went without much hope to the box office. To
his surprise he was there offered four excellent
seats, and found the explanation of his good for-
tune in the fact that two families, formerly
friends but no longer on speaking terms, had un-
wittingly acquired sittings shoulder to shoulder,
and that each without the knowledge of the
other had returned its tickets. Though extrava-
90
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
gant premiums — $ioo, $150, and once, for a
particular end seat at the rehearsals, $380, and
yet again, for two seats at the evening concerts,
$560 each — have been paid for specially desired
tickets, the buyers who could thus afford to grat-
ify their whims have contributed correspondingly
to meeting the cost of the concerts, and there has
never been a time when many excellent seats
were not obtainable at a premium of a few dollars.
Never, moreover, from the very first has it been
impossible to buy seats at the rehearsals for
twenty-five cents each. They are now sold to
those who are willing to stand in a line with
"quarters" in their hands, to be collected at the
entrance until the last of the 505 available seats is
sold. In the Friday morning hours before the re-
hearsals at which soloists of conspicuous popu-
larity are to appear, the waiting-line of devoted
music-lovers of moderate means may still be seen
on the steps of Symphony Hall and on the side-
walks leading to its doors, just as in the period of
beginnings a similar line was to be found at the
approaches of Music Hall.
In the prices of season tickets, advances have
91
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
been made from time to time, but, it might read-
ily be shown, these have been far less rapid in
scale and amount than the increase in the cost
of the concerts. The rate at which season tickets
for twenty concerts were first offered at $io and
$5, according to position, was maintained through
the second year, when there were twenty-six con-
certs, and the third, when the present number of
twenty-four was adopted, and the price of con-
cert season tickets became $i2 and $6. In the
first and second years there were no reserved or
season tickets for the rehearsals, single tickets
selling at twenty-five cents. In the third year,
when the auction system was adopted, season
tickets for the rehearsals were first sold, not at
auction, the price being $g. All the seats offered
at auction and not sold were purchasable then and
in later years at the box office at the advertised
prices. In the fourth season, 1884-85, the con-
cert prices were $12 and $7.50, the rehearsal
prices $10 and $7.50, but all the $7.50 seats were
sold at the box office. In the fifth season the
prices at both concerts and rehearsals were $ 1 2
and $7.50, and only the $12 seats were offered at
92
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
auction. This arrangement was maintained until
the tenth year, when the $12 and $7.50 seats at
both performances were offered at auction. So it
went on until the twenty-sixth season, 1906-07,
the first under Dr. Muck, when the present prices
of $ 1 8 and $ i o, according to position, were first
adopted. It should be added, however, that this
increase was made in order to expedite the auction
sale, for the bidding by this time generally began
at a corresponding advance upon the advertised
prices.
At the opening of the third season, it was a
matter of public knowledge that George Hen-
schel would not conduct the Orchestra in the
following year. Though his friend Brahms had
written to him in admiration of a conductorship
involving no supervision by a committee, and had
declared, ** There 's not a Kapellmeister on the
whole of our continent who would not envy you
that ! " ' the life of a singer in Europe held out
its lure, and in Boston the Orchestra, brilliantly
inaugurated, was ripe for the progress which
might now be furthered by a new and different
' From the statement by Georg Henschel.
93
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
hand. If the critics, formerly so hard to please,
were now to be believed, Mr. Henschel had
greatly improved as a conductor. The complaint
that he was permitted to learn his trade in pub-
lic was followed by the full admission that he
had learned it. Mr. Henschel himself, before
the year ended, was credited with saying to an
interviewer: "My stay here has been both pleas-
ant and profitable, my experience during the last
three years being invaluable. A German con-
ductor could not acquire such an experience in
three times as many years."
The best concerts have not always attracted
the largest audiences; and so it was that during
the third season Mr. Elson wrote — after the
selection of Mr. Henschel's successor was an-
nounced : —
I believe that a large number attended the symphony
concerts for the first two seasons simply because they
were fashionable. Now the force of the fashionable
commandment — Thou shalt not miss a symphony
concert — has spent itself, and the audiences are smaller
than in the opening seasons of the enterprise,' although
* This was true of the evening concerts but not of the afternoon
rehearsals. At the twenty-four concerts of the third season the average
attendance at the rehearsals (2,423) was larger than in either of the
94
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
the Orchestra plays better, and the programmes are
more interesting. Poor Mr. Gericke ! he comes from
Vienna just in time to take charge of an enterprise in
which public interest is waning, and lucky Mr. Hen-
schel, he will leave it in a manner which will enable
him to say that it only prospered when under his direc-
tion. But I will not croak out, " Ichabod, the glory is
departed," before I am quite sure that it has really and
entirely left. That it has partially gone is undoubted.
In spite of such lamentations there were plenty
of evidences of vitality in the young orchestra
and the public feeling about it. The telephone
was young at the same time, and some one had
the imagination to devise a scheme, never accom-
plished, for making telephone connections be-
tween Music Hall and the private residences of
many persons who might like — before the Vic-
trolian age — to enjoy orchestral music at home.
Another scheme, for establishing a large perma-
nent chorus as an adjunct to the Orchestra, went
somewhat farther, but was abandoned out of con-
sideration for existing societies with choral sing-
ing for their prime purpose. Already a project
for using the Orchestra in connection with opera
previous years, and the total average (4,366) showed a heahhy in-
crease.
95
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
in Boston had found its way into the public
prints. Meanwhile the audiences were making
progress in their musical and cognate education.
When Schumann's "Warum?" appeared on a
programme of the third season, it was not thought
necessary, as in the first year, to follow the title
with an English "Why?" in parenthesis. The
audiences, moreover, showed signs of a better
training, in silent attention and quiet departure
— when it was necessary for individuals to leave
the hall before the concert was over. This im-
provement was forwarded by the practice, intro-
duced during the third season, of printing on the
margin of the programme the time at which the
final number would end, and a request to those
who must leave early to go at a specified point
in the programme. The frequency with which
9.30 and 9.35 appeared as the hour of ending
tells of the rigor with which the original plan of
short concerts was carried out.
In its educational function the Orchestra was
used at least once in the third season to celebrate
an event of great historic importance — the birth-
day of Martin Luther. On the four-hundredth
96
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
anniversary of this day, November i o, 1883, Bos-
ton seemed to be declaring itself still a Protestant
city, through a concert for which the programme
was made with special reference to Luther. His
relation with the art of music was emphasized as
strongly as might be by the playing of Mendels-
sohn's " Reformation Symphony " and Wagner's
" Kaisermarsch," in which the first lines of Lu-
ther's hymn are introduced. But the chief event
of the evening was the singing of " Ein' Feste
Burg," for which a large choir of boys from Bos-
ton, Longwood, Lynn, and Chelsea churches was
brought together. The audience by means of a
special programme, on which a portrait of Lu-
ther and an English translation of his hymn were
printed, was invited to join in the singing —
which it did, with some departures from tune
and time, but probably with great satisfaction to
itself.
Later in the year, the anniversary of the death
of Wagner (February 13, 1883) was celebrated
at the concert of February 16, 1884, by the in-
troduction of three of his compositions to the
programme. The valentine which Mr. Elson a
97
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
few days later brought forward as having been
received by Mr. Henschel preserves a passing
point of view regarding the programmes of the
time: —
" Oh, Henschel, cease thy higher flight !
And give the public something light ;
Let no more Wagner themes thy bill enhance
And give the native workers just one chance.
Don't give the Dvorak symphony again ;
If you would give us joy, oh, give us Paine !
And if as leader you do not yet shine,
Your singing is an attribute divine —
So you shall ever be our valentine."
It could have hardly been more than a coinci-
dence that Paine's "Spring Symphony" was given
March i.
Before the end of March the third season of
the Boston Orchestra came to an end, and with
it Mr. HenscheFs conductorship. A critical re-
view of his work in the "Transcript" recited
the difficulties and the advantages with which
he had had to deal — his own lack of experi-
ence, the quality of the local band, the freedom
from hampering influences, financial or artistic
— and gave him full credit for what he had
achieved : —
98
BEGINNINGS UNDER HENSCHEL
Indeed, Mr. Henschel has gone on steadily improv-
ing; his opportunities have been great, it is true, but
he has shown both the will and the power to make the
most of them. He has not only made himself a thor-
oughly capable conductor, but has left the Orchestra in
a condition which any musical city might be proud of.
. . . All thanks to him for it !
At the final private rehearsal of the Orchestra,
Mr. Henschel and a spokesman for his men
gave expression to the warm personal feeling
that had grown up between them. The audi-
ence at the final concert uttered its own hearty
farewell. Let Mr. Henschel himself describe the
occasion : —
I shall never forget that last symphony concert I
conducted in 1884. It was, to begin with, the Manfred
Overture. I had just made the last touch with my baton
to insure silence and raised it for the first sharp chord
of the overture, when to my utter surprise and dismay
— the whole Orchestra and behind me the whole au-
dience rose to their feet and instead of hearing the
Manfred Overture, my ears bathed in a flow of " Auld
Lang Syne," sung by a thousand people.
Private and semi-public farewells were crowded
into the short remaining time of Mr. Henschel's
residence in Boston. When he left America, with
99
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
a distinguished musical career in England await-
ing him, the new Boston Orchestra stood firmly
on its feet as an institution well fitted fiar that
fuller development which private devotion and
public response stood ready to accomplish.
Ill
THE ESTABLISHING UNDER WILHELM GERICKE
1884-1889
MR. H. T. PARKER, of the Boston "Tran-
script," once described the respective
stages through which the Orchestra passed under
Mr. Henschel, Mr. Gericke, in his first five years,
and Messrs. Nikisch and Paur, as the primitive,
the expert, and the romantic. It was a happy and
suggestive characterization — within the limits
imposed upon all such attempts to compare the
sounds of the past. In the very nature of the case,
the art of music, like that of acting, is an art of
the moment; and it is almost as difficult to com-
pare the effectiveness of the tones created by a
band of players at one time and another as to
measure the relative merits of the voices of dead
actors, or the relative beauty of successive waves
as they break upon rocks or beach. The trans-
iency, the consciousness of a supreme moment,
— these but add to the satisfaction in what is
lOI
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
passing, in what may be remembered with de-
light but never enjoyed in its fulness again.
Through the primitive agency such moments
come as special gifts from heaven ; through the
expert — if the spontaneous power of the primi-
tive be not annulled by too studious an expertness
— they come more surely, more often, more def-
initely " on demand."
The bringing of the Boston Symphony Or-
chestra to the point of expertness at which
its best — and that a better thing than before
— might more regularly be expected of it was,
in a marked degree, the work of its second
conductor.
Both in Mr. Higginson's " Account " of the
Orchestra, from which passages have already been
drawn, and in a paper which Mr. Gericke has
been kind enough to prepare for the advantage
of this narrative, the story of his engagement as
conductor of the work to which he gave him-
self is told. In spite of some inevitable repetition,
both of these sources may well be laid under con-
tribution for the present purposes. It has been
seen already that through a large portion of the
102
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
final year of Mr. Henschel's term of service Mr.
Higginson was in Europe. With the knowledge
that a new conductor would be needed for the
fourth season, there was every reason why he
should turn his steps towards Vienna, the scene
of his early musical interests. Thus he tells of
his experience there, and of its immediate re-
sults : —
Having friends in Vienna, I naturally went there and
talked with them and with various musicians, — among
others Julius Epstein and Hans Richter, who then was
at the top. On the first evening of my stay in Vienna
I went to the opera and heard "A'lda." I noticed a
conductor with black hair, whose method of conducting
pleased me much, for his interest and care in his work
was striking. I asked my old friend, Julius Epstein,
who he was, and he said : " That is Gericke." Hans
Richter was too well placed as a man at the head of the
Opera and of the Imperial Chapel to leave Vienna, and
so I asked Epstein if Gericke would come. He laughed
at the idea. I said to him, " Will you ask him ? " and
he said, "Yes, I will do anything for you, but he will
not come." He marched off to Gericke's rooms, and in
half an hour came back and said : " He will go with
you, and would like to talk with you to-morrow morn-
ing." (Epstein had told me that Gericke was an excel-
lent, experienced musician and artist, and thoroughly
conscientious.) So the conversations with Mr. Gericke
103
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
began and ended in a contract carefully drawn by a
legal friend in Vienna. Everybody spoke in the highest
terms of him, but, owing to some disagreements such
as constantly arise in an opera house, I think that he
was glad to leave Vienna at that time. At any rate, he
came, took up his work here, and did his best, but after
two concerts he said to me: " You have not an orches-
tra here. There are some musicians, but it is hardly an
orchestra." Nevertheless, he worked with them during
that season, and produced pretty good results. At the
end of that time he went back to Vienna, engaged an
excellent concert-master (Franz Kneisel) and a large
number of good musicians, and brought them here.
With a certain number already in Boston and in New
York, he began his second year, and worked hard to
form an orchestra. The concert-master and, indeed, the
first desks of the first violins were excellent, and all the
instruments were improved, but still there was much
room for further improvement. Before the end of the
winter we had a fair orchestra. Again, people would
ask if it was not splendid, and got the same reply,
" Not yet."
In this second year Gericke's work went on, and,
with small troubles of a man now and then being in-
subordinate or failing to satisfy Gericke, the work pro-
ceeded fairly. But about the middle of the year Gericke
became much discouraged, said that he could conduct
no longer, and asked me to release him. However, he
got over that mood, and went on faithfully with his
work. He had unusual talent for forming and develop-
ing an orchestra. He was a thorough musician, with a
104
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
fine sense for sound and careful execution, a refined
taste, and entire command over his men. (When I asked
my friend Epstein in Vienna about him, he said all
these things, and added: "He is conscientious and
faithful in the highest degree"; and he proved so from
the beginning to the end.) He took no end of pains,
especially with the violins, kept the brasses down, and
encouraged the good wood-wind. There was no limit
to his patience, and no limit to the pains which he
took; and he taught those first violins to sing as violins
sing in Vienna alone. It was he who gave to the Or-
chestra its excellent habits and ideals.
I think that it was in the third year that Gericke
asked to go to New York. A day in December was
appointed, and the concert was advertised, the hall en-
gaged, etc. A week or so before, he came and said to
me: "I am not ready to go to New York." " What is
the matter?" said I. He said: "The Orchestra is not
playing sufficiently well for me to appear before that
public, which is not so friendly as ours." "Very well,"
said I, " the arrangements have been made. It will cost
me a pretty penny, but if you are sure, I will pay it."
He said, "I am sure"; and, therefore, the concert was
put off.
Gericke never failed to struggle for what he considered
the need of the evening. By and by he wished to go to
the West, and preparations were made for such a jour-
ney. He went, played in many places with good re-
sults, and came back having lost a great deal of money.
The deficit that year was $50,000. He was sorry, but
could not help it. The next year, if I remember aright,
105
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
the results were about the same ; at any rate, one year the
deficit went to ^52,000, and it never passed that point.'
All this time, Gericke each summer made his pro-
grammes with great care, sought new music, and
brought it here, sought new men and brought them
here. He had some fine wood-wind men and some ex-
cellent brass men, and when he went away, everybody
was filled with regret. His contract had been made for
five years, and at the end of that time he had a trouble
with his throat, and, to our great regret, left the town.
Everything had gone smoothly, and everybody was
very sorry to lose him.
Mr. Gericke's account of his relations with
the Orchestra is introduced by his accurate recol-
lections of talks with Mr. Higginson about his
youthful desires for music in America and the
first steps towards their fulfilment. As this ground
has already been sufficiently covered, it is best to
turn at once to Mr. Gericke's story of some of
the circumstances just presented in the words of
Mr. Higginson: —
In the autumn of 1883, Mr. Higginson came again
to Vienna, and during that time I made his acquaint-
ance. At that time I held two positions in Vienna;
' It ought to be recorded that deficits, varying in amount, have had
to be met every year. Exact figures of their aggregate are not available,
but it has been at least ^900,000.
106
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
one, as a Conductor of the Oratorio Concerts, given by
the Society of Music'
One day, Mr. Higginson came to his old friend and
former teacher, Professor Epstein, and asked him the
name of that Kapellmeister he saw the other evening at
the Opera conducting " Aida " and said : " I want to have
him for Boston ! " Professor Epstein, quite astonished,
answered, "Impossible! Gericke would never leave
Vienna!" Mr. Higginson said, "Why not? Go and
ask him ! " So the next day Professor Epstein came
to me with this message. Chance certainly worked for
Mr. Higginson's purpose at this time.
Both my positions in Vienna had given me the great-
est satisfaction, especially as, in opera and in concerts,
I was very successful. I never would have dreamed of
leaving them and going away from Vienna, if not just
at this time some dispositions of the Director of the
Opera — Wilhelm Jahn — had made me feel pretty
angry and disappointed. It was some question of reper-
toire — a small matter in itself; but, when Mr. Hig-
ginson's offer came, it certainly helped me to consider
it favorably, and it took not very long before I decided
to accept it.
In September, 1884, I went across the ocean to be-
gin my new position as a Conductor of the Boston Sym-
phony Orchestra. It would be untruthful to say that
my beginning there was an easy one; for everything
that Mr. Higginson felt years ago as an amateur about
the difference of orchestras and artistic conditions, I
1 The second position was that of one of the staff of conductors at
the Opera House of Vienna.
107
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
felt ever so much more as a professional, and especially
after having conducted the admirable orchestra of the
Vienna Court Opera for ten years. During the first
days in Boston, I got most disagreeably homesick.
When I arrived, the room that had been engaged for
me proved only large enough for a bed, a chair, and a
table. No place for a piano or anything which might
make it comfortable. Not used to such wholesome but
somewhat Spartan simplicity, I wished for better accom-
modation; but, as my English was so very poor, it was
thought unwise to take me to a hotel. I was brought
into a private family, but, also there, nobody spoke any
German. My room looked into a yard, I had nobody
to speak to, and, though they kindly tried to make it
comfortable for me, I felt very much like a prisoner in
Siberia. After a few days, however, I was taken to the
Tavern Club, which at this time was just founded by
a number of young gentlemen — all nice and charming
fellows. There I found kindred spirits and some good
and stanch friends, who did their best to help me over
my first difficulties.
In my new work, all sorts of troubles were going on
during the first season. The members of the Orchestra
were not accustomed to my way of rehearsing, the
audience did not like my programmes. Constant com-
plaints were made about their being too heavy. My
predecessor had always given some light music in the
second part of every concert and the audience was used
to this and liked it. But, as Mr. Higginson wanted to
bring the concerts to a higher standard, and as the
name of the Orchestra was "The Boston Symphony
io8
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
Orchestra," I did not see the reason why the programme
should not be put throughout on a classical basis and
have the character of a real Symphony Concert. Mr.
Higginson may have had a very hard time to defend
my ideas against the many complaints and criticisms
made to him about me; but in all that time, he stood
most loyally by my side.
The public of Boston — to-day one of the most cul-
tivated and best understanding musical publics I know
— will be surprised to hear that in those days — dur-
ing the first performance of Brahms's No. 3 — the audi-
ence left the hall in hundreds, and, still more at the first
performance of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7
(1887) ; so that during the last movement we were more
people on the stage than in the audience. The same
thing happened at the first performance of Richard
Strauss's Symphony "In Italy" (1888).
In the first year, the season lasted only six months,
and when those were over, the members of the Orches-
tra disbanded and mostly went away from Boston.
Consequently, the management was obliged to look out
every year for new musicians for the coming season.
Mr. Higginson very justly felt that, under those cir-
cumstances, with permanent changes, he could never
get what he wanted : a first-class orchestra. And during
my first season, he asked me what could be done to
avoid these changes among the members. I proposed
to try a longer season by visiting other cities, making
short tournees during the season and a longer one at the
end. Mr. Higginson recognized that in this way, the
engagement of the Orchestra could be drawn out to
109
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
eight or nine months, and that in this way, contracts
for a number of years could be offered to the members.
At the same time, the idea of giving Popular Concerts
in the beginning of the summer was started and gave
another opportunity for prolonged occupation for the
members, and a new attraction for the Bostonians. Mr.
Higginson was quite ready to try a tournee at the end
of my second season. But, before we got so far, an-
other trouble had to be faced. In that time, a number
of old and overworked musicians were in the Orches-
tra, no longer fit for the demands of modern and more
difficult orchestral playing. Mr. Higginson thought
they should be replaced by younger elements and, when
I went to Europe, after my first season was over, he
gave me the order to import twenty new musicians —
among them a new Concert-master. This, by the way,
was Mr. Franz Kneisel. All the new musicians, among
which were Mr. Svecenski, Mr. Fiedler, Mr. Zach,
Mr. Moldauer, and many others (Mr. Roth came only
a year later) were very young men ; and the Concert-
master one of the youngest ; so young, that he did not
even know how to smoke. On our trip over, I felt it
my duty to teach him this art, in which he has certainly
been past-master ever since.
When the second season with the new members
began, I had hoped the fresh element would make my
work easier, and heighten our success ; but I was mis-
taken. I soon felt that all the twenty dismissed mem-
bers, with their families, were like millstones round my
neck. The remaining old members took the part of the
dismissed ones, opposed me where they could, and put
I lo
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
themselves into direct opposition ; a great part of the
audience, even some of the critics, were influenced for
the same reason. I was not popular in the Orchestra,
especially as they did not yet understand why I should
ask for better playing and more exact work than had
been done heretofore. Before I came to Boston, the
members of the Orchestra had been used to a great
deal of freedom ; for instance, members living out of
town were allowed to leave the rehearsal at twelve in
order to be home for lunch ; or, to reach a train for an-
other out-of-town engagement of their own — whether
the rehearsal was finished or not. It was not easy to
make them understand that their engagement for the
Boston Symphony Concerts had to be considered first
and foremost, and that the rehearsal had to be finished
before everything else. It took Mr. Higginson's whole
energy to make them understand that they had to con-
sider me in this way and rehearse and play as satisfac-
torily as I thought it necessary.
The end of the second season, however, brought a
great change. We made our first tournee to different
cities, and at this time in Philadelphia the Orchestra
earned there its first real success. The musicians began
to understand what the hard work and earnest study
had meant, and what results were reached by it ; it
opened their eyes and gave them a feeling of pride and
satisfaction with themselves.
It is not necessary to mention that the expenses
during the first tournees were extremely great ones.
Though Mr. Theodore Thomas used to travel to dif-
ferent cities with his Orchestra and give Symphony
1 1 1
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Concerts, on the whole, the audiences of most of the
towns, New York and Boston excepted, interested in
that kind of orchestral music were as yet very small. I
am sure had the creator of the Boston Symphony Or-
chestra been another man than Henry L. Higginson,
the Orchestra would not have reached the age of ten
years. But Mr. Higginson clung to his ideal purpose
of forming an orchestra of the very first rank, with a
tenacity unequalled and he was willing to undergo any
amount of trouble and sacrifice any amount of money
on that account.
After the first great success in Philadelphia, Mr.
William Steinway asked us to come to New York in
the beginning of my third season and make our first
appearance there at a celebration in old Steinway Hall.
But, as the Orchestra was still young, and, as in that
time every beginning season brought some changes,
especially in the wood-winds, I did not dare to go to
New York before the Orchestra was in really good
shape, and, therefore, we did not accept Mr. Steinway's
invitation. Of course, he was very angry with me, but
when we came six months later to New York, he saw
himself that I had been right.
The first appearance of the Boston Symphony Or-
chestra in Steinway Hall was a great surprise to every-
body. New Yorkers did not expect to hear such good
orchestra-playing from the Bostonians, and the Bosto-
nians did not expect to get such success in New York.
For me, this first success there was a great joy and most
flattering, for, in those days, all New York music-
lovers were great admirers of Theodore Thomas and
112
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, who had every
reason to be thus admired. So the standard in New
York was a high one, and this made us feel all the hap-
pier. Since then, the Boston Symphony Orchestra ap-
pears every season in New York, and is their perma-
nent guest. There is no doubt that this first success in
New York affected greatly the Boston audience ; from
that moment, the Boston Symphony Orchestra began
to stand on solid ground. The members of the Orches-
tra began to feel that they belonged to an artistic cor-
poration of first rank, — and in the same measure as
the success increased, they took more pride and satis-
faction in their work.
In 1889, I left Boston, — thoroughly overworked.
I went back to Vienna for an entire rest. . . .
I cannot remember in what year it was that Mr. Hig-
ginson once complained to me about the great expenses
that the Boston Symphony Orchestra caused him year for
year, and that he sometimes feared he would be obliged
to give it all up. I begged him not to be discouraged
and to give us more time, — that the Orchestra would
soon gain ground in New York and everywhere else,
and that the heightened success would diminish the
yearly losses considerably. Fortunately, I was right.
Mr. Higginson has the satisfaction to see his Orchestra
recognized everywhere as one of the very finest existing,
admired by everybody, musician or no musician, and he
has had the joy — given to so few men — to see the
dream of his youth fulfilled and to hear in his native
city musical performances as excellent as those he heard
in Vienna years ago. Without his ideal purpose, without
"3
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
his stiff neck, his determination to go through all
the difficulties, all the many troubles caused by mem-
bers, critics, audiences, — and sometimes even conduc-
tors, — without his munificence, it would never have
been possible to erect such a fine musical corporation
as the one Boston can now call its own.
To these two versions of the story of Mr.
Gericke's first connection with the Orchestra
much may be added — both in further detail re-
garding certain points here touched upon, and
through other items going to complete the story.
Of all these matters the contemporary local press
preserves enough and to spare.
Mr. Gericke, born in Schwanberg, Styria, April
18,1845, was not forty years old when he came to
Boston. His training had been of the most exact;
his temperament led him to demand of his men
the attention to technique, the mastery of finesse,
which were precisely what they had hitherto most
conspicuously lacked. These excellences were to
be acquired only by the hard work, the persistent
drilling which he was ready to give the Orchestra,
and the players soon found they must accept. His
remark to Mr. Higginson after the second con-
cert he conducted, " There are some musicians,
114
THREE CONDUCTORS
WILHEI.M r.ERICKE, I884-IS89, 1898-I906
ARTHIR NIKISCH, I889-1895 C.EORG HENSCHF.L, I881-1884
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
but it is hardly an orchestra," recalls the phrase
ascribed by William F. Apthorp to a distinguished
European violinist, who called the Boston Or-
chestra of a still earlier time, ^^ une agregation
fortuite d' elhnents heterogenes.*' In rendering the
Orchestra both homogeneous and expert, Mr.
Gericke fully earned the encomiums often be-
stowed upon him by Mr. Higginson and by
others less directly interested: "Gericke made
our Orchestra."
If he found the players inadequate to his pur-
poses, it does not appear that this inadequacy
extended to the music with which the Boston
public had already been made familiar.
The following anecdote is related by Mr.
Apthorp : '
Shortly after Mr. Gericke's arrival in Boston, B. J.
Lang asked him if he would not be interested to see
the programmes of past symphony concerts in our city ;
to which he replied he had already seen them all,
and had studied them carefully. "All " sounded rather
startling ; so Lang asked him how many seasons of
programmes he had seen. " Oh, there have been only
three," answered Mr. Gericke. "Ah, I see," said Lang,
"you mean the programmes of the Boston Symphony
' Boston Evening Transcript, September 30, 191 1.
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Orchestra ; but would n't you like to see the pro-
grammes for the seventeen years of concerts given by
the Harvard Musical Association, before the Symphony
Orchestra existed? " Mr. Gericke's eyes opened wide at
this, and he eagerly accepted the offer. So Lang gave
him the two bound volumes of programmes, which he
returned in a few days, saying, " I am completely dumb-
founded! I do not see what is left for me to do here.
You seem to have had everything already ; more, much
more, than we ever had in Vienna !"
Evidently the shortcomings were rather of qual-
ity than of quantity. In a merely physical sense,
Mr. Gericke found himself at the first in a posi-
tion of advantage over any previous conductor in
Music Hall since the installation of the Great
Organ in 1863. That glory of the older musical
Boston — making way in one particular after an-
other for the newer — had been removed during
the summer between the last concert under Mr.
Henschel and the first under Mr. Gericke. There
were lamentations from many representatives of
the old order when the purpose to part with the
unwieldy instrument became known ; but the
truth was probably spoken by the "Transcript"
when it said : " Likely enough that imposing ar-
ray of pipes absorbed a good deal more fine music
116
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
than it ever gave out during its long existence.
Now an orchestra in the Music Hall really sounds
like an orchestra, and not like a weak apology for
one."
From the "Transcript" also may be taken a
few sentences in the notice of Mr. Gericke's first
concert, for they fairly represent the attitude of
the critical fraternity, much more at one with
regard to the second conductor than to the
first : —
And now for Mr. Gericke! His reception by the large
audience was as cordial as possible, and, as each suc-
cessive number on the programme was finished, long
and hearty applause burst forth afi-esh with unmistak-
able vigor. Mr. Gericke has, in a word, made a very
palpable hit at the first dash. His manner at the con-
ductor's desk is admirable: dignified, self-contained, free
from all over-dramatic demonstrativeness, yet suffi-
ciently animated to indicate the enthusiasm with which
he burns. He is by no means one of those conductors
who, by their outward impassiveness, stand as an insulator
between the orchestra and the hearts of the audience.
Then, again, everything one sees him do with the baton
is immediately appreciated by the ear, as the Orchestra
responds to his nervous beat. Every stroke tells, and
one's musical enthusiasm is not damped by an un-
pleasant sense of effort. He seems to make the Or-
chestra do just what he pleases. We say seems ^ for it is
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
idle to try to judge a man finally after but one con-
cert. One can only speak from first impressions, and
these impressions are, in the present case, wholly and
strongly favorable.
The critics this time were not at variance with
the general public, which showed its interest in
the concerts not only by increased and enthusias-
tic attendance, but by taking pains to prepare it-
self for what it should hear. During the fourth
season Mr. Lang and Mr. Chadwick were giving
lectures on the structure of Beethoven's sympho-
nies as they were played ; and Professor Paine
was delivering a series of musical lectures on em-
inent composers from those of the earliest classical
periods to Wagner. There were occasions when
the audiences expressed their delight with un-
precedented vigor. When the Orchestra first
played the melody now thrice familiar as Han-
del's " Largo," but then known only to a few as
an air from the composer's opera of "Xerxes,"
— one, be it said, of forty, — the effect, de-
clared the "Advertiser," "was as fine as it was
unique, and we have never before seen a sym-
phony audience roused to such general enthusiasm
ii8
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
and to such determination to have a repetition."
In time the public learned that a Vienna musi-
cian, Helmesberger, had arranged the air for or-
chestral production. What they heard was the
melody " first played by Mr. Listemann with harp
accompaniment, and then repeated in unison by
seventeen violins ranged in line across the stage,
the harp being reenforced by a sustained ac-
companiment in long notes by the rest of the
Orchestra, replacing the organ part." This crit-
ical account of the piece now relegated — shall we
say translated ? — to the programmes of " Pop
Concerts," speaks a word of its own for the
musical distance traversed since 1884.
Another early popular success was the play-
ing of Saint-Saens' " Danse Macabre " when Mr.
Gericke's first season was nearing its end. This
elicited, according to a newspaper account of the
matter, " the first encore ever granted since the
Boston Symphony Orchestra first began its con-
certs. The delight one actually feels at finding a
genuine, spontaneous cri du cceur coming from a
Boston audience is quite enough to silence all
pedantic criticism on the unusual proceeding."
119
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
No wonder that Mr. Elson said after the concert
at which the "Largo" was first played: —
The applause at its close showed that Boston audi-
tors are beginning to recognize a good performance
when they hear it. I may add here that several times
during the concert the applause burst forth in the same
overwhelming fashion, and that the hall was for once
thronged. How different it used to be in Boston ! I
can remember concerts in the city where the critic felt
very lonely, where musical autocrats fell asleep, and
where the small audience was so cold that the conduc-
tor's teeth chattered and the Orchestra had to put on
ulsters. Of course in those pre-Higginson days ap-
plause was unknown, and if once an enthusiastic youth
did clap his hands, it was discovered that he came from
New York, and he was requested by a committee from
the congre — I mean, from the audience, to discontinue
such indecorous proceedings. Nous avons changes tout
cela. We are getting as excitable as a La Scala audi-
ence, and when we once establish the good old custom
of hissing bad work we shall be all right.
The public expressions of disapproval of the
concerts during Mr. Gericke's first year seem to
have been concerned only with the programmes.
There were those who condemned them roundly
as not sufficiently inclusive. On the other hand,
it was intimated, in print, that a great number
of modern compositions would have been played
1 20
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
if Mr. Gericke had thought the Orchestra yet
capable of doing them justice. In spite of occa-
sional offerings like the "Danse Macabre," he
was putting into practice his belief that the con-
certs should be put on a classical basis. To this
end he omitted from his sixth programme what
had never been absent before — the performance
of a soloist ; and, to the credit of the audience he
was trying to educate, the experiment was pro-
nounced a success.
It was unfortunately within the Orchestra
itself that Mr. Gericke encountered his most
difficult problems. In his process of making it
homogeneous it was necessary to work individual
hardships — in the removal of older players to
make place for musicians meeting the require-
ments of excellence upon which he insisted. Some
of the players thus removed had established them-
selves firmly, and deservedly, in the local esteem
— perhaps so firmly, in certain instances, as to
render them indifferent to the necessity of the
strictest discipline. It is told of a popular violon-
cellist who quitted the Orchestra while Mr.
Henschel was conducting it that the real diffi-
121
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
culty lay in his refusal to share a music-stand
with another musician. More serious troubles
probably arose with the accomplished violinist
and 'cellist with whose services Mr. Gericke dis-
pensed at about the middle of his first season. It
was at the opening of his second season that the
changes in the Orchestra were most extensive,
and the consequent disturbance was most pro-
nounced. In the previous pages Mr. Gericke has
told of his engaging twenty new musicians in
Europe in the summer between his first and
second seasons. It requires little imagination to
appreciate the immediate results of all the sup-
planting of old players by new which this im-
portation of foreign musicians brought to pass.
In the first place, such musicians as Listemann
and Leopold Lichtenberg — to make the list no
longer — were men whose genuinely artistic qual-
ities had won them many admirers ; and whether
they were dismissed for musical or disciplinary
reasons, the public knew only that they were gone.
In the second place, Mr. Kneisel, and those who
came with him, the Messrs. Adamowski and oth-
ers who soon followed, — many of them through
122
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
the direct agency of Mr. Gericke, — and Mr.
Loeffler, who had joined the Orchestra in its sec-
ond season, were young men with all their work
for the cause of music in Boston and America
still to be done. The total value of their services
could not possibly be measured in advance. Quite
apart from the strengthening of the Orchestra by
so much new and efficient blood, they and their
fellows — including such later arrivals as Mr.
Longy — have put the public heavily in their
debt in many ways, especially through their Quar-
tettes and other small associations giving concerts
of chamber music. The close connection of these
organizations with the Orchestra is illustrated by
the fact that the deficits of the Kneisel Quartette
concerts — while deficits continued, and while
the members of the Quartette remained mem-
bers of the Orchestra — were met like those of
the larger organization. But the services of the
newcomers were hardly to be foreseen at the very
first, and the fact that their coming was not cel-
ebrated with unmixed rejoicing need occasion no
astonishment.
When the first changes oi personnel occurred,
123
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
one of the local writers on musical subjects, ad-
mitting that " the Boston Symphony Orchestra
play together well," declared that there was
" more discord than harmony in the relations of
the musicians with the director," and that "prob-
ably the symphony enterprise will die a natural
death at the close of the present season." In the
second year it was said that "it would be possi-
ble to make a very strong orchestra out of the ex-
members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra " ;
and when Thanksgiving came, a waggish critic,
enumerating the causes for gratitude in Boston,
remarked : " For example, we are thankful that
Mr. Gericke, in his sweeping discharges, did not
discharge Mr. Higginson. We are thankful that
one or two Americans are still left in our Sym-
phony Orchestra, so that the United States lan-
guage may be preserved from oblivion."
