Theodore Thomas.
Lowell Mason. Stephen C. Foster.
The Cavaliers and the Puritans.—The English settlers who came to this country and located at Jamestown, and their successors, brought with them from their home the songs they sang there—gay songs, cavalier songs, love-ditties and the countryside tunes; but they left them at this, making no attempt to adapt them to their new surroundings. Indeed, it was as much a matter of fashion to be able to play or to sing some new ballad just brought from London as it was to have the latest fashion in dress. The Cavaliers were not the people to give a distinctive tone to music in their adopted home. The stern, severe, religious atmosphere of the New England Colonies did more for the beginnings of American music, although the first efforts were unpromising enough, since the Puritans discountenanced all music except that of Psalm tunes, which were probably sung in unison, since at that time there could be little question of singing in parts. Owing probably to a scarcity of hymn-books, it was customary to read the hymn line by line, and to sing in alternation with the reading, a custom observed in some sections of the United States even in the latter part of the 19th century. It was inevitable that the more progressive among the clergy and the people should demand better singing of the Psalms; and from this came the first singing schools, the beginning of musical education in the Colonies. A singing school is noted in Boston in 1717. As this movement spread, choirs were organized, since those who had gained some skill in singing and in reading from notes would naturally draw together, at first informally, later in regular organizations. This occurred as early as the middle of the 18th century.
Hymn-Tune Composers.—The prominence given to the singing of Psalms and hymns is doubtless due to the fact that the first composers developed in the Colonies confined their efforts to the production of hymn-tunes. The first to gain prominence was William Billings, born in Boston in 1746, died there, 1800. He was a tanner by trade and was, of course, self-taught. His efforts at harmonizing were rather crude, as is to be expected, since he had but few models in composition. He introduced a somewhat florid style, although without training in counterpoint. Yet the critic can see in the work of the early composers such as Billings, a rough vigor and a striving for a more distinctive melodic and rhythmic character than is to be found in the tunes brought over from England, showing traces of the forces already at work to differentiate the American character from the English. Billings’ first collection of tunes was published in 1770. Other composers of this period were Oliver Holden, who wrote the widely-sung “Coronation,” Andrew Law, Jacob Kimball, Daniel Read and Timothy Swan. The two other important cities, Philadelphia and New York, had some musical activity during the Colonial period. In 1741, Benjamin Franklin published a collection of hymns, performances were given of operas, and concerts for charitable purposes were organized, yet nothing in the way of native composition developed.
Early Musical Organizations.—A musical atmosphere is essential to musical development and progress, and a musical atmosphere comes only from organized effort in musical work. The first efforts in this direction were vocal, following the same line of development as that we observed in the history of music as a whole, namely: first, vocal and choral music; secondly, instrumental and particularly orchestral. The earliest important society of this kind was the Stoughton (Mass.) Musical Society, which grew out of a singing class formed in that town, by Billings, in 1774. This organization still exists. The most famous and most significant body for musical development was the Handel and Haydn Society, still in existence, which was organized in Boston, in 1815, with a chorus of nearly one hundred voices. Boston had at this time some well-trained musicians, and others came there from Europe in later years, making it the centre of American musical life for years.
Lowell Mason.—In 1826, a young man from the South, but born in Massachusetts, came to Boston to begin a musical career, which formed a link between the early singing school stage and the work of the present day. This was Lowell Mason, who was born in 1792, but spent his younger days in Savannah, Ga., where he studied music as an amateur. As the fruit of his efforts in composition, he published a collection of church music which was endorsed by the Handel and Haydn Society, and proved very successful, encouraging him, some years later, to take up music as a profession. He was essentially a man of the people among whom he lived and by nature an efficient teacher, to which he added a skill and training that ensured him the respect of those who came under his instruction. He traveled over New England and parts of New York State, holding musical conventions, and teaching the principles of music to hundreds of singers and teachers from far and near. His work thus closely touched the people, and in a day when music was not taught in the public schools, contributed greatly to spread a love for and a knowledge of vocal music. He died August 11, 1872.
