EARLY MUSICAL ORGANIZATIONS
Origin of musical societies--The South; The St. Cecilia of
Charleston; Philadelphia and New York in the eighteenth
century--The Euterpean Society, the New York Choral Society;
Sacred Music Society; other New York Societies--New England
in the eighteenth century; the Stoughton Musical Society of
Boston; other societies in Boston and elsewhere.
All over the country in the last decade of the eighteenth century
there is noticeable a decline in the musical taste of the American
people as represented in their public musical life. This was due
probably to a variety of causes, chief among which seems to have been
the influx, after the Revolution, of a flood of immigrants lacking the
culture which the colonists had inherited or through long-settled and
prosperous residence acquired. The second decade of the nineteenth
century, however, saw a renaissance of musical activity, which was
developed into vigorous life chiefly through the agency of definitely
constituted musical organizations. The concerts of the eighteenth
century, on the whole, were rendered possible by a coöperation
between people of culture, which in itself constituted a loose sort
of organization. This coöperation, indeed, crystallized about the
middle of the century into a number of avowedly musical societies. The
history of the earliest of these is wrapped in considerable obscurity
and there is an impressive number of them claiming to be called the
first. The claim can never satisfactorily be determined, for it is
quite impossible to define categorically the limits of a musical
organization. Broadly, the term covers any number of people coöperating
for a musical purpose, and would include a singing class of half a
dozen members as fittingly as a modern orchestra or a musical society
of hundreds.
We may, however, define a musical society in the modern sense as a body
of people regularly and permanently organized for the carrying out of
a definite program of musical education, study or performance. Such
societies in America have been an evolution. They have evolved, on the
one hand, from coöperation between cultured amateurs for the purpose of
giving musical performances and, on the other, from the formation of
singing classes for cultivating a proper skill in rendering the psalms.
There is, consequently, considerable justification for the course taken
by some historians in looking upon these singing classes as the first
of our musical organizations, though, as will appear later, they had
nothing to do with the formation of our earliest musical societies
properly so called, such as the St. Cecilia Society of Charleston, the
Musical Society of Boston or the Harmonic Society of New York.
I
As far as we know, the first avowedly musical organization in America
was the Orpheus Club, which is said to have existed in Philadelphia
in 1759. We possess no information concerning it. Philadelphia at
that time contained a goodly number of music lovers. Such men as
John Penn, James Brenner, Dr. Kuhn, and Francis Hopkinson, were then
engaged in breathing the spirit of life into the dead body of musical
Philadelphia. How well they succeeded we have seen in our chapter on
early concerts. Musical gatherings were frequent at their homes and it
is not impossible that they were prominently concerned in the formation
of the Orpheus Club. If they were, the activities of that organization
must have been very interesting and we can only regret that no record
of them has seen the light.
In default of unimpeachable evidence even of the existence of the
Orpheus Club at the time mentioned we must award the title of pioneer
among American musical organizations to the St. Cecilia Society of
Charleston.[35] This society was founded in 1762. According to the
rules, which were 'agreed upon and finally confirmed' in 1773, it
consisted of one hundred and twenty members and its main purpose
apparently was to give concerts. Until well into the nineteenth century
it was the centre of the concert life of Charleston and for many years
it seemed indeed to have almost a monopoly of the musical talent,
amateur and professional, in the city. It even went as far as Boston
to gather properly qualified performers into its fold. In addition
to a yearly concert on St. Cecilia's Day, the society gave regular
fortnightly concerts during the season. The orchestra was composed of
gentlemen performers and professional musicians--the latter engaged by
the year. It was the nearest approach to a permanent orchestra that
existed in America outside the theatres before the nineteenth century
and there is every likelihood that its performances reached a high
standard of technical and artistic excellence.
An Orpheus Society apparently existed in Charleston in 1772 and there
has been found an allusion to an Amateur Society in 1791. A Harmonic
Society also appeared there in 1794. All these societies gave concerts,
but there are so few references to them in the contemporary press that
we know nothing else definite about them. Probably their activities
were to a large extent private and their concerts were confined to
members. This would easily account for the absence of their names from
the newspaper advertisement. There was a musical society in Baltimore
in 1799 and a Harmonic Society in Fredericksburg, Va., in 1784. We know
nothing about the former, but the latter, we gather, was 'peculiarly
intended for benevolent purposes' and gave concerts on the third
Wednesday evening of each month. Whether musical societies also existed
in other Southern towns, such as Williamsburg, Richmond, Alexandria,
Norfolk, and Petersburg, it is impossible to say. Probably they did.
