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Preface v

Index of Compositions 193

Miscellaneous Items 280

ANNALS OF MUSIC IN AMERICA

The Annals of Music in America during the first hundred years contain very little that would seem to be of any importance to the musicians of today. Nevertheless it is as interesting to note the beginnings of music in this newly settled country as to watch the appearance of the baby's first tooth.

The first settlement at Plymouth took place in 1620, and we find that in 1640 the colonists were already busy with the printing press in Cambridge, Mass., and the second book which came from the press was a reprint of an English Psalm book, printed under the title of the Bay Psalm Book. This was not an original work, but its production shows that music was already a living problem, and was even then part of the life of the colonists.

Practically nothing more of note happened until the importation of the first pipe organ, in 1700. This was quickly followed by other similar instruments in different parts of the country, and even by the building of organs by Americans, the first being by John Clemm in New York, which contained three manuals and twenty-six stops, and the next by Edward Bromfield in Boston. Bromfield's organ had two manuals and 1200 pipes, but was not completed when he died in 1746.

The early history of music in New England, as handed down to us by writers on the subject, seems to have consisted chiefly of church singing, concerning which there were many controversies. The early composers of New England were mainly occupied in composing psalm tunes, and in teaching singing schools.

The accounts of secular music come chiefly from Charleston, S. C., at which place many musicians entered this continent after visiting the West Indies. In fact, the first song recital on record in America took place at Charleston in 1733, while Boston had a concert in 1731 and Charleston had one in 1732. Charleston also claims the first performance of ballad opera on record in America .

It must not, however, be supposed that New England had no secular music. The concert above mentioned goes to show the contrary. Also there is a record of small wind instruments, such as oboes and flageolets, being brought to Boston for the purposes of trade--possibly with the idea that New England shepherds might play to their sheep, as shepherds in other countries are supposed to do.

We know that every farm had its spinning wheel and that clothes were made of the homespun woollens, but neither historian nor poet has ever pictured a New England shepherd with the shepherd's pipe. Imagination has not so far run riot.

Music was in a very elementary stage during the first hundred years. The country was sparsely populated, and music depends on the existence of a community. Even in 1750 the cows, according to tradition, were still occupied, during their daily peregrinations, in laying out the streets of the future city of Boston,--a city which was destined to be one of the leaders in matters musical.

The first item of especial interest in this period is the performance of the "Beggar's Opera" at the "Theatre in Nassau Street," New York. This theatre was a rather tumbledown affair and was not built for the purpose. It had a platform and rough benches. The chandelier was a barrel hoop through which several nails were driven, and on these nails were impaled candles, which provided all the light, and from which the tallow was likely to drip on the heads of such of the audience as had the best seats.

But three years later Lewis Hallam, who had been giving performances with his company in the more southern States, got permission to build a theatre on the site of this old place, and the house was opened in September with a play, "The Conscious Lovers," followed by a ballad farce, "Damon and Phillida."

In 1759 we find the first avowedly musical organization in America, "The Orpheus Club," was in existence in Philadelphia, and concerts were becoming more frequent. We also find a St. Cecilia Society founded in Charleston, S. C., an organization which lasted for a hundred and fifty years.

Other societies followed at short intervals and in widely scattered localities; the "Handel Society" of Dartmouth College, about 1780, the "Stoughton Musical Society," 1786, and "The Musical Society" of New York City, all tend to show that social centres were developing, and the people were finding expression in music.

An indication of what had been growing by degrees is found in the reports of concerts. Mention of instruments such as violins, French horns, oboes, trombones, etc., was made here and there, and especially in connection with the Moravian settlements in Bethlehem, Pa., where was established the first music school.

We find the first mention of an orchestra made in connection with a performance of "The Beggar's Opera" at Upper Marlboro, Md., in 1752, and a few years later a great concert was given in Philadelphia with an orchestra of fifty and a chorus of two hundred performers.

There is also a record of a concert given in Charleston, S. C., in 1796, when an orchestra of thirty instruments was employed in a performance of Gluck's overture to "Ipheg?nie en Aulide," and Haydn's "Stabat Mater."

It is quite possible that orchestras were used more or less in other concerts. Mr. Sonneck shows, in his "Early Concert-Life in America," many programs in which orchestral works are mentioned. And it is well to state here that it is almost impossible to locate the first performance in America of many of the works of the older composers, including Haydn and Mozart, because no opus number is mentioned, nor anything to indicate the identity of the work. Pleyel, Gluck and Clementi were much in vogue.