Musical Instruments.—When instrumental music began to receive a share of public attention, a great step was taken toward development of music in the United States. In cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia and some Southern homes, instruments of the spinet and virginal type could be found in the 17th and 18th centuries. The flute was a gentleman’s instrument in those days, following the English custom. The violin also received some attention. (Thomas Jefferson was very fond of this instrument.) Naturally, the first instruments were brought from England, yet the record shows that John Harris, of Boston, who had learned the trade in England, offered for sale spinets of his own make, in 1769. Some church organs were built several years earlier. The harpsichord and piano followed in due course of time, as we can gather from advertisements and concert programs. There is controversy as to the making of the first pianos in the United States. Both Philadelphia and Boston seem to have had makers in a small way before the beginning of the 19th century. The pioneer in this industry was Jonas Chickering, who served his apprenticeship in Boston and started in business on his own account, in 1823. The growth of interest in music arising from the organization of choral societies and the labors of Lowell Mason, and the musicians of foreign birth who came to this country created a demand for music outside of that for the voice, organ and piano, for many of these musicians had been players in orchestras in Europe.
Early Orchestras.—The first permanent body of orchestral players, the Philharmonic Society, was formed in Boston. The chief promoter was a German, named Graupner, who came to the city named, in 1798. He gathered round him a few professionals and some amateurs, so that the nucleus of an orchestra existed before the Handel and Haydn Society was formed. Graupner also kept a music store and printed music. A large orchestra was established in 1840, which remained active for nearly a decade. New York had an organization of instrumentalists which was started about the same time as Graupner’s society in Boston, but its real work in this line did not occur until 1842, when the Philharmonic Society was founded, with a strength of from fifty to sixty players. This society still exists. The strongest musical force in Philadelphia was the Musical Fund Society, which came into existence in 1820, one object of which was to spread musical knowledge in the city. It built a hall, which still stands, and gave both vocal and instrumental concerts. Beethoven’s first symphony was given there, as early as 1821.
Permanent Orchestral Organizations.—The credit for raising the standard of orchestral work and of spreading a popular appreciation of the classics in absolute music belongs to Theodore Thomas, born in Germany, in 1835, whose family came to this country in 1845. He became a proficient violinist while still a boy. His first efforts in the line of the higher music were in the domain of chamber-music; in these concerts he was associated with Dr. William Mason and others. In 1864, he began his work in the orchestral field, in New York, visiting other cities with his men and spreading a knowledge of the works of the masters. Mr. Thomas conducted a series of concerts in Philadelphia, but finished his labors in Chicago, as the conductor of the Chicago Orchestra, which was established for him. He died in 1905. Following the increased interest in orchestral music in New York City, due to the work of Thomas, the Boston musical public called for a higher standard and a more skilled set of players than the successors of the old Philharmonic Orchestra, the Germania and the Harvard Musical Association, which had kept up the work in a creditable manner. The outgrowth of this sentiment was the establishment of the celebrated Boston Symphony Orchestra, which gave its first concerts in the fall of 1881, under the direction of Mr. Georg Henschel. The financial needs of the organization were guaranteed by Mr. Henry L. Higginson. Mr. Henschel was succeeded, in 1884, by Wilhelm Gericke, who was followed five years later by Arthur Nikisch; in 1893, Mr. Emil Paur was made director, to be succeeded in 1898 by Wilhelm Gericke, who is still (1905) at the head of the organization. The work of the orchestras mentioned stimulated music lovers in other cities and at the present time, worthy rivals of the older bodies exist in Philadelphia, Mr. Fritz Scheel, director, the New York Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Walter Damrosch, director, and the Pittsburgh Orchestra, under the direction of Mr. Emil Paur. Baltimore has a good orchestra in connection with the Peabody Conservatory, Cincinnati has a permanent body with a guarantee fund, under the conductorship of Mr. Frank Van der Stucken. The orchestras mentioned give concerts in other cities, so that their work has more than a local significance. Other cities in which efforts are being made to develop orchestral music are New Haven, Buffalo, Washington, Cleveland, Atlanta, St. Louis, Kansas City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Denver.