All the chief Virginia towns were of about equal size and importance,
and social conditions in all of them were strikingly alike. The
existence of a musical society in one of them is _prima facie_ evidence
of its existence in the others.
Considering the great activity apparent in the musical life of
Philadelphia during the second half of the eighteenth century, the
dearth of musical organizations is surprising. There appears to have
been a musical club under the auspices of which subscription concerts,
known collectively as the 'Amateur Concert,' were given between 1787
and 1789. This and the Orpheus Club already mentioned were the only
musical societies existing in Philadelphia during the eighteenth
century as far as we can discover. The Uranian Society is hard to
classify, but it was really more an educational institution than a
musical society in the accepted meaning of the term. It was founded
in 1784 by Andrew Adgate, as an 'Institution for the Encouragement of
Church Music,' an 'Institution for promoting the knowledge of psalmody'
and an 'Institution for diffusing more generally the knowledge of Vocal
Music.' Evidently there was some confusion in Mr. Adgate's mind as to
the exact purpose of his institution. It was a somewhat Utopian scheme,
contemplating the establishment of a free school for the study of vocal
music, open to all denominations and subsisting on public bounty. The
institution became known as the Uranian Society in 1785 and as the
Uranian Academy in 1787. The plan of the academy, as finally formulated
in the latter year, shows that its purpose had definitely narrowed down
to the teaching of church music. The country was not yet ripe for such
an undertaking and the enterprise failed, but between 1785 and 1787 it
was responsible for a number of choral concerts on a scale hitherto
unequalled in America.
Considering that there was an active concert life in New York at least
as early as 1754, it might be presumed that musical societies of
some sort existed there at that date, but we have no evidence on the
subject. The first mention we find of a musical society in New York
is contained in the advertisement of a concert in 1773 at which some
of the instrumental parts were played by gentlemen of the Harmonic
Society. Possibly the Harmonic Society had already been in existence
for some years, but up to 1773 it escaped mention in the newspapers.
How long it lasted we cannot say. In 1786 we find in the New York
'Daily Advertiser' an announcement that 'the Society for promoting
vocal music meet at six o'clock this evening at Mr. Halett's School
Room in Little Queen Street, agreeable to adjournment.' No further
mention of the society appears and there is no clew to its name or to
the length of its existence. Obviously it was not identical with the
Harmonic, for the gentlemen of that society seem to have been devoted
chiefly to instrumental music.
There was in New York a St. Cecilia Society, founded apparently in
1791, 'with a view to cultivate the science of music and good taste in
its education' (?). Instrumental music was its main consideration and
it held weekly concerts, the nature of which we have been unable to
discover. We know only that 'the principal professors of music' were
'members and performers at these concerts.' The society lasted until
1799, when it was amalgamated with the Harmonical Society, which had
been founded in 1796 'for the purpose of cultivating the knowledge of
vocal and instrumental music.' The result of the amalgamation was the
Philharmonic Society which held its first annual concert at the Tontine
Hotel on Broadway in December, 1800, 'with a variety of vocal and
instrumental music by the most celebrated performers in the city.' It
is impossible to say how long the Philharmonic lasted, but probably it
survived until well into the nineteenth century.
In 1793 there appears a mention of a Uranian Musical Society, which
'was instituted for improvement in sacred vocal music.' Meetings were
held every Wednesday, and, judging from the number of prominent New
Yorkers included in its membership, the society must have exercised
considerable influence. The last mention of it appears in 1798, but
there is no evidence that it ceased to exist in that year. Of the
Polyhymnia Society, founded in 1799, and the Euterpean Society, which
probably first appeared in 1800, we know nothing. According to Ritter,
the latter was considered as 'perhaps the oldest musical society in
the United States,' and 'as the lineal descendant of the old Apollo.'
There is absolutely no evidence to support either of these statements.
