Duetto 'When Phœbus the tops of the hills'
Solo Violin
A new Hunting Song, set to music by Mr. Morgan
Periodical Symphony Pasquale Ricci
The other concerts given by Flagg were of about the same standard.
He seems to have disappeared from Boston about the year 1773. His most
important successor in the promotion of music in Boston was William
Selby, an Englishman, who came over as organist of King's Chapel,
Boston, in 1772, or perhaps earlier. Selby threw himself into the
musical life of his adopted country with an enthusiasm for the cause
which seems always to have been exclusively confined to foreigners. He
played and taught the harpsichord and organ, composed prolifically,
promoted concerts of fine quality, and was the leading spirit in the
Musical Society which did much for music in Boston between 1785 and
1790. His devotion to choral music was especially noteworthy and
he promoted some choral concerts of an artistic quality far beyond
anything yet heard in America. We find announced for April 23, 1782,
a concert under his direction, to consist of '_Musica Spiritualis_,
or Sacred Music, being a collection of Airs, Duetts, and Choruses,
selected from the oritories [?] of Mr. Stanly, Mr. Smith and the late
celebrated Mr. Handel; together with a favorite Dirge, set to music by
Thomas Augustus Arne, Doctor in Music. Also, a Concert on the Organ, by
Mr. Selby.' In the 'Massachusetts Gazette' of January 2, 1786, there
is announced a remarkable concert to be given by the Musical Society
on January 10. Besides prayers, psalms, and the Doxology, 'as set to
musick by Mr. Selby,' the program consisted of the overture to Handel's
'Occasional Oratorio'; the recitative 'Comfort ye my people,' from the
'Messiah,' and the aria, 'Every valley shall be exalted,' from the same
work; the fourth Concerto of Amizon, _musica da capella_, op. 7; 'Let
the bright Cherubims,' from 'Samson,' and 'The trumpet shall sound,'
from the 'Messiah'; the second organ concerto of Handel; 'a Solo,
Piano, on the organ,' by Mr. Selby; and 'a favourite overture by Mr.
Bach,' performed by 'the musical band.' A similar program was repeated
on January 16, 1787, at a 'Spiritual Concert for the benefit of those
who have known better Days.' The 'Hallelujah Chorus' from the 'Messiah'
was included in the latter program, as was also Piccini's overture to
_La buona figliuola_, a solo from the oratorio 'Jonah,' composed by
Felsted, and a 'favourite overture' of Carlo Ditters,[27] played by
'the musical band.'
The Musical Society gave many concerts up to the year 1790--mostly in
subscription series and always, it would seem, under the leadership of
Selby. Apparently there were other musical societies in Boston as early
as the year 1787, for the 'Massachusetts Centinel' on September 22 of
that year announced a 'concert of Sacred Musick to assist in rebuilding
the Meeting House in Hollis Street, agreeably to the generous
intentions of the Musical Societies in this town.' The name of William
Billings appears twice on the program of this concert. We have already
mentioned the concert in honor of Washington's visit to Boston at which
Felsted's oratorio, 'Jonah,' was given in its entirety--the first time
that a complete oratorio had been given in Boston.[28]
The last mention of Selby's name in connection with a concert was in
1793 when the following program was given for his benefit and that of
Jacobus Pick:
The Overture of Henry IVth[29]
A French Song by Mr. Mallet
A Clarinet Concerto by M. Foucard
A French Song by Madame Douvillier
A Violin Concerto, by Mr. Boullay
An Italian Duetto, by Messrs. Pick and Mallet
A Flute Concerto by Mr. Stone
La Chasse, composed by Hoffmeister
A Piano Forte Sonata, by Mr. Selby
A French Trio, by Madame Douvillier, Messrs. Pick and Mallet
A Duetto on the Harmonica, by Messrs. Pick & Petit
A Symphony, composed by Pichell
This program is important as marking a sharp transition in the style
of Boston concerts. Due partly to the influx of theatrical companies,
following the lifting of the ban on dramatic productions, and partly
to the sudden increase in the number of French musicians, concerts
in Boston after the year 1790 entirely lost their old dignified and
solid demeanor and acquired a strange new lightness, a transatlantic
frivolity, a cosmopolitan air, a flavor of complete worldliness. The
'late celebrated Mr. Handel' disappears entirely from the concert
programs of a city to which he had for long been the musical mainstay,
and in his stead enter Pleyel, Grétry, Gluck, and 'the celebrated
Haydn.'
Until the beginning of the nineteenth century the leading figures in
the concert life of Boston were Messrs. Pick and Mallet, Mrs. Pownall,
and Dr. Berkenhead. The most important of these was Mallet, a French
gentleman, who is supposed to have come to America with Lafayette
and to have served in the army of the Revolution. In addition to his
concert activities he taught music, played the organ for the 'Rev. Mr.
Kirkland's congregation,' and was one of the first music publishers in
Boston. After the year 1793 we find his name infrequently on concert
programs, and after that year, too, we notice a decided decline in both
the number and the quality of Boston concerts.