Other Organized Bodies.—Other means for promoting musical progress in the United States were the societies in different parts of the country, which provided concerts, aided musical education, kept up public interest, the great German singing societies, music festival associations, lecture courses, etc. A prominent example of this kind was the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia which, among its other activities, opened a music school that remained in existence for six years. The Harvard Musical Association, an organization of alumni who labored particularly for the advancement of music, formed the nucleus of a musical library and conducted orchestral concerts at its own expense or guarantee. In later years Pittsburgh had an active society to promote musical appreciation and the example is being followed by other cities. The greatest growth in this line, that of the formation of music festival associations and the development of the idea, was doubtless stimulated by the great festivals held in Boston in 1869 and 1872. Of these, the most important is the one held in Cincinnati, for a number of years under the direction of Theodore Thomas; after his death, under Mr. Van der Stucken. It is impossible to give here a list of such organizations; they are growing in numbers over all the country and form a hopeful sign of an increasing and healthy interest in music. In addition to the work of these societies must be mentioned the series of chamber-music concerts given by quartet organizations in all the important cities, a kind of music which demands a higher class of musical culture than any other and which is, therefore, a good index of the musical appreciation of a community. The great public libraries have collections of musical literature, as well as the printed works of the great masters. Notable among these is the Brown Collection, in the Boston Public Library; the Newberry Library of Chicago has a very fine collection of musical literature, including many rare works, and the new public library in New York City will also have works of great value to musicians. The Crosby-Brown Collection of musical instruments in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, is one of the most valuable in the world; another collection of note is that which belongs to the University of Michigan.
Folk-Music.—In a study of conditions connected with the development of music in the United States, we will not find the wealth of material in the direction of Folk-music that European countries possess. The American people being a composite one cannot have a true Folk-music as yet. There are but two types of music that can be classed in this category, the music of the Indians and that of the negro in his plantation life. The characteristics of both have been used by American composers in large works (Edward Mac Dowell: “Indian Suite,” for the orchestra; Frederic Burton, in a choral work), yet the Indian race forms no part of the dominant Caucasian people of the United States and can hardly have any claims to being considered American Folk-song. Among the negroes of the South, during the time of slavery, a type of song developed that possesses distinctive qualities, and is thoroughly pervaded with the emotional quality which characterizes the Folk-song of the musical races of Europe. It is not the song of the African in his native land, but the product of his new environment. Particularly is this the case with regard to the songs in which the religious element is the leading one. Many of them have the spontaneous character of the old minstrel poets, the leader improvising the verses, the chorus joining in the refrain. Several composers have used material based on negro musical idioms, notably Antonin Dvořák, in his “From the New World” symphony and G. W. Chadwick, in the scherzo of one of his symphonies, but the most famous examples of the Folk-song of the plantation type are found in the works of Stephen C. Foster (1826-1864), the one most widely-known being “The Old Folks at Home” or “Suwanee River,” incomparable in its sweet melancholy and tender pathos, yet of extreme simplicity in harmonic basis and diatonic progressions.
The Opera.—The development of the opera in the United States is a story of change from the simple style of the English ballad opera to the elaborate music dramas of Richard Wagner, in the North, with New York City as the leading centre, while New Orleans, in the South, with its large French population, furnishes a home for the French and Italian school of opera. The “Beggar’s Opera,” by Gay, which had won extraordinary popularity in England, was given in New York, in 1750, and as early as 1791 New Orleans had a company of French singers. Philadelphia also had performances before the end of the 18th century. It was not until after the wars with England, when the country was growing and becoming prosperous, that foreign managers and singers considered it an inviting field. The first company of real artistic worth was brought here in 1825, headed by Manuel Garcia, which included his daughter, afterward Mme. Malibran. In 1832, the poet Da Ponte, librettist of Mozart’s opera “Don Giovanni,” who was a resident of New York City, brought another strong company of singers to the United States. From that time on, for a number of years, opera was furnished by visiting companies of foreign singers, who gave performances in the leading cities of the country, New Orleans being the first to establish a permanent opera season with a resident company. It was in 1859 that Adelina Patti made her first appearance, in New York City. In 1878, Mapleson, the impresario, commenced the “all star” system that developed a taste for opera by giving the American public the chance to hear the best singers in the world, and set a standard which has made the people dissatisfied with a company well-balanced but lacking in great singers. More real work is done to develop a community by hearing a number of performances well done than one or two in a sensational style. In 1883, the Metropolitan Opera House, in New York City, was opened with a “star” company, managed by Henry E. Abbey. German opera (Wagner music dramas) gained a foothold in this country through the efforts of Dr. Leopold Damrosch, who directed the first artistic performance of Wagner’s Tannhäuser, in 1884, in the Metropolitan Opera House; from this time, operas of the three great schools were given here, Italian, French and German. The following year, Anton Seidl was called to the conductorship and his labors put the performances of Wagner’s operas on a plane equal to any in the world; the company had seasons in the other leading American cities. After Seidl’s death, in 1898, the performances continued along the same lines and with the same high artistic quality, the greatest singers being engaged. In 1903, on Christmas Eve, under the direction of Mr. H. Conried, the first American representation (and the first outside of Bayreuth) of “Parsifal” was given. In assigning credit for work of an educational character in opera, mention must be made of certain traveling companies, such as the “Ideals” and “Bostonians” who gave highly artistic performances of the standard operas, and of the companies under the direction of Mr. Henry W. Savage, who gave grand opera in English during the first decade of the present century.