It was easy enough to poke fun at the trans-
formation of the Orchestra, and natural enough
for certain persons to resent it ; but the fact that
it was transformed — and that for the better —
was the important matter, and one which soon
demanded, and received, general acknowledg-
124
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
ment. Meanwhile the transformation of the au-
diences, the extension of their musical interest,
was proceeding pari passu. Here too there was
plenty of resistance. Mr. Gericke has described
the first reception of Bruckner's Seventh Sym-
phony, at the end of which he says there were
"more people on the stage than in the audi-
ence." This statement finds its corroboration at
the hands of the critic in the " Saturday Evening
Gazette," who said of the Symphony : " Its
effect upon the audience was to induce very
many to depart after the second movement, and
at the end of the third there was a still more
general exodus." With a resurgence of the vo-
cabulary employed in the time of Mr. Henschel,
this critic defined Bruckner's composition as "a
prolonged moan and groan, varied now and then
with a gloomy and soul-depressing bellow ; —
Wagner in a prolonged attack of sea-sickness ; a
huge barnacle-covered whale of a symphony but
without any lubricating blubber." A newspaper
paragraphist made the suggestion that in the
emergency of fire in the Music Hall Bruckner's
Symphony might be put into play instead of the
125
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
usual steam-squirt/ Brahms was still faring little
better with the unregenerate, though the "Tran-
script," after a concert at which his variations on
a theme by Haydn were played, quoted "a cer-
tain musician" who declared: "Well, we shall all
live to see Brahms encored yet ! " As for Richard
Strauss — when, for the first time, one of his com-
positions, the " Symphonic Fantasie, In Italy," was
played during Mr. Gericke's fifth season, it was
recorded by Mr. Elson : "The auditors marched
out by platoons during the pauses between the
movements, and some of the bolder ones even
made a dash for the doors during the perform-
ance. Nevertheless, one should be glad that this
new work has been given a hearing in Boston,
but there will be no urgent demand for its speedy
repetition." It was the old story of the instruc-
tion of the unwilling — the gradual and difficult
direction of desire. But for the persistence of the
second and other conductors in giving the audi-
ence the opportunity, often unwished for, to
» The vitality of this jest and of the spirit behind it was attested soon
after the opening of Symphony Hall in 1900 by a paragraphist's re-
port that the fire-escapes in the new building were marked, "This
way out in case of Brahms."
126
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
broaden the boundaries of their taste and knowl-
edge, the Boston public would obviously have
been even longer in arriving at the point at
which Mr. Gericke could describe it as " one of
the most cultivated and best understanding mu-
sical publics I know." After all it is little more
than two years ago that so enlightened a journal
as the London "Spectator" printed an
ODE TO DISCORD
(Inspired by a Stratus Symphony.)
Hence loathed Melody, whose name recalls
The mellow fluting of the nightingale
In some sequestered vale,
The murmur of the stream
Heard in a dream,
Or drowsy plash of distant waterfalls !
But thou, divine Cacophony, assume
The rightful overlordship in her room,
And with Percussion's stimulating aid
Expel the heavenly but no longer youthful maid !
Bestir ye, minions of the goddess new,
And pay her homage due.
First let the gong's reverberating clang
With clash of shivering metal
Inaugurate the reign of Sturm and Drang!
Let drums (bass, side, and kettle)
Add to the general welter, and conspire
To set our senses furiously on fire.
Noise, yet more noise, I say. Ye trumpets, blare
127
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
In unrelated keys and rend the affrighted air,
Nor let the shrieking piccolo refrain
To pierce the midmost marrow of the brain.
Bleat, cornets, bleat, and let the loud bassoon
Bay like a bloodhound at an azure moon !
Last, with stentorian roar.
To consummate our musical Majuba,
Let the profound bass tuba
Emit one long and Brobdingnagian snore.
It was under Mr. Gericke that the Orchestra
began the extension of its influence beyond New
England. New York concert-goers in the winter
of 1887 read on the programmes of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra : —
Since its establishment it has been the desire to
make its scope and influence national ; for several sea-
sons concerts and series of concerts have been given in
the large New England cities, and last year it journeyed
for several weeks in the Middle and Western States.
Such an itinerary represents one of the purposes of its
founder, and plans are now completed for a second
tour, which will occupy a longer period and embrace
all the larger Central and Western cities, including
New York. The concerts of this Orchestra, wherever
given, are conducted with the same business system
and musical thoroughness, and there is no such thing
as a "substitute player" in its ranks. It gives the best
always ; Milwaukee and Louisville, St. Louis and New
York can recognize no difference in its point of view.
128
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
Both Mr. Higginson and Mr. Gericke have
remarked upon the first appearance of the Or-
chestra in New York — the postponement of the
engagement until the conductor believed it could
be met with credit, the hearty reception by the
New York audience, the indirect effect at home of
this success abroad. The New York critics of the
time were not entirely at one in awarding the
Boston players the very highest measure of praise,
— the " Evening Post " especially maintaining
that the orchestras of its own city had given con-
certs of equal merit. But the "Times" expressed
the more general feeling when it said after the
first concert : —
Taken altogether such a triumph as last evening's
concert is a rare and happy thing. " Thus fate knocks
at the door," said Beethoven, pointing to the four
notes with which the C Minor Symphony begins.
Thus fate, in the shape of Boston, knocked at our
doors last night, and if the entrance of a new prophet
demolishes some of our old beliefs, unsettles some of
our ancient traditions, and awakens new longings, let
us be thankful wholly for the goods the gods pro-
vide us.
After the second concert, March 2, 1887, a
129
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
special correspondent wrote to the Boston " Trav-
eller":—
Many surprises marked the evening, not the least
of which was the character of the audience; in place of
the faces of foreign type which accompany one every-
where in cosmopolitan New York, here right along-
side was one of the loveliest old New England grand-
mammas, with a bevy of nephews and nieces ; in the
next row a group of fine fellows, New Yorkers, it may
be, but Harvard men undoubtedly, while it was such
a pleasure to see all about the faces with which one felt a
kinship. This is written not in disparagement of those
truly musical people, the Germans, who seem to form
the bulk of a New York concert constituency, but only
to show, it may be to others who, like the writer, have
been really homesick for the sight of 2. family face when
for any cause brought into a promiscuous company in
New York, that they are to be found there, but it needs
some such summons as the Gabriel trump of a Boston
orchestra to bring them out. There were present, as a
matter of course, many German musicians and dilet-
tanti ; and many members of the New York orchestras,
almost all of Herr Seidl's band, embraced this oppor-
tunity to hear what sort of truth our Boston Fiddlers
and Fifers spake.
Whatever New England may have contributed
to the New York audience, there can be no doubt
that the New York approval did for the Or-
chestra in Boston very much what a European
130
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
success accomplishes for any American artist and
his work. The reports of Western and Southern
triumphs served the same good purpose. When
the Orchestra in the spring of 1887 returned
from a long Western tour and played in Boston
on May 21, Mr. Gericke received so hearty an
ovation that it was said : " A victorious general,
fresh from serving his country, could not have
been more rapturously received." Thus the tours,
immensely costly as they were before the Or-
chestra had made its present public in other cities
than Boston, justified themselves through an in-
crease of prestige at home, and — perhaps even
more — through imparting to conductor and band
the consciousness of their ability to win a more
than local recognition. Nor was the cost of it
all in money only. Business management, disci-
pline, good temper, self-control have been put
to the severest tests. In an article in " Harper's
Weekly" (March 29, 191 3) on "Touring with
an Orchestra," Mr. W. E. Walter, of the present
staff of Symphony Hall, has described the humors
and tribulations of "the road." Two passages
from this entertaining paper suggest something
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
of the difficulties with which the management
has had to cope.
The truth is [says Mr. Walter] that every orchestra
must do a certain amount of travelling if its organiza-
tion is to be kept together, which is a good thing for
the country in general and music in particular. Condi-
tions are very different, thanks to these tours, from
what they were when Theodore Thomas and his band
used to travel up and down the country in the seven-
ties and earlier eighties, and when the Boston Sym-
phony Orchestra began to make its trips to the Middle
West, twenty-five years ago. Not now, even in Medi-
cine Hat or Painted Post, — to use those names ge-
nerically, — would such an incident be possible as almost
paralyzed the late Fred Comee, for years the assistant
manager of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The
place was not in the Far West, but a thriving city of
Central New York, and the time just twenty-five years
ago. Arriving in town with the Orchestra for a concert
that night, Comee went direct to the theatre to see
what the sale was, that being the most important ques-
tion of the day. He was greeted by the local manager
with that calm indifference assumed when the house is
rented and the money sure, whether or not any tickets
are sold. The advance sale was discouraging, and Comee
turned to the local manager for comfort and sugges-
tion.
" When do you parade ? " asked the local man.
" Parade ? " queried Comee in a puzzle.
" Sure. Don't your troupe always parade before the
132
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
show ? You won't do no business without it." And
the impresario was right.
Although the local theatre managers do not regard
an orchestra as a black-faced ministrel troupe, their at-
titude toward it is still full of suspicion, tinged with
contempt. If the house is large it is just the foolish-
ness of the women that accounts for it. If it is small
it is the highbrow character of the "show" that is re-
sponsible. The darkness of the musical middle ages
of America has not yet entirely disappeared.
Even when the methods of a minstrel troupe
are not contemplated, strange provisions must
sometimes be made. From the article just quoted
comes the following ray of sidelight upon the
Orchestra on its travels : —
Once the Boston Symphony Orchestra was to give a
concert at one of the principal universities of the East,
which is the possessor of a very pretty hall, albeit a
small one. When the librarian arrived in the afternoon
to arrange the desks and chairs for the musicians, he
discovered that the centre of the stage was held by an
elaborate canopied chair of marble, evidently the pres-
ident's seat of honor at university gatherings. It was
permanent, not to be moved, and as the stage was so
small that every inch was needed to find space for the
seventy-odd musicians, the chair had to accommodate
some one. He thought over the situation carefully,
and decided that the honor of this place must go to
the first bassoonist, for he was a most dignified-appear-
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
ing man, and the bassoon, although often put to base
comic uses by frivolous composers, is really, in its best
estate, the most solemn and dignified instrument in the
orchestra. The combination of the marble throne and
the dignified, bald-headed German blowing earnestly
into his long, black tube, in the very centre of the lime-
light, as it were, overshadowing even the swaying con-
ductor, was a huge success. Even the saddest and most
serious music could not rob the audience of its happy
mood.
It was chiefly on the road that such enliven-
ing variations from the routine of the concerts
could occur. In Boston the accepted, the ex-
pected, was more and more sure to happen. To
be sure, it was told of a tympani player of the
first decade of the Orchestra that his energy in
the finale of a Beethoven symphony quite upset
the gravity of the double-basses in front of him,
and that " when he lost control of his cuffs and
they skimmed along merrily towards the statue
of Beethoven, it did seem that the bronze features
relaxed."
Yet for the picturesque and unusual it has com-
monly been necessary to look outside the concert
hall — for example, at the sales of tickets, by
auction, and at the box office to those who were
134
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
willing, or purchasable, to wait in line for the
opportunity to buy the season tickets remaining
after an auction sale. During Mr. Gericke's con-
ductorship this method of securing seats — often
for the profit of speculators — was practised to an
extent that yielded strange manifestations. In the
autumn of 1888 a newspaper reported two hun-
dred and fifty to three hundred men and boys in
line from Saturday till Tuesday morning, with
the object of purchasing the $7.50 seats in the
first balcony and at the rear of the hall not bought
at auction. There were only five hundred of these
seats, and each person who reached the box ofiice
was entitled to buy four. When the box office
closed that year, the waiting-line stretched nearly
to Winter Street down the "Place" which led
to Music Hall. Four or five dollars a day, for
those who persisted to the end, was the reward
for waiting. During this period substitutes would
"spell" the linesmen long enough for them to
secure food. " Sleep," wrote a reporter who vis-
ited the scene, " was obtained in this way : They
are pressed so closely together that one might
lift his feet from the ground and still remain in
135
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
an upright position. The first man, the one near-
est the office, rests his head against the building
and all behind him rest heads on the shoulders
of the man in front, and in this way obtain rest.
Occasionally if a man gets to snoring, he is
quickly jammed without the line and loses his
place." In the following year some of the places
in the waiting-line were said to have been held,
with the aid of coffee and sandwiches provided
by the speculators, for five days. It is only to be
hoped that the concert-goers who obtained their
seats by this process derived from them a pleasure
at all offsetting the pain of their acquisition. It
was in the following light that the matter pre-
sented itself to a writer for the " Traveller " in
the autumn of 1887: —
The historian who sometime will write the record
of music in America will linger long over one phase of
the Symphony concert patronage in Boston. Cincin-
nati's Festivals will appear in bold type, the splendid
achievement in German opera which New York saw
from 1885-86 will be duly chronicled, but there will
be no precedent with which to compare the startling
item which must be entered by the recorder who reads
the musical condition of Boston for the season of 1886-
87 ; $100,000 were taken during five days in payment
136
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
for forty-eight concerts (rehearsals and concerts num-
bering twenty-four each) of the severest classical music.
If the historian is not a Boston man, he will less easily
explain the situation. If he is an optimist and a for-
eigner, he will declare us to have been a city of eternal
excellence in music, devoted worshippers of the beau-
tiful art; if he be a pessimist and a native, he will mut-
ter "fashion," end his chapter and bite off his indigna-
tion quickly. The pessimist will have the truth with
him.
But fashion is serving art in a most magnificent man-
ner with her lavish expenditure, and we are all opti-
mists, Mr. Historian, however you may diagnose our
descendants. There 's the rub. Did we know the Sym-
phony Concerts were to be eternal, ... we would not
concern ourselves with the future state ; but fashion
may weary, the Music Hall may crumble, there may
at last come no Mr. Higginson. What then ? Well,
the historian would benefit mostly by it, for it would
supply a really tragic character to an otherwise bald
proceeding. But in the sunshine of the present, who
cares ?
So far the historian has not profited by a tragic
climax for his narrative, nor does it seem con-
ceivable that any such conclusion of the story
awaits the future chronicler — or the constantly
benefited public. The "sunshine of the pres-
ent" has been carried far into what was in 1887
the uncertain future. This is simply because the
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
enterprise of the Orchestra was undertaken and
established on a basis of permanence. One of the
tokens of this fact is found in the remarkable
infrequency with which any steps, in this direc-
tion or that, have been abandoned or retraced.
The very details of the plan which Mr. Higgin-
son'put into words in the spring of 1881, before
a single concert was given, have, to an extraor-
dinary degree, been carried out. Except for the
change of methods in the sale of tickets, the in-
evitable advance of prices, and the substitution
of nominal for actual rehearsals on Friday after-
noons, it is hard to name any modifications of
the original scheme which have not been devel-
opments rather than changes in its provisions.
Under Mr. Gericke virtually all of the present
methods of the Orchestra and its concerts be-
came fixed.
Early in his conductorship, for example, the
management began to provide the concert-goers
with a sheet bearing the name " Music Hall Bul-
letin," and containing historical and analytical
notes on the numbers of the programme. These
were prepared by Mr. George H. Wilson. In
138
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
Mr. Gericke's final season a thirty -two page
pamphlet, under the same editorship, replaced
the simpler "Bulletin." In the season of 1892-
93, the editorship was transferred to the accom-
plished hands of the late William F. Apthorp.
In 1 90 1, Mr. Philip Hale took up this work,
which he still conducts with skill and learning.
Through all these years the programmes have
served a far-reaching educational purpose, not only
with direct reference to the concert of the even-
ing, but through bringing together an extraor-
dinary mass of musical lore, historical, critical,
and biographical. Too eagerly, indeed, have some
readers of the programme -notes devoured the
feast that has been spread before them. Even be-
fore Mr. Apthorp's editorial day, John S. Dwight
addressed himself to the Boston public: "We
may read and we may listen, but not both, dear
friend, at the same time. Read the matter either
before you settle down into the listening, recep-
tive mood, or wait till you get home ; it may
help a little to recall what you have heard and
found so fleeting. The very sight and rattle of
your pamphlet is an annoyance to those who
139
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
really do listen. And you wrong yourself at the
same time; you let your pamphlet-study cheat
you out of what you hoped to hear."
In spite of such intemperance in acquiring
musical information, the fact that the public was
steadily becoming better educated was a fact in
favor of the "Popular Concerts" — in local ver-
nacular, the "Pops" — which were instituted in
the spring of 1885, at the end of Mr. Ger-
icke's first season, and but for 1890, when a li-
cense to sell light alcoholic beverages in Music
Hall was refused, have been continued ever since,
in the months of May and June. Mr. Gericke's
purpose in providing these concerts was of a piece
with the plan to visit other cities than Boston
— that the men of the Orchestra might be of-
fered longer, and therefore more advantageous,
engagements. The programmes of the "Pops"
have always been constructed with a view to the
accompaniment of tobacco and other physical so-
laces, and a partially different public has always
been ready for the less severely classical music
which these concerts have provided. But a stead-
ily growing appreciation of the more substantial
140
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
music that has always been offered is a phenom-
enon of striking import to those who have
watched the long course of the " Pops." Whether
or not they have increased the clientele of the
Symphony Concerts, they have admirably served
their end in extending the employment of the
orchestral players, in bringing forward young
conductors from the ranks of the Orchestra, in
producing income, and in yielding both a social
and a musical pleasure to thousands of persons,
young and old.
Another species of concert given by Mr. Ger-
icke, but not long maintained, was the "Young
People's Popular Concert" on winter afternoons.
The programmes were less distinctively "light"
than those of the "Pops," and the audiences
must have been drawn largely from the support-
ers of the Friday afternoon rehearsals, so that the
concerts did more to satisfy the frequent demand
for additional performances by the Orchestra than
to meet a need otherwise unmet. This cannot be
said of a concert given one Saturday afternoon in
May of 1886 for the school-children of Boston,
of whom twenty-five hundred came to Music
141
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Hall. From time to time there were benefit per-
formances — as before and since: for the suffer-
ers from a disastrous flood in Roxbury in the
spring of 1886, for a Home for Destitute Cath-
olic Children in 1888, and in the same spring
for the fund to be used in erecting a monument
to Mozart in Vienna. Important dates in musical
history were celebrated — as before and since —
with special concerts. And of course the sempi-
ternal dissatisfaction with the conductor and his
programmes found its expression.
It was impossible to censure Mr. Gericke for
faults of the kind which had been laid at Mr.
Henschel's door. It could never have been told
of Mr. Henschel, for example, that in rehears-
ing a Rubinstein symphony he shook his left
hand nervously at the 'cellos, saying, "Softer,
softer," and that when the first 'cello remon-
strated, " But it is marked Jorte," the conductor
responded, " Suppose it is : what do you think
Rubinstein knew of how an orchestra sounds ? "
Precisely this anecdote was told of Mr. Ger-
icke. It is further told that the brasses cried, " He
sits on the bells of our instruments," and that the
142
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
contra-basses exclaimed, " He scarcely allows us
to touch our strings." Each of these little echoes
from the rehearsals may be taken to suggest that
elimination of excess, that training in delicacy
and precision which the Orchestra so much
needed and he so fully supplied.
Every conductor has been criticised for his
programmes. At first Mr. Gericke was taken to
task for too strict a loyalty to German compos-
ers. Those who clamored for more American
music were not always so clear-sighted as Mr.
Elson when he wrote in 1886: "If all the sym-
phonic composers of America were to hold a
mass-meeting, they could be lodged in one dou-
ble room in any country hotel." But to the little
shelf of American compositions and to the li-
brary of those from other lands than Germany,
Mr. Gericke showed himself increasingly hospi-
table. Certainly his discipline made the Orches-
tra steadily more and more efficient, and in the
general improvement it would have been strange
if his own skill as a conductor had not steadily in-
creased. Such a work as he performed for music
in Boston is to be accomplished only at heavy
143
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
personal cost. The cost to Mr. Gericke — espe-
cially in the final season of 1888—89, when the
Orchestra gave i i 2 concerts to audiences aver-
aging 2500 — lay in the strain upon his physical
health, to which the New England climate was
never propitious. By January of 1 889 it was pub-
licly known that he would not return to Boston
in the following autumn, and the choice of his
successor was announced. At the end of the reg-
ular season the Orchestra made a three weeks'
trip to the West, going as far as St. Louis. On
its return a testimonial farewell concert was given
in the conductor's honor on May 23, 1889.
The scene at the conclusion of the concert was
graphically described at the time by Mr. Elson :
The enthusiasm which had been bubbling up all
through the evening, found its full vent at the end of
the concert. Then the audience rose (as they had done
at the beginning of the concert, also) and shouted
themselves hoarse, while waving of hats and handker-
chiefs was carried on even by the most sedate individ-
uals. Why in the world did not the trumpeters add the
climax by blowing a "Tusch"just here? But every
one was hushed in agreeable surprise when Mr. Ger-
icke squared himself for a struggle with our language,
and gave forth a charming little speech, all the more
144
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
delightful because of its naive sentences and evident
sincerity. He told the people of Boston how much he
appreciated their recognition ; he thanked the Orches-
tra for their faithful work, the public for their steady
attention ; he thanked the Cecilia for assisting at his
last concert, and he thanked Mr. Higginson (all Bos-
ton, and in some degree all America, may join in this)
for the munificence which had made the Orchestra what
it was, and then he added the single word of parting,
" Farewell." We can all only hope that the last word
is premature. Let us compromise the parting, oh, most
popular and deserving conductor, on the basis of "Au
revoir! "
A more private farewell — none could have
really believed it then an " au revoir " — took place
in a party at the house of Mrs. Ole Bull in Cam-
bridge, at which an album containing verses by
Holmes, Aldrich, and others was presented to
Mr. Gericke; but the most significant page in
the book was the fly-leaf, on which was written,
over the signature of J. S. Dwight: "To the
Maker of the Boston Symphony Orchestra."
Still another private leave-taking occurred at the
Tavern Club, on the night after the Farewell
Concert in Music Hall. The speech which Mr.
Higginson made on this occasion records so accu-
rately his relation with the Orchestra through
145
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
the first eight seasons of its existence that most
of it may well be given here. It provides also
the most suitable words of parting from Mr.
Gericke at this point in the story of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra : —
I asked for the favor of saying a few words to you,
not only because I wanted to greet our guest of the
evening, but because I wished also to pay my respects
to you, comrades, for much kindness and enjoyment
at your hands; and still further for leave to tell you a
little of my own story. It is your kindness and ever-
ready sympathy which has tempted me to this last
subject. . . .
First, let me say that I alone am responsible for the
concerts of the Symphony Orchestra and of the Kneisel
Quartette. The success and the beauty of these con-
certs have been wrought by the hands of the musicians
and to them the credit is due. But certain misappre-
hensions about the concerts have arisen, which it may
be possible to correct. Friends have again and again
said to me that the concerts were well enough in their
way, but that they had failed in their original intent,
as only well-to-do folks had filled the hall.
Again, a distinguished musician of this town declared
that the concerts had done more harm than good, for,
said he, " Only your fashionable friends go to them."
One musician urged me to admit to the concerts only
the "truly poor." If a series of concerts were off"ered
at low prices only to the "truly poor," do you suppose
146
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
that any one but the truly rich would frequent them ?
Others again have deplored my folly in giving them at
all, as they caused me so much work and thought.
Here are the facts: The scheme, half-baked, no
doubt, was simply this : to give concerts of good music,
very well performed, in such style as we all had heard
for years in Europe; to make fair prices for the tickets
and then open wide the doors. I believed that the
hearers would come and stay, and grow in number.
Why not? And why should I pick out one kind of
an audience? The sunshine and the green fields, and
all beautiful things are given to all men, and not alone
to the truly poor or to the young or to the old. Even
so with music. My part was simple, viz.: to get to-
gether the musicians under a competent head and in-
sist on a high standard of excellence and much and
intelligent preparation. You know the beginning of the
enterprise.
Mr. Henschel first took up the task and brought to
it his great enthusiasm, energy, and talent. It was most
difficult to launch the scheme, and in that way he ac-
complished very much for us. We all know our debt
to him, and have expressed our sense of it. But the
great gift of song, with which he and Mrs. Henschel
have so often enchanted us, was too strong to be re-
sisted. So he left us at the end of three years, after
having fairly set us on our feet.
Thus far the chief difficulty of the undertaking had
been to induce on the part of the Orchestra enough
practice, careful, unremitting, and exclusively under
one head. We had also to guard against praise too
H7
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
lightly given by a kind public. But these troubles were
overcome. You know how the quality of the music has
risen and how the audiences have increased. It is true
the great demand for the better seats has inevitably
raised the price of the tickets, and has thus helped me to
meet the expenses, which have also risen pro tantOy and
which might well have been too heavy for me to carry.
But still many tickets for seats and for standing room
have always been and are now sold at the original price
of twenty-five cents.
Several times when I have faltered in my plans for
the future, I have taken heart again on seeing the
crowd of young, fresh school-girls, of music-students, of
tired school-teachers, of weary men, of little old ladies
leading gray lives not often reached by the sunshine,
and I have said to myself: "One year more anyway."
To us all come hard blows from the hand of fate,
with hours, days, weeks of suffering and of sadness.
Even boys and girls know this early and know it late.
At these times music draws the pain, or at least relieves
it, just as the sun does. Considering these things, can
I have done harm by the concerts? Are they not
worth while, even if they cost me years of work and
worry? What were we made for? We are all bound in
our day and generation to serve our country and our fel-
low-men in some way. Lucky is he who finds a fair
field for his work, and when he has put his hand to
the plough, he may not lightly turn back. He may not
too easily say "Enough, I am weary." . . .
The support of the public was from the first a neces-
sity, and I 've always counted on it. To this public, I
148
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
offer my warmest acknowledgments for its unvaryingly
courteous bearing, while to the members of the Or-
chestra, I return my hearty thanks for their labor,
their results so hardly won. And now to whom do we
chiefly owe the guidance of all this work? The gentle-
man sits over there. [Mr. Higginson here narrated the
circumstances attending Mr. Gericke's engagement as
conductor, through the agency of Julius Epstein.] One
word my friend said in reply to my questions as to
Gericke, — "He is an excellent and thorough musician
and artist of great ability. He is most conscientious
in his life and in his work. He is absolutely trustworthy.
He is an Ehrenmann, a gentleman." The other day
my Viennese friend wrote me again the same words
about Gericke, and expressed the strong hope that he
would stay.
Now, gentlemen, I think you will agree that my
friend was right in his judgment. Since his coming in
October, 1884, Mr. Gericke has had entire control
of the artistic side of the scheme. I 've never urged
him to any work, never criticised anything. He has
culled out many men, added many men, trained them,
lifted them, and finally made an Orchestra of which
any city might be proud. He brought to his task great
knowledge and experience and the highest standard of
excellence; but he was forced to work under grave
difficulties. Coming from Vienna, whose very name
rings with music, to our new country, he found an
orchestra without the long-established traditions which
are the very groundwork of artistic undertakings in
Europe. The methods, the relations between leader
149
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
and men, the general conditions were wholly new to him.
The musicians were no longer young; were of various
nations and of various habits; the climate was trying;
the hall was too large for fine musical effects. The
circumstances in many respects were unfavorable to
good results. But he did not abate his zeal. He worked
early and late with absolute fidelity to his task. He ex-
acted an amount of practice which his men found try-
ing, but which they came to recognize as the only
means of success. He gave his three weekly perform-
ances month by month and year by year under trials
and against obstacles, always feeling that, work as he
would, he could not reach the excellence of which he
dreamed, and for which he ached. After Mr. Gerlcke
had trained his Orchestra so as to have it well in hand,
he himself proposed to increase his work by giving
additional concerts in other cities, in order to keep the
musicians employed during a longer period of the year
and so secure for them more practice and more pay.
In these cities he has steadily won fame for himself
and for them, until now he is gladly welcomed East
and West; and in New York and in Philadelphia his
departure is deplored, as it is here. You have heard and
will bear witness to the great results which he has
achieved, and with which he has delighted his audiences,
and you will not soon forget how the Orchestra under
his hand has learned to soar and to sing — surely the
highest praise.
But with all his patience and skill, Mr. Gericke could
never have done so much unless faithfully seconded
and aided by the members of the Orchestra.
150
ESTABLISHING UNDER GERICKE
Think of the jewels of the Orchestra; think of the
artists whom he has brought together ; think how they
lend brilliancy to the concerts. Yet some skilful hand
was needed to set these jewels to advantage. Think of
the beautiful work to which we have so often listened,
and remember how very much we owe to our con-
ductor.
I have, in short, found him all my old friend de-
scribed, and I regret very deeply that he is to leave us.
Until Christmas I waited, hoping that his vigor would
return and that he would be equal to the task. But in
vain ! He has exhausted himself with his work and
needs rest.
Mr. Gericke was born and brought up among a
warm-blooded people, prompt to express their opin-
ions and their feelings. He is a modest man and has
held back from applause or praise. He has some-
times doubted the appreciation of his work by our
audiences.
But why is the hall so crowded ? Why do so many
listeners of all ages sit on the steps and stand in the
aisles each week and each year? They do not come
there to please Mr. Gericke or me ; they do not come
twenty miles to show their good clothes; they come to
hear the music, and they listen attentively and quietly,
and go away with only a whisper of approval, perhaps,
but they are happy. You and I know that very well.
That audience is not from the Back Bay or from any
particular set of people. They are town folks and coun-
try folks, and they come to hear the music at the hands
of Mr. Gericke and his Orchestra.
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
May I not then say to our friend that he has won,
not only in this city, but throughout the country, a
host of admirers who know his noble work full well,
and who will hold him in grateful and affectionate
remembrance ?
IV
THE SERVICE OF ARTHUR NIKISCH AND
EMIL PAUR
1889-1898
THE transition from one conductor to an-
other has never been an easy matter to ac-
complish. The immense importance of securing
the right man to work in harmony with the
members of the Orchestra, with the public, and
with the management of the organization has
raised questions to the answering of which it has
manifestly been necessary to give the greatest care
and forethought. Early in Mr. Gericke's fifth
season it became evident that his return for a
sixth was doubtful. Though his final decision
was deferred until Christmas, the choice of his
successor was under serious consideration as early
as October. Mr. Otto Dresel, a German musician
long resident in Boston and greatly trusted both
by the local public and by Mr. Higginson for his
effective interest in the cause of music, was then
153
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
in Europe. To him on October 8, 1888, Mr.
Higginson wrote a long letter, dealing chiefly
with the qualifications of Mr. Arthur Nikisch
for the post probably to be vacated ; but contain-
ing passages about the relations between himself
and the conductor of the Orchestra which have
a general bearing that warrants their preserva-
tion. After touching upon Mr. Gericke's hard
and efficient work, Mr. Higginson wrote: —
I have never exercised any supervision ; I have never
urged him, and I am not in a position to do so. You
know very well that I am a busy man, and have many
cares on my mind ; that I must keep this orchestra mat-
ter before me, but I cannot give it much daily care or
thought. I cannot go and see that the conductor is busy
with his work day after day, week after week. Very
often I do not go to a rehearsal for months at a time.
That care I will not have on my mind, nor will I have
any care or worry with regard to making the programmes
or arrangements ; nor will I undertake to engage any
musicians. I have a manager who is an excellent fellow
and has had some experience, and who, here and in
other cities, makes all arrangements. He also makes
the contracts, by reengaging men when their contracts
expire, engages new men and discharges old men, but
he does this at the bidding of the conductor of the Or-
chestra. . . . He must lay out his plans, of course
make his programmes, find new men if he loses the old
SERVICE OF NIKISCH AND PAUR
ones, either by their going or by his dismissal of them
for ill conduct or for want of ability. He must think
beforehand and arrange as to the concerts in town and
out of town; he must preserve discipline in the Or-
chestra, which is a more difficult matter than on the
other side. He is free and unfettered in all these mat-
ters, has no government officer, inspector, or director
to bother him. He is as free as a man can well be
in this world — any man who has much work and con-
siderable responsibilities on his shoulders. ... If I
cannot be on friendly terms with the conductor of the
Orchestra, I do not want to have anything to do with
the thing at all. You know the aims, objects, and pecu-
niary results of all my musical experience here, and you
know what the result has been. It is far enough from
what I want to attain, but, at the same time, it has been
something. It is a work with which I wish to go on as
long as I can, and if it can be made to continue for-
ever, which is my expectation, so much the better.
By the time a third conductor was needed, it
was obviously to a task of extensive and well-de-
fined proportions that he was called. Mr. Arthur
Nikisch, born in Hungary October i 2, i 855, was
at this time first conductor at the Stadt Theater
of Leipzig. Commended, as Mr. Gericke had
been, by Julius Epstein, he had the further en-
dorsement of Otto Dresel.
I had known about Mr. Nikisch [Mr. Higginson
^55
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
has written] from my Viennese friends, and was quite
aware of his high quaHty. He came in the autumn of
1889, and immediately took up his work with great
energy. He was, I think, surprised to find how good
the Orchestra was ; . . . but he put into it all his power,
passion, and wonderful skill in producing results, and
he gave us very different effects from Mr. Gericke.
He was a man of real genius.
It was, indeed, in Mr. Parker's term, the ro-
mantic period in the progress of the Orchestra
which Mr. Nikisch instituted. When he reached
America in the autumn of 1889 there was en-
countered, to be sure, an episode far from roman-
tic. This was a challenge to his landing made by
the Musicians' Protective Union, on the ground
that his admission to the United States was a
violation of the Contract Labor Law. The ob-
jection was not effective. And at this point it
may be said, as well as elsewhere, that in the
subsequent years many questions regarding the
relations between the Orchestra and the " organ-
ized labor " of musicians have had to be met. It
were idle to open a discussion of the part to be
played by the application of the " closed shop "
principle to workers in such an art as music. The
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arguments in favor of "unionizing" might be
presented, and debated. For the present purpose
of record concerning the Boston Symphony Or-
chestra, it is enough to bring forward a recent
expression on the subject by Mr. Higginson: —
We have had [he says] to meet the chief of the
Musicians' Union, and to discuss its affairs with him.
The Union specifies in a way the number of rehearsals,
the pay for the musicians, the number of concerts, etc.,
and interferes with the engagement or dismissal of men.
As I hold that all these points are very important for
the good of the Orchestra and must rest with me or
with my conductor, I see no need or use for the Union.
We pay more, ask entire control of the men, and see
to it that they are well paid, have pensions, and also
get outside work if possible ; therefore the Union can-
not benefit them. We can keep the Orchestra at its
present level or even higher only by asking such work
as our conductor thinks essential, and sometimes the
rehearsals mount very high, even to thirteen. On no
other terms can I go on and pay a large subsidy, and
not control — all this for the sake of art.
But to return abruptly to the romantic element
associated with Mr. Nikisch's conductorship —
there can be no doubt that a pronounced person-
ality of poetic quality, contributed much — after
the fashion established in Mr. Henschel's time —
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
to the public interest in the new conductor. His
hands, his hair, his bearing and manner — all
his personal attributes, became at once the sub-
jects of written and spoken comment. All of
it might now be dismissed as an impertinence
were it not for the fact, sometimes exhibited in
persons whose work brings them conspicuously
before the public eye, that seeming and being are
often more closely related than we are disposed
to think them. The analogy between the outward
and inward impression produced by Mr. Nikisch
and his work was remarkably close. Again the
"temperamental," the "artistic," prevailed; but
now it had to deal with a body of players much
more highly trained than the Orchestra was under
its first conductor or could have become under
any discipline less severe and intelligent than that
which Mr. Gericke had given it. It is credibly
reported that when Mr. Nikisch first heard the
Orchestra, the technical beauty of its perform-
ance led him to exclaim : " All I have to do is to
poetize ! " The results were inevitably telling.