That the concert-life of New England was not altogether confined to
Boston we gather from the old records and newspaper files of Cambridge,
Salem, Newport, Providence, Newburyport, Hartford, New Haven, and
other towns. On the whole, the concerts given in those towns followed
closely the taste of Boston. As far as we can discover, they were
not very frequent; but, when it is considered that as late as the
beginning of the nineteenth century none of the towns named possessed
as many as two thousand inhabitants and some of them contained less
than half that number, it would be unreasonable to expect that they
could have supported serious concerts to any great extent. Indeed, it
is surprising that they should have lent their patronage to symphonies
of Haydn, Pleyel, and Stamitz; overtures, concertos, quartets, and
other numbers constituting what in the eighteenth century were 'heavy'
programs; and we are not prepared to say how much patronage would be
forthcoming for concerts of the same relative 'heaviness' in American
towns of the same size to-day.
II
Turning to New York, we find that concert life began there about the
same time as it did in Boston. In fact, wherever the first concert in
America may have been held--a disputed point which is not of vital
importance--the impulse to give such musical entertainments seems to
have affected the whole country almost, if not quite, simultaneously.
That there were concerts held in New York as early as 1733 appears
from the publication in the New York 'Gazette' for December 24-31 of
that year of a fearfully bad poem 'written at a Concert of Music where
there was a great Number of Ladies.' In spite of the indiscriminate
taste of the 'Gazette' it is unfortunate that we have preserved a
very few numbers between 1725, when it first appeared, and 1733, when
Zenger's New York 'Weekly Journal' was started. Possibly it said
something in intelligible prose about such concerts as may have been
given before the latter date. We first get on solid ground in 1736
with the announcement for January 21 of 'a _Consort_ of Musick, Vocal
and Instrumental for the Benefit of Mr. Pachelbell, the Harpsichord
Part performed by himself. The Songs, Violins and German Flutes by
private Hands.' For nearly twenty years following there is trace of
only two concerts, concerning which no particulars have been vouchsafed
us. Then we read in the New York 'Mercury' of January, 1754, that Mr.
Charles Love gave 'a Concert of vocal and instrumental Musick. To
which will be added several select pieces on the hautboy by Mr. Love.
After the concert will be a _Ball_.' In the following year William
Tuckey advertised in the 'Weekly Post Boy' a 'Concert of Vocal and
Instrumental Musick' of which he was good enough to indicate partially
the program. Among other things he promised 'the celebrated dialogue
between _Damon and Chloe_, compos'd by Mr. Arne. A two part Song, in
Praise of a Soldier, by the late famous Mr. Henry Purcell. An "Ode on
Masonry"[30] never perform'd in this country, nor ever in England but
once in publick. And a Solo on the German flute by Mr. Cobham.' Mr.
Tuckey's sympathies were pronouncedly English, but his taste was good.
A concert given in 1756 featured a new organ built by a New Yorker
named Gilfert Ash and two songs composed by Mr. Handel, one of them
being 'in praise of musick, particularly of an organ.' There is no
further mention of concerts in the newspapers until 1760 and, except
there was a conspiracy of silence on the part of the press, the concert
life of New York up to that year must have been extremely meagre.
It would appear, however, that subscription series started in 1760,
for we find a notice in the New York 'Gazette' of January 14 that
'the Subscription Concert will be opened on Thursday next, the 15th
instant,' and that 'those gentlemen that intend to subscribe to the
said concert, are desired to send their names to Messrs. Dienval and
Hulett who will wait on them with tickets, for the season.' In 1762
Messrs. Leonard and Dienval announced 'a publick and weekly Concert of
Musick,' probably a continuation of the subscription series inaugurated
in 1762, though there is no announcement for 1763. Apparently there
were subscription concerts every year until 1767, presumably under the
same auspices. Then there is a hiatus until 1773, when subscription
concerts were revived.
John Jones, in the meantime, had given summer concerts at his Ranelagh
Gardens from 1765 until the enterprise failed in 1768. Also, Edward
Bardin started a tri-weekly concert of music at his 'King's Arms Garden
in the Broadway' in 1766. We do not know how long he continued his
musical entertainments; we only know that he went out of business in
1769. Undeterred by the failure of Jones and Bardin, Samuel Francis
opened Vaux Hall Gardens in 1769. He announced a concert of music,
vocal and instrumental, to be given twice a week, but it would appear
that he met with no greater success than his predecessors.
Besides summer concerts at the various gardens and the subscription
concerts already alluded to, there were between 1760 and 1775 a number
of benefit concerts, as well as a few performances by military bands
and theatrical companies. The fine program given at Mr. Stotherd's
benefit on February 9, 1770, has been quoted in the preceding chapter.
About the same year French and Italian virtuosi began to settle in New
York and their presence soon made itself felt.
The only musician in New York at this period who stands out
prominently is William Tuckey and, though he gave some benefit
concerts, he was concerned mainly with the development of church music.
However, it is worthy of note that he was the first to introduce the
'Messiah' to America, the occasion being a concert of sacred music in
1770, devoted largely to excerpts from that oratorio, including 'the
overture and sixteen other pieces, viz. air, recitatives and choruses.'