The American composer was beginning to be heard from during this period. Francis Hopkinson, who is generally regarded as the first American composer, wrote, in 1759, a song with the title "My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free." Some time later, in 1788, a small volume of songs was published under the title "Seven Songs," by the same composer.

Francis Hopkinson was a well-educated man, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a member of the Convention of 1787 which formulated the Constitution of the United States, first Judge of the Admiralty Court in Pennsylvania, and author of many pamphlets and poems.

A man of entirely different calibre was William Billings, who was considered the first composer in New England. His compositions were chiefly "fuguing tunes," and he published several psalm books.

Billings was a tanner by trade, but a great musical enthusiast and organizer. The Stoughton Musical Society, which is the oldest musical society still in existence, was organized by Billings. Lack of education was no bar to his activities, and he accomplished much with very limited means.

It is said that Billings introduced the bass viol into the services of the Church, and thus began to break down the ancient Puritanical prejudices against musical instruments. He was also the first to use the pitch-pipe in order to ensure some degree of certainty in "striking up the tune" in church.

Again, we find the first American ballad operas during this period. Benjamin Carr, an Englishman who had been in America a couple of years, produced in 1796 a ballad opera, "The Archers of Switzerland," and, shortly afterwards, in the same year, with Pellesier as librettist, another ballad opera, "Edwin and Angelina," was staged in New York City. Though these works could hardly be called distinctively American, they were the first composed and produced in this country.

During the last decade of the 18th century some French actors and singers invaded the country and made New Orleans their headquarters. From that time on, for many years, New Orleans was prominent in the production of French operas and plays.

Theatres were built in several of the larger cities, and noted singers began to appear from abroad. The first of these appears to have been Miss Broadhurst, who appeared in Philadelphia in 1793, at the Chestnut Street Theatre. She was closely followed by Mrs. Oldmixon.

In the same year a new organ was placed in King's Chapel, Boston, replacing the Brattle organ.

In 1800 we find the first mention of the use of the bassoon. This was in Bethlehem, Pa., and it seems to complete the list of instruments for the average orchestra. Notwithstanding the record of the importation of oboes, many years earlier, and the fact that Graupner, one of the leading musicians in Boston about this time, was, or had been an oboeist, some historian has stated that even well into the nineteenth century there was only one oboe player in the United States, and he lived in Baltimore. Surely this must be an error.

In December 1800 we find the first annual concert of the Philharmonic Society in New York City. This society died in a few years, and in 1820 another Philharmonic Society was formed. This society also dwindled, though it did not die, for in 1840 it was reorganized, and has ever since taken a leading part in the musical life of New York.

Many musical societies made a beginning. Few lived long. But of those which lived perhaps the most noted is the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, formed in 1815. This society gave what was claimed to be the first complete performance of Handel's "Messiah," but it is also claimed that this was done in 1801 in the hall of the University of Pennsylvania.

The Handel and Haydn Society also gave what was called the first complete performance of Haydn's "Creation," an honor which is also ascribed to King's Chapel in 1816, while portions had been performed in 1811 at Bethlehem, Pa. Thus it is difficult to fix definitely the first performances of many of the large works. In later days, especially in the case of Wagner's operas, portions were given at concerts long before complete stage performances were essayed.

Another musical society which is in existence at the present day, and which undoubtedly has had much influence on the musical life of America, was the Pierian Sodality of Harvard University, established in 1808 by the undergraduates.

In Philadelphia we find the establishment of the Musical Fund Society, which, for a number of years, did much to promote good music in that city. At its first concert, on April 24, 1821, Beethoven's First Symphony was played for the first time in America. Mr. Goepp gives us a full account of this and tells us that the whole symphony was too severe a task for an audience of that period, so the performance was broken and diversified by vocal and other solos between the movements.

New England possessed several musical societies in 1821, by which performances of oratorio were given. The Sacred Music Society was formed in New York City in 1823 and lasted till 1849. So it may easily be seen that, as the population increased, musical societies were soon established.