Mr. Sonneck quotes from the 'Sketches and Impressions' of Thomas
Goodwin, published in 1887, the following note on the subject: 'The
Euterpean, an amateur orchestra, was already an old organization
half a century ago. It had been well managed, and owned a small
library and several valuable instruments.... I have a program of its
forty-eighth anniversary concert, given January 21, 1847, which would
carry its organization back to the last century.' From the fact that
the Euterpean Society does not appear among the musical societies in
the directory of 1799, Mr. Sonneck is inclined to the opinion that the
society was founded on January 21, 1800.
Probably in New York and elsewhere in America there were a number
of convivial clubs in which music, especially the singing of glees
and catches, occupied an important place. The frequency of such
organizations in England is an argument in favor of the assumption,
for English life was reproduced very much in detail by the American
colonists. It is not surprising that they escaped mention in the
contemporary press, as their activities were not of any public
interest. An exception must be made in favor of the Columbian
Anacreontic Society, which was modelled upon the famous Anacreontic
Society of London. The latter is of special interest to Americans,
since it furnished indirectly the music of 'The Star Spangled Banner.'
The New York version of the society probably was more innocuous than
its English model, though its affairs must have been marked by a
robust jolity. It was founded by John Hodgkinson, a former member of
the London Anacreontic Society, whose excellent musical endowments
and achievements did not prevent him from being a faithful worshipper
of Bacchus, and possibly it numbered also in its membership other
graduates of its English prototype. The exact date of its foundation
is not known, but it certainly existed in 1795, as we glean from the
following item in a concert program of that year:
'_Collini's Odes on the Passions_ (!), to be spoken by Mr. Hodgkinson.
With music representative of each passion; as performed at the
_Anacreontic Society_, composed by J. Hewitt.' This, Mr. Sonneck
notes, 'is in all probability the earliest example of melodramatic
music composed in America.' Unfortunately we have no other data on the
nature of the music performed at the concerts of the society. These
were held usually at the Tontine Coffee House, and it may be assumed
that they were devoted chiefly to catches, glees, and other songs
similar to those performed by the English society, but perhaps not so
intimately frank. Unlike the English society, but curiously like every
American stag society, before or since, the Columbian Anacreontic held
an annual ladies' night. The custom carries an unpleasantly philistine
flavor, which is further emphasized when we read an announcement that
such members of the society as chose to attend a benefit performance
for John Hodgkinson would be accommodated in the 'Shakespeare Box' and
would 'wear their badges.' But in spite of all this it seems to have
been of some value in the musical life of New York.
II
During the first half of the nineteenth century the chief musical
societies in New York seem to have been the New York Choral Society,
the Philharmonic Society, the Euterpean Society, the Handel and
Haydn Society, The Musical Fund, and the Sacred Music Society. Of
the Euterpean Society we have already spoken as having been founded
probably in 1800. Apparently it was composed chiefly of wealthy
amateurs and was somewhat dilettante in its activities. A contemporary
critic thus arraigns it: 'This society, from its long standing, the
respectability of its officers, and the individual talent of its
members, might possess the most extensive influence in the musical
community. It has in its possession funds, and the largest library of
instrumental music in the country; and yet, with all these advantages
on its side, what has the Euterpean done, or what does it do? It can
be summed up in a few words. A few of its members meet every Friday
evening and play overtures and symphonies; and every year they give
an indifferent concert and a ball, the last of which is the chief
attraction. Now, we ask the Euterpean if, like a horse in a mill, they
are forever to pursue this eternal round?'
The Euterpean did not continue that or any other course for very
long, but, whatever justice there may have been in the foregoing
criticisms, it was certainly the only instrumental music society in
New York during the years immediately preceding the advent of the
Philharmonic. Possibly its annual concert was 'indifferent,' but the
program of 1839, quoted by Dr. Ritter, which includes compositions
of Herold, Auber, Bellini, Boehm, Purcell, Rossini, and Thalberg,
would argue the contrary.[36] The orchestra was of sufficiently good
symphonic proportions. It consisted of six first violins, five second
violins, four tenors, three 'celli, two contrabasses, four flutes, two
oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three
trombones, kettle drums, drum and cymbals. Apparently the principals
in the orchestra of the Euterpean lacked zeal and enterprise, but,
whatever their faults, we are justified in looking upon the society
as the parent of the Philharmonic and as an important factor in the
development of orchestral music in New York.