Questions and Suggestions.
Who contributed the greater influence to American music, the Cavaliers or the Puritans?
What was the influence of the latter?
Who were the early hymn-tune composers? Name some tune by the more prominent. (If any are available, play them over or have them sung for the class.)
Which of the three leading American cities of the 18th century was the most advanced musically?
What were the first societies to organize?
Who was a great factor in musical education in the early part of the 19th century?
What was the state of instrumental music in the Colonial period and in the years following?
Where was the first orchestra formed? What other cities had organized bodies of orchestral players?
Give an account of the work of Theodore Thomas.
Tell about the other great orchestras of the United States.
What other organizations have aided in musical progress in the United States?
What are the sources of Folk-Music in the United States? What use have composers made of this material?
Give a sketch of the Opera in the United States.
We advise that a somewhat detailed study of music in the United States be made, following the outline of this lesson, by the use of the reference works mentioned above. If there is time for this extra work, we advise that two lessons be made of this chapter and that pupils be assigned the duty of collecting additional material on the subject of the separate paragraphs. The work will be divided in this way and each pupil will have a personal interest. Old hymn-tune collections should be examined to find examples of the tunes used by our forefathers. Music representative of the various periods will be found in the books mentioned or indicated in other sources; both vocal and instrumental music should be performed at the recitations.
American Music Still Young.—Musical composition in the United States is still too young in comparison with the work of European composers to have made marked impress on history. American composers owe their training largely to European teachers, the models upon which they have based their work come from European art, and the principles of construction were developed by the European masters. Hence the disposition to view American composition as still in a state of pupilage. Yet the record shows a number of men who have done worthy work, many of them winning far more than a local reputation, and not a few enjoying international fame. And this work, especially such as is cast in the large forms, for orchestra, chamber-music or chorus with orchestra, is the product of the years since the close of the Civil War, a very short period, indeed, when compared with the story of composition in most of the European countries. It speaks volumes for the native capacity and sturdy industry of American composers that they have, in less than a half-century, won a high place in the use of the materials of musical composition and that they have so readily assimilated the work and teachings of European masters.
Paine.—The earliest composer in large instrumental forms was John K. Paine, born, Portland, Me., 1834, died 1906. In 1858, he went to Germany to study and gave particular attention to the organ. He quickly gained rank as the chief American organist, on his return to the United States, several years later. In 1862, he became connected with Harvard University as an instructor in music, a full professorship being created in 1875. His first important works were choral, with orchestral accompaniment. His first symphony was brought out in 1876, his second, called “Spring,” in 1880. Other large works for orchestra are a symphonic fantasy based on Shakespeare’s “Tempest,” a symphonic poem “An Island Fantasy,” the inspiration of which came from several paintings of marine scenes, and an overture to Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” Prof. Paine’s large choral works are: a Mass in D, an oratorio “St. Peter,” music to “Œdipus Tyrannus,” “Phœbus, Arise,” “Nativity,” drawn from Milton, “Song of Promise,” hymns for the Centennial and Columbus Exhibitions, music to Aristophanes’ “Birds,” an opera “Azara,” besides organ compositions, chamber-music, songs and part-songs.
Gilchrist.—A composer whose training was entirely American is William W. Gilchrist, born in Jersey City, in 1846, a resident of Philadelphia for many years, where his professional activity has included important work as teacher of singing, and chorus conducting. His musical education was received mainly from Dr. H. A. Clarke, of the University of Pennsylvania. His compositions include a symphony, a suite for orchestra and a great deal of chamber-music. He has written a number of works for chorus with orchestra, his most notable being a setting of the Forty-sixth Psalm, to which was awarded a $1000 prize, offered by the Cincinnati Festival Association. His other compositions include choral works in smaller forms, with string or other accompaniment suited to chamber-music, part-songs, church music, and a number of fine songs. He is especially happy in writing for women’s voices.