Of course there were those who delighted in the
unfamiliar beauties of orchestral sound, the more
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poetic and emotional performances, for which
Mr. Nikisch was responsible. Of course there
were those who preferred the less exciting ways
for which Mr. J. S. Dwight spoke when, writing
in the " Transcript," not of conductors, but of
modern music in general, he said : —
You may tell us that we are behind the age. It may
be, and so be it! This modern tendency in music is per-
haps part and parcel of the whole fast tendency of our
time. Perhaps it is a corresponding manifestation of
what appears in the craze of " rapid transit," the im-
patient meddling with electricity, the building skyward
where ground area is limited, and a thousand more
ambitious schemes (especially among political adven-
turers) to "hurry God!" Yet we cannot help believing
that the soul of man enjoys a sweeter consciousness in
leading a more simple, quiet, temperate, abstemious,
intellectual, self-respecting, mutually helpful life.
The musical peace thus eloquently urged was
hardly compatible with such a pouring of new
wine into old bottles as Mr. Nikisch achieved.
Under the stimulus of the fresh spirit which he
imparted to the playing of the Orchestra, the
public, always responsive to personality, was quite
as much exercised over the conductor as over the
music he produced. "The conductor cult," said
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BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
a New York critic several years after, "is a
phase of social activity which flourishes only in
Boston"; and to this observer it was manifest
that "the existence of a conductor's party, by
the same token, presupposes the existence of an
opposition." Thus it was, according to a local
commentator on musical matters, that for a time
the regular morning salutation of Bostonians was,
" Well, what do you think of Nikisch ? ' ' An eva-
sive reply gave rise to suspicions or something
worse. "The craze, however, abated," — it was
said, — "and at the end of the season it was possi-
ble to gently criticise the new conductor without
running the risk of being stoned to death in
Hamilton Place by infuriated buyers of season
tickets."
At the beginning of Mr. Nikisch*s first season
there were many comments upon his practice of
conducting without a score. When this became
less frequent it could hardly have been because
the practice was criticised, for Mr. Nikisch was
said to leave all criticisms unread. If he had
followed them he would have found much praise
of increased catholicity in the making of pro-
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SERVICE OF NIKISCH AND PAUR
grammes, and of his conductorship in general.
At the same time he would have found com-
plaints of deterioration in the work of the Orches-
tra, ascribed to a less rigid discipline than that of
his predecessor. It is certainly to be said, how-
ever, that Mr. Gericke's work had carried the
players so far toward a mastery of their collective
effort, and his changes in personnel had brought
together so many artists of individual excellence,
that even the severest taskmaster might well have
thought the time had come for some relaxation
of the rigidities. At least there was no necessity
for further important changes in the make-up
of the Orchestra. The few men who left it
henceforth did so chiefly by choice, or for such
reasons as that of the horn-player who quitted
Orchestra and wife together, saying: "She is a
sparrow and I am an eagle." From first to last
there have been the difficulties inseparable from
dealing with a large body of men, each equipped
with his special variety of artistic temperament.
If all the stories of its manifestations could be
told, the record would enrich the annals of amaz-
ing human nature.
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BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
In other cities than Boston the Orchestra under
Mr. Nikisch established itself more firmly than
ever in public favor. During his final season,
1892-93, the reports of "standing-room only"
in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore pro-
vided an encouraging index of the success of
the Southern trips. At the first Philadelphia con-
cert of this season, the audience numbered 3,000,
of whom 700 were obliged to stand. For three
years Mr. Nikisch and the Orchestra followed
the practice, established under Mr. Gericke, of
giving concerts in many Western cities, with re-
sults parallel to those achieved in the Middle
and Southern States. Unhappily in the fourth
year, 1893, when the Orchestra gave two con-
certs at the World's Fair in Chicago, the tournee
was made without the conductor, in whose place
Mr. Kneisel appeared. It is an ironic circumstance
that the occasion of Mr. Nikisch's separation
from the Orchestra was so closely related to the
very element of his work in which he achieved
a conspicuous success, — the conducting of con-
certs outside of Boston. There is no necessity of
going into the details of the misunderstanding
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through which his contract with the Boston Sym-
phony Orchestra, in its bearing upon the Western
concerts, was viewed in a different Hght by himself
and by the management of the organization. It
is enough to say that Mr. Nikisch had received
an offer to become Director-General of the Royal
Opera at Buda-Pesth, that what was expected of
him in America led to a considerable divergence
of opinion between the persons chiefly concerned,
and that sacrifices on both sides were made in
bringing his conductorship of the Boston Sym-
phony Orchestra to an end. On his departure
from Boston in the spring of 1893 ^ Boston
critic, wishing him all success as a Hungarian
conducting opera in a Hungarian town to the
delight of a Hungarian audience, exclaimed,
" May his life, then, be one prolonged Hungarian
rhapsody!" It has been much more than that,
for his work in many cities of the Continent
and in England has placed him firmly in the
first rank of orchestral conductors. Another local
writer, summarizing the merits and defects of
his conductorship in Boston, brought his estimate
to a conclusion with the expression: "When at
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BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
his best, he was simply glorious." It avails noth-
ing to speculate upon what his longer continu-
ance in Boston would have achieved. In a total
view of the progress of the Orchestra, the four
years associated with the name of Arthur Nikisch
constitute a brilliant and stimulating period.
Before passing to the next stage in the devel-
opment of the Orchestra through its successive
conductors, the beginning of a movement under-
taken in the summer of 1893 "^^st be related.
This was the project of a new home for the Or-
chestra, to take the place of Music Hall. It was
manifestly a case of what Dr. Holmes, when
his birthplace in Cambridge was destroyed,
called "justifiable domicide." As the time had
come, nine years before, when the interests of
the Orchestra required the removal of the Great
Organ, so in 1893 it appeared that Music Hall
itself, for more than forty years the shrine of all
that was held most dear in the older musical
Boston, must be abandoned. The fear of a disas-
trous fire was never absent from the minds of
those responsible for bringing together the great
audiences which filled the ill-placed building.
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Its ventilation was a constant problem, — if air
was admitted there was invariably too much of
it. "It is thoroughly in harmony with the char-
acter of the concerts," said a newspaper writer
in the earlier day of Mr. Gericke, "that they
take place in the breeziest and draughtiest hall
in the universe. The native Bostonian, pure and
simple, is accustomed to high winds from his
earliest hours, but custom and experience fail to
harden him in them unless he has the skin of an
elephant. He dreads the insidious little draughts
that rush about toying with the top of his bald
head, and which run down his neck when least
expected, whenever he goes to Music Hall. It is
more than he can endure to be fanned by opening
doors half the evening, and the remainder kept
cool by opened ventilators, or spiteful little cracks
that let in whiffs of air labelled neuralgia and rheu-
matism, all ready to be taken. But he goes week
after week all the same, in spite of the influenza,
in spite of the hot needle boring into his temple,
because it is the fashion." And he might have
continued to go indefinitely but for a city project,
made in connection with the extensive plans for
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BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
rapid transit then under discussion, to lay out
a street parallel to Tremont and Washington
Streets, and between them, which would necessi-
tate the removal of Music Hall. With every rea-
son to believe that the plan would be carried out,
and with every incentive to seize the first occa-
sion for leaving the unsatisfactory Music Hall,
Mr. Higginson made it known that unless the
Boston public cared enough for the symphony
concerts to provide a proper building for their
continuance, they would have to cease. There
were "croakers," then as always. One of them
wrote to the "Transcript," saying : —
MONEY TALKS
'To the Editor of the Transcript : — Will you give
an old croaker space for a few lines on a matter of
passing general interest — the imminent danger of los-
ing the Symphony Orchestra. "Thank heaven," said an
eminent writer when told of Mrs. Browning's death,
" there will be no more Aurora Leighs." The old
Music Hall is to go. Thank heaven, say I, there will
be no more symphony concerts. I am tired of being
tugged around by Mrs. Grundy to the old hall. I al-
ways said to my family that this adoration of classical
music was in large part affectation. And here comes a
card from the founder of the Orchestra in the morning
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papers which proves me right. For this adoration does
not yet go far enough to induce the lovers to provide
a home for their beloved. And yet I have never been
to one of the old symphony concerts when it was not
possible to count up the wealth of one's neighbors to,
in the aggregate, forty millions. Pons.
Yet the views of " Pons" did not prevail.
Various friends of the concerts took the matter
in hand, subscribing to the fund of $400,000
which was thought sufficient for the enterprise,
and urging it, in the following terms, upon the
general public : —
We think that the appeal for a new hall for music
in Boston is just, and we urge upon our fellow-citizens
the necessity for prompt action. Boston is to lose its
Music Hall, and must, in justice to its high name for
devotion to education and to art, replace this old hall
with a new and better one. The choral societies must
have a good home or fade away, and the Symphony
Orchestra, which has been called into existence by the
long, hard work of so many men, which represents the
expenditure of $250,000 voluntarily given by Mr. Hig-
ginson, in addition to the receipts from tickets, and
which is now fully equipped for the best kind of service
to a large and excellent public, must very soon disband
unless a home for it is assured.
We are aware that this is a bad time to start such an
undertaking, but circumstances force it upon us. We
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BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
cannot allow Boston to lose its prestige in these matters
without an effort to save it.
It is proposed to organize a corporation with a capi-
tal of $400,000, divided into 4,000 shares of $100
each.
It is most important that this money should be as-
sured without delay, although it will not be wanted for
a number of months ; and it is to be hoped that every-
body will take stock according to his means.
Subscriptions may be sent to T. Dennie Boardman,
Ames Building, Boston.
Signed : Martin Brimmer, Henry Cabot Lodge,
William E. Russell, Patrick Donohoe, Charles W.
Eliot, Mrs. Louis Agassiz, Miss Alice Longfellow,
John D. Long, Eben Jordan, Matthew Luce, Lesly
A. Johnson, George O. Shattuck, Solomon Lincoln,
J. K. Paine, Charles Eliot Norton, Henry S. Grew,
George Wheatland, C. L. Peirson, F. Haven, Jr., John
L. Gardner, John Lowell, Oliver H. Durrell, N. W.
Rice, Thomas E. Proctor, Barthold Schlesinger, Roger
Wolcott, Mrs. Henry Whitman, A. Shuman & Co.,
Walter T. Winslow, Henry M.Whitney, Miss Paul-
ine Shaw, Mrs. George Tyson, George C. Lee, Robert
Bacon, Mrs. Samuel T. Morse, Miss Frances R. Morse,
Charles F. Choate, R. H. White, George F. Fabyan,
David P. Kimball, E. Winchester Donald, S. Endicott
Peabody, N. W. Jordan, C. A. Coffin, F. G. Webster,
William L. Chase, George A. Gordon, S. Lothrop
Thorndike, Francis H. Manning, Henry Parkman,
Henry L. Morse, John W. Elliot.
Boston, June 21, 1893.
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Nearly a month later, Mr. Higginson himself
addressed the local public through the following
letter : —
Boston, July 20 (1893).
To the Editor of the Transcript: — In order to avoid
any mistake in the minds of the public as to the new
hall for music, of which you have so kindly spoken
during the past week, and of my relation to it, I ask
leave to make the following statement : —
I must engage a conductor for the Boston Symphony
Orchestra, if at all, for five years, and musicians for one
or more years, and before doing this we must be sure
of a hall in which to play. Still further, these engage-
ments must be made at once, as the musicians can-
not wait longer. In all probability the present Music
Hall will be taken by the city within a year for the
new street, and in any case it cannot be relied on for
more than one season. There is no other hall in Bos-
ton which would fill the place of Music Hall for large
concerts.
It has been a great pleasure for the past twelve years
to plan for, to work for, and to support the Symphony
Orchestra, which is the outcome of much artistic skill,
knowledge, and long persistent work on the part of the
musicians. No good orchestra can be got in any other
way. I shall gladly carry on my work as regards the
Orchestra if a good hall be provided for it, but only on
that condition.
The Orchestra has this year reached a self-support-
ing stage, which it may or may not keep, for there is
always a considerable risk each year as to the receipts.
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BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
During these past years the total deficit has been large;
but the expenses must always be met, and this risk
falls on me and may be fairly considered my share.
May I suggest that a new hall can readily and with-
out much greater expense be built so as to be used for
opera, and thus command a larger rental ; it may well
have open boxes, as in the Carnegie Hall in New York,
and seats of various grades and at different prices. At
the present time it is very difficult to get any theatre
in Boston for opera, or other large occasional enter-
tainments.
Every considerable city in our country has some
such hall, and it is for the citizens of Boston and its
neighborhood to decide whether they care enough for
music in its different forms to build this hall, and for
them to decide at once if they wish to keep the Or-
chestra. Money will be wanted for the building later
in the year, but the promise of it is needed now.
The building must be ready for use, so far as the
Boston Symphony Orchestra is concerned, in October,
1894.
To sum up : the public may be sure that to make a
good orchestra, much work, much time, and much ex-
pense are required. All these elements have been con-
tributed, and we have the Orchestra as it now stands.
Shall we keep it, or lose it for want of a proper hall ?
The decision cannot be postponed beyond a few days.
Unless within that time a new hall is assured, I must
disband the Orchestra and finally abandon the sym-
phony concerts.
Henry L. Higginson.
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The response of the public, substantially em-
bodied in Symphony Hall, has long been visible at
the corner of Massachusetts and Huntington Ave-
nues. Its completion was deferred for seven years,
not only because the city plans for the new street
were abandoned, but also because a period of busi-
ness depression laid its delaying hand upon this
and many other projects. The idea of making a
concert hall which might be adequate to the
purposes of opera was also dropped. It was impos-
sible to adopt all the suggestions of sites for the
new hall. Now that there are more buildings in
Boston than there were in 1893, ^^ ^^ interesting
to learn that among the positions advocated were
those at present occupied by the Boston Public
Library, the Union Boat Club, and — partially
— by the Harvard Club of Boston. Whether one
or another of these sites would have suited the
public better than the place that was chosen,
whether the stockholders of the new corporation
would have done well to heed a protest issued
against accepting plans which ignored the needs
of opera and, in the view of the protestant, fell
short in many other respects of their possibilities,
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BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
it was announced as early as November, 1893,
that the firm of McKim, Mead & White had
begun their designs for the new building. The
completion of their work remains to be chronicled
at a later point in this narrative.
When it became known that the fourth season
of Mr. Nikisch's conductorship was to be his last,
the choice of a successor became the pressing
matter it has periodically been. A humorous
view of the situation was taken by a correspond-
ent of the "Transcript " who wrote: —
NOW FOR THE CORRECT THING
'To the Editor of the Transcript : — In view of the
reported resignation of Mr. Nikisch from the charge
of the Symphony Orchestra, permit me to offer the fol-
lowing suggestion for the future conduct of the con-
certs : —
Instead of importing some obscure German musician,
possibly brought up under the influence of a Wagner,
Von Billow, or Richter, and saturated with the musical
traditions of an effete European civilization, let the
concerts be conducted in turn by our various local
music critics, both the regularly constituted and the
self-appointed ones. It is safe to say we shall at last
have an exact musical embodiment of the ideas of
Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, and Mendelssohn. We
shall hear, for the first time, everything played in the
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exact tempi intended by the composer (heretofore only
known to himself and the critics), and shall learn the
true value of a thirty-second note as differentiated from
a dotted sixty-fourth. Add to this, for the supervision
of the programmes, a committee composed of those
persons who know exactly what a symphony pro-
gramme should be, and it seems certain that at length
the efforts of our estimable fellow-citizen, Mr. Higgin-
son, to provide Boston with orchestral performances
of the highest grade, will be crowned with full suc-
cess. X.
So exciting an experiment could be made only
in the domain of fancy. The practical dealing
with the problem was accomplished through
sending a friend of Mr. Higginson's to Europe
in search of the best conductor to be found.
Hans Richter, director of the Imperial Orchestra
at the Court Opera House of Vienna, standing at
the very top of his profession, seemed obviously
the man; and negotiations with him were carried
so far that he went to Dresden and signed a con-
tract as conductor of the Boston Symphony Or-
chestra. Unfortunately, he was already under con-
tract to remain in Vienna, and, from the printed
accounts of the matter, it appears to have been
inevitable that one agreement or the other must
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BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
be broken. It is no wonder that the opposition
to his leaving Vienna was strong. The Emperor
himself took part in it, with the result that it
became necessary to look elsewhere for the new
director. Emil Paur, born August 29, 1855, at
Czernowitz, Bukowina, was established in Leip-
zig as the successor of Arthur Nikisch at the
Stadt Theater. His reputation of high acquire-
ments as an orchestral conductor gave promise
of notable results in the Boston position, and the
promise was fulfilled. " Mr. Paur came here,"
Mr. Higginson has written, " and began his years
with much energy and power, gave us excellent
concerts, and had his own way of producing
music. He was very energetic, very ambitious,
and altogether pleased the audiences.'' In a lan-
guage not his own Mr. Paur has expressed him-
self — for the pages of this book — regarding his
Boston experience, with a warmth of feeling
which gives his words a peculiar value : —
At the year 1893, I was asked to accept the position
as Director of the Boston Orchestra. At that time not
very much was known about this Orchestra in Ger-
many. With great difficulty I got my release of the
Leipzig Opera House, where I was still bound by
SERVICE OF NIKISCH AND PAUR
contract, to be able to accept the conductorship in
Boston.
Great was my delighted surprise and astonishment
when I heard the Boston men at my first rehearsal ! I
found an excellent assembly of musicians of the first
rank who did not play only to do their duty and satisfy
the conductor and audience; they played in the heart
and soul, joy and enthusiasm, inclined always to give
their very best and cooperate with the conductor to
reach the highest possible perfection. It is the best or-
chestra in the world, that was my conviction which I
had when I started my work in Boston, and which con-
viction has not changed since then.
The institution of the Boston Symphony Orchestra
is "unique." In the whole world, one could not find a
man who would spend a great fortune to educate the
people of a great country musically, in founding an
orchestra equipped with the best musicians to be had,
under the leadership of an unsurpassed manager and a
best-known musical conductor. The reason why the
Boston Orchestra plays better than all other existing
orchestras is — besides the excellent qualities of the
men — the comfortable living the men are able to en-
joy. They all are paid better than anywhere else, con-
sequently they have no sorrow of provisions ; they feel
free, satisfied, happy, not overworked, and the result is
joy, enthusiasm, and perfection in their work. There
are other wisest points in the rules set by the founder
of the Boston Orchestra, which brought the institution
to the best in the world. The most important and
wisest one is the absolute power given to the manager,
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BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
in all business matters, and to the conductor in all
artistic, musical matters, both only responsible to the
owner of the Orchestra.
The response of the people in the period of my con-
ductorship, 1893-98, was, in spite of the very bad
business time, growing from year to year in regard to
attendance and understanding. It was a great delight
to me to see and feel the rise of true and warm love
and enthusiasm for great masters like Brahms, Liszt,
Wagner, Tschaykowski, R. Strauss, and others. In the
first years of the existence of the Orchestra it was
necessary to engage great soloists for the concerts to
attract the people ; my predecessor and I began to re-
duce the number of concerts with soloists every year
more and more, and it proved to be right.
The people nowadays fill the concerts of the Sym-
phony Orchestra, not on account of the soloist, but
only on account of the masterful playing of great musi-
cal works. The people in Boston know what they have,
and love and appreciate gratefully the ideal thing which
Major Higginson has nobly given them. The wonder-
ful institution means an everlasting monument to the
unselfish founder, who not even wanted to have his
name publicly connected with his great institution.
The five years I have spent in Boston count to the
happiest years of my life. I never will and never could
forget my days in Boston, thanks to the highly ad-
mired Major Higginson, the Bostonians, and the
wonderful Boston Orchestra.
In contrasting the conductorship of Mr. Paur
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with that of Mr. Nikisch, Mr. Parker, of the
"Transcript," has well said : "Mr. Paur, in turn,
flavored the concerts with a personality that was
different, indeed, but that was still vivid, a per-
sonality that equally made its immediate effect
upon the music, the Orchestra, and its hearers.
Mr. Nikisch had the diversity, the unexpected-
ness of the romantic temperament. Mr. Paur had
the concentration of an unvarying intensity. . . .
He sought the utmost in all things." His imme-
diate reception at the hands, both of the local
critics and of those who came from New York
to attend his first concert, was genuinely cordial.
His concerts away from Boston were given in
crowded halls to enthusiastic audiences. The
""bad times" which delayed the building of
Symphony Hall caused also the abandonment of
Western journeys, and for some years they were
not resumed. His intensity, therefore, — even
more than the other qualities of other conductors,
— was most familiar nearest home. A warm ad-
mirer has described him as a poet, bringing great
things to pass through his instinct for the beautiful.
It was a definition that had the truth behind it.
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BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The great things which he brought to pass were
those which consorted best with the qualities rep-
resented in his very personality — a large Teu-
tonic sincerity and robustness. The polish and the
subtleties sought and wrought by his two prede-
cessors was less attainable at his hands than a vigor
and largeness hitherto unknown. As Kipling's
experimentalist in the feminine realm sang of
each of his loves in turn, " I learned about
women from her," the Orchestra, constantly
gaining in experience, learned from Mr. Paur
something about music and its production which
he first of all could impart. It was imparted
sometimes with such fervor that the foot was
called upon to supplement the baton.
Mr. Paur [wrote the critic of the "Journal"] would
certainly be horrified if he knew that his habit disturbed
any one prepared to admire him. The habit, if uncon-
scious, is probably confirmed. Now what shall be done?
. . . Why should not Mr. Paur be presented with a
pair of thick fur boots with felt soles? With them might
be given a subscription list of "patrons and patronesses
of music " ; and the list might be headed with the motto,
"Suaviter in modo" or " Do good by stealth." Rubber
boots are cheaper; but they would chafe the conductor
in his more impassioned moments; they yield an un-
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savory smell ; they have a cold, wet noise of their own,
even when they are perfectly dry.
So ephemeral a bit of fooling has its value in
suggesting the quality and measure of energy
which Mr. Paur brought with him to the con-
ductor's platform.
He brought with him also a spirit of hospital-
ity toward the newer musical ideas which carried
definitely forward the capacity of the audiences
to recognize and enjoy the unfamiliar. This was
especially true with regard to Richard Strauss,
represented on the programmes before Mr. Paur's
time by a single production of the symphonic
poem, "In Italy." Brahms, so stoutly resisted in
earlier days, seems already to have taken his place
among the classics. The production of his fourth
symphony on April i o, 1896, at a memorial con-
cert in honor of the great German, who had died
a week earlier, called forth even from one of the
obdurate critics the statement that "the hearing
of this striking work leads one to hope that there
may yet be a posthumous symphony found among
the manuscripts which Brahms left behind him."
Throughout the five years of Mr. Paur's en-
179
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
gagement there were recurring rumors that he
would not return to Boston for the season next
to come. His popularity in New York and else-
where gave ample color to such reports. For four
years they were premature. As the fifth was pass-
ing, it became known that his conductorship
would not extend into a sixth. Yet so late as
April 30, 1898, when his last concert was given,
the programme, announcing that the eighteenth
season of the Orchestra would begin October 1 5,
1898, did not reveal the next conductor's name.
The audience at this final concert under Mr.
Paur paid him the heartiest tributes of apprecia-
tion, and, one may well believe, thought some-
what less well of the Orchestra for the failure of
many of its members to take part in the expres-
sions of good will. For the musical public at
large the critic of the "Journal" spoke a repre-
sentative word: —
Whether Mr. Paur remains or leaves, he may well be
satisfied with his career in this town. As musician he
has been faithfiil and effective. Not that I admire him
in conducting works of all schools. I have found fault
with him on several occasions and I see now no reason
to take back what I then wrote. On the other hand,
180
SERVICE OF NIKISCH AND PAUR
I again pay glad tribute to his ability, remembering as
I do performances of unparalleled brilliance. As a man
he has proved himself worthy of all admiration. He
has not wished to truckle, fawn, or cringe. He has
kept steadily before him his duty toward his public
and his art. Without arrogance, he has shown himself
a man as well as a musician.
On May 2, two days after Mr. Paur's last
appearance at a Boston Symphony concert, it was
announced that Wilhelm Gericke would return
in the autumn to the work he had made so con-
spicuously his own.
V
THE SECOND TERM OF WILHELM GERICKE
1898-1906
THE preliminary rumors of Mr. Gericke's
return led some one to call it as great an
experiment as the marriage of a widow with her
first love. Yet it was an experiment which the
public was heartily glad to see tried. On the day
after his engagement for the season of 1898—99
was announced, the "Transcript" critic said: —
The news that Mr. Wilhelm Gericke has been offered,
and has accepted, the conductorship of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra for next season — and probably
for longer, though of this there is as yet no official
statement — will be hailed with joy by many a music-
lover in this city.
There is a peculiar fitness in Mr. Gericke's thus re-
turning to a position he occupied with such honor for
five years, till ill health resulting from overwork forced
him unwillingly to give it up. The Symphony Orches-
tra is really, intrinsically, his orchestra; he made it,
and it properly belongs to him, as his own work. This
is an important point, upon which no little stress should
be laid. Boston learned (or might have learned) a les-
182
GERICKE'S SECOND TERM
son in this matter a little while ago, when Mr. Theo-
dore Thomas came here with his Chicago Orchestra.
. . . Now, our Symphony Orchestra is as much Mr.
Gericke's as the Chicago Orchestra is Mr. Thomas's;
he formed it, built it up, made it what it is; what it
knows (as an orchestra) it learned from him. The his-
tory of our Symphony Orchestra has been a peculiar
one ; neither uninteresting nor uninstructive. Mr. Georg
Henschel conducted for the first three years. A thor-
ough musician, with a certain streak of genius in him,
he was yet an inexperienced conductor. He was, how-
ever, a decidedly magnetic man, born, one would have
thought, to sway masses of men. Indeed, he gave such
convincing evidence of this power, when he conducted
an overture of his own at one of the symphony con-
certs of the Harvard Musical Association, that he un-
questionably owed his engagement by Mr. Higginson
to this display of it. . . . But he left it [the Orchestra]
in pretty much the condition in which he had found it.
Then came Mr. Gericke. He was a conductor of
long experience and thorough technical equipment.
Whatever his conception of Mr. Higginson's wishes
may have been, his own mind was unquestionably made
up on one point from the start : that he would conduct
nothing but an absolutely first-class orchestra. Besides
being a superb conductor, he was a thoroughly capable
organizer. He first tried to get on with what material
had been left him by Mr. Henschel. After a while he
found that it would not do. The chief trouble was not
so much in the individual incapacity of the players for
good work as in the fact that most of them, especially
183
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
the older ones, had either never been taught or had
long since forgotten the art of obeying. Mr. Listemann,
a very superior artist in his way, was a man of too
much impulsive initiative to follow any one's beat im-
plicitly, and most of the rest had been too long accus-
tomed to having their own way to care to change their
habits. Mr. Gericke, however, firmly intended to make
himself obeyed, and carried out this intention with a
pretty high hand. The personnel of the orchestra was
changed almost throughout ; old players were dis-
charged, or resigned, one after another, and their places
were filled by younger ones. A good deal of talk was
made at the time about " un-American autocratism "
and " unrepublican one-man power"; which was, on
the whole, about as sensible as if similar objections had
been raised against privates in the army being made to
obey superior officers. And it was this renewed and
obedient orchestra that Mr. Gericke drilled into becom-
ing one of the greatest orchestras of the world.
Next came Mr. Arthur Nikisch, a conductor of real
genius, a magnetic swayer of men. Still, under him, the
Orchestra remained essentially Mr. Gericke's ; in point
of technique Mr. Nikisch taught it virtually only one
thing : to obey his beat at a moment's notice. At
rehearsals this was about the only technical point he
insisted upon ; what else in technique the men had re-
mained what Mr. Gericke had taught them. Mr. Nik-
isch's object was to turn the Orchestra into one great,
complex instrument, upon which he could play as he
pleased at any time. Next to nothing was ever prede-
termined at rehearsals; his conductorship showed itself
184
GERICKE'S SECOND TERM
only at performances. When things went right, they
went superbly ; when he " missed his tip," as he fre-
quently would do, they went very badly indeed. The
players who had sweated blood at Mr. Gericke's re-
hearsals, found Mr. Nikisch's performances more tax-
ing still ; few ever knew what that terrible baton was
going to do next. But Mr. Nikisch's genius and per-
sonal magnetism worked wonders ; only he really taught
the Orchestra next to nothing ; it remained Mr. Ger-
icke's Orchestra still.
Of Mr. Paur we would say little. He is a thorough
musician, an earnest, honest worker. But his conduc-
torship is still too recent to make it easy to say any-
thing about him in the way of criticism. Suffice it that
. . . the Orchestra . . . is still Mr. Gericke's Orches-
tra. And to this, his own Orchestra, we welcome Ger-
icke back with the heartiest greetings and the fullest
confidence. He will be in his right place once more,
next October !
Differing somewhat from this critic in his es-
timate of the results obtained by Mr. Nikisch
and Mr. Paur, Mr. Higginson has written : —
During Gericke's last stay, the Orchestra reached a
high point. He had made it originally, had seen it pass
through the hands of Nikisch and Paur, each of whom
did something for it, and, at any rate, had freed it from
his discipline, which, albeit excellent in forming it, was
rather rigid. When he came back to the Orchestra, it
was better than when he left it, and also he was freer
i8s
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
in his beat, and under his magical touch, taste, skill,
and industry it reached a very high point.
Mr. Gericke, in the communication from
which many pages have already been drawn,
thus writes of his second engagement : —
When my successor, Mr. Arthur Nikisch, was going
to leave Boston, Mr. Higginson asked me to return ;
but, at that time, I was unable to accept his offer, as I
was again directing the Oratorio Concerts in Vienna.
In 1898, when Mr. Emil Paur resigned the conduc-
torship of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, I was asked
again to resume my former position, and I was free to
accept it.
When I returned, I had the indescribable satisfac-
tion of being received — so to speak — with open arms
by the public and the Orchestra, and I put my heart
and soul again into my old work. Nine years of ab-
sence had brought great changes, as a number of musi-
cians were new to me, as I was new to them. But it did
not take long until we understood each other and until
the Orchestra gave me great pleasure with their per-
formances, increasing in perfection all the time. It was
remarkable for me to see the interest the members took
in the study of novelties, and that they never showed
any fatigue in rehearsing new works, no matter how
difficult they were. When the later works by Richard
Strauss were taken on the programme, the zeal and
spirit with which the Orchestra underwent the many
rehearsals necessary for those works, and the close at-
186
GERICKE'S SECOND TERM
tention they paid during them, were really fine. As a
result, the Orchestra gave splendid performances of
these compositions. I will never forget the first per-
formance of the " Heldenleben."
In the time when Richard Strauss was brought into
relation with the Boston Symphony Orchestra he was
surprised at the sound and the playing he heard.
During the first rehearsal he held, Mr. Higginson and
I were sitting in the hall listening, — and when the first
piece was over, he came down to us, exclaiming quite
enthusiastically: "Mr. Higginson, what a wonderful
Orchestra you have — how all this sounds and how it
is studied ! I wish I could have this Orchestra in Eu-
rope and perform all the Beethoven Symphonies with
it."
To this anecdote of Richard Strauss may be
added another, found in a newspaper of the spring
of 1 904. It is there told that at one of the re-
hearsals for the Pension Fund Concert which he
conducted, he said to the Orchestra, at the con-
clusion of a certain passage : " You play that finely ;
but a little too finely. I want some roughness here."
Still another newspaper story related that "a tuba
player in the Boston Orchestra returned to New
York last month, giving as a reason for his resigna-
tion that he would have perished of lung trouble
if hehadremained. Every time he took a full breath
187
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Mr. Gericke eyed him, and put forth that repres-
sive left hand. The poor brass player had to swal-
low his own smoke, so to speak, and as consump-
tion threatened him, he came to this city, where
he blatteth as he listeth." From these more or less
apocryphal tales it may at least be inferred that
Mr. Gericke, in his second term, preserved his
reputation for subduing the excessive.
The changed conditions to which he returned
after his absence of nine years were both internal
and external. Apart from the inevitable losses and
accessions of individual players, an element of
tragedy had marked the summer of 1898. In the
sinking of the steamship La Bourgogne, three
members of the Orchestra, Leon Pourtau, accom-
plished both as a clarinetist and as a painter of
charmingpictures, Leon Jacquet,flutist,and Albert
Weiss, oboist, perished on their way to a summer
holiday in Europe. In still earlier years a railroad
accident, during one of the Western trips, had
imperilled the lives of many members of the Or-
chestra ; but only in this shipwreck has sudden
death exacted its toll of the much-travelling Bos-
ton players. In more than the three places thus
188
GERICKE'S SECOND TERM
vacated and filled before the autumn, Mr. Gericke
had new human material to deal with. In the audi-
ences also new conditions were to be faced. The
two conductors who had taken his place since
1889 had done much to broaden the musical hori-
zons of American concert-goers. The world of
music had itself undergone an important change.
Accordingly, the more conservative and classical
programmes dictated at first by Mr. Gericke's
taste called forth no little complaint. Indeed, the
year in which any series of programmes seemed
satisfactory to everybody is to be sought in vain in
the annals of the Orchestra. The specific objec-
tion to Mr. Gericke's choice of music during the
first season of his second employment was that
familiar compositions were presented too often,
and that the few unfamiliar productions were too
rarely repeated. As his engagement continued,
these complaints abated, till, in his final season, a
watchful New York critic admitted the conduc-
tor's increasing sympathy with modern schools
of music, frequently revealed in performances of
splendid enthusiasm and devotion.
The impossibility of doing justice severally to
189
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
the individual artists whose membership in the
Orchestra has helped so much to make it what it
has been was pointed out early in this narrative.
Something of the same sort should be said of the
soloists, vocal and instrumental, who have con-
tributed inestimably to the programmes of every
year. In the beginning no concert was regarded
as complete which lacked a soloist. In Mr. Ger-
icke's first term it has been seen that the cause
of music, quite dissociated from personality, was
promoted by restricting certain concerts wholly
to orchestral music. At the present time this
policy is carried to the point which limits the
engagement of soloists to artists of acknowledged
supremacy. Indeed, the time has long been past
when a solo was regarded as an indispensable part
of the programme. It is to be noted, however,
that in Mr. Gericke's second term the furore for
special soloists, such as Mme. Melba and Mr.
Paderewski, reached perhaps its highest expres-
sion. It were invidious to draw from the long
lists of soloists — as from that of the virtuosi in
the Orchestra itself — any group of names for
particular comment. At the end of the volume
190
GERICKE'S SECOND TERM
will be found the names of all the soloists during
all the years through which the Orchestra has
existed, and of all the members of the Orchestra,
with their terms of service, and a summary of
the membership in the first season under each
conductor. A third appendix will be found to
suggest something of that important element in
the history of the Orchestra, — the range and
growth of repertoire,' In any less statistical
treatment of these matters it would be almost
impossible to avoid distortions of scale and in-
equalities of emphasis.
Not that one can hope entirely to avoid such
departures from perfect proportion. Indeed, it
may be frankly admitted that in the distribu-
tion of detail in treating the earlier and the
later years, the formative period has been recog-
nized as the more interesting. However im-
portant an undertaking may be, there is less to
be said about it after its firm establishment than
during the process through which it must pass
on the way to this end. The acceleration which
began with the chronicles of the third and fourth
* See Appendices A, B, and C.