During the war there were a number of concerts in New York given by
officers of the British army and navy. William Brown, who also appears
in the concert life of Philadelphia and the South, gave a subscription
series in New York in 1783 and again in 1785. Subsequently there seems
to have been a lull in the musical affairs of the city until 1788, when
subscription concerts were revived under the direction of Alexander
Reinagle, 'member of the Society of Musicians in London,' and Henri
Capron, a pupil of Gaviniés. They were continued by Mr. and Mrs. Van
Hagen, 'lately from Amsterdam.' Pleyel, Stamitz, Dittersdorf, Martini,
and Haydn shared the chief honors on the programs of that period, and
we find a duet of Mozart on a program offered by Reinagle and Capron in
1789.
Beginning about the year 1797 the concert season in New York shifted
from the winter to the summer, and regular subscription concerts
consequently declined. Their place was taken by concerts which
the enterprising proprietors of public gardens offered as special
attractions to their patrons. It would seem at first blush that the
musical taste of the people at large was exceptionally good when
concerts of high grade really proved attractive, but the public gardens
of that period usually did not cater to the masses. After the failure
of Samuel Francis's Vaux Hall Gardens, enterprises of the kind seem to
have lost favor. In 1793 we find Mrs. Armory running a Vaux Hall in
Great George Street and announcing a concert of 'the most favourite
overtures and pieces from the compositions of Fisher and Handel ... the
orchestra being placed in the middle of a large tree.' Joseph Delacroix
in the following year gave a very fine concert under the leadership of
James Hewitt at his 'Salloon,' the Ice House Garden, No. 112 Broadway.
Three years later he announced concerts of vocal and instrumental music
to be given with an orchestra of fifteen of the best musicians three
times a week at his newly decorated Vaux Hall Gardens. In 1798 he
raised the number of his concerts to four a week, but in the following
year, unfortunately, he had to abandon the enterprise. The concerts
given by Delacroix were invariably of the highest grade, according to
later eighteenth-century standards.
During the summers of 1798 and 1799 there were given nightly concerts
of 'vocal and instrumental' music at B. Ishewood's Ranelagh Garden
near the Battery. The programs were made up almost entirely of popular
songs. Joseph Corre, who opened Columbia Garden, opposite the Battery,
in 1798, and Mount Vernon Garden on Leonard Street in 1800, hit upon
the idea of attracting both æsthete and philistine by a judicious
mixture of serious and popular programs. His serious concerts were
similar to those given by Joseph Delacroix; his popular programs
contained the same sort of stuff as was offered at Ranelagh Gardens.
Besides these summer garden concerts and the winter subscription
series already mentioned there were many single benefit concerts after
the war. The first of these, apparently, was given by William Brown in
1786, and in the same year Alexander Reinagle gave a Gargantuan affair
that included three Haydn overtures, five excerpts from the 'Messiah'
and 'Samson,' a concerto for violin, a sonata for pianoforte, a duet
for violin and 'cello, and ten miscellaneous vocal numbers. Between
that year and the end of the century benefit concerts were given by
Henri Capron, the Van Hagens, John Christopher Moller, Jane Hewitt,
George Edward Saliment, Mrs. Pownall, Mrs. Hodgkinson, Mme. De Sèze,
and others. As a rule these concerts followed the prevailing fashion
in the make-up of their programs. Haydn, Pleyel, Stamitz, Sacchini,
Martini, Wranitzky, Kozeluch, and Clementi furnished the _pièces de
résistance_ for programs otherwise consisting of songs, concerts,
sonatas and lesser instrumental forms by unidentified composers. The
presence of a French operatic troupe in 1790 gave a theatrical tinge to
a few concerts in which they participated.
Outside of New York City there was practically no concert life, either
in New York or New Jersey. Occasionally some musician on his way
between New York and Philadelphia or the South would give a concert
in Princeton, Newark, Trenton, or New Brunswick. One concert in the
last-named town featured 'speaking and elegant dancing between the
parts.' Albany, presumably, had the benefit of a few concerts, perhaps
by visiting musicians from New York. Mr. Sonneck has discovered the
announcement of a creditable concert given there in 1797 by J. H.
Schmidt, 'formerly organist of the cathedral of Schiedam in Holland,'
also formerly of Charleston and Baltimore. On the whole, however, New
York and New Jersey, except for New York City, were musically very
backward compared with New England.
III
Nothing, perhaps, could better illustrate the contradictory complexity
of environmental influences than the state of musical culture in
eighteenth-century Philadelphia. Compared with the Quaker attitude
toward music, that of the Puritans was almost indecently liberal. Yet
Philadelphia was beyond doubt musically the most cultured city in
eighteenth-century America. The cause is not apparent, but we have
ample evidence of the fact. As in the case of other American cities,
it is impossible to say when public concerts started in Philadelphia.
The first mention of concerts there, so far discovered, is in Gottlieb
Mittelberger's _Reise nach Pennsylvanien im Jahre 1750_. But these,
the author states, were private concerts '_auf dem Spinnet oder
Klavicymbel_.' No announcements of public concerts appear in the
Philadelphia newspapers until 1757, when the 'Pennsylvania Gazette'
announces one under the direction of Mr. John Palma. The same gentleman
gave another concert a few months later, as we find from the ledger of
George Washington, who bought tickets for it. No more public concerts
appear before 1764 and, indeed, they seem to have been far from common
until after the war. During the last years of the century the musical
life of Philadelphia was extremely rich, both as to public concerts and
otherwise.