W. W. Gilcrist.
J. K. Paine. Horatio Parker.
Arthur Foote. Edward MacDowell.
Mrs. H. H. A. Beach.
G. W. Chadwick.
Chadwick.—A composer who has won appreciation in Europe is George W. Chadwick, born in Lowell, Mass., in 1854. His studies were carried on in the New England Conservatory, at Boston, which institution he entered in 1872. Five years later he went to Leipzig to study, giving special attention to composition. In 1879, he went to Dresden to study with Rheinberger. In 1880, he returned to the United States and settled in Boston. His professional activities included work as organist, conductor, and teacher at the New England Conservatory. In 1897, he was called to the directorship of the Conservatory. His compositions are written in all the various forms, his reputation as a composer of high rank being based upon his large orchestral works, which include three symphonies, four overtures, chamber-music, a comic opera, a sacred opera, “Judith,” two cantatas, popular with choral societies, “Phœnix Expirans” and the “Lily Nymph,” a ballad for chorus and orchestra, “Lovely Rosabelle,” part-songs, church music, and a number of songs of high merit.
MacDowell.—An American composer in thorough accord with the modern musical tendencies in composition is Edward Alexander MacDowell, born in New York, in 1861. His most famous teacher was Mme. Teresa Carreño, the celebrated pianist. He became a pupil of the Paris Conservatoire, in 1876, and after three years under French masters and influences, went to Germany, where he studied under Ehlert, Heymann and Raff, the latter giving him a thorough grounding in the technic of composition. His musical education, therefore, included both French and German ideas. He remained in Germany as pianist, composer and teacher until 1888, when he returned to the United States and settled in Boston. In 1896, he accepted the position of professor of music in Columbia University, New York City, which he held until 1904, when he resigned to devote himself to composition exclusively. MacDowell was trained to a thorough understanding of form, yet his works show that he regards only the spirit of form, that he is its master and not its servant. He has plenty of force, vigor and originality of melody and rhythm and is resourceful in his command of modern harmony. Critics of high authority have unhesitatingly awarded him the highest rank among American-born composers. His compositions include works in the large forms, two concertos, two suites, four poems for orchestra, four piano sonatas of striking romantic content, a number of smaller works for the piano, studies, songs and part-songs, principally for male voices.
Horatio Parker.—It is significant of the advance in music over other sections of the United States that New England should have been the birthplace of a number of composers of reputation. Besides Paine and Chadwick, two others have achieved eminence in the large forms: Horatio Parker and Arthur Foote. Mr. Parker was born near Boston, in 1863; his father was an architect, his mother a woman of fine literary and musical culture. His first lessons in music, piano and organ, were received from his mother, and such was his interest that he made attempts at composition. At sixteen, he was appointed to a position as organist and was thus launched into musical life. He kept up his studies with Boston teachers, in composition with Chadwick, and afterwards with Rheinberger, in Germany, in which country he remained until 1885. His first appointment was director of music at Garden City Cathedral Schools, Long Island, afterwards filling organ positions in New York City, the most notable one being at the Church of the Holy Trinity. He also taught in the National Conservatory. In 1893, he went to Boston as organist and director of music at Trinity Church, and in 1894, to Yale University, as professor of music. In addition to the work in composition and history of music, Mr. Parker conducts a series of orchestral concerts given by an orchestra supported by the University. Mr. Parker’s compositions in large form include a symphony, several overtures, a concerto for organ and orchestra, chamber-music, cantatas for chorus and orchestra, and in smaller forms, piano and organ pieces, songs and many part-songs. His cantata “Hora Novissima” is one of the best works in this style produced by an American composer, and has been given in England with success. The legend of “St. Christopher” furnished material for a work of a secular character that has been taken up by some important choral organizations.