Of this Philharmonic Society, which succeeded the Euterpean and
which is still flourishing, we shall speak in a later chapter. As far
as we can discover it had nothing to do with the earlier society of
the same name which was founded in 1799 of the junction between the
Harmonical and the St. Cecilia societies. The earlier Philharmonic
is somewhat elusive. If the occasional allusions to a Philharmonic
Society during the first decades of the nineteenth century referred
to the same organization, it probably existed until about 1829. There
is a possibility, however, that the original Philharmonic failed and
that various attempts were made to form other societies under the same
name. Dr. Ritter says that the Musical Fund, organized about 1828, was
the successor to a Philharmonic, the object of which was 'to promote
the cultivation of the science of music; to afford facilities for the
exhibition of talent, and its advancement to fair competition among the
profession and amateurs.' As the Musical Fund gave monthly rehearsals
for 'the display of glee and solo talent,' it may be inferred that the
Philharmonic was concerned mainly if not altogether with vocal music;
but we have been unable to discover any evidence which would show that
the two societies had anything in common.
The New York Choral Society, which devoted its energies to sacred
music, seems to have done very notable work during the short time it
lasted. It was founded in 1823, chiefly by Episcopal clergymen, and its
first grand concert, given at St. George's Church on Beekman Street in
1824, is interesting enough to deserve citation:
First Part
Overture Jomelli
Air: 'Comfort ye my people,' from the 'Messiah' Handel
Chorus: Motetto, 'O God, when thou appearest' Mozart
Air: 'Thou didst not leave,' 'Messiah' Handel
Chorus: 'Lift up your hands' Handel
Duetto: 'Hear my prayer' Kent
Air: 'Oh! had I Jubal's Lyre' Handel
'Hallelujah Chorus,' from 'Mount of Olives,' Beethoven
Part Second
Overture from the Occasional Oratorio Handel
Recitative and Air Handel
Chorus: 'To thee Cherubim' Handel
Solo and Chorus: 'Thou art the King of Glory,' Handel
Air: 'Let the bright Seraphim'--'Judas Maccabæus' Handel
Chorus: 'Sing unto the Lord' Handel
Unfortunately contemporary critics were more enthusiastic than
discriminating and it is impossible to tell what sort of performance
was given of this excellent program. The effect of the forte parts of
Mozart's _motetto_, one critic asserts, 'was almost overwhelming to a
great number of the auditors, and will not be soon forgotten.' The same
gentleman quite loses his balance over the 'sublime and majestic chorus
from the oratorio of "Mount of Olives," which was another of the full
pieces that had never before been presented to the musical public of
this city. The connoisseurs and critics were watching with considerable
solicitude to hear the splendid effort of genius, and which may be
justly ranked among the first compositions of the present day. We
believe we may assert with confidence that the expectations of all were
fully realized, and, with regard to many of the audience, far exceeded.
The effect was indeed grand, and was heightened by the trumpet of Mr.
Petrie, and the kettle drums.'
In connection with Mr. Petrie's trumpet it may be of interest to
note the extraordinary predilection of New Yorkers at that time for
brass instruments. Dr. Ritter quotes the following from a contemporary
critic: 'The uncommon partiality our citizens manifest for the noisy
part of the orchestra has been lately much commented upon by strangers.
The trumpet and trombone occupy, in our concerts, the _posts of honor_.
True it is, Mr. Norton and Mr. Gambeti are excellent performers--but
we hear them in concerts too often. In England they have Harper,
a first-rate trumpet; and Germany has Schmidt, the best trombone
that ever existed. This gentleman visited England and was heard
occasionally, but at Niblo's Garden we will undertake to say that more
trumpet and trombone concertos were played last season than have been
heard in England and Germany for two years. If Mr. Young adds himself
to this triumvirate next season, we may fairly expect New York _will be
blown away_.'
The Choral Society seems to have been eclipsed and perhaps absorbed by
the New York Sacred Music Society, which was founded in the same year.