We know nothing about the concert of 1764 except that it was under
the direction of James Bremner.[31] Another concert under the same
direction was given in the following year. It was announced as a
'Performance of Solemn Music,' the 'vocal parts chiefly by young
Gentlemen educated in this Seminary' (College of Philadelphia), and
accompanied by the organ. It was a very fine concert, and the fact that
it was highly successful is eloquent of the state of musical culture in
Philadelphia at that time. Besides a chorus and airs set to scriptural
texts the program included a Stamitz overture, the Sixth Concerto of
Geminiani, an overture by the Earl of Kelly, Martini's Second Overture,
the overture to Arne's 'Artaxerxes,' a sonata on the harpsichord, and a
solo on the violin. Two orations were added for good measure. A series
of subscription concerts was inaugurated on Thursday, January 19, 1764,
and continued every Thursday until May 24 following. Apparently these
also were under the direction of James Bremner and there is _prima
facie_ evidence that Francis Hopkinson was connected with them in some
capacity. A second series was advertised to begin on Thursday, November
8, 1764, and to be continued until March 14 following. The programs of
these concerts were not printed in the newspapers, as admission was
confined to subscribers, and it seems to have been customary to print
programs for distribution with the tickets--an eminently sane and
praiseworthy custom which fortunately still survives in America.
A concert given in 1764 by Stephen Forrage for his own benefit and
that of other 'assistant performers at the Subscription Concert,' may
be mentioned, were it only for the fact that Mr. Forrage appeared as
soloist on Benjamin Franklin's 'famous Armonica, or Musical Glasses, so
much admired for their great Sweetness and Delicacy of its tone.' We
trust he had more respect for the musical proprieties than he evidently
entertained for the grammatical ones. After 1765 no concerts appear
until November, 1769, when Giovanni Gualdo gave a 'Grand Concert of
Vocal and Instrumental Musick ... directed by Mr. Gualdo, after the
Italian method'--whatever that may have been. Most of the program
consisted of compositions by Mr. Gualdo, and there were two overtures
by the Earl of Kelly.[32] In the same month a subscription series was
started--'The Vocal Music by Messieurs Handel, Arne, Giardini, Jackson,
Stanley, and others. The instrumental Music by Messieurs Geminiani,
Barbella, Campioni, Zanetti, Pellegrino, Abel, Bach, Gualdo, the Earl
of Kelly and others.' Gualdo gave two benefit concerts in 1770 and one
in 1771. He died soon after. In the latter year also Mr. John McLean,
instructor on the German flute, gave a concert 'performed by a full
Band of Music, with Trumpets, Kettle Drum, and every instrument that
can be introduced with Propriety,' and 'interspersed with the most
pleasing and select Pieces, composed by approved authors.' A concert
of popular songs by a Mr. Smith in 1772 was apparently the only public
attempt to break the musical monotony of Philadelphia until Signior
Sodi, 'first dancing master of the opera in Paris and London,' gave a
grand affair at which a Mr. Vidal, 'musician of the Chambers of the
King of Portugal,' played 'on divers instruments of music,' while
Signior Sodi, Miss Sodi, and Mr. Hullett (of New York) danced minuets,
a louvre, a 'new Philadelphia cotillion,' a rigadoon, an allemande,
a jigg, and a hompipe. In the same year 'Mr. Victor, musician to her
late Royal Highness the Princess of Wales and Organist of St. George's,
London,' advertised a performance on 'his new musical instruments ...
the one he calls _tromba doppio con tympana_, on which he plays the
first and second trumpet and a pair of annexed kettle drums with the
feet, all at once; the other is called _cymbaline d'amour_, which
resembles the musical glasses played by harpsichord keys, never subject
to come out of tune, both of his own invention.'
From all of which appears that for a short time before the war musical
life in Philadelphia degenerated sadly. Presumably the people were
too much interested in the big and burning issues of the day to lend
substantial support to concert givers. Likewise during the war they
were too much occupied with more vital and disturbing affairs. While
Lord Howe's army occupied Philadelphia there were, according to Capt.
Johann Heinrich of the Hessian Jäger Corps, 'assemblies, concerts,
comedies, clubs, and the like,' but it would hardly be patriotic to
consider these activities of the enemy. Apart from them there were
no public performances during the war until, on December 11, 1781,
Lucerne, the French minister, gave an 'elegant concert' in honor of
Generals Washington and Greene 'and a very polite circle of gentlemen
and ladies,' at which was performed Francis Hopkinson's patriotic
'oratorial entertainment "Temple of Minerva".'
After the war, however, the musical life of Philadelphia awoke with
a bound. The revival was inaugurated by a fortnightly series of city
concerts in 1783 under the leadership of John Bentley. A second series
under the same leadership followed in 1784. Bentley promised for his
second season 'a more elegant and perfect entertainment than it was
possible (from the peculiar circumstances of the time) to procure
during the last winter,' and he felt encouraged in his enterprise by
'the rising taste for music, and its improved state in Philadelphia.'