191
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
conductorships must henceforth be made still
more rapid. But before bringing to an end the
annals of Mr. Gericke's work as a conductor,
and proceeding to that of his two successors, a
pause must be made for two important matters
of outward circumstance — the completion and
opening of Symphony Hall and the establish-
ment of the Pension Fund. Both of these mat-
ters fell within Mr. Gericke's second term. It is
as it should be that two such factors of perma-
nence can be associated with the later term of
service of the conductor whose earlier work
" made the Orchestra."
Symphony Hall was opened on October 15,
1900. When the ownership of Music Hall
passed, before this time, into new hands, it was
carefully stipulated that the Orchestra should
give its concerts in the old building until the
new should be ready to receive it. The last
Symphony Concert in Music Hall took place on
April 28, 1900. The programme consisted of
Beethoven's " Leonore Overture No. 2," Mozart's
Quintette, "Di scrivermi ogni giorno," from
" Cosi fan tutte," and Beethoven's "Choral Sym-
192
iiiiiiii!iiiiiM^:<r;
M 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i i v^ w^;:
THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHES
IN SYMPHON'i
\, DR. KARL MUCK, CONDUCTOR
ALL. BOSTON
GERICKE'S SECOND TERM
phony." It was an occasion full of sentiment.
For fifty years, lacking only two, the best music
in Boston had been heard in this building. For
twenty years, lacking only one, it had been the
home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The
concert could hardly have been other than a
memorable event. Among its many evocations
from the past was its bringing to light a poem
written by William Sydney Thayer in 1852,
when the Music Hall was opened. As an exam-
ple of prophecy fulfilled, these verses may well
be brought to light again : —
O fair retreat, where even now
Art's consecrating footprints shine ;
Where Song, with her imperial brow,
Shall hold her sway by right divine !
How fast, with beauty girt around.
Arose that miracle of halls.
As if, at music's loving sound,
Some weird Amphion built her walls.
Within her gates shall men retire
From care and toil and wasting strife,
And the worn spirit's pure desire
Shall thrill with its immortal life ;
From lands remote in future times
Art's eager votaries shall press,
And here, in tones of other climes,
The listening multitude shall bless.
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
And though beyond old ocean's flood
The homes where their affections dwell,
Stronger than ties of brotherhood,
The power that binds us by its spell ;
Oh, not as strangers they unbar
The gates of music to our throng,
For all earth's people kindred are
When kneeling near the shrine of song.
Soon after the final concert, the transformation
of the building for its new purposes of entertain-
ment began, and the relic-hunters set about their
quest for fragments of the old concert hall. Some
wanted lamps, others the number and letter plates
marking the seats they had occupied at the Sym-
phony Concerts, still others the seats themselves
— and some of these desires were gratified. When
the Boston concert-goers reassembled in the au-
tumn, they found prepared for them the statelier
mansion to which their weekly visits have since
been paid. The architects, Messrs. McKim, Mead
& White, of New York, had spared no pains to
make it one of their many masterpieces. For its
musical purposes, the hall represented an embodi-
ment of the judgment of a committee of gentle-
men called together by Mr. Higginson, who ex-
pressed their views through criticisms of concert
194
GERICKE'S SECOND TERM
halls in Europe and America with which they
were familiar. The nearest approach to the de-
sired result was furnished by the old Boston
Music Hall and the Leipzig Gewandhaus. The
hall as constructed is the result of an analytical
study of all the halls considered. This analytical
study and the synthetic planning were made by
Professor Wallace C. Sabine, of Harvard Uni-
versity. The management and the Orchestra it-
self, assisted by the Cecilia Society and other
singers, presented a programme made up of
Bach's Chorale " Grant us to do with zeal," a
report by Mr. Higginson, "The Bird of Passage,
an Ode to Instrumental Music," by Owen Wis-
ter, and Beethoven's "Missa Solennis." In the
final lines of Mr. Wister's Ode the unworded
feeling of many hearers of the Instrumental Mu-
sic to which he addressed himself found memo-
rable expression: —
Yea, sweep thy harp which hath a thousand strings !
The joy that sometimes is in darkest night,
And the strange sadness which the sunshine brings,
The splendors and the shadows of our inward sight, —
All these within thy weaving harmonies unite.
In thee we hear our uttermost despair.
And Faith through thee sends up her deepest prayer.
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Thou dost control
The moods antiphonal that chant within the soul j
And when thou liftest us upon thy wings,
From the shores of speech we rise,
Beyond the isles of thought we go,
Over an unfathomed flow,
Where great waves forever surge
Beneath almost remembered skies,
And on to that horizon's verge
Where stand the gates of Paradise.
On thy wings we pass within,
But summoned back, must we return
Across those heaving ocean streams.
With memories, regrets, unutterable dreams.
Having seen what somewhere must have been,
A light, a day, for which we yearn.
And there, beneath the beams
Of the revealing, central sun.
That Greater Self who bides in every one.
Into whose eyes we look sometimes, and learn
The reason for our Faith that still shall ceaseless burn.
When Mr. Higginson came to the platform,
the audience rose en masse. His report — of
which the " Transcript " pithily remarked,
" Enough for Mr. Higginson's share in the busi-
ness that he talked sense and cut it short" —
is a document in the history of the Orchestra
which should manifestly be preserved in this
place : —
196
GERICKE'S SECOND TERM
The directors of this building have allowed me the
honor and the pleasure of welcoming you to your new
Symphony Hall. As no detailed report of the direc-
tors' scheme and acts has ever been made to the public,
you will perhaps be glad to hear a few words on the
subject.
The directors have tried to fulfil the trust imposed
on them and to make the hall satisfactory to you. After
a long search, they chose this site as the best in Boston,
and in 1893 ^^^7 bought it at about half the price per
foot paid for the opposite lot, where the Horticultural
Hall is to stand. They pondered long over plans, and
finally, laying aside with regret Mr. McKim's beautiful
design after the Greek theatre, they adopted the shape
of hall which had of late been in vogue because suc-
cessful. In this decision they have put aside the con-
victions and wishes of the architect — and they may
have erred.'
It was no easy matter to achieve the absolute needs
of the hall without injury to its beauty and without un-
due expense. They sought diligently to place a second
and smaller room for chamber-music or lectures within
the space of the exterior walls, but found that such a
plan would only result in a compromise, giving you two
poorer halls. Therefore, they have built this hall, of
which you will presently hear the quality.
If it is a success, the credit and your thanks are due
to four men — Mr. McKim, Mr. Norcross, Professor
Sabine, of Harvard University, and last, but not least,
' The original plan was for a semi-circular auditorium of classical
design.
197
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Mr. C. E. Cotting, who, with his wide experience, has
watched and guided the construction and guarded our
slender purse. Without his aid the hall might not have
been ready to-night, and I rejoice for him that his task
is fulfilled. Professor Sabine has studied thoroughly
our questions of acoustics, has applied his knowledge
to our problem ; and I think with success. Professor
Cross, of the Institute of Technology, has also given
us the benefit of his counsel ; and the help of these
three gentlemen has been a pure labor of love. You see
the handiwork of Mr. Norcross and of his excellent
sub-contractors and assistants, but you have not seen
their energy and patience in our behalf. As for Mr.
McKim, he is here but will not speak for himself, his
partners, and his office. Abandoning his pet idea with
absolute cheerfulness, he set himself to devise a plan
not entirely to his liking, and even in the execution
of this plan, he has given up many hopes, wishes, and
fancies because the directors had no more money.
Our capital is $500,000, of which 1410,700 has been
subscribed, and, as this sum was far too small, the
directors have borrowed the remaining cost, which is
about $350,000, making the total cost rising $750,000.
They mortgaged the hall with reluctance, but had no
other course, as the money was essential.
The building has been leased by the directors for
ten years to me, who am to meet costs of administra-
tion, taxes, and all charges, and to pay to the stock-
holders the rest of the receipts.
Let me add that the beauty of the hall has been won
entirely by Mr. McKim, and I hope that it pleases
198
GERICKE'S SECOND TERM
you. I think it very handsome, and know that it is
convenient and entirely safe. With the exception of
the wooden floors laid directly on masonry and steel,
the hall is built of brick, tile, steel, and plaster. Ac-
cording to the foreman, Mr. French, it cannot be
burned, and thus the fear of fire which has hung over
us for twenty years in the old hall is gone forever.
It had long been clear that our home of music in
Boston must be moved, for the old Music Hall was
faulty in safety, in ventilation, in convenience, in lack
of a good organ, and to a certain degree in acoustics.
Around the old hall, from the opening night on No-
vember 20, 1852, hang the happy memories of fifty
years' triumphs — the concerts of the Musical Fund
Society, the Handel and Haydn, the Germanians, the
Harvard Musical Society, the Apollo, the Cecilia —
of Sontag, Albani, Carl Eckert, Bergmann, Thomas,
Zerrahn, Thalberg, Rubinstein, Von Biilow, Wieni-
awski, Ole Bull, Sarasate, Paderewski, Patti, Nillson,
Sembrich, Lehmann, Ternina, and countless artists —
of great organ recitals, as well as echoes of noble ser-
mons and church services, of lectures, of great public
meetings — nor can any one forget the men who, from
public spirit, built the old hall, with one gentleman at
their head, whose life and means without stint were
devoted to art — Mr. Charles C. Perkins.
The old Music Hall had become a great temple for
our city, which had made many generations happy, and
which it was sad to leave — but the long-felt need of
change, quickened in 1893 by the supposed certainty
of a street through the hall, moved you to offer your
199
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
money freely during a period of financial distress, and
thus to give to the city this new home. To me it was
of vital moment, for without it the life of the Orchestra
would have ceased, and I have never said how deeply
your sympathy and generosity touched me.
It is all as it should be. Certain citizens of Boston
build a hall, without regard to return in money, and by
this act care for the happiness, the convenience, the edu-
cation of the inhabitants for twenty miles around this
spot; and it is fitting in a republic that the citizens and
not the government in any form should do such work
and bear such burdens. To the more fortunate people
of our land belongs the privilege of providing the higher
branches of education and of art.
As for the Orchestra, it is always with us, and is
always trying to improve itself — thus far with success.
It is nearly of age and is always glad to speak for itself.
Of its knowledge, its skill, its artistic qualities, its con-
stant devotion to the best work year after year, of its
consequent power to play its great repertory, I have no
adequate words to speak, nor can I tell you how highly
I prize our great string and wind-players, let alone our
conductor, who has formed the Orchestra and led it so
long, and who has never, even to save his men or me
toil and trouble, lowered one jot his lofty standard of
performance. I am very proud of him and of them,
this band of artists, and I again thank them with all my
heart, for they have done our city and our country
signal and intelligent service, such as ennobles and
educates a nation.
Whether this hall can ever give so much joy to our
200
GERICKE'S SECOND TERM
people as the old Music Hall, no one can tell. Much
depends on the public, which has always been loyal and
staunch to the Orchestra, and for the Orchestra 1 can
only promise in return that it will try to do its share.
In the memorandum, " In re the Boston Sym-
phony Orchestra," which Mr. Higginson wrote
in 1 88 1, before the first concert was given, it
has been seen that the question of a Pension
Fund was already presenting itself for considera-
tion. The answer to it was deferred, but in 1903,
at the instance of Mr. Gericke, it was definitely
made in the establishment of the " Boston Sym-
phony Orchestra Pension Institution." The ofli-
cers of this body are a board of seven Directors
elected annually by the members, and three Trus-
tees chosen by the Directors. The members are
divided into four classes, the first of which con-
tains persons not employed as musicians, and not
liable to dues or entitled to any financial benefits.
Classes II, III, and IV are made up of musicians
who have joined the Orchestra, respectively, when
over thirty years of age, when between twenty-
five and thirty, and when under twenty-five.
Their annual dues are graded accordingly, be-
201
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
tween $37.50 and $30. All members pay an in-
itiation fee of $50. The dues may be paid in
weekly instalments deducted from their salaries
and transferred directly to the treasurer of the
Pension Institution. The maximum pension pay-
able to retired members of the Orchestra is $500.
There are two Funds, the Permanent, in charge
of the Trustees, and the General, in charge of
the Directors. Out of these are paid, respectively,
the benefits due to persons whose membership
has terminated before ten years have elapsed, and
all other benefits. The Pension Fund Concerts
given by the Orchestra have been the chief source
of income. One third of the proceeds of all these
concerts — the first of which occurred March i ,
1903 — is paid to the Permanent Fund, two
thirds to the General. For the year ending Oc-
tober 31, 191 3, the total receipts from these
concerts was $6,639.70. In that year the income
from securities of the Permanent Fund and in-
vested General Fund was $6,976.07. In the same
period the thirty-one pensions paid to members of
the Institution and their families, for whom care-
ful provision is made in the By-Laws, amounted,
202
GERICKE'S SECOND TERM
in sums from less than $ioo to the maximum
of $500, to $11,074.35.
These are the bare facts, which are no more
important than their implications. A background
of security is none too common in the lives of
those who depend upon one of the arts for their
support. The advantage to the men of the Or-
chestra in this regard has its parallel in the ad-
vantage to the Orchestra. The early efforts to
keep the musicians under a single conductor and
thus to provide the continuity of standards and
methods which was truly felt to be essential to
the best results seem — in the light of present
conditions — remote and primitive. The sense
of permanence in the relations between the or-
chestral body and its individual members is an
element of the highest value. In the results of
it all the public is an equal sharer with the men
and the management. The Orchestra is constantly
better for the feeling of its members that their
part in its work is no passing matter ; and the
brilliant concerts for the Pension Fund which
now supplement the regular season are rare en-
richments of each musical year.
203
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Of Mr. Gericke's second term of service Mr.
Higginson has recently written : " Those years
of his were very beautiful years in the Orchestra."
Of the many tokens of the skill and power with
which by this time he had possessed the Or-
chestra, a single instance will serve for illustra-
tion. At a concert in Carnegie Hall, New York,
in December of 1902, all the lights in the room
suddenly went out. " By good fortune " — as the
circumstance was described — "the darkness su-
pervened near the end of a glowing period in the
last movement of the Schumann symphony, the
band finished clearly the beat and a half which
concluded the phrase, paused composedly as if
for a hyper-eloquent rest, and resumed at the
moment the light returned. The audience filled
the hall with encouraging hand-clapping." The
credit for such an exhibition of mastery must, of
course, be ascribed in large measure to the con-
cert-master, Mr. Kneisel, then holding the place
of first violin for the last of his eighteen seasons
with the Orchestra. His leaving it at the begin-
ning of the next season, with Julius Theodoro-
wicz, Louis Svecenski, and Alwin Schroeder, that
204
THE SIX CONCERT-MASTERS
BERNHARD LISTKMANN, 188I-1885 WILLY HESS, I9O4-I907, I908-I9IO
FRANZ KNEISEL, 1885-I9O}
CARL WENULING, I907-I908 ANTON WITEK, iglO-
E. FERNANDEZ ARBOS, 1905-1904
GERICKE'S SECOND TERM
they might have greater scope to win what they
believed they could attain as the Kneisel Quar-
tette, was a serious loss to the parent organiza-
tion. At the same time Mr. Loeffler, desiring
greater freedom for his work as a composer,
ended his long and intimate connection with the
Orchestra. Mr. Kneisel's place was taken for a
year by E. Fernandez Arbos, succeeded in the
season of 1903-04 by Willy Hess, who held the
important post for four consecutive seasons, and
after giving place for the year 1907-08 to Carl
Wendling, of Stuttgart, returned in 1908 for two
years more. In 1910, Anton Witek came from
Berlin as the sixth concert-master, keeping the
number exactly even with that of the conductors.
But with Mr. Gericke as captain, the longest in
service, Mr. Kneisel as lieutenant, also the longest
in service, was most closely identified. It speaks
well for the organization which Mr. Gericke had
built up that this relation could come to an end
without material injury to the Orchestra.
Inthefinal seasonof Mr. Gericke's second term,
on December i and 2, 1905, the regular concerts
of the Orchestra were conducted by M. Vincent
205
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
D'Indy. This compliment to the modern French
school of music, and to one of its chief expo-
nents, stands alone in the history of the Orches-
tra. In the earlier years, the suggestion that a
famous German composer and conductor who
happened to be in Boston should take Mr. Ger-
icke's place for one concert was denied. The
appearance of Richard Strauss in 1904, and of
Georg Henschel in 1905, — when Beethoven's
" Dedication of the House," the first number
played at the first Boston Symphony Concert, was
on the programme, — were at Pension Fund per-
formances. The choice of the French composer
for his unique distinction was the more signifi-
cant when regarded as a token of a really broad-
ening scope in the repertoire of the Orchestra.
The extension of musical taste had gone steadily
forward, partly because the times were chang-
ing, partly because of the growing sympathies of
a conductor even so imbued as Mr. Gericke was
with the classical tradition.
It is idle to surmise how much further he
might have carried the Boston public if his sec-
ond engagement had continued beyond the eight
206
GERICKE'S SECOND TERM
years ending with the season of 1905-06. But
there was a failure in the winter of 1906 to agree
upon the terms under which his contract might
have been renewed, and in February his resigna-
tion was announced. By his hard and fruitful
labors, through thirteen of the twenty-five years
of the existence of the Orchestra, he had earned,
not only the leisure of retirement, but also the
hearty recognition of the musical public. This
he received in full measure, especially at a Ben-
efit Concert, April 24, 1906, described in a news-
paper heading as a " Big Family Party," at which
with fitting words and with gifts both of money
and of objects of silver the concert-goers of Bos-
ton testified to their just and warm feeling of
indebtedness to Wilhelm Gericke.
A single incident of his stay in Boston remains
to be recorded. His term of service ended almost
simultaneously with the earthquake and fire which
wrought such havoc at San Francisco. The men
of the Orchestra, who had often played at Ben-
efit Concerts arranged by the management, this
time planned a concert of their own, to be con-
ducted by one of themselves, the proceeds to be
207
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
added to the fund for the relief of the San Fran-
cisco sufferers. Mr. Gericke, hearing of the plan,
offered his services as conductor — and the Or-
chestra, accepting them, gave generously to an
urgent cause. Mr. Gericke's part in this piece
of volunteer public service brings to an appro-
priate close the story of his relation with an en-
terprise to which the public already owed so
much.
VI
DR. KARL MUCK, MAX FIEDLER, AND AGAIN
DR. MUCK
1906-1914
TO write of the Orchestra under its last two
conductors is to deal with the present —
a matter which, lacking perspective, may perhaps
best be handled by the briefest presentation of
the essential facts. Conspicuous among them is
the fact that, even more than when Hans Richter
was sought, it had become imperative in 1906 to
find a conductor of the very highest standing.
Of all the men who have directed the Orchestra
Dr. Muck came to his work with the most firmly
established reputation as a conductor. Born in
Darmstadt, October 22, 1859, broadly educated
at the Universities of Leipzig and Heidelberg,
holding the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, he
had occupied musical positions of the first impor-
tance before taking the post he was filling in 1 906
— the conductorship of the Royal Opera House
of Berlin. As this position is under the direct
209
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
patronage of the German Emperor, the imperial
consent to his leaving Berlin had first of all to
be obtained. In an interview soon after his arrival
in America, Dr. Muck attributed this consent
entirely to the Emperor's regard for Americans,
especially for Harvard University, with which
Mr. Higginson was known to be closely associ-
ated. Dr. Muck's engagement, resulting from
long negotiations by Mr. Charles A. Ellis in
Berlin, was announced early in June of 1906.
At the very first concert conducted by Dr.
Muck when he came to Boston in the autumn
of 1906, he paid the Orchestra a remarkable
compliment, and at the same time assured the
audience of his complete confidence in the Bos-
ton players, by laying down his baton in the
midst of a Beethoven symphony and letting the
music proceed without direction. In the inter-
view already mentioned Dr. Muck did not hesi-
tate to rank the Boston Orchestra with the best
in Europe, and commended especially the wis-
dom of securing French musicians for the wood
instruments, German for the brasses, and many
Austrians and Americans for the strings. If, from
210
DR. MUCK AND MR. FIEDLER
beginning to end, there have not been more
Americans in the Orchestra, it is only because
better musicians of other nationalities have been
obtainable. The question of quality has been held
supreme. As for our native music, Mr. Higgin-
son has written: "All the conductors have been
willing to play American music when it seemed
to them good enough, and they have been liberal
in that way." An intelligent comparison between
the total product of American music of a high
order and its representation in the repertoire of
the Boston Orchestra, as shown in the table at
the end of this volume, will testify to the justice
of this statement.
In the constantly open question of programme-
making. Dr. Muck, early and late, has shown
himself a believer in the theory that each pro-
gramme should be a unit — a consistent structure.
The classic and the frankly romantic, he has held,
should no more be thrown together in a single
concert than they should in a single room of an
Art Museum. A musical season gives ample
opportunity for the production of works of widely
varied schools; one evening does not. With this
21 I
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
unifying of separate concerts, each complete after
its kind, has gone the desire to present musical
works in their completeness. Selections, arrange-
ments, overtures, and other fragments have there-
fore played an inconspicuous part in Dr. Muck's
programmes.
Their effect on the audiences was what might
have been expected. Those who missed the for-
est for the trees found in one concert or another
the gratification or the disappointment of their
personal tastes, and generalized accordingly. In
the second season of Dr. Muck's conductorship,
1907—08, — for, after the single year of absence
from Berlin granted by the Emperor, he was in-
duced to grant yet another, — many correspond-
ents of the "Transcript" uttered their views
upon the frequency of "first time" performances
of modern compositions. One of them was moved
to ask : " If we are to hear again Bischoff 's sym-
phony or other similar works, would it not add
mightily to the cheerfulness of the evening if
the programme were to state, * Probably last time
in Boston?'" When all was said, the "Tran-
script" published a list of the compositions played
212
DR. MUCK AND MR. FIEDLER
during the season, and showed that the division
between the classics and modern productions was
very nearly even. The changed point of view
since the earlier years of the Orchestra revealed
itself, however, in the inclusion of Brahms and
Wagner among the classics. When the New
York "Sun" at about the same time said of
Dr. Muck, "His veneration for the classics is
equalled by his enthusiasm for the writers of
to-day," it not only expressed a significant truth,
but paid Dr. Muck an enviable compliment.
After Dr. Muck's first year the Orchestra lost
the services of two players long and notably as-
sociated with it — Mr. Timothee Adamowski,
of the violins, and his brother, Mr. Josef Adam-
owski, of the 'celli, who, like the members of
the Kneisel Quartette, sought greater freedom
for concerts of chamber music. At this time
also the number of horn-players, already aug-
mented in Mr. Gericke's second term, was in-
creased from six to eight. At an earlier day
when two harpists — for the proper rendering
of a certain composition — appeared on the
stage of Symphony Hall instead of the custom-
213
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
ary one, a lady was heard to declare that she
never knew there were so many harps in the
world. But the two harps, on occasion, and
the eight horns, constantly, are now taken for
granted. So, indeed, is much besides — so much
that it is hard to tell whether it was in irony or in
utter seriousness that a member of the local mu-
sical public wrote, during Dr. Muck's second
year : " How good it will be, how beautiful,
when the day arrives in which we may listen
to that great concert under better conditions.
Seated in spacious chairs, half or wholly reclin-
ing, under modulated light, with an orchestra
which after its welcome shall be concealed from
view, and with an audience so devoted to music
as to waste fifteen minutes after the music is quite
finished in dressing for the street. Then shall
music bear its unhindered appeal to the inner
vision and consciousness, and fulfil its mission of
recreation, culture, inspiration, and joy." Then,
one is tempted to add, shall the concert-goer be
"carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease ";
but the time seems no more ripe for such a con-
214
DR. MUCK AND MR. FIEDLER
summation than it has been for compliance with
scores of other well-meant but impracticable sug-
gestions.
Turning from such externals to the essentials,
it is to be said with emphasis that well before
the end of Dr. Muck's first two years, the scope
and authority of his conductorship had done
with the Orchestra that which justified an accu-
rate observer in writing : " Mr. Gericke left
the Symphony Orchestra a perfect instrument ;
Dr. Muck has given it a living voice." But in
January of 1908, it became clear that his absence
from Berlin would not be longer extended. Re-
alizing and acknowledging the fact that a di-
rector could hardly find himself in a post in
which the conditions for artistic satisfaction are
so completely met, he resigned his position.
When he returned to Germany, it was not with-
out the hope — felt also in America — that he
would yet again return to Boston. It was at his
suggestion that Mr. Max Fiedler, of Hamburg,
a contemporary — born December 31, 1859, at
Zittau — and a colleague of student days, was
called to the place he vacated.
215
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The contrast between the methods of Dr.
Muck and those of Mr. Fiedler could hardly have
been stronger. If resemblances rather than dif-
ferences were to be sought, they would be found
chiefly in a comparison between Mr. Fiedler
and Mr. Paur, whose personal vigor in conduct-
ing, with sweeping emphasis and broad effects
following rapidly upon one another was vividly
brought to mind by the new director. To these
qualities was added an element of entire sincerity
without which their defects would have out-
weighed their excellences, as they never did. In
another important respect he differed widely
from Dr. Muck — and that was in his construc-
tion of programmes. Overtures and fragments
of Wagner, which Dr. Muck had used in Pen-
sion Fund concerts, were restored to the regular
programmes. The result was that Mr. Fiedler
found himself described as a conductor less for
connoisseurs than for the general public, and the
great popularity of the concerts under his direc-
torship justified the description.
For four seasons Mr. Fiedler thus conducted
the Orchestra, affording great pleasure to the
216
rURKK CONDUCTORS
KARL Ml'CK, I906-I908, 1912-
MAX FIEULEK, I908-I9IZ KMIL PAUR, 1895-18
DR. MUCK AND MR. FIEDLER
audiences, and showing himself impartially open
to the claims of contemporaneous and of classical
music. That there were elements of the Ameri-
can public, even in New England, still somewhat
in the dark about such an organization as the
Boston Symphony Orchestra appeared in a let-
ter received during Mr. Fiedler's second season,
1909-10, from a town not far distant from Bos-
ton. It announced that a concert and ball were
to be given in the town, and that the people de-
sired to secure for it the Boston Symphony Or-
chestra, which they had "heard was a very good
one." They thought they could pay as much as
$300 if the Orchestra could play for the danc-
ing as well as the concert. Fortunately, the man-
agement could reply that it was committed, for
the evening proposed, to an appearance in Car-
negie Hall, New York.
The opening of Mr. Fiedler's final season,
1911-12, marked the thirtieth anniversary of
the Orchestra, and the second concert, on Oc-
tober 14, was made a commemoration of the
event. At the beginning of this year some friends
of Mr. Higginson's placed in the foyer of Sym-
217
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
phony Hall Mr. Bela L. Pratt's bust, inscribed
" Henry Lee Higginson, Founder and Sustainer
of the Boston Symphony Orchestra." It is re-
produced as the frontispiece of this volume.
Early in January it was announced that Dr.
Muck would return to the conductorship in the
autumn of 1 9 1 2. At the final concert of the sea-
son Mr. Fiedler responded in a farewell speech,
in English, to the warm expression of apprecia-
tion from his audience, declaring, "artistically,
the last four years have been the happiest of my
life"; and it was a happiness in which a multi-
tude had shared.
During Dr. Muck's absence he had received,
in token of the German Emperor's opinion of
his eminence in music, the title of "General
Musical Director," awarded at the same time
to Richard Strauss. In the two hundred years
through which the Royal Orchestra had existed
in Berlin, this title had previously been bestowed
but three times — to Spontini in 1820, to Mey-
erbeer in 1842, and to Mendelssohn in 1843.
Fortunately, the honor did not carry with it the
necessity of remaining permanently in Berlin,
218
DR. MUCK AND MR. FIEDLER
though it could hardly have made it easier for
Dr. Muck to receive the further release permit-
ting the resumption of his work in Boston.
Otherwise the interval between his two terms of
service would have been shorter. The present
engagement, which began with the season of
191 2-1 3, is, under the contract between Dr.
Muck and the management, for a term of five
years.
During this second engagement it is notice-
able that Dr. Muck's programmes have been
subjected to much less criticism than during his
first two years ; yet no change was made in their
general plan. Following an elastic rather than
a rigid rule, he has, broadly speaking, alter-
nated concerts of modern and of classical music,
each a unit in itself, with the result — as the
"Transcript" has pointed out — that in the
course of the season a great variety of music has
been provided. The longer concerts, for which
Mr. Fiedler set a precedent, followed by Dr.
Muck, have at the same time afforded the op-
portunity for greater freedom and range in sin-
gle concerts. In the field of solo performances,
219
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
already much more restricted than in the time
when they were deemed indispensable to every
performance, Dr. Muck imposed the further
limitation that singers were to be accompanied
by the Orchestra itself instead of a piano. The
larger fact behind all these bits of detail is that a
touch of severity has been added to standards al-
ready severe; and that the audiences have kept
pace with them, not reluctantly, but with a sat-
isfaction in the work of the Orchestra and its
conductor that has never been surpassed in all
the thirty-three seasons begun in 1881.
For this satisfaction there is the amplest ground.
Dr. Muck holds the peculiar distinction of a pre-
eminent artist in his own field whose mind and
spirit have been trained by arduous exercise in
other fields of thought and feeling. The breadth
of the base on which his achievement is built
accounts for the height to which it has attained.
It is under his guiding hand that the concerts have
reached their present highest point of art. What
he has done, and is doing, for the Orchestra must
be regarded in relation to the future as well as to
the present. In looking ahead no backward steps
220
DR. MUCK AND MR. FIEDLER
are to be contemplated; and the artistic suprem-
acy of the Orchestra under Dr. Muck has clearly
become one of those points of permanence to be
maintained through all the years to come.
VII
CONCLUSIONS
SUCH a story as that of the Boston Symphony
Orchestra carries nearly all of its meaning
with it — so obviously that few words are needed
to drive it home. Yet beyond all that has been
brought together in the preceding pages, a few
words spoken on separate occasions by Mr. Hig-
ginson provide something of helpful illumina-
tion. They are taken from speeches at the New
York Harvard Club in February of 1891, and
at the Chicago Harvard Club in February of
1901.
In the New York speech were the following
passages : —
A distinguished English lady once said to me : " Life
in the United States is hard and dry. Your country is
a great corn-field. See that you plant flowers in it." . . .
Do we wonder at or praise a man who beautifies his
own home, or makes happy his own household, by a
free use of his thought, his time, or his money ? Surely
this is our own country, which we have helped to make
222
CONCLUSIONS
and for which we are all responsible. It is our home, and,
if we would live in peace and be happy, we must beau-
tify our home and make happy our whole household.
Which of us has not been surprised and moved to see
the eager delight with which poor women and children
take flowers, if offered to them ? And are we not sure
of the delight and the sunshine which we can bring by
raising for our brother-laborers flowers in our great
corn-field ?
At Chicago, ten years later, the same thought
was differently presented : —
This beautiful land is our workshop, our playground,
our garden, our home; and we can have no more urgent
or pleasant task than to keep our workshop busy and
content, our playground bright and gay, our garden
well tilled and full of flowers and fruits, our home
happy and pure.
Why do I say these words to you? Because, for
nearly fifty years, I have been filled with a deep, pas-
sionate wish that our lives should be in accord with
our highest ideals — our nation's creed — the eternal
justice of things, on which hangs our national welfare,
and because the honor, the duty, the glory of leading
our countrymen aright lies open to us, the University
men.
As for the practical application of these ideals
urged upon his New York hearers in the estab-
lishment of such public pleasure as music may
223
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
afford, Mr. Higginson said : " Never mind the
balance-sheet ! Charge the deficit, if there be
any, to profit and forget the loss, for it does not
really exist." Here, in a nutshell, is the philoso-
phy on which the whole achievement of the Or-
chestra, as a civic and artistic enterprise, has been
founded.
On looking back specifically upon the work
of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Mr. Higgin-
son has more recently written : —
The success of the Orchestra has come from the
same reason that brings success in any direction —
steady, intelligent work on one line, and by faithful,
intelligent men. Money is of course needed, but the
original scheme was simple and clear to any one, and
the union of work and means has won. Of course it
would ! Musicians are not like other men, and must be
treated differently ; but patience, discipline, and tact
fetch good results. Any one can do such a work who
really tries.
Thus it has all appeared to the "founder and
sustainer" of the Orchestra — not as an extra-
ordinary gratification of a strange personal fancy,
but as a natural thing of the sort to be expected
from men who have it in their power to serve
224
CONCLUSIONS
their generation by any such means. A detached
observer, Mr. Richard Aldrich, of New York,
writing in the "Century Magazine," has said:
"The Boston Symphony Orchestra is Mr. Henry
L. Higginson's yacht, his racing-stable, his li-
brary, and his art gallery, or it takes the place of
what these things are to other men of wealth
with other tastes." This remark, ascribed by
Mr. Aldrich to Mr. Higginson himself, con-
sorts with his belief that if we are going on here
at all, we must recognize the fact that the good
things of the world — education, art, everything
of the sort — have got to be shared; in this shar-
ing lies the best of insurance for the future. What
the Orchestra may do — indeed, has already in
large measure done — is to bring nearer the day
when a general sharing of this belief shall be as
natural as the present attitude toward the costly
private toys of those who can afford them.
What the public does not want will not per-
manently be given to it. "One great anxiety,"
Mr. Higginson has written, " has been the ques-
tion whether the audiences would continue, and,
to my great surprise, they have continued ; but
225
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
it comes from a lot of children being born each
year, and then the concerts have become, to a
certain degree, a need for a lot of people — for
ladies in the afternoon and for ladies and gentle-
men in the evening as a good way for finishing
the week." To this moderate statement about
the audiences may well be added some words of
Mr. H. T. Parker's written about the Symphony
Concert public at the time of the thirtieth anni-
versary of the Orchestra : —
It enjoys the reputation of an exacting public; its
conductors, its managers, its own eager minority, and,
may be, a little, the reviewers whom it likes to chide, have
made it and held it such. It has been, it often is, pas-
sive, in spite of much stimulation. It is a little prone
now to take the Symphony Concerts as an institution
to which it discharges its duty and is content. Such a
public, so minded, with the propulsive minority to trouble
it on due occasion, safeguards the present, but a wider
public, perhaps, must care for the future. Newcomers
to Symphony Concerts say the audiences look middle-
aged, lacking the youth on which they must depend in
another generation. The wise in the scrutiny of publics
say that another must be speedily added to that which
now maintains the concerts — the public that is slowly
developing a tentative curiosity about music in its
higher estates. There are enough Bostonians of the
younger generation to accept the Symphony Concerts
226
CONCLUSIONS
as an inheritance, and, becoming experienced, to like
them as their fathers or oftener their mothers did before
them. . . . The public that inherits and the public
that is groping may yet in a fourth and fifth decade
make the widest, the worthiest public that the Orches-
tra has yet known.
In entire confidence that such a public will
come to be, all possible steps have been taken to
insure the permanence of the Orchestra. If in
the future the public of other cities than Boston
shall do less for its support than in the past, it
will be, in no small degree, because the Boston
Orchestra has helped to point the way toward the
public and private maintenance of similar insti-
tutions throughout the country. This, in itself, is
an achievement repaying much of effort and sacri-
fice. All the other reimbursements are beyond
enumeration. What the public has gained, be-
sides its enjoyment of the fruits of a garden lov-
ingly planted and faithfully tended, has been the
spectacle of a dream fulfilled, a vision realized
through unswerving faith in the ideal from which
it sprang.
THE END
APPENDIX
APPENDIX A
THE SOLOISTS. The following list contains the names
of all the soloists and assisting musicians who have appeared in
the concerts of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, from 1881-
82 to 191 3-14, whether in Boston or in other places, with
abbreviated dates for the years of their appearance. The figures
in parentheses, following the dates, indicate the total number
of appearances of each soloist.