The latter owed its existence to the somewhat peculiar circumstance of
a strike among church choristers. Considerable reputation attached to
the choir of Zion Church, which was known as the Zion Church Musical
Association. The association applied to the vestry for an increase of
salary or permission to give a concert. Their request was refused,
and, after some bickering, the choir resigned and formed The New York
Sacred Music Society. The history of this society is one of brilliant
accomplishment. At first its means and its membership were limited,
and its artistic ambitions were hampered by the lackadaisical attitude
of most of its members, to whom the meeting room of the society was
merely 'a pleasant place in which to pass an evening, to see their
friends, and hear a little music.' Nevertheless, a few years after its
foundation it was already doing work of a standard that must give it
a notable place in the history of New York musical organizations. In
1827 it gave a concert for the benefit of the Greek patriots, with a
program on which figured the names of Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Arne,
and Jomelli. There was an orchestra of twenty-seven, a chorus of about
sixty, and a number of distinguished soloists, which included the
famous Madame Malibran. 'From this period,' says the New York 'Musical
Journal,' 'the history of the progress of the highest species of sacred
music in this city is identified with the history of the society.'
Four years later the Sacred Music Society produced the 'Messiah' in
its entirety, under the leadership of Uriah C. Hill, whom we shall
have occasion to meet later. There was an orchestra of thirty-eight
instruments and a chorus of seventy-four voices. Encouraged by its
success it gave Haydn's 'Te Deum' and 'Creation,' and in 1838 it
produced Mendelssohn's 'St. Paul'--only two years after that work had
made its first appearance at Düsseldorf. For reasons which we are
unable to discover the Sacred Music Society ceased to exist in 1849.
Possibly the musical public of New York were not overly inclined toward
oratorio, and possibly also the society suffered from the competition
of a number of rival organizations. Most of these, such as 'The Academy
of Church Music,' were formed out of church choirs and very evidently
aspired to rival the fame of the Sacred Music Society. None of them,
however, attained any success. Their effect, indeed, was if anything,
pernicious, for what New York then needed in its musical affairs was
concentration rather than expansion.
For a short time New York possessed a Handel and Haydn Society which
originated in a number of oratorio performances gotten up to finance
the rebuilding of the Zion Church. This was before the day of the
Sacred Music Society. The Musical Fund, already mentioned, seems to
have been chiefly an orchestral organization, notwithstanding the
fact that, as Dr. Ritter points out, it gave monthly rehearsals for
'the display of the glee and solo talent' of the city. A concert
given by it in 1830 included the overture to Mozart's 'Magic Flute,'
an overture of Winter, a pianoforte solo, a clarinet concerto, and a
trumpet concerto(!). We find that at its concert in 1836 the Musical
Fund had a very well balanced orchestra of thirty-eight instruments and
performed, among other things, the overtures to Rossini's 'Sémiramide'
and 'William Tell.' Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Gluck, Beethoven, Rossini,
and Weber all figured on the society's programs, and on one occasion it
presented Beethoven's 'Eroica,' arranged for septet.
About this time there seems to have been a number of musical societies
among the German population of New York, which was beginning to assume
large proportions. Chief of these was the Concordia, which was devoted
to the improvement of instrumental and vocal music. For a short time
the Concordia was conducted by Daniel Schlesinger, a native of Hamburg
and a pupil of Ferdinand Ries, who exercised considerable influence
on musical life in New York during his few years in the city. Many
semi-private clubs for the cultivation of various branches of music
also began to make their appearance, but they are of no particular
importance, except in so far as they testify to the growth of a serious
interest in musical matters.
III
It is quite impossible to say when and where the first musical society
made its appearance in New England. Though both Mr. Elson and Dr.
Ritter assert that the Stoughton Musical Society was founded in 1786
its right of priority is not apparent. Even if it had its beginning
in the singing school which Billings taught at Stoughton in 1774, it
still must yield precedence to the St. Cecilia and Orpheus societies of
Charleston, the Orpheus Club of Philadelphia, and the Harmonic Society
of New York--all of which were in existence before the latter date.
Mr. Sonneck thinks that some sort of musical society existed in Boston
as early as 1761. Certainly an Aretinian Society existed there in
1782, as we know from the announcement of a concert in which it took
part. Apparently it was devoted to the cultivation of sacred choral
music. An organization known as the Musical Society was founded in
Boston some time before 1786. In that year it gave a concert of 'Sacred
Musick, vocal and instrumental--for the benefit and relief of the poor
prisoners confined in the jail of this town.' Apparently William Selby
was conductor of the society, at least during the years 1786-88, and a
regular series of subscription concerts were given every season until
1790, when the society seems to have gone out of existence. There must
have been other societies in Boston at the same time, for we find
that the proceeds of a concert held in 1787 were to be devoted to the
rebuilding of the Meeting House in Hollis Street, 'agreeably to the
generous intentions of the Musical _Societies_ in this town who have
projected this concert.' Some of these may have been founded before the
Musical Society.