Bentley discontinued his concerts in 1785-86 and apparently that season
was barren of such entertainments. In 1786, however, there came the
advent of Alexander Reinagle. Together with Henri Capron, William
Brown, and Alexander Juhan he started in that year a series of twelve
fortnightly concerts, the programs of which were all announced in the
newspapers. Certainly there could have been no lack of musical culture
among the Philadelphians when they supported an extended series of
such concerts as were given by Reinagle _et al._ The concerts were
continued in the winter of 1787-88 and then apparently discontinued
until 1792, when they were revived by Messrs. Reinagle and Capron in
conjunction with John Christopher Moller. In these the high standard of
the preceding concerts was well maintained.
Meanwhile a Mr. Duplessis, who kept an English school for young
gentlemen, started a series of fourteen concerts on his own account in
1786, but we do not know how many he succeeded in giving. In the same
year an amateur subscription series was started, apparently under the
auspices of a society called the 'Musical Club,' and was continued
every season until 1790-91. Then, it seems, there was a consolidation
of amateurs and professionals in 1794, with Reinagle as the guiding
spirit. They gave a season of six subscription concerts with programs
devoted largely to Haydn, Pleyel, and Handel. No further subscription
series are discoverable before the end of the century, with the
exception of those given by Mrs. Grattan, who, in 1797, announced eight
subscription concerts. As she referred to these as 'the second Ladies
Concert' the inference is that she had already given a series in 1796.
Mrs. Grattan confined her activities chiefly to chamber and vocal
music, but as we find Handel, Haydn, Pleyel, Paesiello, Viotti, and
Sacchini figuring on her programs, it is evident that the public taste
had not degenerated. She gave another season in 1797-98, after which
she left Philadelphia for Charleston, appearing later in New York.
In addition to regular subscription concerts there were, after the
Revolution, an increasing number of affairs given for private profit,
for charity, and for other purposes. Especially noteworthy are the
activities of Andrew Adgate, who was a real pioneer of artistic choral
music in Philadelphia. In 1784 Adgate founded by subscription 'The
Institution for the Encouragement of Church Music,' which became known
in 1785 as the Uranian Society and in 1787 as the Uranian Academy of
Philadelphia.
In the preceding chapter we mentioned the Grand Concert given on May
4, 1786, with a chorus of 230 and an orchestra of 50, as well as the
concert of April 12, 1787. Both were given under the auspices of the
Uranian Society, with Adgate as conductor. It is worthy of note that
the syllabus of the second concert was accompanied by remarks on
the pieces to be performed--probably the first example of annotated
programs in America. The Uranian Academy was actually opened in 1787
and its second annual concert was held in 1788. How long afterward
it survived we cannot say, as no further references to it are found
in the newspapers. According to Scharf and Westcott's 'History of
Philadelphia,' however, it was active until after 1800.
After 1788 the sacred choral concerts--or 'oratorios,' as they were
called--gradually approximated the style of the purely secular vocal
and instrumental concerts, and after 1790 they seem to have disappeared
altogether.
The arrival in 1790 of the French company of which we have already
spoken introduced a strikingly novel note into the concert life of
Philadelphia. In contrast to the style of thing done by Bremner,
Hopkinson, Reinagle, and other men of severe taste their programs
do not strike us too favorably. Indeed, their concerts marked the
beginning of a curious corruption in the public taste and of a tendency
toward indiscriminate program-making which has not yet completely
disappeared from our midst. From this time until the end of the century
hardly a program appears that does not contain a theatrical composition
of Monsigny, Paesiello, Sacchini, Cimarosa, Cherubini, or some
other operatic writer of this period, and, as we draw nearer to the
nineteenth century, the more miscellaneous become the programs. During
those years the concert-life of Philadelphia was dominated largely
by French musicians, most of whom, it would appear, were men who had
received the best European training. We notice, for instance, that
Joseph César was 'a pupil of the celebrated Signor Viotti and first
violin of the theatre in Cape François,' and that Victor Pelissier
was 'first French horn in the theatre in Cape François.' Perhaps the
fact that so many of the French musicians were virtuosi inspired
the making of programs devoted to medleys, ariettes, 'favourite
sonatas,' and concertos for every instrument that could possibly be
employed solo. Yet even such a thorough artist as Alexander Reinagle
descended--perforce, we presume--to the inclusion in his programs of
such vocal gems as 'Kiss me now or never,' 'Poor Tom Bowling,' 'My
Poll and my partner Joe,' 'A Smile from the girl of my heart,' and
so forth. Mr. and Mrs. Hodgkinson, Mrs. Pownall, Miss Broadhurst and
others gave concerts with programs equally miscellaneous, and it must
be admitted that all this points to a distinct musical retrogression in
Philadelphia during the last decade of the eighteenth century.
There remain to be mentioned the summer concerts given in public
gardens which became very popular toward the beginning of the
nineteenth century. They were inaugurated, it would seem, by a Mr.