Arthur Foote was born at Salem, Mass., in 1854. His musical education was wholly acquired in Boston, his leading teachers having been Stephen A. Emery and B. J. Lang. Mr. Foote is also a graduate of Harvard University. His home is in Boston, where his professional work is that of an organist, and teacher of piano and composition. His most important work in large form is a suite for orchestra, Op. 36; in addition to this he has written successfully in the domain of chamber-music, works for string orchestra, a quartet, a quintet, a trio and a sonata for piano and violin; he has also written excellent works for chorus with orchestra, “Wreck of the Hesperus,” piano and organ pieces, a number of fine songs and part-songs. He is perhaps at his best in writing for male voices, notable works being “The Skeleton in Armor” and “Farewell to Hiawatha.”
Hadley.—A younger composer than those mentioned, whose work in the large forms has received commendation, is Henry K. Hadley, born at Somerville, Mass., in 1871. His father was a member of the musical profession, and first taught his son, who later went to Boston to study with Emery, Chadwick and Allen (violin). In 1894, he went to Vienna to study and wrote several works for orchestra while there. In 1896, he returned to the United States and taught in St. Paul’s School, at Garden City. He has written several symphonies, suites, an overture, a cantata and a number of songs; two comic operas are also among his works. He has won the Paderewski Prize for composition.
Frank van der Stucken, born in Fredericksburg, Texas, in 1858, of Belgian descent, was educated abroad, mainly under Benoit, at Antwerp, and entered professional life in Europe, yet he is classed with American composers, for he has spent a great part of his active musical life in this country. It was in 1884, that he came to New York City as conductor of a large German singing society, at the same time giving much attention to conducting orchestral works, in which branch he had had considerable experience in Europe. In 1895, he went to Cincinnati as conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of that city and two years later, was dean of the College of Music, from the active management of which he retired in 1903. Although he has written a number of orchestral pieces, his most important work, modern in form and scored for the full modern orchestra is “William Ratcliffe,” a symphonic prologue, which has a very dramatic program. He has also written songs that are in the extreme style of the most advanced composition.
Mrs. Beach.—Few women have won any success in composition in the large musical forms. A most notable exception is Mrs. H. H. A. Beach (Amy Marcy Cheney), who was born at Henniker, N. H., in 1867. She showed marked inclination for music while still a child and was given regular instruction when only six years old. Soon after this her parents moved to Boston and she continued her musical education there under Ernst Perabo and Carl Baermann. Her studies in composition were largely made without teachers, guided principally by the most thorough and extensive study of the scores of the masters. She was married in 1885 to a prominent Boston physician. Mrs. Beach’s most important works are her “Gaelic” symphony, a mass for chorus with organ and small orchestra, a sonata for violin and piano and a piano concerto. In addition to this she has written a number of piano pieces and songs.
Loeffler.—An account of music in the United States would not be complete without reference to the work of Mr. Charles M. Loeffler, one of the most important figures in modern musical composition. Although he was born in Europe (1861) and educated there, he has spent his adult life in this country, having been for many years a violinist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His best-known work is the “Death of Tintagiles,” founded upon Maeterlinck. Rollinat and Verlaine have also furnished inspiration to him. A concerted work for violin and orchestra shows his skill both as composer and violinist. Of late years, Mr. Loeffler has turned his attention to song composition.
Other Composers.—In a concise account of the work of American composers, short mention only can be given to a number of men who have worked earnestly in composition, a field in which appreciation seems to be granted freely to the foreigner but grudgingly to the compatriot. Conditions are not favorable to development along the lines of public performance of works in large forms, orchestras are under the control of foreign conductors, most of the players are foreigners, and the concert-going public gives but scant attention to works by an American. Therefore much credit is due to those who have worked quietly and with but little hope of hearing their works, doing their best to produce music in accord with the best canons of the art. Such men are Frederick Grant Gleason, born at Middletown, Conn., 1848 (died in Chicago, 1903), studied at home and abroad; Adolph M. Foerster, born in Pittsburgh, Pa., 1854, who was educated in Germany, and is now a resident of his native city; Ernest R. Kroeger, born at St. Louis, 1862, educated at home, and still a resident of the city of his birth; Henry Schoenefeld, born at Milwaukee, 1857, educated at home and abroad; Henry Holden Huss, born in Newark, N. J., in 1862, studied in New York and at Munich, under Rheinberger, now a resident of New York City; Arthur B. Whiting, born in Cambridge, Mass., 1861, educated in Boston and by Rheinberger, at Munich, a resident of Boston; Louis A. Coerne, professor of music at Smith College, who was educated in Boston and Munich (Rheinberger); and Harry Rowe Shelley, of New York City, who was born at New Haven, Conn., 1858, studied there and in New York (Buck and Dvořák). These composers have by no means confined their work to compositions for orchestra, chamber-music, cantatas, etc., but have also written useful piano and organ pieces, and in a number of cases, songs that have become extremely popular.
