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Music History Between 1875 - 1890
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Music History Between 1875 - 1890
The period of fifteen years from 1875 to 1890 was most certainly a
period of progress. Not only was the country growing rapidly in
population and wealth, but means of communication were much greater and
more efficient than in the preceding years. The present writer well
remembers a journey from San Francisco to St. Louis, and on to Boston in
1878, when there was one single track railroad between Oakland and
Omaha. Cheyenne consisted of two rows of primitive looking wooden
houses, behind which were "anchored" many emigrants' wagons, or "prairie
schooners" as they were called. Only a few years later (in the early
eighties) Colonel Mapleson visited Cheyenne with his opera company,
which included Patti and Gerster, and wrote thus of the place: "Although
Cheyenne is but a little town, consisting of about two streets, it
possesses a most refined society, composed, it is true, of cow-boys; yet
one might have imagined oneself at the London Opera when the curtain
rose,--the ladies in brilliant toilettes and covered with diamonds; the
gentlemen all in evening dress. The entire little town is lighted by
electricity. The club-house is one of the pleasantest I have ever
visited, and the people are most hospitable."
This account reminds the writer of a visit, not so many years ago, to
Oklahoma City where the ladies resembled those of Cheyenne. There was,
however, but one gentleman, within the writer's range of vision, in
evening dress. And when Mapleson visited Cheyenne Oklahoma was an Indian
reservation. Thus has civilization advanced.
In 1875 San Francisco was already a good-sized city, but almost the
whole country between San Francisco and Chicago and St. Louis has been
developed since 1875.
In San Francisco we find the establishment of the "Loring Club" in 1877.
But good music was getting its roots in deeper in the East. In New York
the "Symphony Society" was founded by Dr. Leopold Damrosch in 1878, and
was followed in 1881 by the "Boston Symphony Orchestra," which was
established through the liberality of Major Henry L. Higginson.
"The Music Teachers' National Association" was also formed in 1876, and
while it is not in the public eye in the way that opera and concerts
are, yet its influence throughout the land has been very marked, and has
led to state associations, with their annual conferences, and exchanges
of views among teachers.
In the concert world we find the names of several
celebrities,--Rubinstein had visited America in 1872, and Hans von Buelow
in 1875, Moritz Rosenthal in 1888, and Godowski in 1890. We find also
among the noted pianists who were first known here in this period
Arabella Goddard, Rafael Joseffy, Fanny Bloomfield-Zeisler and Josef
Hofmann.
Some noted violinists also visited America, August Wilhelmj in 1878,
Ovide Musin, Teresina Tua, and in 1888 Fritz Kreisler. But perhaps the
most noteworthy event was the appearance of Maud Powell, an American
woman, whose career placed her in the front rank of violinists, and has
but recently ended with her death.
Of singers there were a great many, but most of them appeared in opera.
Of the Americans who gained international reputation were Emma Abbott,
Alwina Valleria (of Baltimore), Lillian Nordica (Norton), Emma Nevada
(Wixom), and Charles R. Adams.
Among the European celebrities who visited America were Madame
Rudersdorff, Etelka Gerster, Scalchi, Marcella Senibrich, Amalia
Materna, and Lilli Lehmann, also Alberto Stagno, Max Alvary, Albert
Niemann, Francesco Tarnagno.
This leads us to a short review of opera, and as New York City was the
headquarters from which numerous companies issued to charm the rest of
the country, a review of New York is practically a review of opera for
the whole country.
From 1850 to 1875 opera is said to have "flourished on failure" chiefly
under Maretzek and Strakosch. Also, opera meant Italian opera, or at
least opera in Italian. There were spasmodic efforts to promote German
opera, chiefly by Adolf Neuendorff, who managed the German Theatre in
New York City from 1872 to 1883. In 1876 a Wagner Festival was given in
New York, and in 1878 there was a short and unsuccessful season given by
the Pappenheim Opera Company, during which "Rienzi" was sung for the
first time in America. Theodore Thomas did much to prepare the way by
playing excerpts from the Wagner operas at his concerts, but Dr. Leopold
Damrosch in 1884 set on foot a movement which, during the next few
years, brought to America several of the greatest German singers, and
gave to the public adequate representations of many of the Wagnerian
operas. Dr. Damrosch died in 1885 and his work was taken up by Anton
Seidl, who had been associated with Wagner in the production of the
"Ring" at Beyreuth. Under Seidl "Die Meistersinger" had its first
performance in America, in 1886; "Tristan und Isolde" and "Siegfried" in
1887; "Die Goetterdaemmerung," in 1888, and "Das Rheingold" in 1889. Thus
German opera was well launched in this period.
To return to Italian opera,--Colonel Mapleson invaded the United States
in 1878 bringing with him a good company of singers. He did not go
farther west than St. Louis. Several tours followed in succeeding years.
During his third tour he gave the first performance in America of
Boito's "Mefistofele," with Campanini, Valleria, Cary and Novara. About
this time he found a strong competitor in Henry E. Abbey, who secured
Nilsson as a counter-attraction to Patti who was under Mapleson. This
competition caused Mapleson to proceed farther west, so he led his
company as far as San Francisco, where he appears to have taken the town
by storm, and, if his account is correct, the march in "Aida" was
performed by six hundred of the State militia and he had the assistance
of a military band and an extra chorus of three hundred and fifty
voices. But Mapleson's enterprises were beset with difficulties and
finally ended in disaster, although not for some years. To many people,
who can remember the rivalry between Abbey and Mapleson in the eighties,
when Patti, Gerster, Sembrich, Scalchi, Nilsson, Annie Louise Cary,
Campanini, Ravelli and del Puente were in their prime, these were the
days of Italian opera in America. Probably much was lacking in the
staging and scenery, but the singers have been unsurpassed.
Before closing the review of this period we come to that which is of
immense importance in the development of music in America, viz. the
appearance of a number of composers who have taken high rank among the
composers of the world;--John K. Paine, whose first symphony was
produced in 1875, was followed shortly by Arthur Bird, George W.
Chadwick, Horatio Parker, Harry Rowe Shelley, Dudley Buck and Edward A.
MacDowell. Nothing speaks more eloquently of the progress of music in
America than the work of these men, and of several others of smaller
achievements.
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