Adamowski, T. (Violin.) '8s-'86-'87-'89-'90-'9i'-'92-'93-'94-'9S-'9^'97-
'98-'99-'oo-'o2-'o3-'o4-'o5-'o6-'o7 (82) .
Adamowski, A. S. See Szumowska.
Adams, Charles R. (Tenor.) '82-'83 (4).
Albert, Eugene d'. (Piano.) '92-'os (24).
Aldrich, Mrs. Truman. (Piano.) '13 (i).
Allen, Mrs. Humphrey. (Soprano.) '82-'83-'84-'8s-'89 (ll).
Alves, Mme. Carl. (Soprano.) '89 (i).
Apollo Club. (Boston.) 'o6-'io (2).
Arbos, E. Fernandez. (Violin.) 'o3-'o4 (5).
Arnaud, Germaine. (Piano.) 'o8-'o9 (3).
Arnheim, Katherine von. (Soprano.) '83 (2).
Ashenden, Clarence B. (Bass.) '99 (i).
Ashley, Ruth Lewis. (Mezzo-soprano.) '14 (i).
Aubigne, Lloyd d'. (Tenor.) '95 (2).
Aus der Ohe, Adele. (Piano.) '87-'88-'89-'90-'92-'9S-'97-'99-'oi-'o3-
'o4-'os-'o6 (si).
Babcock, D. M. (Bass-baritone.) '84-'87 (2).
Bachaus, VVilhelm. (Piano.) '12 (i).
Bachner, Louis. (Piano.) 'o4-'o8 (2).
Baermann, Carl. (Piano.) '82-'83-'84-'86-'87-'88-'89-'93-'94-'99 (26).
Baernstein, Joseph S. (Bass.) '00 (i).
Bailey, Lillian. See Henschel, Mrs. Georg.
Bak, Adolf. (Violin.) 'o3-'o6 (3).
Baltimore Oratorio Society. 'lo-'ii (2).
Baltimore Philharmonic Chorus, 'il (l).
Barleben, Carl. (Violin.) 'o4-'os-'o6 (3).
Barna, Marie (Marie Barnhard Smith). (Soprano.) '93-'94-'98 (3).
Barnes, A. M. (Bass.) '86 (i).
Bartlett, Caroline Clarke. See Clarke, Caroline G.
Barstow, Vera. (Violin.) '13 (i).
231
APPENDIX
Barton, Blanche Stone. (Soprano.) '84 (i).
Basta-Tavary, Marie. (Soprano.) '93 (3).
Bauer, Harold. (Piano.) 'oo-'oi-'o2-'o3-'o6-'o8-'ii-'l2-'l4 (23).
Bayrhoffer, Carl. (Violoncello.) '81 (i).
Beach, Mrs. H. H. A. (Pianist.) '85-'86-'88-'92-'95-'oo (6).
Becker, Hugo. (Violoncello.) '01 (5).
Beddoe, Daniel. (Tenor.) 'lo-'ii (2).
Beebe, Henrietta. (Soprano.) '82-'83 (3).
Behrens, Conrad. (Bass.) '91 (3).
Bendix, Otto. (Piano.) '82 (i).
Benzing, Jacob. (Bass.) '86 (2).
Berber, Felix. (Violin.) '10 (i).
Birnbaum, Alexander J. (Violin.) '03 (2).
Bispham, David. (Baritone.) '97-'o6-'il (8).
Blauvelt, Lillian. (Soprano.) '93-'94-'9S-'96-'98-'02-'04-'0S (13).
Bloomfield-Zeisler, Fanny. (Piano.) '85-'87-'89-'90-'9i-'92-'93-'98-'99-
'o3-'o4 (24).
Boema, Gabriella. (Soprano.) '83 (l).
Boscovitz, Frederic. (Piano.) '88 (l).
Boston Singers Society. '91 (i).
Boston Symphony Orchestra Chorus. '86-'92-'93 (3).
Boye-Jensen, Mrs. M. (Contralto.) '99 (i).
Breitner, Ludwig. (Piano.) '00 (3).
Brema, Marie. (Mezzo-soprano.) '95-'cX) (5).
Brodsky, Adolph. (Violin.) '91 (i).
Buonamici, Carlo. (Piano.) 'o2-'o4-'o5-'io (5).
Burmeister, Richard. (Piano.) '90-'92-'97-'oi-'o2 (5).
Burmester, Willy. (Violin.) '98 (6).
Bushnell, Ericsson C. (Bass.) '9i-'99 (3).
Busoni, Ferruccio. (Piano.) '9i-'92-'93-'94-'o4-'lO-'lI (27).
Butt, Clara. (Contralto.) '99 (i).
Byard, Theodore. (Baritone.) '98-'99 (2).
Campanari, Guiseppe. (Baritone.) '92-'93-'95-'96-'97-'oi-'05 (12).
Campanari, Leandro. (Violin.) '8i-'85-'86 (3).
Campanini, Italo. (Tenor.) '90 (i).
Campbell, Margaret. (Soprano.) '91 (i).
Carbone, Carmela and Grazia. (Soprano and Contralto.) '02 (2).
Carlsmith, Lillian. (Contralto.) '93 (i).
Carreiio, Teresa. (Piano.) '87-'89-'97-'99-'o8-'o9-'l3-'l4 (30).
Cary, Annie Louise. (Contralto.) '81 (i).
Castellano, Eugenia. (Piano.) '92-'93 (2).
Cecilia Society. (Boston.) '89-'92-'94-'99-'oo-'09-'io (lo).
Cheney, Amy Marcy. See Beach, Mrs. H. H. A.
Child, Bertha Cushing. (Contralto.) '07 (3).
Choral Art Society. (Boston.) '03 (l).
Cirillo, V. (Bass.) '82-'83 (2).
Clarke-(Bartlett), Caroline Gardner. (Soprano.) '9S-'96-'o9 (5).
Clement, Edmond. (Tenor.) '11 (i).
232
APPENDIX
Cleveland Chorus. '89 (i).
Cole, Alice Robbins. (Mezzo-soprano.) 'o2-*os-'o9 (3).
Collier, Bessie Bell. (Violin.) 'io-'i2 (3).
Combs, Laura. (Soprano.) 'o9-'io (3).
Corden, Juliette. (Soprano.) '01 (i).
Cottlow, Augusta. (Piano.) '02 (i).
Cramer, Pauline. (Mezzo-soprano.) '01 (l).
Crossley, Ada. (Contralto.) '03 (i).
-Culp, Julia. (Mezzo-soprano.) '13 (3),
Cunningham, Claude. (Bass.) 'lo-'ii (2).
Czerwonky, Richard. (Violin.) '07 (i).
Daniels, John F. (Tenor.) '06 (i).
Davies, Ben. (Tenor.) '95-'96-'97-'99-'oo-'o2-*03-'o6 (23).
Davies, Ffrangcon. (Baritone.) '98-'99 (4).
De Seve, Alfred. (Violin.) '82-'83 (2).
Destinn, Emmy. (Soprano.) '08 (i).
Desvignes, Carlotta. (Mezzo-soprano.) '95 (l).
Deyo, Ruth. (Piano.) '13 (3).
Dippel, Andreas. (Tenor.) '9i-'oi (6).
Doane, Suza. (Piano.) '92-'oo (2).
Dohnanyi, Ernst von. (Piano.) '00(13).
Drasdil, Anna. (Soprano.) '82 (i).
Duff, Janet. (Contralto.) '10 (i).
Eames, Emma. (Soprano.) '86-'93-'o5-'o8 (7).
Eaton, Elene B. (Soprano.) '94 (i).
Edmands, Gertrude. (Contralto.) '83-'87-'8^'90-'99 (ij).
Elman, Mischa. (Violin.) 'o9-'io-'ii (31).
Ensworth, George. (Baritone.) '04 (i).
Faelten, Carl. (Piano.) '84-'86-'89-'90-'9i-'9S (7).
■ Farrar, Geraldine. (Soprano.) 'o8-'o9-'io-'i2-'i3 (18).
Ferir, Emil. (Viola.) 'o3-'o4-'o5-'o7-'o8-'io-'ii-'i2-'l4 (18).
Fischer, Emil. (Bass.) '88-'89-'9i-'o2 (8).
Flesch, Carl. (Violin.) '14 (i).
Fletcher, Nina. (Violin.) '09 (i).
Forbes, Elizabeth Claire. (Piano.) '14 (i).
Ford, Mrs. S. C. (Soprano.) '09 (i).
Foresmann, Adelaide. (Contralto.) '89 (i).
Foote, Arthur. (Piano.) '83-86 (3).
Foster, Muriel. (Mezzo-soprano.) 'o4-'o5 (8).
Fox, Mary E. (Singer.) '91 (i).
Franklin, Gertrude. (Soprano.) '83-'8s-'86-'87-'88-'89-'90-'9i-*94-'9S-'96
(20).
Fremstad, Olive. (Soprano.) 'o4-'o6-'io (4).
Freygang, Alexander. (Harp.) '83-'84-'8s (5).
Friedheim, Arthur. (Piano.) '91 (i).
Fursch-Madi, Emma. (Soprano.) '86-'87-'9i (10).
APPENDIX
Gabrilowitsch, Ossip. (Piano.) 'oo-'o7-'o8-'o9 (9).
Gadski, Johanna. (Soprano.) '96-'97-'98-'o3-'04-'os-'o6-'l3 (24).
Gallison, Mrs. H. H. (Contralto.) '97 (i).
Ganz, Rudolph. (Piano.) 'o6-'o7-'il (6).
Garlichs, Mary. (Piano.) '84 (2).
Gebhard, Heinrich. (Piano.) '99-'oi-'o3-'os-'o6-'07-'o8-'io-'i2-'i3
(17).
Gelschap, Marie. (Piano.) '89-'9S (2).
Gerardy, Jean. (Violoncello.) '01 (5).
Gerhardt, Elena. (Soprano.) '12-13 (ll).
Gerrish, S. H. (Piano.) '84 (i).
Gerville-Reache, Jeanne. (Contralto.) '08 (l).
Giese, Cora. (Soprano.) '85 (i).
Giese, Fritz. (Violoncello.) '84-'85-'86-'87-'88 (20).
GifFord, Electa. (Soprano.) '01 (i).
Gilibert, Charles. (Baritone.) 'o3-'o4-'o9 (6).
Glenn, Hope. (Contralto.) '83 (3).
Gluck, Alma. (Soprano.) '11-12(2).
Godowsky, Leopold. (Piano.) 'oi-'i2 (7).
Goodrich, Wallace. (Organ.) 'oo-'o3-'o4-'o6-'o7-'09-'l3 (7).
Goodson, Katharine. (Piano.) '07-08-' 12 (6).
Gregorowitsch, Charles. (Violin.) '01 (5).
Gruenfeld, Alfred. (Piano.) '91 (3).
Halir, Carl. (Violin.) '96 (8).
Hall, Marguerite. (Contralto.) '83-'88-'9l-'04 (7).
Hall, Marie. (Violin.) '06 (5).
Halle, Lady (Norman Neruda). (Violin.) '99 (9).
Hambourg, Mark. (Piano.) '99-'03 (8).
Hamlin, Elizabeth C. (Soprano.) '84 (i).
Hamlin, George. (Tenor.) '11 (i).
Handel and Haydn Society. '04 (l).
Harlow, A. F. (Bass.) '84 (i).
Hascall, Mrs. W. (Soprano.) '91 (i).
Hastreiter, Helene. (Contralto.) '87 (17).
Hawkins, Laura. (Piano.) '09 (i).
Hay, Clarence. (Bass.) '86-'92-'93-'99 (4).
Heermann, Hugo. (Violin.) '03-'os (5).
Heimlicher, Marie. (Piano.) '82 (1).
Heindl, E. M. (Flute.) '84-'86 (3).
Heindl, Elsa. (Soprano.) 'oi-'o2 (2).
Heindl, Henry. (Viola.) '84(1).
Heinrich, Julia. (Mezzo-soprano.) '01 (2).
Heinrich, Max. (Baritone.) '83-'84-'93-'94-'9S-'97 (14).
Heinrich, Wilhelm. (Tenor.) '92 (i).
Hekking, Anton. (Violoncello.) '89-'90-'9l (19).
Henkler, Mrs. M. (Singer.) '89 (i).
Henschel, Georg. (Piano.) '82-'83 (4).
Henschel, Georg. (Baritone.) '8i-'82-'83-'84-'89-'92-'96 (26).
APPENDIX
Henschel, Mrs. Georg (Lillian Bailey). (Soprano.) '8l-'82-'83-'84-'89-*92-
'96-'98 (so).
Henschel, Helen. (Soprano.) '03 (l).
Henschel, Mr. and Mrs. (Duets.) '82-'83-'89-'92 (ll).
Henson, Medora. (Soprano.) '85 (i).
Hess, Willy. (Violin.) 'o4-'o5-'o6-'o7-'o8-'09-'io (42).
Heyman, Katherine R. (Piano.) '99-'©! (2).
Hinkle, Florence. (Soprano.) 'ii-'i2-'i3-'i4 (5).
Hissem de Moss, Mary. (Soprano.) '06- '09-' 10 (7).
Hoffmann, Jacques. (Violin.) '06 (i).
Hofmann, Josef. (Piano.) 'oi-'iC5-'ii-'i2-'l3 (26).
Holy, Alfred. (Harp.) '13 (2).
Homer, Louise. (Contralto.) 'o4-'o5-'o9-'i2-'i4 (10).
Hopekirk, Helen. (Piano.) '83-'90-'9i-'98-'oo-'o4 (9).
Hopkins, Louisa M. (Piano.) 'ii-'i3 (2).
Hopkinson, B. M. (Bass.) '89 (i).
Hosea, Robert. (Tenor.) '02 (i).
How, Mary H. (Contralto.) '82-'83-'84-'86 (9).
Howe, Mary. (Soprano.) '9C>-'9i (3).
Howland, Elizabeth K. (Piano.) 'o9-'i2 (2).
Hubbard, Eliot. (Baritone.) '84-'87-'9i (3).
Hunt, Helen Allen. (Contralto.) 'o7-'i2-'l3 (3).
Huntington, Agnes. (Contralto.) '85 (3).
Huss, Henry H. (Piano.) '86-'94 (2).
Hutcheson, Ernest. (Piano.) 'o2-'o6-'lo (4).
Hyland, Clinton A. (Bass.) '99 (i).
Jackson, Leonora. (Violin.) *oo (6).
Jacoby, Josephine. (Contralto.) '98 (3).
Jahn, Marie. (Soprano.) '91 (3).
Janson, Agnes. (Contralto.) '00 (l).
Januschowsky, Georgina von. (Mezzo-soprano.) '97 (2).
Joachim, Amalie. (Contralto.) '92 (i).
Johnson, Herbert. (Tenor.) '99-'oi-'o2 (4).
Jomelli, Jeanne. (Soprano.) 'lo-'ii (3).
Jonas, Albert. (Piano.) '97 (2).
Jordan, Jules. (Tenor.) '83 (i).
Joseffy, Rafael. (Piano.) '86-'87-'9O-'96-'97-'98-'04-'0S (31).
Juch, Emma. (Soprano.) '84-'8s-*87-'88-'89-*92-'94 (21).
Kalisch, Paul. (Tenor.) '88 (8).
Kaschoska, Felicia. (Soprano.) '93 (12).
Keller, Josef. (Violoncello.) '05 (i).
Kellogg, Fanny. (Soprano.) '82 (i).
Kelsey, Corinne Rider-. See Rider-Kelsey, Corinne.
Keyes, Margaret. (Contralto.) 'o9-'io (4).
Kileski-Bradbury, Evta. (Soprano.) 'oo-'o4-'o5 (3).
King, Julie Rive-. (Piano.) '86-'9i-'92 (3).
Kirkby-Lunn, Louise. (Contralto.) 'o3-'io-'ii (10).
^35
APPENDIX
Klaberg, Clara. (Violin.) '06 (i).
Kloepfel, Louis. (Trumpet.) '13 (2).
Kneisel, Franz. (Violin.) '8s-'86-'87-'88-'89-'90-'9I-'92-'93-'94-'9S-'9&-
'97-'98-'99-'oo-'oi-'o2 (87).
Kneisel, Franz. (Viola.) '86-'88-'92-'9S-'99 (20).
Kneisel, Franz. (Viola d'amore.) 'gS-'oi (6).
Knowles, Mrs. H. T. (Soprano.) '82-'83 (2).
Koenen, Tilly. (Contralto.) '00 (i).
Krasselt, Rudolf. (Violoncello.) 'o3-'o4-'os (16).
Kreisler, Fritz. (Violin.) 'oi-'o2-'o5-'o7-'o8-'io-'l2-'l3-'l4 (38).
Kutscherra, Elsa. (Soprano.) '95 (4).
Lambert, Alexander. (Piano.) '85 (i).
Lamond, Frederic. (Piano.) '02 (4).
Lamson, Gardner. (Bass.) '92 (l).
Lang, B. J. (Piano.) '83-'84-'8s-'86-'89 (6).
Lang, B. J. (Organ.) '83 (i).
Larrabee, Florence. (Piano.) '09 (i).
Lawson, Corinne M. (Soprano.) '89 (i).
Lehmann, Lilli. (Soprano.) '86-'87-'88 (12).
Lenier, Louise. (Contralto.) '92-93 (2)-
Lent, Mrs. Ernest. (Piano.) '94-'9S (2).
Lerner, Tina. (Piano.) '08 (i).
Lhevinne, Josef. (Piano.) '08 (2).
Libby, J. A. (Bass.) '86 (i).
Lichtenberg, Leopold. (Violin.) '84-'8s (3).
Liebe, Teresa. (Violin.) '82 (i).
Liebe, Theodore. (Violoncello.) '82 (l).
Liebling, Estelle. (Soprano.) '01 (i).
Listemann, Bernhard. (Violin.) '8l-'82-'83-'84 (24).
Little, Lena. (Mezzo-soprano.) '9i-'93-'96-'97 (6).
LoefHer, Charles Martin. (Violin.) '83-'84-'8s-'86-'87-'88-'89-'90-'9l-'93-
'94-'9S-'97-'98 (50).
Loeffler, Charles Martin. (Viola.) '92 (l).
LoefSer, Charles Martin. (Viola d'amore.) '98-'oi-'04 (10).
Longy, Georges. (Oboe.) '09-'i3 (5).
Lunn, Louise Kirkby-. See Kirkby-Lunn, Louise.
Lutschig, Waldemar. (Piano.) '05 (l).
Maas, Louis. (Piano.) '82-'8s (2).
MacCarthy, Maud. (Violin.) '02-03-04 (8).
MacDowell, Edward A. (Piano.) '89-'92-'94-'96-'97 (5).
MacMillan, Francis. (Violin.) '10 (i).
Magrath, George. (Piano.) '83 (i).
Mahr, Emil. (Violin.) '89 (i).
Mann, Joseph. (Trumpet.) '13(2).
Maquarre, Andre. (Flute.) '99-'o6-'o7-'l2-'l3 (lo).
Marchesi, Blanche. (Mezzo-soprano.) '99 (l).
Margulies, Adele. (Piano.) '83-'8s-'87 (3).
236
APPENDIX
Marshall, Gertrude. (Violin.) '13 (i).
Marshall, John P. (Organ.) 'i2-'i4 (2).
Marsick, Martin. (Violin.) '96 (2).
Marteau, Henri. (Violin.) '92-'93-'o6 (7).
Martin, Carl E. (Bass.) '86-'89 (2).
Martin, Frederick L. (Bass.) '99-'oi-*02 (3).
Materna, Amalia. (Soprano.) '94-'96 (7).
Mauguiere, M. (Tenor.) '94 (i).
Mead, Olive. (Violin.) '98-'99-'o2-*04-'os (10).
Meisslinger, Louise. (Mezzo-soprano.) 'SS-'Sg (8).
Melba, Nellie. (Soprano.) '9O-'94-'95-'96-'97-'oi-'03-'07-'l0 (28).
Mero, Yolande. (Piano.) '11 (i).
Merrill, Carl. (Trumpet.) '13 (2).
Merrill, L. B. (Bass.) '04 (i).
Methot, Minnie. (Soprano.) '04 (l).
Meyn, Heinrich. (Baritone.) '9l-'92-*93 (7).
Mielke, Antonia. (Soprano.) '91 (6).
Miller, Christine. (Contralto.) '14 (i).
Mills, VVatkin. (Baritone.) '95 (i).
Milwaukee Arion Club. '90 (i).
Mole, Charles. (Flute.) '87-'89-'90-'9l-'92-'93-'94 (12).
Morawski, Ivan. (Baritone.) '89 (i).
Morena, Berta. (Soprano.) 'o9-'io-'il (3).
Morgan, Geraldine. (Violin.) '92 (i).
Mueller, VVilhelm. (Violoncello.) '82-83 (4).
Neitzel, Otto. (Piano.) '06(1).
Neruda, Norman. See Halle, Lady.
New England Conservatory Choral Club. '08 (l).
Nichols, Marie. (Violin.) '05 (3).
Nikisch, Mrs. Arthur. (Soprano.) '90-'9i-'92-'93 (29).
Noack, Sylvain. (Violin.) 'o9-'io-'ii-'i2-'i3 (10).
Norcross, Webster. (Bass.) '86 (i).
Nordica, Lillian. (Soprano.) '83-'85-'9i-'92-'93-'94-'98-'o2-'i2 (23).
Nowell, George M. (Piano.) '8s-'93 (2).
Nowell, Willis E. (Violin.) '85 (i).
O'Brion, Mary E. (Piano.) '83-'86-'88 (3).
Olitzka, Rosa. (Contralto.) '95-'oo (2).
Ondricek, Franz. (Violin.) '95 (4).
Ormond, Lilla. (Mezzo-soprano.) 'o6-'o7-'o8-*n-'l2 (9).
Oumiroff, Bogea. (Baritone.) '02 (i).
Overstreet, Corneille. (Piano.) '11 (i).
Pachmann, Vladimir de. (Piano.) '9i-'o4 (10).
Paderewski, Ignace Jan. (Piano.) '9i-'92-'93-'99-'o2-'o5-'o7-'o9-'i4 (33).
Palmer, Courtlandt. (Piano.) '01 (2).
Parker, George J. (Tenor.) '86-'88-'89-'93 (4).
Parker, Horatio W. (Organ.) 'o2-'o4 (2).
APPENDIX
Parlow, Kathleen. (Violin.) 'ii-'i2 (13).
Pauer, Max. (Piano.) '13 (5).
Paur, Mrs. Emil. (Piano.) '93-'94 (4).
Perabo, Ernst. (Piano.) '84 (i).
Petschnikoff, Alexander. (Violin.) 'oo-'o6 (2).
Philippbar, Miss. (Contralto.) '91 (i).
Phillipps, Mathilde. (Contralto.) '82 (l).
Philomena [Female] Quartet. (Boston.) '85 (l).
Pittsburgh Mozart Club. '87-'89-'90-'93 (4).
Planfon, Pol. (Bass.) '94-'96-'97 (6).
Poole, Clara. (Contralto.) '88 (i).
Powell, Maud. (Violin.) '87-92-0 i-'o;-' 1 2 (s).
Powers, Francis F. (Singer.) '91 (i).
Preston, John A. (Piano.) '82 (i).
Proctor, George. (Piano.) '96-'97-'98-'oo-'o3-'o4-'oS-*o6-'07-'l2-'l4 (14)-
Pugno, Raoul. (Piano.) '02 (4).
Rachmaninoff, Sergei. (Piano.) '09-' 10 (6).
Radecki, Olga von. (Piano.) '82-'83-'86-'o7 (6).
Randolph, Harold. (Piano.) '97-02-' 10 (3).
Rappold, Marie. (Soprano.) 'o8-'l2 (4).
Rattigan, James. (Tenor.) '10 (i).
Reichmann, Theodore. (Baritone.) '90-'9I (4),
Reisenauer, Alfred. (Piano.) 'os-'o6 (4).
Reiter, Xaver. (Horn.) '89 (2).
Remmertz, Franz. (Bass.) '85 (i).
Renter, Florizel von. (Violin.) '02 (i).
Rice, Mrs. Alice B. (Soprano.) '11 (2).
Riddle, George. (Reader.) '86-'92-'94 (3).
Rider-Kelsey, Corinne. (Soprano.) 'og-'io-'ll (12).
Rieger, William H. (Tenor.) '91 (4).
Rive-King, Julie. See King, Julie Rive-.
Rogers, Francis. (Baritone.) '00 (l).
Rolla, Kate. (Contralto.) '96 (i).
RoUwagen, Louise. (Contralto.) '84 (4).
Rosenthal, Moritz. (Piano.) '88-'96-'98-'o6 (9).
Roth, Otto. (Violin.) '89-'90-'9i-'92-'93-'94-'oi (8).
Ruebner, Cornelius. (Piano.) 'oj (i).
Ruegger, Elsa. (Violoncello.) '99-'o2-'o3-'o6 (lo).
Rummel, Franz. (Piano.) 'go-'gi (2).
Saint-Saens, Camille. (Piano.) '06 (i).
Saint-Saens, Camille. (Organ.) '06 (i).
Saleza, Albert. (Tenor.) '99 (3).
Samaroff, Olga. (Piano.) 'o6-'o7-'o8-'o9-'io-'l2 (26).
Sanford, Samuel S. (Piano.) '02 (i).
Sapio, Clementine de Vere-. (Soprano.) '90-'9l-'95-'99-'oo (17).
Sargent, Sullivan A. (Bass.) '92-'o6-'o4 (3).
Sassoli, Ada. (Harp.) '03 (i).
238
APPENDIX
Sauer, Emil. (Piano.) '98-*99-'o8 (s).
Sauret, Emile. (Violin.) '96-'o4 (3).
Sautet, A. (Oboe.) '88 (i).
Scalchi, Sofia. (Contralto.) '87-*94-'95 (4)-
Scharwenka, Xavier. (Piano.) '9i-'92-'ii-*i3 (4).
Schelling, Ernest. (Piano.) 'o5-'o8-'o9 (9).
Schiller, Madeline. (Piano.) '82-'83 (3).
Schmidt, Louis. (Violin.) '82-'84 (4).
Schnitzer, Germaine. (Piano.) 'o7-'o9-'i3 (3).
Schnitzler, Ignatz. (Violin.) '92-'94-'9S-'97-'oo (6).
Schott, Anton. (Tenor.) '95 (5).
Schroeder, Alwin. (Violoncello.) '9l-'92-'93-'94-'95-*96-'97-'98-'99-'oo-
'oi-'o2-'o3-'o8-'io-'ii-'i2 (86).
Schumann-Heink, Ernestine. (Contralto.) '99-'oo-'o2-'o3-'o4-'o7-'o8-'o9-
'11 (23)-
Schuecker, Heinrich. (Harp.) '86-'92-'o3 (3).
Schulz, Leo. (Violoncello.) '89-'90-'9i-'94-'95-'96-*97-'98 (12).
Sembrich, Marcella. (Soprano.) '99-'oo-'lo (7).
Seydel, Irma. (Violin.) '12 (i).
Sherwood, William. (Piano.) '8i-'82-'84-'92-'93 (7).
Shirley, Clarence B. (Tenor.) '14 (i).
Siemens, Frieda. (Piano.) '01 (i).
Sieveking, Martinus. (Piano.) *9S-'96 (6).
Siloti, Alexander. (Piano.) '98 (2).
Simms, Hattie L. (Soprano.) '83 (i).
Sites, Mrs. Minna. (Piano.) '86 (i).
Slivinski, Josef. (Piano.) '02 (i).
Smith, Marie Barnhard. See Barna, Marie.
Smith, Winifred. (Violin.) '03 (i).
Snelling, Lillia. (Mezzo-soprano.) '07 (i).
Spencer, Janet. (Contralto.) 'oi-'o2-'io-'il (4).
Starkweather, Mrs. Maud. (Soprano.) '86 (i),
Stasny, Carl. (Piano.) '92-'94-'o3 (3).
Staudigl, Josef. (Bass.) '97-98 (2).
Stavenhagen, Bernhard. (Piano.) '95 (2).
Stein, Gertrude May. (Contralto.) '97-'99-'oo-'o9 (12).
Steinbach-Zahns, Mme. (Soprano.) '90 (21).
Stewart, Rose. (Soprano.) '83-'84-'87-'89-'90-'99 (6).
Steininger, Anna Clark. (Piano.) '85-'86-'90 (5).
Stern, Constanton. (Piano.) '93 (i).
Stosch, Leonard von. (Violin.) '92-'93 (2).
Strasser, E. (Clarinet.) '84 (2).
Sumner, George. (Piano.) '81 (l).
Sundelius, Marie. (Soprano.) 'ii-'i3-'i4 (4).
Szumowska, Antoinette. (Piano.) '95-'96-'98-'99-'o3-'04-'os-'o6 (18).
Ternina, Milka. (Soprano.) '96-'oo-'oi-'l2 (15).
Teyte, Maggie. (Soprano.) '13 (i).
Thomson, Cesar. (Violin.) '94 (7).
239
APPENDIX
Thompson, Edith. (Piano.) 'oo-'io (3).
Thursby, Emma. (Soprano.) '90 (2).
Thursday Morning Club. (Musical Art Club.) 'o3-'o6-'lI (3).
Ticknor, Howard M. (Reader.) '84-'8s (2).
Titus, Marian. (Soprano.) '97-'98-'99 (6).
Toedt, Theodore J. (Tenor.) '8i-'83-'84-'86 (6).
Tonlinquet, Marie. (Contralto.) '97 (2).
Trebelli, Antoinette. (Soprano.) '94 (i).
Trebelli, Zelie. (Contralto.) '87 (i).
Tua, Teresina. (Violin.) '87 (2).
Tucker, Hiram G. (Piano.) '83-'87-'90 (3).
Urack, Otto. (Violoncello.) 'i2-'i3 (6).
Urso, Camilla. (Violin.) '88-'92 (2).
Utassi, Etelka. (Piano.) '88 (i).
Van Endert, Elizabeth. (Soprano.) '14 (10).
Van Hoose, Ellison. (Tenor.) 'oi-'o3-'o4-'oS (l2^
Van Norden, Berrick. (Tenor.) '10 (i).
Van Rooy, Anton. (Baritone.) 'o2-'o8 (5).
Van Yorx, Theodore. (Tenor.) 'oi-'o4-'o9 (4).
Vieh, George C. (Piano.) 'io-'i3 (2).
Vere-Sapio, Clementine de. See Sapio, Clementine de Vere
Walker, Edyth. (Soprano.) '06 (i).
Walker, William W. (Bass.) '00 (i).
Ward, Alice C. (Soprano.) '82 (2).
Warnke, Heinrich. (Violoncello.) 'os-'o6-'o7-'o8-'o9-'io-'il-'i2-'l3 (25).
Washington Choral Society. '89 (i).
Webber, Charles F. (Tenor.) '83-'84-'86-'89 (5)
Webber, Mrs. Charles F. (Soprano.) '84 (l)
Weld, Frederick. (Bass.) '10 (i).
Welsh, Ita. (Mezzo-contralto.) '84 (i).
Wendling, Cari. (Violin.) 'o7-'o8 (7).
Wentworth, Alice. (Soprano.) '9i-'92 (2).
Wetzler, Minnie. (Piano.) '93 (3).
Whinnery, Abbie. (Contralto.) '83 (i).
White, Carolina. (Soprano.) '11 (2).
White, Priscilla. (Soprano.) '92-'93 (4).
Whiting, Arthur B. (Piano.) '83-'88-'96-'97-'oi (5).
Whitney, Myron W., Jr. (Baritone.) 'o4-'o6-'o9 (4).
Whittier, Harriet S. (Soprano.) '94 (l).
Wickham, Madge. (Violin.) '88 (i).
Wienszkowska, Melanie. (Piano.) '98 (l).
Wilks, Norman. (Piano.) '13 (5).
Williams, Evan, (Tenor.) '98-'99-'oo (5).
Williams, Grace B. (Soprano.) '04 (i).
Wilson, G. Clark. (Singer.) '95 (i).
Winant, Emily. (Contralto.) '8i-'82-'83-'84-'8s-'86-'89 (lo).
240
APPENDIX
Winch, William J, (Tenor.) '8s-'89-'90-'9i-'92 (9).
Winternitz, Felix. (Violin.) 'o2-'os (2).
Witek, Anton. (Violin.) 'io-'ii-'i2-'i3-'i4 (21).
Witherspoon, Herbert. (Bass-baritone.) 'oo-'l2 (3).
Woltmann, Pauline. (Contralto.) '04 (i).
Wood, Anna Miller. (Contralto.) '98-'o6 (2).
Wiillner, Ludwig. (Baritone.) '08 (i).
Wyman, Julie. (Mezzo-soprano.) '88-'9O-'9l-'92-'94-'9S-'04 (20).
Ysaye, Eugene. (Violin.) '94-'o4-'l3 (8).
Zach, Max. (Viola.) '04 (4).
Zimbalist, Efrem. (Violin.) 'll (l).
Zimnxermann, Paul. (Tenor.) '89 (i).
241
APPENDIX B
THE PERSONNEL. The terms of service of the six
conductors, and of all members of the Orchestra, are given be-
low. The summary that follows gives the composition of the
Orchestra in the first season under each conductor in turn.
THE CONDUCTORS
Georg Henschel
1881-
1884
Wilhelm Gericke
1884-
■1889
Arthur Nikisch
1889-1893
Emil Paur
1893-
1898
Wilhelm Gericke
1898- I 906
Karl Muck
I 906- I 908
Max Fiedler
1908-
1912
Karl Muck
19 12-
THE PLAYERS
Abloescher, J.
Trombone
1891-1898
Adamowski, J.
'Cello
5 1889-1901
( 1 902- 1 907
Adamowski, T.
Violin
1 1884-1887
I 1888-1907
Agnesy, K.
Bass
1907-
Akeroyd, E.
Clarinet
1888-1889
Akeroyd, J.
Violin
1881-1913
Akeroyd, V.
Violin
1881-1887
Allen, C. N.
Violin
1881-1882
Alloo, M.
Trombone
1911-
Arbos, E. F.
Concert-:
master
1903-1904
Bagley, E. M.
Trumpet
1881-1886
Bak, A.
Violin
1900-
Baraniecki, A.
Violin
1913-
Bareither, G.
Bass
5 1882-1885
I 1887-1907
Barleben, C.
y Viola
Violin
' I 894-1900
; 1903-1912
Barth, C.
'Cello
1894-
Barth, C.
Bass
1888-1903
242
APPENDIX
Barth, W.
Drums
1900-1901
Battles, A.
Flute
1908-191 I
Bayrhoffer, C.
'Cello
1881-1882
Beckel, J.
Bass
1885-1888
Behr, C.
'Cello
1881-1891
Behr, J.
Violin
1881-1884
Belinski, A. V.
Violin,
1902-1903
Belinski, M.
'Cello
5 1902-1903
(1909-
Bennett, J. C.
Violin
1884-1885
Beresina, C.
Violin
1885-1886
Berger, H.
Violin
1890-
Berliner, W.
Viola
1912-
Bernhardi, E. F., Jr.
Bassoon
1883-1886
Beyer, E.
Viola
1881-1885
Birnbaum, E. A.
Violin
1903-1904
Blaess, A.
'Cello
I 896- I 902
Bletterraann, J.
Bass
1881-1885
Blumenau, W.
Viola
1912-
Boehm, G.
Violin
1890-1892
Boernig, H.
Bass
I 892- I 894
Bower, H.
Cymbals
1904-1907
Bowron, B.
Trumpet
5 1881-1885
i 1886-1887
Brenton, H. E.
Trumpet
1902-1907
Brooke, A.
Flute
1896-
Burkhardt, H.
Violin
1891-1892
Triangles, etc.
1905-
Butler, H. J.