Theatres, while not strictly part of the musical life of the country, can hardly be separated from it because they were the home of ballad operas, and all musical stage representations. They were already in existence in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia before the beginning of the nineteenth century, but we find in 1807, the opening of "Le Th??tre St. Philippe" in New Orleans with M?hul's one-act opera, "Une Folie." This theatre being burned in 1817, a new one, "Le Th??tre d'Orl?ans," was built and opened in the following year. This theatre was the finest in the country at that time and was the home of opera for a number of years. The record of opera in New Orleans is incomplete, but it is well known that New Orleans was the home of French opera in America long before it became popular in other parts of the country.

But America was gradually edging up to the time of grand opera. Singers were arriving from abroad and brought with them their ambitions. We find that an English version of Rossini's opera, "Il Barbiere," was given at the Park Theatre, New York City, in 1819, with Miss Leesugg as Rosina, and in 1823 an English version of Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" was presented. Again in the early part of 1825, Weber's opera "Der Freysch?tz" was presented, in English, at the Park Theatre, with Miss Kelly and Mrs. de Luce in the leading parts. Similar performances followed in other cities, and the country was thus gradually prepared for the real thing,--grand opera,--in its native language.

While the record of items during the period 1800 to 1825 is not very long it still shows considerable progress. The people grew up in a country where there was little musical cultivation, where there were small communities, and where the struggle for existence had been the first consideration. They responded warmly to the efforts of the country singing teacher, the choral society promoter, and later to the producer of opera, and if history shows many failures, it may be pointed out that these failures could not have taken place if no effort had been made. Perhaps efforts in many cases were premature. Also there was much to learn in the management of masses of people. The virtues of a true democracy are nowhere more necessary than in a choral society.

The Philharmonic used to engage prominent artists. It gradually dwindled but was reorganized in 1840.

The Euterpean gave concerts which were usually followed by a supper and a ball. It ceased to exist about 1845.

A performance of music by the New Hampshire Musical Society at Hanover, N. H.;

The existence of a Beethoven Society in Portland, Me.

During these twenty-five years the list of items on record is far greater than during any preceding period of similar time. Possibly this may be accounted for by the greater facilities for travel both by sea and land. Railroads were gradually spreading out through the country, and helping to develop distant trading stations into towns and cities. Steamships were making the voyage from Europe a more feasible adventure. We shall see this as we proceed.

In what we may call the domestic side of music we find the establishment of more singing societies in all the eastern cities. There was practically no "west" in 1825, but Chicago shows up in 1834 with "The Old Settlers' Harmonic Society." The story of Chicago's early musical days may be read in Mr. George P. Upton's book of reminiscences. The remarkable part of it seems to be that Chicago grew phenomenally, and today stands as a rival to New York in all matters musical, although in 1825 Chicago was merely a trading post and New York was already a city of some size.

The musical convention came into being. The first is said to have been held at Concord, N. H., in September 1829. There is also a claim that the first musical convention was held in Montpelier, Vt., in 1839 but this is not quite correct. It may have been the first convention in Vermont. Musical conventions became popular and frequent and are so even to the present day, though the methods and matter have changed with the times.

Another item which may come under the head of domestic music is the beginning of music teaching in the public schools. This was effected by Lowell Mason, as an experiment, in 1838. At the present day chorus singing in the public schools has become an important matter, and is almost universal.

In 1838 we find a Philharmonic Society in St. Louis, showing that St. Louis was not far behind Chicago in getting into the musical world.

In Boston an Academy of Music was established by Lowell Mason in 1833. It had a large number of pupils, and there was an orchestra in connection with it, which gave several concerts. But the Harvard Musical Association, which was founded in 1837, seems to have been the chief propelling power to orchestral music in Boston, until the formation of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In New York the Philharmonic Society was reorganized and was, as it has been ever since, the most prominent orchestral organization of that city.

In 1848 two complete orchestras came to America, Gungl's, which gave a number of concerts, chiefly of light music, and the Germania, which consisted of a number of refugees from the German government. These men gave concerts of a finer type than had yet been given in America. Their career as an organization was not long, and it ended in disaster, but many of the members became prominent in musical matters in various cities, and in this way the Germania orchestra had a beneficial and lasting effect upon music in this country.

In the forties began the stream of violin and piano virtuosi which has continued in ever-increasing volume to the present day. Ole Bull, violinist, in 1843, Vieuxtemps and Art?t, violinists, and Leopold von Meyer, pianist, in 1844, were the first.

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