Cantata Composers.—A number of American composers have turned their attention to composition in opera and cantata forms. Some of the composers already mentioned have written works of this character. The first of American composers to work in the field of the cantata was J. C. D. Parker, born in Boston, in 1828, a graduate of Harvard, and a teacher with many years of splendid work to his credit. His musical education was received at Leipzig. In 1854, he located in Boston and took up a varied career as organist, conductor, and teacher of piano and harmony, at the New England Conservatory. His large works include a cantata, “Redemption Hymn,” a secular cantata, “The Blind King,” and two works in oratorio form “St. John” and “The Life of Man,” the latter showing him at his strongest. Dudley Buck, organist, composer and teacher, is also one of the veterans of American music. He was born at Hartford, Conn., in 1839, attended Trinity College several years, began his musical instruction at sixteen years of age, went to Germany several years later, giving his attention principally to the organ and composition. In 1862, he returned to the United States, worked professionally in Hartford, Chicago, and Boston; in 1874, he went to New York, later to one of the leading churches of Brooklyn, which position he retained until 1905. His choral works in large form are “Don Munio,” “The Voyage of Columbus,” “The Golden Legend,” and the “Light of Asia,” his largest and most important work, which has been given in England. He has written many works for church use, much organ music, songs and concerted vocal music, especially for male voices.
Opera.—In opera we note the work of Paine (“Azara”); Chadwick (“Judith,” a sacred opera); Walter Damrosch, composer and conductor, born in Germany, in 1862, but a resident of the United States in childhood, and hence identified with music in this country, who has written a work of serious character to a libretto founded on Hawthorne’s “Scarlet Letter”; Reginald de Koven, born at Middletown, Conn., in 1859, with a list of several successful light operas to his credit, as well as many songs which have had wide appreciation; Edgar Stillman Kelley, born at Sparta, Wisconsin, in 1857, educated in Chicago and Germany, a resident of San Francisco for a number of years, where he brought out several notable works of a popular character for the stage as well as the orchestra, employing in the latter Chinese musical idioms with success in a humorous direction. A composer whose work in light opera has had much success is Victor Herbert, born in Dublin, Ireland. His professional career has been largely spent in this country, his work as conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra being notable.
Song Composition.—In the field of song composition, American composers have done very good work. The American seems to turn naturally to song and few of the most prominent of the native composers have neglected this field, as will have been noticed in previous paragraphs. Among those who have won high reputation in this line we note George L. Osgood, of Boston, born in 1844, composer, singer and teacher; Frank Lynes, of Boston, born in 1858, who has also written good concerted vocal music and piano pieces; Clayton Johns, born in Delaware, in 1857, but a resident of Boston during the greater part of his professional career, with a long list of part-songs and some piano pieces to his credit; and Ethelbert Nevin, born near Pittsburgh, in 1862, educated in the United States and in Europe, whose songs have a truly poetic character joined to music of a high order; a number of his piano pieces have also been most favorably received. He died in 1901.
Wm. Mason.
L. M. Gottschalk. Dudley Buck.
H. M. Dunham. J. C. D. Parker.
B. J. Lang.
Wallace Goodrich.