Vincent M. Pelosi, proprietor of the Pennsylvania Coffee House, who
proposed for the summer season of 1786 'to open a Concert of Harmonial
Music,' to be continued weekly from the first Thursday of June to the
last Thursday of September. His example was followed in 1789 by Messrs.
George and Robert Gray, proprietors of 'Gray's Gardens,' who gave
weekly concerts from May to October, and continued that feature until
about 1793. As their programs included compositions of Haydn, Stamitz,
Martini, and Abel, it may be seen that they adhered to the prevailing
standard. George Esterley started concerts at his 'Vauxhall Harrowgate'
in 1789, engaging as soloist 'a lady from Europe who has performed
in all the operas in the theatres Royal of Dublin and Edinburgh.'
The announcement has a very modern ring. As far as we know Esterley
continued his enterprise at least until 1796, presenting somewhat the
same programs as Messrs. Gray. In 1797 Messrs. Bates and Darley opened
Bush Hill or Pennsylvania Tea Gardens with vocal and instrumental music
as a feature, but were obliged to dissolve partnership in the same
year. John Mearns, proprietor of the Centre House Tavern and Gardens,
announced in 1799 that he would add 'to the entertainment his house
afforded ... at a very great expense ... a grand organ of the first
power and tone, which [would] be played every Monday, Wednesday and
Friday evening during the summer.' He added regular concerts in the
following summer.
IV
It is not a far-fetched surmise that concerts, in the broadest
acceptation of the term, were known in the South earlier than in any
other part of the country. The colonial cavalier, who, after the
fashion of English gentlemen at the time, kept a chest of viols in his
house, must occasionally have found among his visitors a sufficient
number of competent players to form an ensemble of some sort. As the
population increased and the opportunities for social intercourse
improved these occasions undoubtedly became frequent, and, without any
sacrifice of historical probability, one can easily imagine social
gatherings at which the most skillful musicians performed concerted
pieces for the entertainment of the other guests. The picture is quite
in accord with what we know of English and Southern colonial society
in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. Certainly, in
Charleston and other centres of Southern society and culture, it is
hard to imagine that private musical affairs were not quite common at
the beginning of the eighteenth century. Indeed, a large proportion
of the earlier public concerts in Charleston were given by amateurs
with the assistance of professional musicians, and it is reasonable to
assume that a habit of giving private concerts preceded the custom of
giving public ones.
The first public concert we find trace of in Charleston was a benefit
given for Mr. John Salter in 1732. Several other benefit concerts were
given in the same year. We know nothing about them except that they
consisted of vocal and instrumental music and were usually followed
by a ball. Mr. Sonneck thinks it probable that they were devoted
to 'more or less skillful renditions of Corelli, Vivaldi, Purcell,
Abaco, Handel, Geminiani, and such other masters whose fame was firmly
established in Europe.' Probably subscription concerts started in
1732 or 1733, for in the latter year we find 'N. B.'s' to concert
advertisements to the effect that 'This will be the last Concert'
and 'This is the first time on the subscription.' These subscription
seasons apparently continued until 1735. From that year until 1751
there are no concerts advertised except a benefit for John Salter and
one for Charles Theodore Pachelbel. A benefit concert in 1751, one in
1755, and one in 1760 brings us through years of famine to 1765 and
Mr. Thomas Pike. Mr. Pike was a talented person who played the French
horn and the bassoon, and also taught ladies and gentlemen 'very
expeditiously on moderate terms in _Orchesography_ (or the art of
dancing by characters and demonstrative figures)'. He gave a concert in
1765 with the assistance of 'gentlemen of the place,' and was obliging
enough to publish the program, which was devoted to horn, violoncello,
harpsichord, and bassoon concertos, a song, a trio, and the overture of
Handel's 'Scipio.'
In 1767 Messrs. Bohrer, Morgan and Comp started weekly concerts at
their Charleston Vauxhall. They did not include tea and coffee in the
price of the tickets, but on one extraordinary occasion when 'four
or five pieces' were exhibited between the parts of the concert 'by
a person who is confident very few in town ever saw, or can equal,
his performance,'--on that extraordinary occasion tea and coffee were
included in the expense 'till the person above mentioned begins.'
Unfortunately we do not know the nature of the person's performance.
He was, it seems, a very exclusive person and refused to appear more
than once in Charleston, 'unless by the particular desire of a genteel
company.' Nevertheless the enterprise of Messrs. Bohrer, Morgan and
Comp does not seem to have succeeded. Peter Valton gave a benefit
concert in 1768 and a subscription concert in 1769. In the meantime
the St. Cæcilia Society, which was founded in 1762, had been giving
regular subscription seasons since 1766 or perhaps earlier. That
these St. Cæcilia Concerts were important affairs is evident from an
advertisement inserted by the society in the New York, Philadelphia,
and Boston papers in 1771, calling for a first and second violin, two
hautboys, and a bassoon, and offering to such, if 'properly qualified,'
a one-, two-, or three-year contract. The society continued to give
regular concerts all during the century, but we have no information as
to their nature.