Bass
5 1881-1902
i 1903-1907
Campanari, G.
'Cello
1885-1893
Campanari, L
Violin
1884-1886
Chevrot, A.
Flute
1912-
Cook, T., Jr.
Violin
1884-1885
Currier, F. S.
Violin
1905-1912
Cutter, B.
Viola
5 1881-1882
i I 884-1 885
Czerwonky, R.
Violin
I 907- I 908
Dannreuther, G.
Violin
1881-1883
Debuchy, A.
Bassoon
1901-1907
Dehn, J. W.
Violin
1882-1884
De Lisle, Ch.
Violin
1888-1892
Demuth, L.
Oboe
1883-1896
De Ribas, A. L
Oboe
1881-1882
De Seve, A.
Violin
5 1881-1882
I 1883-1885
Deutsch, S.
Violin
1885-1888
243
APPENDIX
Dietsch, C.
Dorn, W.
Dworak, J. F.
Eichheim, H.
Eichler, C. H.
Eichler, J. E.
Eichler, J. E., Jr.
Elkind, S.
Eller, M.
Eltz, P.
Eltz, R.
Fabrizio, C.
Ferir, Emil
Fiedler, B.
Fiedler, E.
Fischer, P.
Fiumara, P.
Flockton, J. M.
Folgmann, E.
Forster, E.
Fosse, P.
Fox, P.
Franko, S.
Freygang, A.
Fries, W.
Fritsche, O.
Fuhrmann, M.
Gantzberg, J.
Gebhard, W.
Geiersbach, K.
Gerardi, A.
Gerhardt, G.
Gewirtz, J.
Giese, F. K. E.
Gietzen, A.
Goddard, D. A.
Golde, E.
Goldschmidt, G.
Goldstein, A.
Goldstein, H.
Goldstein, S.
Gordon, T.
Greene, H. A.
Bassoon
Violin
Tuba
Violin
Violin
Violin
Violin
Bass
Oboe
Bassoon
Viola
Violin
Viola
Violin
Violin
Oboe
Violin
Bass
'Cello
Viola
Oboe
Flute
Violin
Harp
'Cello
Bass clarinet
Bassoon
Violin
Horn
Viola
Violin
Bass
Violin
'Cello
Viola
Trombone
Tuba
Clarinet
Bass
Violin
Violin
Violin
Bass
1882-1893
1881-1882
1900-1910
1891-1912
1881-1885
1881-1894
1886-1912
I 894- I 908
1884-1885
1881-1883
1881-1882
1910-1912
1903-
1897-
1885-1910
1881-1882
1885-
1881-1882
1912-
1910-1914
1912-1914
•1881-1885
1886-1887
1889-1891
. 1892-1912
1885-1886
1881-1886
1881-1882
1901-1907
19 12-
1888-1891
1907-1912
1884-1886
1912-
1885-
1913-
1884-1889
1904-
1886-1887
1888-1898
I 889-1 894
1882-1895
1907-
1885-
1892-1893
1881-1894
244
APPENDIX
Grethen, A.
Grisez, G.
Grunberg, E.
Griinberg, M.
Guenzel, F. H.
Guetter, A.
Gumpricht, A.
Gunderson, R.
Habenicht, W.
Hackebarth, A.
Hadley, A.
Hahn, F. E.
Hain, F.
Haldemann, H.
Hampe, Carl
Hanneman, D.
Hartmann, H.
Hausknecht, J.
Hayne, E.
Heberlein, H.
Heim, G. F.
Heindl, A.
Heindl, E. M.
Heindl, H.
Hekking, A.
Helleberg, J.
Hemmann, H.
Hess, M.
Hess, W.
Higgins, C. F.
Hoffmann, J.
Holy, A.
Hoyer, H.
Huber, E.
Hiibner, E.
Human, T.
Jacquet, L.
Jaeger, A.
Jaenicke, B.
Violin
Clarinet
Viola
Violin
Bassoon
Bassoon
Horn
Violin
Violin
Horn
'Cello
Violin
Horn
Violin
Trombone
Violin
Violin
Contra-bassoon •]
Violin
'Cello
Trumpet
•Cello
Flute
Viola
'Cello
Bassoon and coatra>bassoon
Oboe
Horn
Concert-master
Violin
Violin
Harp
Viola
Bass
Horn
Violin
Flute
Bass
Horn
1882-1884
1904-1914
5 1889-1892
i 1893-1896
1910-
1886-1906
1891-1894
1881-1882
1913-
1912-
j 1882-1885
I 1890-1913
1904-1912
1892-1897
1891-
1881-1883
( 1886-1891
i 1892-1914
1888-1893
5 1881-1882
l 1884-1885
1881-1882
on call only
1912-1914
1899-1908
1906-
5 1881-1894
( I900-I907
1881-1896
I88I-19I1
I889-I891
1901-1910
1882-1883
I90S-
( 1904-1907
1 1908-1910
i 1881-1883
1 1884-1889
1890-
I9I3-
1887-1912
1907-
I9I2-
1882-1891
I895-I898
1910-
I9I3-
245
APPENDIX
Jennewein, L.
Jonas, E.
Kaestl, M.
Kandler, F.
Kautzenbach, A.
Keller, J.
Keller, K.
Kenfield, L. S.
Kirchner, A.
Klein, M.
Kloepfel, L.
Kluge, M.
Knecht, J.
Kneer, J.
Kneisel, F.
Kneisel, J.
Koessler, M.
Kohlert, J.
Kolster, A.
Korth, M.
Krafft, F. W.
Krasselt, R.
Krauss, O. H.
Kuehn, R.
Kuntz, A.
Kuntz, D.
Kunze, M.
Kurth, R.
Lafricain, E. N.
Lebailly, M.
Lenom, C.
Lichtenberg, L.
Lippoldt, L.
Listemann, B.
Listemann, F.
Litke, H.
Litke, P.
Loeffler, C. M.
Loeffler, E.
Longy, G.
Lorbeer, H.
Lorenz, O.
Ludwig, C. F.
Bass
'Cello
Violin
Tympani
'Cello
'Cello
'Cello
Trombone
Bassoon
Violin
Trumpet
Viola
Viola
Violin
Concert-master
Violin
Violin
Flute
Violin
'Cello
Violin
'Cello
Viola
Violin
Violin
Violin
Bass
Violin
Trumpet
Clarinet
Oboe
Violin
Horn
Concert-master
Violin
Bassoon
Bassoon
Violin
'Cello
Oboe
Horn
Tuba
Castanets
1881-1890
1882-1886
1892-1893
1907-
1907-1910
1898-
1895-1910
1900-
1895-1896
1883-1886
1898-
1885-1913
1887-1897
1887-1890
1885-1903
1885-1904
1912-
1885-1886
1883-1912
1881-1890
1888-1912
1903-1904
I 894- I 909
f 1885-1887
I 1888-1891
1896-1910
1881-1914
1894-
5 1883-1891
1 1892-
( 1887-1893
< 1896-1897
{ 1900-1902
1901-1904
1901-
1882-1885
1881-1886
1881-1885
1881-1885
5 1894-1901
( 1907-1908
1896-1901
1882-1903
1882-1909
1898-
1891-
1907-1913
190S-1907
246
APPENDIX
Ludwig, C. R.
Ludwig, O.
Mahn, F. L.
Mann, J.
Manoly, L. E.
Maquarre, A.
Maquarre, D.
Marble, E. B.
Marquardt, J.
Mattersteig, P.
Mausebach, A.
Meisel, C.
Melzian, W.
Merrill, Carl
Messerschmidt, A.
Metzger, P.
Meyer, F.
Michael, J.
Miersch, E.
Miersch, J.
Milcke, M.
Mimart, Paul
Mingels, H.
Moldauer, A.
Mole, C.
MoUenhauer, Emil
Moore, D. H.
Mosbach, J.
Mueller, F..
Mueller, Friedrich C.
Mueller, P.
Mueller, VVilhelm
Mullaly, H.
MuUaly, J. C.
Nagel, R.
Nast, L.
Neumann, S.
Nichols, W. C.
Noack, S.
Novacek, 0.
Tympani
Bass
Violin
Cornet
Bass
Flute
Flute
Violin
Violin
Tuba
Trombone
Violin
Bass tuba
Trumpet
Bass
Clarinet
Trombone
Violin
Horn j
Violin
Violin
Clarinet
'Cello
Violin
Flute
Violin
Trombone
Contra-bassoon
Bassoon
5 Oboe I
\ English horn )
Trumpet
'Cello
Violin
Violin
'Cello
'Cello
Tympani
Tuba and librarian
Violin
Violin
1890-1910
1908-
5 1887-1888
I1889-
1891-
1882-1885
1898-
1903-1909
(■ 1882-1907
J 1908-1913
I 886- I 889
1913-
1898-
5 1881-1882
1 1883-1885
1885-1888
1904-1914
1881-1883
1882-1905
I 897- I 900
1885-1900
1913-
1891-1892
1905-1906
1905-
5 1885-1891
\ 1893-1902
1885-1907
1887-1896
1884-1889
1881-1886
1910-
1908-
1885-
1888-1900
1882-1885
1881-1883
f 1884-1885
< 1885-1890
( 1905-1913
1894-
1904-
1910-
1881-1891
1908-
1891-189*
247
APPENDIX
Oliver, F. A.
Violin
1881-1887
Ondricek, K.
Violin
1893-1906
Pabst, G.
Bass
1885-1887
Pat2, G. A.
Viola
5 1881-1887
I 1888-1891
Pauer, 0. H.
Viola
1911-1914
Pechmann, Leo
Oboe
1883-1884
Phair, J. A.
Horn
190S-1913
Pinfield, C. E.
Violin
191 2-
Post, Louis
Viola and contra-bassoon
1881-1894
Pourtau, Leon
Clarinet
I 894-1 898
Proctor, J. B.
Violin
1881-1885
Regestein, Ernst
Bassoon
1 1881-1882
( 1904-1912
Reibi, C.
'Cello
1885-1894
Reinhart, A.
Bass
^ 1888-1892
( 1 894-1 895
Reiter, J.
Horn
1889-1890
Reiter, Xaver
Horns
1886-1890
Rennert, Bruno
Violin
1907-19 I I
Resch, A.
Horn
1913-
Rettberg, A.
Drums
1898-1912
Ribarsch, A.
Violin
1907-
Rietzel, Wm.
Viola
188 1-1894
Rigg, A.
Trombone
5 1881-1886
i 1891-1897
Rissland, K.
Violin
1894-
Rogers, L. J.
Assistant librarian
1912-
Rohde, W.
Viola
1885-1886
Rose, E. i
'Cello
1891-1900
Ross, Wilhelm
Oboe
1882-1883
Roth, Otto
Violin
1887-
Ryan, T.
Viola
1883-1885
Sadony, P.
Bassoon
1905-
Sailer, Adolph
'Cello
1887-1889
Sauer, G. F.
Viola
5 1890-1892
i 1894-1909
Sauerquell, J.
Librarian
1889-
Sautet, A.
Oboe
1887-1912
Scheurer, K.
Viola
1907-1909
Schlimper, F. W.
Viola
1881-1882
Schmedes, Hakon
Violin
1903-1905
Schmid, K.
Horn
1907-1909
Schmidt, Ernst
'Cello
1882-1885
Schmidt, L., Jr.
Violin
1882-1885
Schneider, Julius
Horn
1885-1893
248
APPENDIX
Schnitzler, I.
Violin
1892-1900
Schormann, E.
Horn
1881-1891
Schroeder, Alwin
'Cello
_ 1891-1903
1910-1912
Schuchmann, Frank E.
Violin
1881-1907
Schuecker, Heinrich
Harp
1886-1913
Schulz, Leo
'Cello
1889-1898
Schumann, C.
Horn
1881-1912
Schurig, R.
Bass
1902-
Schwerley, P.
Viola
19 12-
Selmer, A.
Clarinet
1898-1901
Senia, T. B,
Percussion
1904-
Seydel, T.
Bass
1894-
Shuebruk, R.
Trumpet
1885-1887
Simpson, H. D.
Tympani
1881-1898
Smalley, R.
'Cello
I 1903-1904
< 1906-19 I 2
Sokoloff, N.
Violin
1 904- 1 907
Spoor, S.
Viola
191 1-
Sprunt, C.
Violin
1900-1904
Staats, C. L.
Bass clarinet
I 896- I 897
Stein, Aug.
Bass
^1881-1885
( 1887-1888
Steinke, B.
•Cello
1912-
Steinmann, H.
Bass
1881-1882
Stewart, George W.
'Trombone
1881-1891
Stockbridge, A. B.
'Cello
1881-1883
Stolz, E.
Trombone
1891-1892
Strasser, E.
Clarinet
1881-1888
Strauss, H.
5 Violin
i Viola
J 1881-1882
I 1 884- 1 887
Strube, G.
Violin
1890-1913
Stumpf, Karl
Bass clarinet
1907-
Suck, Aug.
'Cello
1881-1885
Suck,D. H.
Violin
1881-1882
Svecenski, Louis
Violin and Viola
1885-1903
Swornsbourne, W. W.
Violin
1882-1908
Tak, E.
Violin
1912-
Taubert, Otto
Violin
1885-1894
Theodorowicz, J.
Violin
5 1 898-1903
( 1907-
Thomae, A.
Tuba
I 898-1900
Tischer-Zeltz, H.
Violin
^1885-1891
( 1892-1914
Tower, R. E.
Viola
1881-1883
Traupe, W.
5 Viola
I Violin
1901-1905
1905-1907
Trautmann, C.
Violin
1881-1884
249
APPENDIX
Urack, Otto
Vannini, A.
Van Raalte, A.
Van Wynbergen, C.
Von Ette, Edw.
Warnke, H.
Warnke, J.
Weintz, C. J.
Weiss, Albert
Weiss, E.
Wendler, G.
Wendling, Carl
Werner, H.
Whitmore, O. A.
Wiegand, E.
Witek, A.
Wittmann, F.
Zach, Max
Zahn, F.
'Cello
Clarinet
Violin
Viola
Viola
'Cello
'Cello
Viola
Oboe
Violin
Horn
Concert-master
Violin
Clarinet
Bass
Concert-master
Viola
Viola
5 Viola
i Percussion
1912-1914
1903-
1881-1882
1910-
1881-1888
190S-
1908-
1881-1883
1896-1898
1889-1890
1909-
1907-1908
1908-
1881-1882
1885-1887
1910-
1913-
1886-1907
1891-
SEASON OF 1881-1882
Conductor — Georg Henschel
First violins, 13; second violins, 11; violas, lO; violoncellos, 8j double
basses, 8; flutes, 2; oboes, 2; clarinets, 2; bassoons, 2; contra-bassoon, i;
horns, 4; trumpets, 2; trombones, 3; tuba, i; tympani, l; harp, I. Total,
72 (including 4 temporary members).
SEASON OF 1884-1885
Conductor — Wilhelm Gericke
First violins, 15; second violins, 14; violas, 9; violoncellos, 8; double basses,
8; flutes, 4; oboes, 4; clarinets, 2; bassoons, 2; horns, 4; trumpets, 5; trom-
bones, 3; tuba, i; tympani, I; harp, I; bass drum 1. Total, 81 (including
7 temporary members),
SEASON OF 1889-1890
Conductor — Arthur Nikisch
First violins, 17; second violins, 14; violas, 10; violoncellos, 9; double
basses, 8; flutes, 3; oboes, 3; clarinets, 2; bassoons, 2; horns, 5; cornets, 2;
trombones, 3; tuba, i; tympani, l; harp, 1; librarians, 2. Total, 84.
250
APPENDIX
SEASON OF 1893-1894
Conductor — Emil Paur
First violins, 16; second violins, 14; violas, lO; violoncellos, 8; basses, 8;
flutes, 3; oboes (and English horn), 3; clarinets, 2; bassoons, 2; horns, 4; cor-
nets, 2; trombones, 3; tuba, i; drums, i; tympani, i; harp, i; librarian, i.
Total, 8r.
SEASON OF 1 898-1 899
Conductor — Wilhelm Gericke
First violins, 16; second violins, 14; violas, 10; violoncellos, 10; basses, 7;
flutes, 3; oboes (and English horn), 3; clarinets, 2; bassoons, 3; horns, 4;
trumpets, 3; trombones, 3; drums, i; tympani, i; harp, i; tuba, l; librarian,
I. Total, 83.
SEASON OF 1906-1907
Conductor — Karl Muck
First violins, 16; second violins, 14; violas, 10; violoncellos, ll; basses, 8;
flutes, 4; oboes, 3; English horn, l; clarinets, 3; bass clarinet, i; bassoons, 4;
horns, 6; trumpets, 5; trombones, 3; tuba, i; tympani, i; drums and casta-
nets, 1; cymbals, l; triangle, etc., i; tambour, 1; harp, i; librarian, 1. Total,
96.
SEASON OF 1908-1909
Conductor — Max Fiedler
First violins, 16; second violins, 15; violas, 10; violoncellos, 10; basses, 8
flutes, 5; oboes, 3; clarinets, 3; bassoons, 3; English horn, i; bass clarinet,'i
contra-bassoon, l; horns, 8; trumpets, 4; trombones, 3; tuba, i; harp, l
tympani, 2; percussion, 4; librarian, 1. Total, 100.
SEASON OF 1912-1913
Conductor — Karl Muck
First violins, 16; second violins, 14; violas, 10; violoncellos, 10; basses, 8;
flutes, 4; oboes, 3; clarinets, 3; bassoons, 3; English horn, i; bass clarinet, i;
contra-bassoon, i; horns, 8; trumpets, 4; trombones, 4; tuba, i; harp, i;
tympani, 2; percussion, 3; organ, i; librarians, 2. Total, 100.
251
APPENDIX C
THE REPERTOIRE. The following list includes all
orchestral compositions performed by the Orchestra from
1881-82 to 19 1 3-14, whether in Boston or in other places.
The date given is that of the first performance, O., indicating
October; N., November; D., December; J., January; F.,
February; Mr., March; A., April; My., May. Unless other-
wise noted, the performance took place in Boston. The figure
in parenthesis denotes the number of times the work has been
given.
Akimenko, Theodor. Lyric poem, Op. 20, F. 26, '04 (3).
Albert, Eugen d'. Concerto, piano and orch.. No. 2, Op. 12, F. 3, '05 (5).
— Concerto, violoncello and orch., Op. 20, Mr. 8, '01 (8). — "Esther,"
overture, F. 2, '94 (i). — "The improvisator," overture, J. i, '04 (5). —
"The ruby," prelude, N. 29, '95 (2). — Symphony, No. i, D. 2, '92 (i).
Ambrosio, Alfred d'. Concerto, violin and orch.. Op. 29, D. 20, '07 (i).
Arensky, Anton. Concerto, piano and orch., Op. 2, O. 13, '99 (2). —
"Nala and Damayanti," introduction, J. 23, '03 (i).
Andersen, Carl Joachim. Concerstuck, flute and orch. (Cambridge),
A. 6, '99 (i).
AuBER, Daniel F. E. "Black domino," overture, D. 31, '98 (3). — "Carlo
Broschi," overture, N. 16, '94 (10). — "Fra Diavolo," overture (Phila-
delphia), Mr. 28, '96 (i). — "Lac des fees," overture, N. 17, '82 (i).—
"Masaniello," overture, O. 13, '82 (i). — "La part du diable," overture,
J. 20, '82 (2). — "Prodigal son," overture, A. 11, '95 (i).
Bach, Carl Phillip Emmanuel. Symphony, E-flat-major, No. 2, A. 10,
'08 (2). — Symphony, D-major, N. 25, '81 (3).
Bach, Johann Sebastian. Andante and Gavotte for strings (arr. by
Bachrich), Mr. 30, '85 (9). — Chaconne, D-minor (orchestrated by Raff),
A. 26, '89 (3). — Concerto, "Brandenburg," No. 3, Mr. 8, '07 (4). — Con-
certo for piano and orch., F-minor, J. 2, '13 (i). — Concerto for trumpet,
flute, oboe, violin, and orch., No. 2, F-major, D. 27, '01 (2). — Concerto for
252
APPENDIX
two violins and string orch., D-minor, O. lo, '90 (i). — Concerto for violin
and orch., No. i, A-minor, D. 5, '02 (4). — Concerto for violin and orch.,
No. 2, E-major, D. 3, '04 (3). — Passacaglia (orchestrated by Esser),
J. 28, '87 (6). — Pastoral from Christmas Oratorio (arr. by R. Franz),
N. 21, '84 (8). — Prelude, Adagio and Gavotte for strings (arr. by Bach-
rich), 0. 17, '84 (26). — Prelude and Fugue (arr. by Abert), N. 6, '85 (3).
— Suite, B-minor, No. 2, F. 12, '86 (4). — Suite, D-major, No. 3 (Air and
Gavotte only), Mr. 16, '83 (i). — Suite, D-major, No. 3, D. 3 1, '87 (14). —
Suite for flute and strings, B-minor, No. 2, J. 19, '94 (12). — Sinfonia
(Shepherd's music), from Christmas Oratorio, D. 21, '94 (5). — Three
sonato movements for orch. (Arr. by Gericke), J. 30, '85 (7). — Toccata
in F. (orchestrated by Esser), J. 20, '82 (4).
Balakireff, M. a. Overture on theme of a Spanish march, N. 24, 'n (i).
— Symphony, C-major, Mr. 13, '08 (i).
Bantock, Granville. "Dante and Beatrice," poem for orch., O. 27, '11
(i). — "The Pierrot of the minute," comedy overture, O. 22, '09 (5).
Bargiel, Woldemar. Adagio for violoncello and orch., Op. 38, D. 9, '81
(6). — "Medea," overture, O. 31, '84 (3). — "Prometheus," overture,
O. 19, '83 (2).
Baitmgartner, H. Adagio from a Symphony, My, 21. '86 (i).
Beach, Mrs. H. H. A. Concerto for piano and orch., Op. 45, A. 6, '00 (i).
— Symphony, E-minor ("Gaelic"), O. 30, '96 (4).
Beethoven, Ludwig van. Andante cantabile from Trio, Op. 97, N. 7, '84
(3). — Concerto for piano and orch., No. 3, A. 21, '88 (7). — Concerto
for piano and orch., No. 4, D. 16, '81 (29). — Concerto for piano and orch..
No. 5, J. 27, '82 (48). — Concerto for violin and orch., D-major, Op. 61,
O. 30, '85 (47). — Concerto for violin, violoncello, and piano, Op. 56, J. 20,
'82 (2). — "Coriolanus," overture, F. 10, '82 (35). — "Dedication of the
House," overture, O. 21, '81 (14). — "Egmont," overture, D. 16, '8l
(72). — "Egmont," Clarchen's death, F. 15, '95 (2). — "Fidelio," over-
ture, F. 22, '83 (20). — "King Stephen," overture, D. 8, '83 (7).—
"Leonore," overture, No. I, F. 17, '82 (9). — "Leonore," overture. No. 2,
F. 24, '82 (16). — "Leonore," overture No. 3, Mr. 3, '82 (in). — "Na-
mensfeier," overture, Mr. 22, '83 (31). — "Prometheus," finale, N. 17,
'82 (11). — "Prometheus," selections from, D. 28, '88 (i). — "Prome-
theus," overture, J. 18, '84 (3). — Quartet for strings, Op. 59, No. 3, D. 26,
'84 (2). — Romanza for violin and orch., Op. 50, J. 14, '98 (3). — "Ruins
of Athens," overture, F. 8, '84 (2). — "Ruins of Athens," Turkish march,
D. 28, '83 (3). — Septet, Op. 20, J. 16, '85 (i). — Symphony, No. i,
O. 28, '8i (21). — Symphony, No. 2, N. il, '81 (40). — Symphony, No. 3,
N. 18, '81 (89). — Symphony, No. 4, D. 2, '81 (50). — Symphony, No. 5,
D. 16, '81 (114). — Symphony, No. 6, J. 6, '82 (44). — Symphony, No. 7,
F. 3, '82 (84). — Symphony, No. 8, F. 17, '82 (59). — Symphony No. 9,
Mr. 10, '82 (14). — [.?] Symphony ("Jena"), C-major, D. 29, '11 (i).
APPENDIX
Beitdix, Victor. Symphony, No. 4, A. 26, '07 (i).
Bennett, William Sterndale. Concerto for piano and orch, No. 4, J. 25,
'14 (i). — "The Naiads," overture, F. i, '83 (3).
Benoit, Peter. Symphonic poem for flute and orch., N. 16, '94 (2).
Berger, Wilhelm. Symphony, B-flat-major, Op. 71, N. 3, '99 (2).
Berlioz, Hector. "Benvenuto Cellini," overture, A. 6, '88 (54). — "The
corsair," overture, J. 10, '95 (i). — "Damnation of Faust," Menuet,
Dance of sylphs, Hungarian march, D. 22, '82 (28). — "Fehnic Judges,"
overture, D. 5, '02 (3). — "Harold in Italy," symphony, F. 15, '84 (27).
— "King Lear," overture, J. 11, '84 (ll). — "Rob Roy," overture, J. 21,
'10 (s). — "Roman Carnival," overture, J. 5, '83 (65). — "Romeo and
Juliet," symphony, F. 17, '88 (ii). — "Symphonic Fantastique," D. 18,
'8S (18).
Bernard, £mile. Concerto for violin and orch., G-major, J. 8, '86 (l). —
Romance for flute and orch., J. 27, '92 (i).
Bird, Arthur. A carnival scene, J. 6, '92 (Young People's) (i). — Two
episodes for orch., N. i, '89 (i).
BiscHOFF, Hermann. Symphony, Op. 16, J. 3, '08 (7).
Bizet, Georges. "L'Arlesienne," suite. No. i, N. 16, '87 (Young People's)
(36). — "L'Arlesienne," suite. No. 2, My. 7, '86 (Popular) (ll). —
"Carmen," entr'acte and ballet music (Providence), N. 25, '96 (4). —
"Children's games," little suite, D. 24, '96 (9). — "Patrie," overture, J.
3, '96 (6). — "Roma," suite. No. 3, F. 8, '84 (2).
BoccHERiNi, LuiGi. Minuet in A., N. 25, '81 (3).
BoEHE, Ernst. "Taormina," tone poem, Op. 9, N. 29, '07 (3). — Ulysses'
departure and shipwreck, from "The Voyage of Ulysses," Op. 6, Mr. 2, '06
(I).
Boellmann, Leon. Symphonic variations for violoncello and orch. (Wash-
ington), F. 21, '11 (s).
Boieldieu, FRAN901S Adrien. "Caliph of Bagdad," overture, N. 30, '83
(i). — "La dame blanche," overture (Popular), My. 28, '86 (l).
Borodin, Alexander. Eine Steppenskizze aus Mittel-Asien, F. 26, '92
(3)- — Symphony, No. i, J. 3, '90 (3). — Symphony, No. 2, D. 13, 'l2 (6).
Bossi, Enrico. Goldonian intermezzi. Op. 127, O. 6, '11 (5),
APPENDIX
BouRGAULT-DucouDRAY, Louis ALBERT. "The burial of Ophelia," 0'i6,
'96 (a).
Brahms, Johannes. Academic Festival, overture, N. 17, '82 (54). — Con-
certo for piano and orch.. No. I, N. 30, '00 (2). — Concerto for piano and
orch., No. 2, Mr. 14, '84 (17). — Concerto for violin and orch., D-major,
Op. 77, D. 6, '89 (33). — Concerto for violin and violoncello, A-minor,
Op. 102, N. 17, '93 (10). — Hungarian dance, No. j, J. 12, '83 (i). —
Hungarian dances, Nos. I, 2, 6, N. 28, '84 (ii). — Hungarian dances,
Nos. I, 2, 3 (Worcester), D. 17, '84 (4). — Hungarian dances, Nos. 11,
13, I, O. 6, '82 (i). — Hungarian dances, Nos. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, J. 23, '03
(2). — Hungarian dances, Nos. 15, 17, 21, Mr. 20, '96 (3). — Serenade,
A-raaJor, Op. 16, N. j, '86 (2). — Serenade, D-major, Op. 11, O. 27, '82
(3). — Symphony, No. i, D. 9, '81 (59). — Symphony, No. 2, F. 24, '82
(78). — Symphony, No. 3, N. 7, '84 (43). — Symphony, No. 4, J. 22, '86
(39). — Tragic overture, O. 28, '81 (28). — Variations on a theme by
J. Haydn, D. 5, '84 (28). — Waltzes, Op. 39, A. 26, '89 (13).
Brockway, Howard. Sylvan suite, A. 5, '01 (i). — Symphony, D-major,
Op. 12, A. 5, '07 (i).
Bruch, Max. Concerto, violin and orch., No. i, O. 20, '82 (29). — Concerto,
violin and orch.. No. 2, Mr. i, '89 (8). — Concerto, violin and orch.. No. 3,
Mr. 4, '92 (9). — Fantasia on Scottish airs. Op. 46, N. 23, '88 (19). —
Kol Nidrei, violoncello and orch., N. 15, '89 (7). — "Lorelei," prelude,
D. 15, '82 (6). — Romanza, violin and orch., Op. 42, F. 16, '94 (i). —
Serenade, A-minor, violin and orch., F. 10, '05 (3). — Symphony, No. 3,
Mr. 2, '83 (i).
Bruckner, Anton. Symphony, No. 3, Mr. 8, '01 (i). — Symphony, No. 4,
F. 10, '99 (i). — Symphony No. 5, D. 27, '01 (i). — Symphony No. 7,
J. 4, '87 (7). — Symphony No. 8, Mr. 12, '09 (3). — Symphony No. 9,
Mr. 31, '04 (4).
Brull, Ignaz. "Macbeth," overture, F. i, '01 (i).
Bruneau, Alfred. "Messidor," entr'acte symphonique, O. 16, '03 (5).
BiJLOw, Hans von. Funerale, Op. 23, No. 4, A. 6, '94 (i).
Burmeister, Richard. Concerto, piano and orch., D-minor, J. 2, '90 (i)."
BusoNi, Ferruccio. Comedy overture. Op. 38, N. 24, '05 (i). — "Ge-
harnischte," suite, Mr. 30, '06 (i). — Symphonic suite, Op. 25 (Gigue-
Gavotte- Allegro), F. 19, '92 (i). — Symphonic tone poem, A. 14, '93 (i).
— " Turandot," suite, F. 17, 'll (i).
Caetani, Roffredo. Symphonic prelude, A-minor, J. 27, '05 (i).
^55
APPENDIX
Chabrier, Emmanuel. " Bourree fantastique," for orch. (arr. by F.
Motll.), Mr. 3, '99 (6). — "Espaiia," rhapsody for orch., O. 15, '97 (30). —
"Gwendoline," overture, O. 23, '96 (11). — "Gwendoline," prelude to
Act II (Philadelphia), F. 7, '94 (10).
Chadwick, George W. "Adonais," elegiac overture, F. 2, '00 (i). — "Aph-
rodite," symphonic fantasie, A. 4, '13 (i). — "Cleopatra," symphonic
poem, D. 14, '06 (4). — "Euterpe," concert overture, A. 22, '04 (i). —
"Melpomene," dramatic overture, D. 23, '87 (8). — Pastoral prelude,
J. 29, '92 (i). — Scherzo in F. for orchestra, Mr. 7, '84 (l). — Sinfonietta
D-major, F. 11, '10 (i). — Suite symphonique, E-flat-major, A. 13, 'll
(l). — Symphonic sketches, F. 7, '08 (3). — Symphony, No. 2, B-flat, D
10, '86 (2). — Symphony, No. 3, F-major, O. 19, '94 (4). — "Thalia,"
overture, J. 12, '83 (i). — Theme, variations and fugue for organ and orch.,
A. 8, '09 (i).
Charpentier, Gustave. "Impressions of Italy," suite, Mr. 29, '01 (8).
Chausson, Ernest. Symphony, B-flat, Op. 20, D. 4, '05 (Philadelphia),
(4). — "Viviane," symphonic poem, J. 31, '02 (7).
Cherubini, Luigi. "The Abencerrages," overture, Mr. 2, '88 (3). — "AH
Baba," overture, D. 30, '81 (i). — " Anacreon," overture, O. 24, '84 (27).
— "Faniska," overture, N. 18, '81 (i). — "L'hotelliere portugaise," over-
ture, N. 3, '82 (i). — "Lodoiska," overture, O. 27, '11 (3). — "Medea,"
overture, O. 26, '83 (3). — "Water carrier," overture, F. 22, '84 (10).
Chopin, Frederic. Andante and polonaise, piano and orch., N. 3, '82 (6).
— Concerto, piano and orch., No. i, E-minor, D. 22, '82 (27). — Concerto,
piano and orch.. No. 2, F-minor, Mr. 3, '83 (27).
Clapp, Philip Greeley. "Norge," tone poem (Cambridge), A. 29, '09 (l).
— Symphony, E-minor, A. 10, '14 (i).
Coerne, Louis Adolphe. "Hiawatha," symphonic poem, A. 4, '94 (i).
Converse, Frederick Shepherd. "Endymion's Narrative," romance
for orch., A. 9, '03 (2). — "Festival of Pan," romance for orch., D. 21,
'00 (2). — "Jeanne d' Arc," dramatic scenes for orchestra, Mr. 6, '08 (2).
— "Mystic Trumpeter," orchestral fantasy, J. 25, '07 (2). — "Night"
and "Day," two poems for piano and orch., J. 20, '05 (i). — "Ormazd,"
symphonic poem (Cambridge), F. 8, '12 (2). — Symphony, D-minor,
J. 13, '98 (i).
Cornelius, Peter. "Barber of Bagdad," overture, 0. 26. '88 (17).
CowEN, Frederic H. Symphony, No. 3 ("Scandinavian"), J. 26, '83 (6).
— Symphony, No. 4 ("Welsh"), D. 23, '87 (i). — Symphony, No. 6,
("Idyllic"), N. 23, '00 (i).
256
APPENDIX
CuRRT, Arthur Mansfield. "Atala," symphonic poem, A. 21, '11 (i).
Davidoff, Carl. Concerto, violoncello and orch.. No. 3, N. 25, '92 (4).
Davison, Archibald T. "Hero and Leander," overture (Cambridge), A.
23, '08 (I).
Debussy, Achille Claude. "The afternoon of a faun," Prelude for orch.,
D. 30, '04 (24). — "Iberia," "Images," No. 2, for orch., A. 21, '11 (7).
— "Rondes des Printemps," "Images," No. 3, for orch., N. 25, '10 (3). —
"The Sea," three orchestral sketches, Mr. i, '07 (s). — "Printemps,"
Suite for orch., J. 23, '14 (i). — "Three Nocturnes," Nos. I-II (Phila-
delphia), D. 4, '05 (3). — Nos. I-II-III, D. II, '08 (2).
De Koven, Reginald. Dance and march of the gnomes, J. 6, '92
(Young People's) (i).
Delibes, Leo. "Sylvia," ballet music: Cortege de Bacchus, O. 26, '83 (2).
— Intermezzo and valse lente, Pizzicati, F. 10, '82 (7). — Pizzicati (Wake-
field), 0. 17, '83 (i). — Waltz, My. 14, '86 (Popular) (i). — Prelude,
intermezzo and Waltz, Pizzicati, Cortege de Bacchus (Cambridge), A. 4,
'95 (4).
Delius, Frederick. "Brigg fair," English rhapsody for orch., D. 2. *io
(l). — "Paris," a night piece for orch., N. 26, '09 (l).
Demersseman, Jules Auguste. Concert fantasie, fiute and orch., on
themes from "Oberon," N. 13, '89 (Young People's) (4). .
De Swerb, Jules. Concerto for violoncello and orch., D-minor, N. 7,
'84 (2).
Dittersdorf, Karl von. Symphony, C-major, J. 15, '97 (i).