Piano Composition.—The dean of American teachers of the piano and of composers for that instrument is William Mason, born in Boston, in 1829, a son of Lowell Mason, who studied at home and abroad and spent two years with Liszt at Weimar. It was in 1854 that he came back to the United States and located in New York City. In addition to his works for the piano, some of which have been widely played, he is the author of an important technical work, which stamps him as an educator of originality and strength. A composer who is generally classed as American, although his ancestry, education and environment incline strongly to the French, is Louis Moreau Gottschalk, born in New Orleans, in 1829. He early showed marked inclination for music and was sent to Paris to study. His first reputation was won as pianist. He traveled over Europe, the United States and parts of South America, giving concerts, in which he gave the principal place to his own compositions. He died in Brazil, in 1869. In later years, American composers for the piano have not done such distinctive work as the two writers just mentioned, yet the names of Charles Dennee (1863), Wilson G. Smith (1855), James H. Rogers (1857), and William H. Sherwood (1854), composer, pianist and teacher, whose work in the educational field is most important; Edward Baxter Perry (1855), who has splendidly triumphed over the infirmity of blindness, and through his unique lecture recitals has been a strong factor in musical progress in the United States; and several men of foreign birth who have identified themselves with American musical education: Rafael Joseffy, in New York City, Carl Baermann and Carl Faelten in Boston, Constantin von Sternberg in Philadelphia, and Emil Liebling in Chicago. Two other names should be mentioned here, Henry Schradieck, of New York, whose influence as a violinist and teacher has been great, and F. L. Ritter, who occupied the chair of music in Vassar College, a pioneer in college musical work.
Organ Composition.—Nearly all of the best-known American composers have been organists, yet certain men have made that line of musical work peculiarly their own. Such men are B. J. Lang (1837), of Boston, organist, conductor and teacher; George E. Whiting (1842), who in addition to his high rank as an organist and teacher, has written most acceptably for his instrument, and also for the orchestra and in the large choral forms; George W. Warren (1828), and S. P. Warren (1841), whose sphere of activity is identified with New York City; E. M. Bowman (1848), organist, conductor, pianist and teacher; Samuel B. Whitney (1842), organist, noted for his work in training boy choirs, also his musical compositions for the Episcopal Church service; Clarence Eddy (1851), organ virtuoso with an international reputation; Henry M. Dunham (1853), who has written well for his instrument and has had an active and useful career as a teacher. Among the younger men of prominence as American organists who have put themselves abreast with modern progress, and have studied all schools, may be mentioned Everett E. Truette, Wallace Goodrich, Wm. C. Carl, Gerrit Smith, Charles Galloway, J. Fred Wolle, who organized the Bach Festival at Bethlehem, Pa., H. J. Stewart, a representative California organist.
Musical Criticism.—When indicating the various agencies for the shaping of musical appreciation in the United States, special mention must be made of a group of writers whose contributions to musical magazines, to the daily press in the large music centres, as well as their work in permanent form have influenced the taste of the American public to a degree not paralleled in any other country. These writers have enjoyed unusual opportunities and have used them well. The leading newspapers of the United States give much space to reports of musical events and have called to their aid writers of keen insight into musical matters, thorough equipment on the score of musical knowledge, and gifted with much skill in expression as well as mastery of literary style.
The Older Critics.—The first of these critics to claim our attention is John S. Dwight, born in Boston, in 1813, a graduate of Harvard, and a student of theology as well. Gifted with a sound taste in art matters, his reviews of musical works, concerts, etc., were very useful and helpful and much appreciated by the best circles of the city, for his associations were with the most famous literary and scientific men of his day. In 1852, he established a musical paper, Journal of Music, which lasted nearly thirty years. He died in 1893. Another of the older writers is George P. Upton, born in Boston, in 1834, a graduate of Brown University, who entered journalism at twenty-one, as a member of the staff of the Chicago Journal; after some years of service with that paper, he went to the Tribune, with which he has ever since been associated. Mr. Upton’s critical work covers the period of the growth of Chicago, which has been phenomenal in art as well as in commercial directions, and has been a most valuable factor in musical upbuilding. In recent years his pen was a great aid to Theodore Thomas in his efforts to establish the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His works in permanent form are “Woman in Music,” a series of books descriptive of the principal oratorios, operas, cantatas, and symphonies, translations from the German of Nohl’s biographies of musicians, and a “Life of Theodore Thomas.” Coincident with Mr. Upton’s work in the West is that of W. S. B. Mathews, born in London, N. H., in 1837. He was educated in Boston; after some years of musical work in the South, he located in Chicago, as organist, teacher, writer on musical matters. His reviews on local musical affairs appeared in several of the leading dailies, he was a contributor to Dwight’s Journal, and to all the musical papers that have come into the field since. Perhaps no contemporary writer on education in music has influenced, and so strongly, as many teachers and students of music as Mr. Mathews. He has written a “Popular History of Music,” “Hundred Years of Music in America,” “How to Understand Music,” “Primer of Musical Forms,” and several works on the great composers, with critical studies of their works.