Outside the St. Cæcilia concerts we find in 1772 only one, 'the vocal
part by a gentleman, who does it merely to oblige on this occasion,'
and, in 1773, two at which a Mr. Saunders exhibited 'his highest
_dexterity_ and _grand deception_.' In 1774 a Mr. Francheschini, who
seems to have been a violinist of the St. Cæcilia Society, announced a
concert for his benefit by express permission of that organization. Mr.
Van Hagen, of Rotterdam, who afterward appeared in New York and Boston,
gave a concert in the same year, at which Signora Castella performed
on the musical glasses. Then the war intervened, putting practically a
complete quietus on music for the time being.
So far, the concert-life of Charleston, from what we know of it, does
not at all compare with that of contemporary New York, Philadelphia,
or Boston. After the war it improved somewhat, but the intrusion
of theatrical people into the concert field immediately following
the war was very unfortunate from a musical point of view. With the
exception of a subscription series started in 1786 by Joseph Lafar, and
concerning which we have no particulars, there do not appear to have
been any concerts worthy of the name until after 1790. They were simply
scrappy theatrical entertainments, disguised sufficiently to evade the
law which seems to have existed in restraint of such. The following
advertisement shows the _modus operandi_, which is very suggestive
of the 'Sacred Concerts' given on Sundays in many of our present-day
vaudeville houses. 'On Saturday evening at the Lecture Room, late
Harmony Hall, will be a Concert, between the parts will be rehearsed
(gratis) the musical piece of _Thomas and Sally_. To which will be
added, a pantomime, called _Columbia_, or _Harlequin Shipwreck'd_.'
Even acrobatic performances were introduced into the concerts of this
period. Several concerts for charity were given in 1791, and may have
been real concerts, though we have no particulars concerning them.
George Washington attended one in that year, at which, he says, 'there
were at least 400 ladies the number and appearance of which exceeded
anything of the kind I had ever seen.' Excusably enough, perhaps, he
was not sufficiently interested in the music to say anything about it.
From 1793 on, however, the concert-life of Charleston was very rich.
Resides the subscription concerts of the St. Cecilia[33] Society, there
were regular series by the Harmonic Society, which appeared in 1794,
as well as frequent concerts given by individual musicians. Much of
this activity was due to the influx of French musicians following the
revolutions in France and St. Domingo. We find most of the benefit
concerts from 1793 to the end of the century given by people with
French names, and there is a decided leaning toward French composers,
such as Grétry, Gossec, Davaux, Michel, La Motte, Guenin, and Gluck.
However, the concerts on the whole were sufficiently eclectic,
featuring also the compositions of Haydn, Pleyel, Stamitz, Gyrowetz,
Corelli, Giornovichi, Hoffmeister, Viotti, Martini, dementi, Sacchini,
Jarnovick, Krumpholtz. Handel, Cimarosa, and even Mozart.[34] Certainly
the music lovers of Charleston did not suffer from lack of variety.
Mrs. Pownall, whom we have already met, gave a concert in 1796 which
was somewhat out of the ordinary. It was advertised as a _Grand Concert
Spiritualé_[!], and was devoted almost exclusively to 'overtures, songs
and duets, selected from the most celebrated of Handel's oratorios: the
"Messiah," "Judas Maccabæus," "Esther," etc., etc.' In the same year
there was advertised a 'Grand Musical Festival,' which is interesting
for many reasons. Probably it was the first musical affair in America
to which the term 'Festival' was applied; it employed an orchestra of
over thirty performers, which was an unusually large ensemble for that
time, and it included among the numbers on its program the overture
to Gluck's _Iphigénie en Aulide_ and Haydn's _Stabat Mater_--'the
celebrated _Stabat Mater_ of Doctor Haydn,' as the announcement puts
it. Apart from these, there were no further concerts in the last decade
of the century which call for special mention. Two attempts were made
to revive the Vaux Hall, one by 'Citizen' Cornet in 1795 and one by
Mons. Placide in 1799, but they do not seem to have added much of
value to the musical life of the city. On the whole, in Charleston, as
elsewhere in America, the beginning of the nineteenth century saw a
perceptible decline in the public demand for music of the best kind.
Our information on early concert-life in other Southern cities does
not enable us to say much about it. In Maryland, Annapolis probably
took the lead musically until after the middle of the century, but no
sources have been disclosed which would supply us with any details of
its musical life. We are a little better informed on musical affairs in
Baltimore subsequent to the year 1780 and it would seem that toward the
end of the century that city resembled Charleston very closely in the
number and quality of its concerts. Also to Baltimore as to Charleston
there was a large influx of French musicians after 1790, and with
similar results. We know nothing about concerts in Baltimore prior to
the year 1784, when William Brown demonstrated his 'superior talents
on the German flute.' A couple of concerts, one of instrumental music
only, are advertised for 1786, and in the same year we find the first
notice of a subscription season. As far as we can discover subscription
concerts were a regular feature of the musical life of the city until
the end of the century. In 1790 Ishmail Spicer, who conducted a singing
school for the improvement of church music, exhibited his pupils
in a concert of sacred music. Then came the French musicians with
their overtures of Grétry and their ariettes of Dalayrac. Like their
compatriots in Charleston, they proved commendably catholic in their
tastes, and, in addition to French compositions, gave frequent examples
of Haydn, Pleyel, Stamitz, Bach, and Gyrowetz (whose name they never
succeeded in spelling correctly). Though they practically monopolized
musical affairs in Baltimore for many years, they collaborated freely
with English, German, and Italian musicians, all of which made for the
musical good of the city. It may be mentioned that Alexander Reinagle
gave some concerts in Baltimore in 1791 and 1792, with programs of
a quality which might be expected from an artist of his superior
attainments, and he seems to have been the only non-French musician who
counted much in the concert life of Baltimore in the last decade of
the century. As elsewhere in America, there were open-air concerts in
summer at such resorts of the Baltimore fashionables as Gray's Gardens
and Chatsworth Gardens, and, as elsewhere in America, the musical life
of the people degenerated sadly with the opening of the nineteenth
century.