Dohnanyi, Ernst von. Concerto, piano and orch., E-minor, N. 2, '00 (5).
— Concertstuck, violoncello and orch. (Indianapolis), J. 29, '08 (2). —
Symphony, D-minor, N. 27, '03 (3).
Draeseke, Felix. Jubilee overture, D. 8, '99 (2).
Dubois, Theodore. "Frithjof," overture, F. 5, '04 (i).
Ducasse, Roger. Suite fran^aise in D-major, A. 15, '10 (i).
Dukas, Paul. "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," 0. 21, '04 (21).
Duparc, Henri. "Lenore," symphonic poem, N. 4, '96 (i).
Dvorak Antonin. "Carnival," overture, J. 4, '95 (23). — Concerto for
257
APPENDIX
violin and orch., A-minor, N. i6, 'cx) (5). — Concerto for violoncello and
orch., B-minor, D. 18, '96 (12). — "An hero's song," symphonic poem,
N. 17, '99 (i). — " Husitska," overture, N. 25, '92 (12). — "Legends,"
Op. 59 (first set), N. 5, *86 (2). — "Nature," overture, D. 6, '95 (41). —
"Othello," overture, F. 5, '97 (9). — "The peasant a rogue," overture,
Mr. 7, '84 (i). — Rondo for violoncello and orch., Mr. 27, '97 (2). —
Scherzo capriccioso, Op. 66, J. 27, '88 (22). — Slavonic dance, No. 3, D. 12,
'82 (l). — No. 8, F. 22, '84 (i). — Slavonic dances, Nos. 4, i, N. 4, '81
(i). — Nos. 6, 15, Mr. 16, '83 (i). — Slavonic rhapsody, No. i, D. 22, '86
(3). — Slavonic rhapsody. No. 2, 0. 20, '93 (6). — Slavonic rhapsody,
No. 3, O. 23, '96 (4). — Suite in D, Op. 39, O. 21, '87 (25). — Symphonic
variations on an original theme. Op. 78, F. 21, '89 (9). — Symphony, No. i,
D-major, O. 26, '83 (6). — Symphony No. 2, D-minor, O. 22, '86 (11). —
Symphony, No. 4, G-major, F. 26, '92 (6). — Symphony No. 5, E-minor
("From the new world"), D. 29, '93 (48). — " Waldesruhe," adagio for
violoncello (Cambridge), J. 24, '95 (6). — "The Wood Dove," symphonic
poem, 0. 13, '05 (4).
EcKER, VVenzel. Concert overture, A. 21, '88 (i).
EcKERT, Carl. Concerto, violoncello and orch., A-minor, Op. 26, N. 15,
'89 (3).
Elgar, Edward. "Chanson de Matin" (Washington), N. 7, '05 (2). —
"Chanson de Nuit" (Washington), N. 7, '05 (2). — "Cockaigne," over-
ture, N. 29, '01 (7). — "In the South," concert overture, D. 29, '05 (9). —
Symphony, No. I, A-flat-major, F. 26, '09 (5). — Symphony, No. 2,
E-flat-major, D. i, '11 (i). — Variations on an original theme ("Enigma"),
Op. 36, D. 24, '03 (6).
Enesco, Georges. Rhapsodic roumaine, Op. II, No. I, F. 16, '12 (4). —
Suite for orch.. Op. 9, Mr. 31, '11 (s).
Ernst, Heinrich. Concerto for violin and orch.. Op. 23 (Providence), N. 16,
'82 (3). — Fantasia for violin on airs from Rossini's "Othello," N. 30, '94
(i). — Hungarian song for violin and orch. (Cambridge), N. 5, '85 (5).
Ertel, Jean Paul. "The Midnight Review," symphonic poem. Op. 16,
A. 16, '08 (i).
EssER, Heinrich. Suite No. 2, A-minor, 0. 14, '87 (i).
Faure, Gabriel. "Pelleas and Melisande," suite. Op. 80, D. 16, '04 (5).
FiBiCH, Zdenko. "A Night at Karlstein," overture. Op. 26, J. 30, '03 (3).
Floerscheim, Otto. "Consolation," symphonic poem, Op. 21, D. 10, '86
(i). — "Elevation," symphonic poem, J. 27, '88 (i). — Prelude and
fugue, F. S, '92 (i). — Scherzo, Mr. 14, '90 (i).
258
APPENDIX
FooTE, Arthur. Four character pieces after the Rubaiyat of Omar
Khayyam, Op. 48, A. 19, '12 (i). — "Francesca da Rimini," symphonic
prologue, Op. 24, J. 23, '91 (3). — "In the Mountains," overture. Op. 14,
F. 4, '87 (3). — Serenade for string orchestra. Op. 25, Intermezzo and
Gavotte, A. 6, '93 (i). — Praeludium, Intermezzo and Gavotte (Salem),
A. II, '93 (i). — Suite for strings, No. 2, Op. 21, My. 14, '86 (2) (Popular).
— Suite in D-minor, Op. 36, Mr. 6, '96 (2). — Suite in E-major, Op. 63,
A. 16, '09 (2).
Forsyth, Cecil. "Chant celtique," for viola and orch., A. 26, '12 (i).
Franck, Cesar. "The accursed huntsman," symphonic poem, Mr. i, '01
(11). — "The Aeolidae," symphonic poem, F. 16, '00 (9). — "The Re-
demption," symphonic piece from, D. 27, '07 (i). — "Psyche and Eros,"
D. I, '05 (5). — Symphonic variations for piano and orch. (Philadelphia),
J. 16, '01 (3). — Symphony in D-minor, A. 14, '99 (25).
Fried, Oskar. Prelude and double fugue for string orch., Op. 10, Mr. 28,
'07 (I).
FucHS, Robert. Serenade, No. i. Op. 9, Mr. 6, '85 (2). — Serenade, No. 2,
Op. 14, O. 24, '84 (2). — Serenade, No. 3, N. 4, '87 (3). — Symphony,
C-major, 0. 30, '85 (2).
Cade, Niels W. "In the Highlands," overture, F. 3, '82 (2). — "Michel
Angelo," overture, O. 2, '88 (i). — "Novelletten" for strings. Op. 53, Mr.
23, '88 (i). — "Ossian," overture, O. 20, '82 (8). — Symphony, B-flat, No.
4, Mr. 22, '83 (3). — Symphony, C-minor, J. 14, '87 (2).
Gericke, Wilhelm. Concert overture (W. Ecker), 0. 30, '85 (i). — Sere-
nade for strings, three movements, Mr. 12, '86 (2).
Gernsheim, Friedrich. Concerto for violin and orch.. Op. 42, 0. 22, '97
(i). — Symphony in E-flat, No. 2, D. 8, '82 (i). — "To a Drama," tone
poem. Op. 82, J. 27, '11 (i).
Gilbert, Henry F. Comedy overture on negro themes, A. 13, '11 (3).
GiLSON, Paul. "La Mer," symphonic sketches, Mr. 24, '93 (2).
Glazounoff, Alexander. "Carnival," overture, A. 8, '04 (i). — Concerto
for violin and orch.. Op. 82, O. 27, '11 (i). — "The Kremlin," symphonic
picture, Op. 20, J. 26, '06 (i). — Lyric poem, Op. i, O. 15, '97 (i). —
Overture solennelle. Op. 73, F. 14, '02 (9). — "Raymonda," suite from,
Op. 573, J. 24, '02 (i). — "Spring," musical picture. Op. 34, A. 8, '09 (i).
— Symphony, No. 4, E-flat, O. 23, '03 (8). — Symphony, No. 5, B-flat-
major, N. 23, '06 (25). — Symphony, No. 6, C-minor, O. 20, '99 (5).
Glinka, Michael I. "Konnarinskaja," N. 16, '83 (5). — "Russian and
Ludmilla," overture, Mr. 2, '94 (i).
259
APPENDIX
Gluck, Christoph Willibald. Ballet suite (arr. by Gevaert), D. 2, '81
(81). — "Don Juan," selections from ballet (arr. by Kretschmar), D. 24,
'96 (i). — Gavotte in A. (arr. by Brahms), J. 25, '84 (i). — "Iphegenia in
Aulis," overture, J. 4, '84 (12). — "Orpheus," Reigen Seliger Geister und
Furien Danse, from, J. 11, '89 (2).
GoDARD, Benjamin. Concerto romantique, N. 16, '83 (3). — " Jocelyn,"
suite No. I, F. 12, '96 (5). — "Symphonie orientale," F. 13, '91 (6). —
"Le Tasse," danse des bohemiens, Mr. i, '84 (i). — " Valse," for flute and
orch. (Providence), J. 27, '92 (i).
GoETZ, Hermann. "Spring," overture, Mr. 29, '95 (i). — Symphony, F-
major, Mr. 18, '87 (17).
Goldmark, Carl. Concerto for violin and orch., A-minor, D. 5, '90 (11). —
"Cricket on the Hearth," Prelude to Part HI, N. 20, '96 (7). — "In
Italy," overture, F. 3, '05 (7). — " In the Spring," overture, A. 18, '90 (25).
— "Merlin," chorus and dance of spirits, J. 9, '03 (3). — "Penthesilea,"
overture, F. 19, '86 (7). — "Prometheus Bound," overture, O. 31, '90
(11), — "Sakuntala," overture, O. 27, '82 (64). — "Sappho," overture
(Cambridge), N. 18, '94 (11). — Scherzo in A-major, N. 2, '00 (2). —
Symphony ("Rustic Wedding"), No. I, J. 23, '85 (27). — Symphony,
No. 2, A. 6, '88 (s).
Goldmark, Rubin. "Hiawatha," overture, J. 12, '00 (10). — "Samson,"
tone poem, Mr. 13, '14 (2).
GoLTERMANN, Georg. Cantilena for violoncello and orch., F. 25, '98 (i). —
Concerto for violoncello and orch.. Op. 14, O. 18, '89 (i).
Gordigiani, Luigi. Notturnino (Cambridge), 0. 30, '02 (2).
Gounod, Charles Francois. "La Colombe," entr' acte (Newport), O. 11,
'83 (ix). — Funeral march of a Marionette, O. 27, '02 (7). — Hymn to St.
Cecilia for string orch. (Fall River), O. 18, '88 (4). — "Philemon and
Baucis," dance of Bacchantes, F. 29, '84 (2). — "Queen of Sheba," ballet
music (Cambridge), D. 6, '83 (6). — Vision of Jeanne d' Arc, for violin
and orch., J. 20, '92 (i).
Graedner, Hermann. Capriccio, Op. 4, Mr. 8, '89 (l). — Concerto for
violoncello and orch., Op. 45, Mr 12, '09 (3). — "Lustspiel," overture,
F, 17, '88 (i).
Grammann, Karl. Prelude, "Melusine," Op. 24, J. 6, '82 (3).
Gretry, Andre Ernest Modeste. "Cephalus and Procris," three dances
from (arr. by Mottl), N. 13, '08 (7).
260
APPENDIX
Grieg, Edward Hagerup. Concerto for piano and orch., A-minor, O. 28,
'81 (22). — "From Holberg's Time," suite, A. 12, '89 (2). — "In Au-
tumn," overture, A. 19, '07 (4). — Old Norwegian romance with varia-
tions, N. 17, '11 (i). — "Peer Gynt," suite, No. i, Nos. i, 2, 3, 4, J.
24, '90 (44). — "Peer Gynt," suites, Nos. i and 2; i, 2, 3, 4, of No. i, and
I, 3, 4 of No. 2, 0. 15, '09 (i). — Symphonic dances. Op. 64, J. 26, '00 (2).
— Two melodies for string orch., Op. 34, F. 2, '83 (3).
Grimm, J. 0. Symphony in D-minor, F. 22, '84 (i).
GuiLMANT, Felix Alexandre. Symphony No. i, D-minor, A. 9, '03 (i).
Hadley, Henry Kimball. "The Culprit Fay," rhapsody, N. 18, '10 (i). —
"Salome," tone poem, A. 12, '07 (i). — Symphony, No. 2, "The Four
Seasons," A. 14, '05 (i). — Symphony, No. 3, B-minor, A. 10, '08 (i).
Halm, August. Symphony, D-minor, A. 22, '10 (i).
Hamerik, Asger. Concert romance for violoncello and orch., A. 8, '97 (i).
Handel, Georg Friedrich. Concerto for oboe and strings, F. 17, '88 (4). —
Concerto for organ and orch., No. 4, D-minor, O. 19, '00 (i). — Concerto
for strings and wind, F-major, D. 24, '91 (17). — Concerto grosso, No. 5
in D, J. 30, '91 (i). — Concerto grosso. No. 6 in G-minor, F. 21, '95 (i). —
Concerto grosso. No. 7, F. 29, '84 (i). — Concerto grosso, No. 10 in D-
minor, F. 23, '94 (3). — Concerto grosso, No. 12 in B-minor, F. 27, '85 (2).
— "Largo," N. 14, '84 (55). — Overture No. i, D-major, D. 24, '96 (7). —
"Water Music," D. 11, '85 (4).
Harcourt, Eugene. "Tasso," overture, Mr. 23, '06 (i). "
Hartmann, Emil. "A Northern Campaign," overture. Op. 25,'F. 16, '94 (i).
Hausegger, Sieguund von. "Barbarossa," symphonic poem, A. 18, '02 (i).
Haydn, Josef. Concerto for violoncello and orch., in D, N. 21, '90 (7). —
Symphony No. i (B and H.), N. 13, '91 (4). — Symphony No. 2 (B. and
H.), D. 5, '84 (23). — Symphony No. 3, E-flat, J. 29, '86 (i). — Symphony
in D-major ("The Clock") (B. and H., No. 4), A. 5, '95 (i). — Symphony
No. 5, D-major, N. 16, '00 (2). — Symphony No. 6 (B. and H.) (" Surprise "),
D. 9, '87 (11). — Symphony No. 7 (B. and H.), O. 20, '82 (7). — Symphony
No. 8 (B. and H.), D. 15, '05 (l). — Symphony, C-minor, No. 9, A. 12, '89
(7). — Symphony, No. 10 (B. and H.), D. 19, '02 (i). — Symphony in G,
No. II ("Military"), N. 2,' 83 (4). — Symphony in B-flat, No. 12 (B. and
H.), O. 21, '81 (6). — Symphony in G-major, No. 13 (B. and H.),N. 8, '89
(26). — Symphony in D-major ("La Chasse"), Mr. 3, '99 (5). — Sym-
phony in C-major ("The Bear"), D. 6, '89 (6). — Symphony in G
("O.xford"), N. 19, '86 (11). — Symphony in C-major, (Rieter-Bieder-
mann No. 3), A. 21, '99 (2). — Variations on the Austrian National
Hymn, D. 12, '84 (6).
26]
APPENDIX
Henschel, Georg. Ballad for violin and orch. (Salem), F. 21, '84 (3). —
Concerto for piano and orch., E-flat, D. I, '82 (5). — "Hamlet," suite.
Op. 50, A. 14, '92 (i). — Serenade in canon form for strings. Op. 23, J. 18,
'84 (I). .
Henselt, Adolf Concerto for piano and orch., F-minor, Op. 16, F. 3,
'82 (16).
Herbeck, Johann Franz von. "Tanz Momente," F. 20, '85 (2).
Herold, Louis Joseph Ferdinand. " Zampa," overture, J. 6, '82 (4).
Heuberger, Richard. "Cain," overture, N. 12, '86 (i). — Variations on a
theme by Schubert, D. 19, '90 (i).
Hiller, Ferdinand von. Capriccio, "The Sentinal," D. 30, '81 (6). —
Concerto for piano and orch., Op. 69, N. 9, '83 (i).
HiNTON, Arthur. Concerto for piano and orch., D-minor, Op. 24, Mr. 6,
'08 (I).
Holbrooke, Josef. "Queen Mab," poem for orch., Op. 45, J. 3, '13 (2).
Hopekirk, Helen. Concert piece in D-minor for piano and orch., A. IJ,
'04 (i). — Concerto for piano and orch. in D-major, D. 27, '00 (i).
HuBER, Hans. Symphony No. 2 in E-minor, O. 24, '02 (4).
Hummel, Johann Nepomuk. Concerto for piano and orch. in B-minor,
Op. 29, D. 21, '83 (i).
Humperdinck, Engelbert. "The Forced Marriage," overture, D. 20,
'07 (5). — "Hansel and Gretel," Prelude, D. 22, '97 (9). — "Hansel and
Gretel," Dream music and pantomine, N. i, '95 (i). — Humoresque,
N. II, '92 (2). — "The King's Children," selections from, D. 24, '96 (4). —
A Moorish rhapsody, O. 27, '99 (5).
Huss, Henry Holden. Concerto for piano and orch., B-major, Op. 10,
D. 28, '94 (s). — Rhapsody for piano and orch., O. 29, '86 (i).
Indy, Vincent d'. "The Enchanted Forest," symphonic legend, Op. 8,
O. 30, '03 (5). — "Medea," suite, Op. 47, F. 9, '00 (i). — "Istar," sym-
phonic variations, F. 17, '99 (8). — "Saugefleurie,"Legende (Baltimore),
D. 6, '05 (3). — "The Stranger," entr'acte from, Mr. 4, '04 (i). — " Sum-
mer Day on the Mountain," Op. 61, A. 24, '08 (2). — Symphony, B-fliat-
major. No. 2, J. 6, '05 (i). — Symphony on a Mountain Air, Op. 25,
A. 4, '02 (6). — "VVallenstein," trilogy, O. 18, '07 (8).
Jaques-Dalcroze, Emile. Concerto for violin and orch., C-minor, Op. 50,
Mr. 9, '06 (s).
262
APPENDIX
Joachim, Josef. Concerto for violin and orch., Op. ii, N. 25, '81 (5).
Johns, Clayton. Berceuse and scherzo for strings, Mr. 22, '94 (i).
JuoN, Paul. "Vaegtevise," fantasy on Danish folk-songs, Op. 31, D. 26,
'13 U).
Kahn, Robert. Overture, "Elegy," Mr. 8, '95 (2).
Kaun, Hugo. "Minnehaha," symphonic poem, No. i, J. 29, '04 (l).
Klengel, Julius. Capriccio for violoncello and orch.. Op. 8 (Buffalo),
My- 3> '92 (i?)- — Scherzo for violoncello and orch. (Cambridge), J. 21,
'92 (I).
Klughardt, August. Concerto for violoncello and orch.. Op, 59, D. 20,
'12 (2). — Symphony No. 3 in D-major, Mr. 6, '91 (i).
Knorr, Iwan. Variations on an Ukraine folk-song. Op. 7, Mr. 29, '95 (i),
KoESSLER, Hans. Symphonic variations, Mr. 14, '02 (3).
Korbay, Francis. "Nuptiale" for orch., Ap. 6, '88 (i).
Krug, Arnold. "Othello," symphonic prologue, J. 14, '87 (6).
Lachner, Franz. Suite in D-minor, Op. 113, march from, 0. 28, '81 (2).
— Suite entire, N. 30, '88 (6).
Lalo, Edouard. Concerto for violin and orch.. Op. 20, D. 23, '10 (i). —
Concerto for violoncello and orch., D-minor (Philadelphia), A. 27, '91 (10).
— Fantasie norwegienne for violin and orch., D. 19, '84 (3). — "Na-
mouna," suite, J. 3, '96 (4). — Rhapsody for orch. ("Norwegian"),
D. 21, '88 (5). — "Le roi d'ys," overture, N. 20, '91 (9). — "Symphonic
espagnole," for violin and orch., Op. 21, N. 11, '87 (29).
Lang, Margaret Ruthven. Dramatic overture, A. 7, '93 (i).
Lancer, Ferdinand. Concerto for flute and orch., N. 16, '87 (i). — "Dom-
roschen," Introduction, A. 11, '95 (i).
Lavignac, Albert. Serenade for flute and orch. (Providence), J. 27, '92 (i).
Lendvai, Erv?in. Symphony in D-major, Op. 10, F. 14, '13 (2).
LiADOFF, Anatol. "Baba-Yaga," Op. 56, J. 6, '11 (i).
Lindner, August. Concerto for violoncello and orch., Op. 34, D. a8, '88 (2).
263
APPENDIX
Lindner, E. "Serenade," for violoncello and orch. (Cleveland), My. 8,
'93 (2)-
Liszt, Franz. "Battle of the Huns," symphonic poem, Mr. 29, 'or (4). —
"Christus," march of the Three Holy Kings, D. 19, '02 (i). — "Christus,"
Shepherd's song at the cradle and march of Three Holy Kings, D. 28,
'06 (i). — Concerto for piano and orch., E-flat, No. i, O. 16, '85 (62). —
Concerto for piano and orch., A-major, No. 2, F. 22, '84 (30). — "Concerto
pathetique," for piano and orch. (arr. by Burmeister), O. 25, '01 (2). —
"Dance of Death," for piano and orch. (Cambridge), J. 9, '02 (6). —
"Faust," Episode from Lenau's, N. 18, '87 (23). — Faust symphony (with
chorus), Mr. 10, '99 (2). — Faust symphony (without chorus), Mr. 22,
'94 (2). — Faust symphony, "Gretchen," movement, N. 20, '85 (2). —
"Festklange," symphonic poem, D. 27, '89 (8). — "Hungaria," symphonic
poem, J. 23, '14 (4). — Hungarian fantasy for piano and orch., Mr. 3,
'82 (4). — Hungarian rhapsody. No. i, D. 24, '85 (24). — Hungarian
rhapsody. No. 2, J. 25, '84 (23). — Hungarian rhapsody. No. 2 (arr. by
Liszt and Doppler), N. 2, '83 (13). — Hungarian rhapsody, No. 3, O. 28,
'98 (i). — Hungarian rhapsody, No. 6 ("The Carnival in Pesth"), F. 19,
'97 (?)• — "Ideale," symphonic poem, J. 25, '89 (5). — Polonaise, No. 2,
E-flat, O. 21, '88 (7). — "Les Preludes," symphonic poem, D. 9, '81 (82).
— "Mazeppa," symphonic poem (New York), Mr. 29, '94 (9). — "Or-
pheus," symphonic poem, J. 16, '85 (4). — Sermon of St. Francis of Assisi
to the birds (arr. by Mottl.), D. 2, '04 (6). — Spanish rhapsody for piano
and orch. (arr. by Busoni), J. 26, '94 (8). — Symphony after Dante's
"Divina Commedia," F. 26, '86 (4). — "Tarantelle de bravura" (Provi-
dence), J. I, '90 (i). — "Tasso," symphonic poem, F. 9, '83 (35).
LiTOLFF, Henry Charles. Concerto for piano and orch. ("Symphonie
national hollandaise"). No. 3, Op. 45, D. 13, '89 (4). — "King Lear,"
^ overture, J. 6, '92 (2) (Young People's).
LocATELLi, PiETRO. Sonata for violoncello (Cambridge), J. 6, '98 (2).
LoEFFLER, Charles Martin. "Death of Tintagiles," symphonic poem,
J. 7, '98 (11). — "Devil's villanelle," Op. 9, N. 24, '05 (3). — Divertimento
in A-minor for violin and orch., J. 4, '95 (6). — Fantastic concerto for
violoncello and orch., F. 2, '94 (8). — "Pagan poem," Op. 14, N. 22, '07
(4). — Les veillees de I'Ukraine, suite for violin and orch., N. 20, '91 (7).
Maas, Louis. Concerto for piano and orch., C-minor, Op. 12, J. 6, '82 (2).
MacDowell, Edward Alexander. Concerto for piano and orch.. No. I,
A-minor, N. 18, '92 (3). — Concerto for piano and orch.. No. 2, D-minor,
A. 12, '89 (14). — "Lamia," symphonic poem. Op. 29, O. 23, '08 (4). —
"Launcelot and Elaine," symphonic poem. Op. 25, J. 10, '90 (6). —
Suite in A-minor, Op. 42, O. 23, '91 (9). — Suite No. 2 in E-minor ("In-
dian"), Op. 48, J. 31, '95 (16). — Two poems for orch., "Hamlet" and
"Ophelia," Op. 22, J. 27, '93 (i).
264
APPENDIX
Mackenzie, Alexander. "La belle dame sans merci"; ballade for orch.,
F. l8, '87 (2). — "Pibroch," suite for violin and orch.. Op. 42, J. 30, '03 (3).
Magnard, Alberic. " Chant funebre " (Philadelphia), D. 4, '05 (3).
Mahler, Gustav. Symphony No. 5, C-sharp-minor, F. 2, '06 (9).
Mandl, Richard. Overture to a Gascon chivalric drama (Cambridge),
Mr. 2, *ii (2).
Maquarre, Andre. "On the Sea Cliffs," Mr. 26, '09 (i).
Marschner, Heinrich. "Hans Heiling," overture (Popular), My. 14,
'86 (8),
Mascagni, Pietro. Intermezzo sinfonico from "Cavalleria Rusticana "
(Providence), N. 18, '91 (i).
Massenet, Jules. "Le Cid," ballet music, J. 6, '92 (i) (Young People's).
— "Les Erinnyes," incidental music, J. 14, '98 (7). — Entr'acte, finale
only, Mr. 7, '84 (i). — "Esclarmonde," suite, Mr. 2, '92 (5). — Hun-
garian scene, N. 27, '04 (i). — "Phedre," overture, F. 17, '82 (5). —
"Scenes Alsaciennes," J. 19, '83 (i). — "Scenes pittoresques," F. 5, '86 (3).
Mehul, £tienne. "Joseph," overture, N. 18, '81 (i).
Mendelssohn, Bartholdy, Felix. "Athalie," overture, D. 9, '81 (13). —
"Calm sea and prosperous voyage," J. i, '86 (25). — "Camacho's Wed-
ding," overture, N. 11, '81 (4). — Capriccio for piano and orch., B-minor,
N. 3, '82 (3). — Concerto for piano and orch.. No. i, G-minor (Milwau-
kee), My. 5, '87 (7). — Concerto for violin and orch., E-minor, F. 17, '82
(51). — "The fair Melusine," overture, F. 27, '8$ (17). — " Fingal's
Cave," overture ("The Hebrides"), J. 4, '83 (Worcester) (29).— "Mid-
summer Night's Dream," incidental music to, A. 13, '94(1); — overture, F.
9, '83 (18); overture, scherzo, notturno, and wedding march, D. 5, '84(16);
— wedding march, Mr. 10, '82 (3); — notturno, O. 26, '83 (2); — scherzo,
D. 2, '87 (9); — scherzo, and notturno (Cambridge), J. 19, '93 (2); overture,
scherzo, and wedding march, A. 26, '01 (i). — Overture in C, Op. loi, F.
I, '84 (i). — "Ruy Bias," overture, O. 20, '82 (19). — " St. Paul," over-
ture, Mr. 30, '83 (i). — "Son and Stranger," overture, J. 23, '85 (i). -^
Symphony in A-minor, No. 3 ("Scotch"), J. 19, '83 (37). — Symphony
in A-major, No. 4 ("Italian"), O. 24, '84 (28). — Symphony in D-major,
No. 5 ("Reformation"), J. 20, '82 (4).
Meyerbeer, Giacomo. "Star of the North," overture, N. 27, '04 (i). —
"Struensee," overture, F. 28, '90 (i). — "Struensee," polonaise, N. 24,
'82 (2).
MoLiQUE, Bernhard. Conccrto for violin and orch., in A-minor, No. 5,
F. I, '89 (i). - A. 26, '94 (2).
265
APPENDIX
MoNSiGNY, Pierre Alexandre. Chaconne et rigaudon (Aline), (arr. by
Gevaert), O. 13, '82 (9).
Moor, Emmanuel. Concerto, piano and orch., Op. 57, A. 16, '08 (i).
Moscheles, Ignaz. "Maid of Orleans," overture, Mr. 3, '82 (7).
MoszKOWSKi, MoRiTZ. Concerto, for violin and piano in C, Op. 30, J. 4, '89
(10). — "The Nations," suite, Op. 23, Mr. 20, '89, (Young People's). —
Suite No. I, Op. 39 A. 13, '88 (15).
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Adagio and fugue for strings (K. 546),
N. 2$, '10 (i). — Andante with variations in D-minor from Divertimento
No. 17 (K. 334), O. 18, '95 (i). — Concerto for flute and harp in C, J. 11,
'84 (4). — Concerto for horn and orch., J. 30, '89 (2) (Young People's.) —
Concerto for piano and orch. B-flat, No. 4 (Cambridge), D. 2, '86 (i). —
Concerto for piano and orch. (K. 26), D-major (Cambridge), N. 17, '98 (i).
— Concerto for piano and orch., D-minor, F. 19, '86 (3). — Concerto for
piano and orch. (K. 503), Mr. 22, '83 (i). — Concerto for two pianofortes
and orch., E-flat (K. 365), O. 19, '83 (2). — Concerto for violin and orch.,
A-major (K. 219), (Providence), D. 31, '07 (4). — Concerto for violin and
orch., D-major (K. 218), A. 19, '12 (3). — Concerto, symphonic, for
violin and viola, first movement, J. i, '92 (i). — "Don Giovanni," over-
ture, D. 18, '85 (8). — Fantasia in C-minor for piano and orch., J. 27, '82
(i). — "Magic flute," overture, D. 2, '81 (26). — "Marriage of Figaro,"
overture, J. 28, '87 (13). — Masonic funeral music, J. 27, '82 (6). — Not-
turno and serenade in D for four small orchestras, J. 27, '82 (2). — Quintet,
G-minor for strings, Adagio only, D. 31, '87 (i). — "II seraglio," overture,
D. 22, '82 (2). — Serenade ("Haffner"), ist, 2d, 3d, and 8th movements,
N. 13, '85 (6). — Serenade ("Haflfner"), ist, 2d, 3d, 4th, 6th, and 8th
movements, J. 2, '14 (i). — Serenade for wind instruments, No. Ii, E-
flat-major, A. 5, '95 (i). — Symphony, C-major (B. and H. No. 6) (Provi-
dence), N. 16, '82 (2). — Symphony C-major (K. 338), Mr. 31, '99 (2). —
Symphony C-major (K. 425), Mr. 16, '00 (2). — Symphony, C-major,
(K. 551) ("Jupiter"), F. 6, '85 (24). — Symphony, D-major (K. 385),
J- 9, '85 (3)- — Symphony, D-major (K. 504), J. 27, '82 (6). — Symphony,
D-major, Op. 22, Mr. 18, '87 (6). — Symphony, D-major ("Parisian"),
Op. 88, O. 28, '87 (5). — Symphony, E-flat (K. 543), J. 25, '84 (23). —
Symphony, G-minor (K. 183), O. 27, '99 (2). — Symphony, G-minor
(K. 550), N. 4, '81 (30). — Three German dances (K. 605), J. 17, '08 (4).
— "Titus," overture, D. 21, '83 (i). — Turkish march (arr. by Herbeck),
O. 23, '8S (7).
Mraczek, Joseph Gustav. Symphonic burlesque after Wilhelm Busch's
"Max and Moritz," Mr. 14, '13 (4).
Mueller-Berghaus, Carl. Romance for violoncello and orch., N. 30,
'83 (I).
266
APPENDIX
NicoDE, Jean Louis. "The Sea," symphonic poem, Mr. 2, '92 (i). —
Symphonic variations, Op. 27, F. 7, '90 (i).
Njcolai, Otto, "The Merry Wives of Windsor," overture, N. 4, '81 (18).
— Overture on the choral, "A Safe Stronghold our God is still" (no
chorus), J. I, '09 (i).
NoREN, Heinrich Gottlieb. " Kaleidoskop," theme and variations for
orch., D. II, '08 (2).
NosKowsKi, SiEGMUND, "The Steppe," symphonic poem. Op. 66, Mr. 15,
'07 (3).
Paderewski, Ignace Jan. Concerto for piano and orch., A-minor, Op. 17,
Mr. 13, '91 (14). — Symphony in B-Minor, Op. 24, F. 12, '09 (7).
Paganini, Nicolo. Caprice for violin and orch., A-minor, Op. i, J. 14,
'98 (2). — Concerto for violin and orch. in D-major, No. i (Newport),
O. II, '83 (15). — Concerto (in one movement) for violin and orch., D-
major, A. 22, '92 (12). — "Moto perpetuo," for string orch., A. 25, '90 (4).
Paine, John K. "Azara," ballet music, Mr. 9, '00 (11). — "Birds of
Aristophanes," prelude, N. 17, '05 (2). — Columbus march and hymn,
F. 3, '93 (i). — "An Island Fantasy," symphonic poem, Op. 45, A. 19,
'89 (3). — "CEdipus Tyrannus," prelude, Mr. 10, '82 (6). — Symphony,
A-major, No. 2 (" In the Spring"), F. 29, '84 (2). — "The Tempest,"
symphonic poem, Mr. 9, '83 (3).
Parker, Horatio W. "Cahal Mor of the wine-red hand," rhapsody for
baritone and orch., Mr. 29, '95 (i). — Concerto in E-flat for organ and
orch., D. 26, '02 (2). — "Northern ballad," Op. 46, D. 29, '99 (i).
Pfitzner, Hans. "The little Christ Elf," overture, N. 15, '07 (3).
Phelps, E. C. Concert overture (Brooklyn), Mr. 27, '97 (i).
Popper, David. "Papillons," for violoncello and orch., J. i, '84 (7). —
"Spinnlied," for violoncello and orch. (Providence), N. 18, '91 (3).
Rachmaninoff, Sergei. Concerto for piano and orch., No. i, F-sharp-
minor, D. 16, '04 (2). — Concerto for piano and orch.. No. 2, C-minor
(New York), D. 3, '08 (8). — "The Island of the Dead," symphonic
poem, D. 17, '09 (8). — Symphony in E-minor, No. 2, O. 14, '10 (16).
Raff, Joseph Joachim. Concerto for piano and orch., in C-minor, Op. 185,
F. 8, '84 (3);— allegro only (Worcester), J. 4, '83 (i).— "La fee d'amour,"
concert piece for violin and orch., Mr. 24, '93 (i). — "Ein' feste Burg,"
overture, N. 13, '03 (i). — Suite Op. loi, Adagietto, N. 2, '83 (i). —
Symphony, No. I ("To the Fatherland "), J. 31, '90 (i). — Symphony,
No. 3 ("In the woods"), O. 16, '85 (26). — No. 5 ("Lenore"), J. 12,
'83 (6). —No. II ("The Winter"), J. 18, '84 (i).
267
APPENDIX
Rameau, Jean-Philippe. Ballet suite, A. 6, 'oo (2).
Ravel, Joseph Maurice. "Ma mere I'oye," D. 26, '13 (5).
Reger, Max. Comedy overture, O. 6, '11 (2). — Concerto in the ancient
style for orch., D. 13, '12 (6). — Serenade for orch., Op. 95, A. 12, '07 (i).
— Symphonic prologue to a tragedy, O. 15, '09 (2). — Variations and
fugue on a merry theme of J. A. Hiller (1770), Op. 100, F. 14, '08 (5).
Reinecke, Carl. Concerto for violoncello and orch., D-minor, Op. 82
(2 movements), Mr. 6, '91 (i). — "Dame Kobold," overture, J. 12, '83
(i). — "Der Gouverneur von Tours," entr'acte, Mr. 22, '95 (i). — "King
Manfred," entr'acte, N. 3, '82 (15). — "King Manfred," overture, O. 21,
'92 (4).
Reinhold, Hugo. Concert overture in A-major, D. 3, '86 (3). — Inter-
mezzo,My. 14, '86 (i) (Popular). — Prelude, menuet, and fugue for strings,
J. 22, '86 (7).
Reznicek, Emil. "Donna Diana," overture, D. 6, '95 (2). — "Schlemihl,"
symphonic biography, A. 24, '14 (i). — Symphonic suite in E-minor, N.