Williamsburg, Fredericksburg, Petersburg, Norfolk, Richmond,
Alexandria, Savannah and other Southern cities apparently had a musical
life as rich as could reasonably be expected in communities of their
size. We possess little information concerning them, but there have
been unearthed by Mr. Sonneck a number of references to concerts in
these cities, sometimes with programs quoted in full, which show that
they heard the best contemporary music occasionally, and perhaps even
frequently. Many of the concerts were given by visiting musicians,
such as Mrs. Pick, Mrs. Sully, Mrs. D. Hemard, Mr. Graupner, Mr. Shaw,
and others whose names appear on the concert programs of Charleston,
Philadelphia, and Roston. Rut it is certain that there was also in most
of these cities a musical life which functioned quite independently of
such visitors. Fredericksburg, we know, had a Harmonic Society in 1784,
which gave concerts 'the third Wednesday evening in each month,' and it
is not improbable that similar societies existed in other towns where
there was much social intercourse between people of culture, refinement
and exceeding leisure. Among the music-loving, pleasure-loving,
gregarious gentlefolk of the old South, unhampered by the fetters of
occupation and confronted merely with the task of making life pass as
pleasantly as possible, the formation of such societies must have been
inevitable. Perhaps among the families of their descendants scattered
all over the country there may be preserved many old documents that
would throw a welcome light on their musical life, but until such
documents do appear we must rest content with the surmise, based upon
the little information we possess, that musical culture in the South,
if it did not quite reach the standard attained in Boston, New York,
and Philadelphia, was at least more widely diffused than elsewhere in
America.
* * * * *
A comparison between the eighteenth-century concert life of America
and of Europe will easily show that this country, even considering its
many disadvantages, was not very far behind the older continent. Paris,
London, Vienna, Berlin, and perhaps a few other German cities like
Mannheim and Hamburg, were ahead of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and
Charleston in the quality of their concerts, but not so very far ahead
as to make the American cities look provincial in comparison. When we
consider the wealth of tradition behind the musical life of Europe and
the many difficulties which confronted early concert givers in America
the difference appears still less. But, as we pointed out in the last
chapter, there was one very profound and important difference--the
European cities were productive, the American cities were not. And,
after all, the artistic stature of a country must finally be measured
not by what it appreciates, but by what it creates. Thus measured,
America of the eighteenth century was still a musical infant.
W. D. D.
FOOTNOTES:
[25] The only published work devoted specifically to this subject is
O. G. Sonneck's 'Early Concert Life in America,' which seems to have
exhausted all available sources of information. We have used it freely
as our authority for the facts on early American concerts set forth in
this and the preceding chapters.
[26] The Concert Hall was probably built in 1754, though the exact
date of its erection is unknown. It was torn down in 1869 to allow the
widening of Hanover Street.
[27] Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf.
[28] Samuel Felsted. Practically nothing is known about his life. His
oratorio, 'Jonah,' was published in London in 1775.
[29] By _Martini il Tedesco_ (1741-1816), whose real name was Paul
Ægidius Schwartzenburg. His opera, 'Henri IV,' was produced in 1774.
[30] In Mr. Sonneck's opinion the 'Ode on Masonry' was unquestionably
composed by Tuckey.
[31] Bremner was a relative of the Scottish music publisher, composer,
and editor, Robert Bremner. He came to Philadelphia in 1763, conducted
a music school, was for a time organist of Christ Church, and was the
teacher of Francis Hopkinson.
[32] Thomas Alexander Erskine, sixth earl of Kelly (1732-81), pupil of
Stamitz and an amateur composer and violinist of some celebrity in his
day. He wrote a number of minuets, overtures and symphonies, the most
popular of which was an overture called 'The Maid of the Mill' (1765).
[33] So spelled after 1790.
[34] The appearance of a Mozart symphony on a program of 1797 is
distinctly noteworthy. Hippeau in _Berlioz et son temps_ quotes from
the _Journal des Débats_ of 1801 to the effect that the best orchestra
in France, after ten rehearsals, found a symphony of Mozart beyond its
power, setting a precedent for the orchestra of the Vienna Opera House,
which succumbed to the difficulties of _Tristan und Isolde_ after
forty-seven rehearsals--if we remember rightly.