22, '07 (3).
Rheinberger, Joseph. Concerto for organ, three horns, and strings. Op.
137, D. 27, '07 (i). — "Wallenstein," symphony, D. 4, '85 (l).
Riemenschneider, Georg. "Todtentanz," Mr. 3, '93 (i).
RiETZ, Julius. Concert overture, Op. 7, N. 2, '83 (3).
RiMSKi-KoRSAKOFF, NicoLAi. "The Betrothed of the Tzar," overture,
N. 14, '02 (12). — Caprice on Spanish themes, F. 14, '08 (18). — Concerto
for piano and orch., Op. 30 (Cambridge), J. 15, '14 (i). — "The Russian
Easter," overture, Op. 36, 0. 22, '97 (i). — "Sadko," a musical picture,
Op. 5, Mr. 24, '05 (i). — "Scheherazade," symphonic suite, A. 16, '97
(34). — Symphony, No. 2 ("Antar"), Mr. 11, '98 (2).
RiTTER, Alexander. Olaf's wedding dance, Mr. i, '07 (i).
Roentgen, Julius. Ballad on a Norwegian folk melody. Op. 36, N. 16,
'00 (I).
Ropartz, J. Guy. Fantasia in D-major, A. 28, '05 (i).
Rossini, Gioachino Antonio. "Barber of Seville," overture, N. 13, '89
(i) (Young People's). — "William Tell," overture (Newport), O. 11, '83
(19).
Rubinstein, Anton. "Anthony and Cleopatra," overture, A. 3, '91 (i). —
268
APPENDIX
"Bal costume," Mr. 5, '90 (8) (Young People's). — Concerto for piano and
orch., G-major, No. 3, Op. 45, J. 5, '83 (8). — Concerto for piano and orch.,
D-minor, No. 4, Op. 70, F. 9, '83 (35). — Concerto for piano and orch.,
E-flat-major, Op. 94, No. 5, D. 18, '08 (2). — Concerto for violin and orch..
Op. 46, Mr. 3, '88 (i). — Concerto, D-minor, for violoncello and orch.,
No. 2, Op. 96, O. 24, '02 (s). — "Demetrius of the Don," overture, J. 31,
'96 (i). — "The Demon," ballet music, O. 16, '85 (7). — "Don Quixote,"
musical character picture. Op. 87, F. 16, '94 (i). — Fantasie for two
pianos, F-minor, Op. 73, J. 22, '86 (i). — "Feramors," ballet music, D. 8,
'82 (23). — Symphony, No. 2 ("Ocean"), O. 12, '83 (7). — Symphony,
No. 4, in D-minor ("Dramatic"), D. 8, '93 (4). — Symphony in G-minor
("Russian"), O. 6, '82 (2). — Symphony in A-major, No. 6, N. 11, '87
(2). — "The Vine," ballet music, D. 19, '84 (7).
Saint Saens, Charles Camille. "The Barbarians," overture, J. 8, '04
(5). — "Bolero " (Cambridge), 0. 30, '02 (2). — Concerto for piano and
orch., G-minor, No. 2, D. 8, '82 (29). — Concerto for piano and orch.,
C-minor, No. 4, F. 24, '82 (13). — Concerto for piano and orch., F-major,
No. 5, Mr. 4, '04 (2). — Caprice waltz for violin and orch. (arr. by Ysaye)
(Philadelphia), D. 7, '04 (i). — Concerto for violin and orch., No. I,
A-major, Mr. 6, '85 (5). — Concerto for violin and orch.. No. 3, B-minor,
J. 3, '90 (23). — Concerto for violoncello and orch., A-minor, Op. 33, D. 9,
'81 (22). — Concert piece for violin and orch., Op. 62, F. 16, '94 (i). —
"Danse Macabre," symphonic poem, N. 3, '82 (41). — "The Deluge,"
prelude (Brooklyn), J. 11, '95 (l). — "Henry VIII," ballet music, D. 21,
'83 (8). — Introduction and rondo capriccioso for violin and orch.. Op. 28,
D. 14, '83 (5). — "La Jeunesses d' Hercule," symphonic poem, O. 19, '83
(7). — " Phaeton," symphonic poem, O. 14, '87 (7). — "Le rouet d' Om-
phale," symphonic poem, N. 23, '88 (44). — Rhapsodic d'Auvergne for
piano and orch., J. I, '86 (i). — Romance for violin in C, Op. 48, N. 11,
'81 (i). — "Samson and Dalila," Dance of priestesses and bacchanale,
Mr. 2, '83 (i). — Suite in D-major, Op. 49, O. 16, '96 (i). — Symphony
No. I, E-flat-major, N. 25, '04 (i). — Symphony, No. 2, A-minor, N. II,
'92 (i). — Symphony, No. 3, C-minor, F. 15, '01 (5).
Sauer, Emil. Concerto for piano and orch., No. i, E-minor, O. 16, '08 (i).
Scharwenka, Philipp. " Fruehlingswagen," symphonic poem, O. 28, '92
(I).
Scharwenka, Xavier. Concerto for piano and orch.. No. i, B-flat-minor,
F. 6, '91 (6). — Concerto for piano and orch.. No. 4, F-minor, F. 10, 'ii
(I).
ScHEiNPFLUG, Paul, Overture to a comedy of Shakespeare, J. 22, '09 (4).
ScHELLiNG, Ernest. Fantastic suite for piano and orch., J. 24, '08 (5).
Schillings, Max. "Hexenlied," recitation with orch., F. 28, '09 (i). —
269
APPENDIX
"Ingewelde," prelude to Act II (Providence), O. 21, '96 (3). — "Meer-
gruss and Seemorgen," fantasies for orch., 0. 31, '13 (i). — "Moloch,"
harvest festival from, J. 15, '09 (i). — "CEdipus Rex," symphonic pro-
logue, F. 28, '02 (i). — "The Piper's Holiday," prelude, A. 6, '06 (i).
ScHjELDERUP, Gerhard. "Opferfeuer," Summer Night on the Fiord,
and Sunrise over the Himalayas, from, F. 14, '08 (i).
ScHMiTT, Florent. "La Tragedie de Salome," N. 28, '13 (4).
Schubert, Franz. "Alfonse and Estrella," overture, J. 26, '83 (5). —
Fantasie in F-minor (arr. by Mottl), Op. 103, J. I, '86 (5). — Funeral
march in E-flat-minor (arr. by Liszt), O. 30, '85 (11). — March in B-minor
(arr. by Liszt), O. 12, '83 (4). — Overture in B-major, Mr. 29, '89 (i). —
Overture in E-minor, N. 23, '88 (6). — Overture in Italian style. Op. 170,
D. 28, '83 (3). — "Rosamunde," ballet music, O. 21, '81 (3). — "Rosa-
munde," ballet music and entr'actes music, Mr. 5, '86 (12). — "Rosa-
munde," overture, D. 12, '84 (6). — Symphony No. 4 ("Tragic"), Mr. 14,
'84 (3). — Symphony, No. 5, B-flat, F. 9, '83 (3). — Symphony in C-
major, No. 6, N. 28, '84 (2). — Symphony in B-minor (" Unfinished "), F.
10, '82 (82). — Symphony in C-major, No. 9, J. 13, '82 (53).
Schumann, Georg. "The dawn of love," overture, Mr. 13, '03 (3). — " In
carnival time," suite, J. 22, '04 (2). — Symphonic variations on the choral
"Wernur denlieben Gott lasst waken," O. 25, '01 (2). — Variations and
fugue on a merry theme, D. 14, '06 (3).
Schumann, Robert. "Bride of Messina," overture, D. i, '82 (i). — Con-
certo for piano and orch., A-minor, O. 6, '82 (54). — Concerto for violon-
cello and orch., A-minor, F. 3, '88 (5). — Concertstuck for piano and orch.,
Op. 92, Mr. II, '87 (5). — "Genoveva," overture, Mr. 9, '83 (49).—
"Hermann and Dorothea," Mr. 13, '85 (i). — "Julius Caesar," overture,
Mr. 29, '01 (i). — "Manfred," overture, F. 24, '82 (24); — overture,
scherzo and finale. Op. 52, N. 25, '81 (17). — Pictures from the Orient
(arr. by Reinecke), N. 21, '84 (3). — Symphony in B-fiat, No. I, Mr. 3
'82 (75). — Symphony in C-major, No. 2, D. 30, '81 (56). — Symphony
in E-fiat, No. 3 ("Rhenish"), N. 23, '83 (29). — Symphony in D-minor,
No. 4, N. 10, '82 (66).
ScHUTT, Eduard. Concerto for piano and orch., F-minor, No. 2, J. i, '97
(s).
Scriabine, Alexander. "Le poeme de 1' extase," O. 21, '10 (i).
Sgambati, Giovanni. Concerto for piano and orch., G-minor, Op. 15, 0. 31,
'90 (i). — Symphony, No. i, D-major, N. 9, '94 (9). — " Te Deum Laud-
amus," for orch. and organ, N. 27, '04 (2).
Sibelius, Jean. Concerto for violin and orch., in D-minor, Op. 47, A. 19,
270
APPENDIX
'07 (2). — "Finlandia," symphonic poem, N. 20, '08 (20). — "Karelia,"
overture, N. 17, '11 (i). — "King Christian," suite, eiegie, and musette
from, A. I, '10 (i). — "A Saga," tone poem, Mr. 4, '10 (3). — "A song of
Spring," N. 20, '08 (3). — "The Swan of Tuonela," legend (Cambridge),
Mr. 2, '11 (2). — Symphony, No. i, E-minor, J. 4, '07 (19). — Symphony,
No. 2, D-major, Mr. 11, '04 (4). — Symphony, No. 4, A-minor, O. 24, '13
(2). — Valse triste, A. I, '10 (2),
Binding, Christian. Concerto for piano and orch. (New Bedford), A. 8,
'13 (i). — Concerto for violin and orch., A-major, Op. 45, N. 17, '05 (2).
— " Episodes chevaleresques," suite, Op. 35, F. 24, '05 (3). — " Rondo
infinito," N. 19, '09 (i). — Symphony, D-minor, No. i, J. 6, '98 (5).
Singer, Otto. Symphonic fantasie, Mr. 23, '88 (i).
SiNiGAGLiA, Leone. "Le baruffe Chiozzotte," overture, Mr. 10, '11 (i).
Smetana, Friedrich. "From Bohemia's groves and meadows," sym-
phonic poem, D. 7, '00 (5). — "The Kiss," overture, A. 7, '05 (i). —
"Libussa," overture, O. 20, '05(1). — "The Moldau," symphonic poem,
N. 21, '90 (26). — "Richard III," symphonic poem, A. 24, '03 (i). —
"Sarka," symphonic poem, J. 25, '95 (i). — "The sold bride," overture,
D. 30, '87 (47). — " Vysehrad," symphonic poem, A. 24, '96 (10). — " Wal-
lenstein's camp," symphonic poem, J. i, '97 (4).
Spohr, Louis. Concerto for violin and orch., No. 7, Mr. 20, '91 (i). —
Concerto for violin and orch., No. 8, N. 11, '81 (13). — Concerto for
violin and orch.. No. 9, J. 27, '88 (9). — Concerto for violin and orch.,
No. II, F. 26, '86 (i). — "Faust," overture, J. 15, '86 (i). — "Jessonda,"
overture, N. 23, '83 (7). — Symphony, No. 3, C-minor, J. 29, '92 (i). —
Symphony, No. 4, in F. ("Consecration of tones"), D. 2, '87 (2).
Spontini, Gasparo. "Olympia," overture, J. 25, '84 (4).
Stanford, C. Villiers. Symphony, No. 3 ("Irish"), F. 21, '90 (i).
Strauss, Johann. "Beautiful Blue Danube," waltz with male chorus, Mr.
12, '11 (i). — "Moto perpetuo," a musical joke, A. II, '95. (i) — Polka,
"Singer's joy," for orchestra (Philadelphia), Mr. 28, '96 (i). — "Wine,
woman and song" (Philadelphia), Mr. 28, '96 (2).
Strauss, Richard. Burleske in D-minor for piano and orch., A. 17, '03 (i).
— Concerto for violin and orch., D-minor, Op. 8 (New York), Mr. 21, '03
(2). — "Death and Transfiguration," tone poem, F. 5, '97 (36). — "Don
Juan," tone poem, O. 30, '91 (42). — "Don Quixote," variations on a
theme of knightly character, F. 12, '04 (8). — "Festliches Praeludium,"
D. 12, '13 (i). — "Feuersnot," love scene, Mr. 7, '02 (12). — "Guntrum,"
preludes to Acts I and II, N. 8, '95 (8). — "A hero's life," tone poem, D.
6, '01 (11). — "In Italy," symphonic fantasy, D. 21, '88 (5). — "Mac-
271
APPENDIX
beth,"tone poem,Mr."i7, 'ii (i). — "Salome," dance from, A. 26, '12 (i).
— Symphonia domestica, F. 15, '07 (13). — Symphony in F-minor, N. 3,
'93 (5)- — "Thus Spake Zarathustra," tone poem, O. 29, '97 (12). —
"Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks," rondo, F. 21, '96 (41),
Strube, Gustav. Concerto for violin and orch., F-sharp-minor, D. 22, '05
(6). — Concerto for violin and orch., G-major, Op. 13, D. 10, '97 (2). —
Concerto for violoncello and orch., E-minor, O. 29, '09 (i). — Fantastic
dance for viola and orch., Mr. 27, '08 (2). — Fantastic overture, Op. 20,
Mr. II, '04 (2). — "Longing," symphonic poem for viola and orch., A. 20,
'05 (2). — "Lorelei," symphonic poem, J. 24, '13 (i). — "Maid of
Orleans," overture, Op. 8, F. 15, '95 (i). — "Narcissus and Echo," sym-
phonic poem, J. 24, '13 (i). — "Puck," comedy overture, Mr. 18, '10,
(12). — Rhapsody for orchestra. Op. 17, A. 19, '01. (i) — Symphony, B-
minor, A. 2, '09 (2). — Symphony, C-minor, A. 2, '96 (l).
SuK, Josef. "A Fairy Tale," suite, Op. 16, N. 28, '12 (2). — Symphony,
E-major, Op. 14, 0. 28, '04 (4).
SvENDSEN, JoHAN S. "Camival in ^ aris," Op. 9, D. 4, '91 (7). — "Nor-
wegian rhapsody," No. 2, Op. 19, N. 15, '89 (4). — Romance for violin and
orch. (Washington), N. i, '92 (i). — Symphony, B-fiat, No. 2, J. 4, '84 (4).
— "Zorahayda," legend for orch.. Op. 11, N. 25, '92 (2).
Taneieff, Sergei. "Oresteia," overture, Op. 6, N. 30, '00 (6). — Symphony,
No. I, in C, N. 22, '01 (i).
Thieriot, Ferdinand. Sinfonietta in E-major, Op. 55, F. 17, '93 (i).
Thomas, Ambroise. "Mignon," overture (Young People's), A. 2, '90 (8).
Tinel, Edgar. Three symphonic pictures from "Polyeucte," Op. 21, F. 8,
'07 (i).
TscHAiKOWSKY, Peter Ilitch. Conccrto for piano and orch., No. i, B-flat-
minor, F. 20, '85 (38). — Concerto for piano and orch., No. 2, G-major, F.
4, '98 (2). — Concerto for violin and orch., No. 2, D-major, 2d and 3d
movements, D. I, '93 (5); — entire (Cambridge), A. 7, '04 (22). — "Fan-
taisie de concert," for pianoand orch., Op. 56 (New York), J. 12, '92 (2). —
"1812," overture, D. 29, '93 (20). — "Francesca da Rimini," fantasy for
orch.. Op. 32, N. I, '95 (16). — "Hamlet," symphonic poem, Mr. 4, '92 (6).
— Italian Capriccio, Op. 45, O. 22, '97 (18). — "Manfred," symphony,
A. 26, '01 (8). — "March Slave," F. 23, '83 (i). — "Mozartiana" suite.
Op. 61, N. 18, '98 (i). — "Nutcracker," suite, D. 13, '08 (18). — "Romeo
and Juliet," overture fantasia, F. 7, '90 (26). — Serenade for strings. Op.
48, O. 12, '88 (3). — Suite, "Characteristic," Op. 53, "Children's dreams"
from, N. 5, '09 (i). — Suite, No. i, D-minor, Mr. 17, '99 (4). — Suite, No.
3, G-major, O. 16, '91 (13). — Symphony, No. 2, C-minor, F. 12, '97 (i).
— Symphony, No. 3, D-major, D. i, '99 (4). — Symphony, No. 4, F-
272
APPENDIX
minor, id and 3d movements, O. 17, '90 (15); — entire, N. 27, '96 (30). —
Symphony, No. s,E-minor, O. 21, '92 (41). — Symphony, No. 6, B-minor,
("Pathetic "), D. 28, '94 (76). — Variations on a rococo theme for violon-
cello and orch., O. 30, '08 (9). — "The Voyvode," orchestral ballad, D. 4,
'03 (I).
Urack, Otto. Symphony in E-major, No. i, Mr. 6, '14 (i).
Van der Stucken, Frank. "Pagina d'amore," J. 6, '92 (i) (Young People's).
— "Pax triumphans," symphonic prologue, D. 22, '04 (i). — "William
Ratcliff," symphonic prologue, F. i, '01 (i).
ViEUXTEMPS, Henri. Concerto for violin and orch., No. 1 (Cambridge),
A. 10, '02 (i). — Concerto for violin and orch.. No. 4, D-minor, Mr. 13,
*8s (7). — Concerto for violin and orch., A-minor, No. 5, O. 17, '84 (13). —
Fantasy on Slavonic melodies for violin and orch., N. 17, '82 (8).
ViOTTi, Giovanni Battista. Concerto for violin and orch., A-minor, N. 29,
'95 (5).
Vivaldi, Antonio. Concerto for violin with organ and string orch., Mr. 7,
'13 (i).
VoGRicH, Max. Concerto for piano and orch., E-minor, F. 8, '89 (4).
Volkmann, Robert. Concerto for violoncello and orch., A-minor, Op. 33,
F. I, '84 (12). — Festival overture, Op. 50, J. 3, '90(2). — " King Richard,"
overture, Mr. 13, '85 (12). — Serenade for strings, No. i, Valse lente from
(Providence), J. 25, '93 (l). — Serenade for strings, No. 2, N. 24, '82 (9).
— Serenade for strings, D-minor, No. 3, F. 6, '85 (15). — Symphony, D-
minor, No. i, O. 17, '84 (11). — Symphony, B-flat, No. 2, D. 21, '83 (4).
Wallace, William. "Villon," symphonic poem, A. 19, '12 (i).
Wagner, Richard. Centennial march, F. 21, '95 (2). — A Faust overture,
J' I9> '83 (48). — "Flying Dutchman," overture (New Bedford), Mr. 12,
'12 (11). — "Gotterdammerung," funeral music, F. 16, '83 (28). — "Got-
terdammerung," Siegfried's Rhine journey (Chicago), My. 16, '93 (2). —
"Gotterdammerung," song of the Rhine daughters, N. 23, '83 (i). —
Selections from "Siegfried,"a nd "Gotterdammerung" (arr. by Richter),
J. 6, '88 (33). — Huldigungsmarsch, N. 10, '82 (16). — Kaisermarsch, D.
30, '81 (24). — "Lohengrin," prelude, Mr. 14, '84 (53). — "Lohengrin,"
preludes to Acts I and III (Washington), Mr. 24, '96 (13). — "Lohengrin"
prelude to Act III (Cambridge), J. 3, '95 (19). — "Lohengrin," the
legend, Act III, O. 13, '82 (14). — "The Mastersingers of Nuremberg,"
overture, N. 1 1, '81 (159). — The " Mastersingers of Nuremberg," introduc-
tion to Act III, D. 4, '85 (7). — "Mastersingers of Nuremberg," introduc-
tion to Act III, dance of apprentices and procession of Mastersineers, F. 10,
'82 (16). — "Parsifal," prelude, N. 10, '82 (32). — "Parsifal," Good
APPENDIX
Friday Spell, F. 15, '84 (12). — "Rheingold," prelude and first scene, A.
21, '93 (i). — "Rheingold," entrance of Gods into Valhalla and lament of
Rhine daughters (Cambridge), J. 3, '95 (6). — "Rienzi," overture, O. 13,
'82 (59). — "Siegfried," VValdweben, A. 9, 'll (2). — "Siegfried Idyl," F.
16, '83 (81). — Symphony in C, F. 24, '88 (3). — "Tannhauser," overture,
D. 15, '82 (147). — "Tannhauser," overture and bacchanale (Paris ver-
sion), D. 31, '90 (6). — "Tannhauser," march, J. 18, '84 (2). — "Tann-
hauser," prelude to Act III (Cambridge), J. 3, '95 (8). — "Tristan and
Isolde," prelude, F. 16, '83 (13). — "Die Walkure," ride of the Valkyries,
(Popular), My. 28, '86 (27). — "Die Walkure," Wotan's farewell and fire
charm (Philadelphia), Mr. 22, '97 (6).
Webber, Amherst. Symphony C-minor, D. 29, '05 (i).
Weber, Carl Maria von. "Abu Hassan," overture, Mr. 20, '96 (4). —
Concertina for clarinet, Op. 26, J. 4, '84 (2). — Concertstiick for piano and
orch., Op. 79, D. 18, '8s (11). — "Euryanthe," overture, D. 8, '82 (84). —
"Der Freischiitz," overture, O. 27, '82 (93). — Invitation to the dance,
(arr. by Berlioz) (Cambridge), Mr. 22, '83 (40). — " Jubel," overture,
O. 21, '81 (16). — "Oberon," overture, J. 13, '82 (113). — Polacca bril-
liante for piano and orch. (arr. by Liszt), J. 5, '83 (3). — "Preciosa,"
overture, D. 24, '85 (r). — "Ruler of spirits," overture, Mr. i, '01 (i).
Weingartner, Felix. "The Elysian Fields," symphonic poem, Mr. 6,
'03 (i). — "Lustige Ouverture," D. 12, '13 (i). — Symphony, G-major,
Op. 23, A. 12, '01 (i). — Symphony, No. 3, E-major, Mr. 8, '12 (i).
Weld, Arthur. "Italia," dramatic suite, F. 28, '90 (i).
Whiting, Arthur. Concert overture, F. 5, '86 (i). — Concerto for piano
and orch., D-minor, Op. 6, N. 16, '88 (i). — Fantasie for piano and orch.,
Op. II (Cambridge), Mr. 12 '96 (3). — Suite for strings and four horns,
Op. 8, Mr. 13, '91 (i).
WiDOR, Charles Marie. Choral and variations for harp and orch.. Op. 74,
F. 27, '03 (2).
WiENLAWSKi, Henri. Concerto for violin and piano, No. 2, D-minor, Op. 22,
J. 4, '87 (6). — Fantasy for violin and orch., on Gounod's "Faust," Mr.
16, '86 (4).
WiTKOwsKi, G. Symphony, D-minor, A. 3, '03 (i).
Wolf, Hugo. Italian Serenade, Mr. 31, '05 (3). — "Penthesilea," sym-
. phonic poem, N. 18, '04 (2).
Zollner, Heinrich. "Midnight at Sedan," suite, F. 21, '96 (2).
INDEX
INDEX
Adamowski, Josef, 122; leaves orches-
tra, 213.
Adamowski, Timothee, 122- leaves
orchestra, 213.
Aldrich, Richard, 225.
Apthorp, William F., on a concert of
the Germania Orchestra, 7; quoted,
8; on Henschel's conducting, 36;
on Brahms, 84; quoted, 11$; editor
of programme book, 139.
Arbos, E. Fernandez, 205.
Bailey, Lillian. See Mrs. G. Henschel.
Beerbohm, Max, quoted, i.
Beethoven, Ludwig van, commis-
sioned to write oratorio for Handel
and Haydn Society, 3; symphonies
first performed in Boston, 5; Hen-
schel's plan to play all the sympho-
nies, 41 ; " Dedication of the House "
conducted by Henschel, 57, 206;
"Missa Solennis" at opening of
Symphony Hall, 195.
Bischoff, symphony, 212.
Boston Academy of Music, 5.
"Boston Daily Advertiser," quoted,
69-71,72-73, "8.
"Boston Evening Transcript,"
quoted, 54, 68, 98-99, 116, 117,
166-67, 172-73, 182-85, 196, 212.
"Boston Herald," quoted, 59-61.
"Boston Journal," quoted, 178, 180.
"Boston Musical Gazette," 3.
"Boston Traveller," quoted, $8, 130,
13^37-
Bourgogne, La, sinking of, 188.
Brahms, Johannes, his music disliked,
84, 109; his letter to Henschel,
quoted, 93; variations on theme by
Haydn, 126, memorial concert, 179;
among the classics, 213.
Brennan, William H., 87.
Bruckner, Anton, symphony No. 7,
109; effect on audience, 125.
Bull, Mrs. Ole, 145.
Cecilia Society, 195.
Chad wick, George W. 118.
Chorus, adjunct to orchestra, 95.
Comee, Frederic R., 87.
Concert-masters, the, 204-05.
Concerts, length of, 47; attendance,
first season, 74; in New England
cities, 85; first in Steinway Hall,
N.Y., 112; criticisms of N.Y., 129;
benefit, 142; concert for school chil-
dren, May, 1886, 141; testimonial
to Gericke, 144; success in other
cities under Nikisch, 162; at
"World's Fair," Chicago, 1893,
162; benefit for San Francisco
earthquake sufferers, 207; com-
memoration of 30th anniversary of
orchestra, 217.
Cotting, C. E., 198.
"Courier," quoted, 38-39.
Cross, Charles R., 198.
Curtis, George William, 6.
Deficit, second season, 85; approxi-
mate aggregate, 106.
Dresel, Otto, 153.
Dwight, John S. article In the "Dial,"
4; his "Journal of Music." 9;
quoted, 30 n.; letter to, 62; on read-
ing the programme book, 139; 145;
on new music, 159.
Ellis, Charles A., manager, 86.
Elson,Louis C, his "Historyof Amer-
ican Music" quoted, 3; quoted,
62, 94-95; valentine to Henschel,
277
INDEX
98; on temper of the audiences, 120;
cnreceptionofStrauss's/'Inltaly,"
126; on Gericke's farewell concert
144.
Epstein, Julius, 103, 105, 107, 155.
"Euterpiad," the, 3.
Fiedler, B., no.
Fiedler, Max, engaged as conductor,
215; popularity of his programmes,
216; last concert, 218.
Fitchburg (Mass.)> concerts, 85.
"Gazette, Saturday Evening," quot-
ed, 61, 69, 81-82, 125.
Gericke, Wilhelm, 95; in Vienna, 103;
engaged as conductor, 104; discour-
aged, 104; refuses to conduct con-
cert in New York, 105; his account
of his first term as conductor, 106-
14; biographical, 114; first con-
cert, 117; discipline improves or-
chestra, 143; farewell party at
home of Mrs. Ole Bull, 145; fare-
well dinner at Tavern Club, 145-
52 ; engaged as Paur's successor,
181; comment on his return in
"Transcript," 182; comment by
Mr. Higginson, 185; his account of
his second term as conductor, 186-
87; criticism of programmes, 189;
resigns, 207; benefit concert, 207;
conducts San Francisco benefit
concert, 208.
Germania Orchestra, 7.
Hale, Philip, editor of programme
book, 139.
Handel, Georg Friedrich, "Largo,"
118.
Handel and Haydn Society, founded,
3-
Harvard Musical Association, found-
ed, 8; orchestral concerts, 10; ceases
concerts, 78.
Harvard University, 28, 85, 210.
Henschel, Georg, his "Concert Over-
ture" first performed, 35; his ac-
count of his connection with
orchestra, 36, 39-41, 52-53, 99;
letter in "Courier" on his conduct-
ing, 38; meets Mr. Higginson, 39;
marriage, 40; engaged as conductor,
40; adverse criticism of, 50, 51; ac-
quires library for orchestra, 52;
letter to men of orchestra, 55; criti-
cism of, 59; presented with silver
set by orchestra, 64; his passion for
Brahms, 65; ends conductorship,
98; final concert of, 99; conducts
Pension Fund Concert, 206.
Henschel, Mrs Georg (Lillian
Bailey), 35, 81.
Hess, Willy, 205.
Higginson, Henry Lee, biographical,
12-14; letter to his father, 15; arm
disabled, 17; letters, 19, 20; leaves
Vienna, 21; marriage, 23; in Ohio,
24; enters firm of Lee, Higginson &
Co., 24; "In re the Boston Sym-
phony Orchestra," 27-34; engages
Henschel, 37; announces Boston
Symphony Orchestra concerts, 41-
43; accountof orchestra, 46-49, 103
-06, 155, 157, 185 ; on Henschel's
critics, 62; circular to orchestra,
1882, 66; criticism of circular, 68;
announces second season of con-
certs, 73; speech at Tavern Club
farewell to Gericke, 146-52; letter
to Otto Dresel, quoted, 154; on the
Musician's Protective Union, 157;
asks public to subscribe for new
hall, 1893, 166; letter to "Tran-
script" on need of hall, 169; com-
ment on Gericke's return, 185;
speech at opening of Symphony
Hall, 197; bust placed in Sym-
phony Hall, 217; speeches at Har-
vard Clubs, New York and Chicago,
222; quoted, 224.
"Home Journal," quoted, jj.
Howe, Mrs. George D., 34, 39.
Indy, Vincent d', 205, 206.
Jacquet, Leon, 188.
Jahn, Wilhelm, 107.
278
INDEX
Kneisel, Franz, engaged as concert-
master, 104; conducts "World's
Fair" concerts, 162; leaves orches-
tra, 204.
Kneisel Quartette, 123, 205.
Lang, B. J., 84, 115; lectures, 118.
Leipzig, Gewandhaus, 195.
Leipzig, Stadt Theater, 155, 174.
Lichtenberg, Leopold, 122.
Lind, Jenny, 8.
Listemann, Bemhard, 28, 34, 122,
184.
Loeffler, Charles M., 123; leaves
orchestra, 205.
Lowell, Charles Russell, 14, 22.
Lowell (Mass.), concerts, 85.
Luther, Martin, memorial concert, 96.
Lyman, John P., 34, 85.
Lynn (Mass.), concerts, 85.
Maas, Louis, 34.
Melba, Nellie, 190.
"Minerviad," the, 3.
Mock programme, a, 63.
Moldauer, A., no.
Mozart, W. A., concert for monu-
ment fund, 142.
Muck, Dr. Karl, biographical, 209;
estimate of orchestra, 210; ideas on
programme making, 211; resigns,
215; receives title of "General
Musical Director" from German
Emperor, 218; returns to Boston
in 1912, 219.
Mudgett, L. H., 87.
"Music," quoted, 64, 65-68.
Music Hall, Boston, built, 8; secured
for Symphony Concerts, 47; "Great
Organ" removed from, 116; move-
ment for new hall to replace, 164;
criticisms of, 165; last Symphony
Concert in, 192; poem by William
S. Thayer at opening in 1852, 193;
195-
"Music Hall Bulletin," established,
138.
Musical Fund Society, concerts, 6, 10.
Musical Institute of Boston, 3.
"Musical Magazine," the, 3.
Musician's Protective Union, 156.
New Bedford (Mass.), concerts, 85.
Newport (R. L), concerts, 85.
"New York Times," quoted, 129.
Nikisch, Arthur, 154; biographical,
155; encounter with Musician's
Protective Union, 1889, 156; con-
ducts without score, 160; popular-
ity in other cities, 162; misun-
derstanding about contract, 163;
resigns, and becomes Director-gen-
eral of Royal Opera at Buda-Pesth,
163.
Norcross, Mr., builder of Symphony
Hall, 197.
"Organ, Great," in Music Hall, 8,
116, 164.
Paderewski, Ignace Jan, 190.
Paine, John K., " Spring Symphony"
given, 98; lectures, 118.
Park Street Church choir, 2.
Parker, H. T., on the stages of the
orchestra, loi; on Paur as con-
ductor, 177; on audiences, 226.
Paur, Emil, biographical, 174; his
account of his connection with
orchestra, 174-76; estimate of, by
H. T. Parker, 177; beating time
with foot, 178; gives works of
Richard Strauss, 179; ends con-
ductorship, 180.
Peace Jubilee, King's Chapel, 2.
Peck, A. P., 86.
Pension Fund, 201-203; concerts, 187,
206.
Perkins, Charles C, 199.
Personnel of orchestra, changes, 121;
criticism of changes, 124; number
of harps and horns increased, 213.
Philharmonic Society, founded, 10;
ceases concerts, 78.
Pianos, advertising of, stopped, 79.
"Pops," the, no, 140.
Portland (Me.), concerts, 85.
Pourtau, Leon, 188.
279
INDEX
Pratt, Bela, L. 218.
Programme book, established, 139.
Programmes, Henschel's idea of, 56;
facsimile of first, 57; facsimile of
Wagner Memorial, 83; Gericke's
criticized, 120, 143, 189; Dr.
Muck's ideas on, 2n; "Transcript"
on Dr. Muck's, 212; Fiedler's, 216.
Providence (R. I.), concerts, 85.
Richter, Hans, 103 ; signs contract as
conductor, 173; contract broken,
174; 209.
Roby, F. G., 85.
Roth, Otto, no.
Rubinstein, Anton, 38, 142.
Saint-Saens, Camille, "Danse Ma-
cabre," elicits first encore, 119.
Sabine, Wallace C, 195, 198.
Salem (Mass.), concerts, 85.
Sanders Theatre, concerts, 85.
San Francisco, concert for earth-
quake sufferers, 207.
Schroeder, Alvvin, 204.
Steinway, William, 1 1 2.
Strauss, Richard, "In Italy," first
performed, 109, 126; "Ode to Dis-
cord," inspired by symphony, 127;
Paur's attitude toward, 179; "Hel-
denleben," 187; praises orchestra,
187; conducts Pension Fund Con-
cert, 187; 206.
Svecenski, Louis, no; leaves orches-
tra, 204.
Symphony Hall, movement to build,
164; signers of appeal for building,
168; building deferred, 171; sites
suggested, 171; McKim, Mead &
White begin designs, 172; opened,
192; programme of opening con-
cert, 195; extract from ode by
Owen Wister, 195; speech by Mr.
Higginson, 197-201.
Telephone, plan for concerts by, 95.
Thayer, William S., 193.
Theodorowicz, Julius, 204.
Thomas, Theodore, Orchestra visits
Boston, II, III, 183.
Tickets, price of, 43; demand for, 53;
speculators, 75, 135; method of sell-
ing by auction introduced, 87; high
premiums, 91; at twenty-five cents,
91; change of prices, 92.
Trips, to other cities, suggested, log;
first made, in; influence of, 128;
humorous incidents of, 131; to the
West, 1889, 144; temporarily aban-
doned, 177.
Wagner, Richard, Mr. Higginson and
J. S. Dwight on, 30 n.; memorial
concert, February, 1883, 81; fac-
simile of programme, 83; "Parsi-
fal" Vorspiel played, 83; memorial
concert, February 1883,97; among
the classics, 213.
Wallace, William Vincent, fantasia
on "Maritana," 8.
Walter, W. E., 87; on humors of out-
of-town concerts, 131-33.
Weber, Carl Maria von, "Festival"
overture played, 58.
Weiss, Albert, 188.
Weissenborn, E. A., 80.
Wendling, Carl, 205.
Wilson, George H., 138.
Wister, Owen, passage from poem
read at opening of Symphony Hall,
195-
Witek, Anton, 205.
Worcester (Mass.), concerts, 85.
Young People's Popular Concerts,
141.
Zach, Max, no.
Zerrahn, Carl, 10, 53.
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