The Stoughton Society, of which so much has been made in the
histories, is of importance chiefly because it was the first society
that we know of which was formed among the people and not among
cultured amateurs and professional musicians. Otherwise it is of slight
interest. It did nothing particularly noteworthy and we cannot even say
that it was an organization of high artistic efficiency. The fact that
its nucleus was a singing class of Billings is hardly an endorsement
of its quality, for there is no evidence that Billings possessed any
qualifications as a trainer of choruses. He was still primitive enough
to include female voices in the tenor part. Nevertheless, as Deacon
Samuel Tolman informs us, the Stoughton Musical Society was 'large
and respectable' and was 'attended with spirit.' Its fame was great
throughout Massachusetts and only once was its supremacy questioned.
The incident is related by Mr. Elson as follows: 'Many clergymen in
following the good old fashion of "exchanging pulpits," had become
familiar with the excellent church music of Stoughton, and sounded
its praise abroad. The singers of the first parish of Dorchester,
Massachusetts, took umbrage at this and challenged the Stoughton
vocalists to a trial of skill. The gauntlet was at once taken up, and
the contest took place in a large hall in Dorchester, many of the
leading Bostonians coming out to witness it. The Dorchester choristers
were male and female, and had the assistance of a bass viol. The
Stoughton party consisted of twenty selected male voices, without
instruments, led by the president of the Stoughton Musical Society,
Elijah Dunbar, a man of dignified presence and of excellent voice.
The Dorchester singers began with a new anthem. The Stoughtonians
commenced with Jacob French's "Heavenly Vision," the author of which
was their fellow townsman. When they finally sang, without books,
Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" the Dorchestrians gave up the contest
and gracefully acknowledged defeat.' At least the choristers of
Massachusetts were enthusiastic and sincere, and for their enthusiasm
and sincerity one can forgive them many faults.
How many musical societies existed in Boston during the last years
of the eighteenth century we cannot say. There seems to have been a
number of them. In 1789, during the visit of Washington to Boston, 'an
Oratorio or Concert of Sacred Musick' was given in which the choruses
of the oratorio of Jonah were sung by the Independent Musical Society.
There is no evidence of the dates at which this society began or ended
its existence, but it must have been a fairly efficient organization.
There was no lack of competent musicians in Boston at that time, and
choral singing especially seems to have been in high favor with a
goodly share of the population. The society of the Sons of Apollo,
which existed in 1795, was probably a vocal organization also, though
we know nothing about it. Boston possessed a Philharmonic Society which
was founded probably before 1799. Possibly Gottlieb Graupner, one of
the most prominent figures in the early musical life of Boston, was
among its founders, and it seems likely that it was identical with the
Philharmonic Society which is supposed to have been founded by Graupner
and his friends in 1810 or 1811. According to Mr. J. S. Dwight, author
of a 'History of Music in Boston,' the Philharmonic was 'simply a
social meeting, held on Saturday evenings, when, in their small way,
they practised Haydn's symphonies.' This statement, however, does not
square with the fact that the society gave regular concerts and was
described by the musical journal, 'Euterpeiad,' as a 'useful nursery of
music.' Its last concert took place in 1824 and apparently it went out
of existence in that year.
During the last few years of the eighteenth and the first decades
of the nineteenth centuries musical societies began to spring up in
the smaller cities throughout the country. Very little information
concerning them has come to light, but it is probable that research
will finally disclose a surprising amount of serious musical activity
in places which so far have escaped mention in our musical histories.
The impression that musical culture in early America was confined to
Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston has taken firm root and
is confirmed by most of the evidence on the subject which has appeared.
But research in American musical history has for the most part been
extremely superficial and determined in its direction by preconceived
impressions which are wholly one-sided. Such special studies in
early American musical history as have been made--those of Mr. O. G.
Sonneck, for example--have exploded many longstanding fallacies and
misconceptions and undoubtedly further research will clear the field of
other myths now generally accepted as incontestable.
There was a St. Cæcilia Society at Newport, R. I., in 1793, and we
find mention in 1797 of the anniversary meeting of the Concord Musical
Society. What the nature of these societies was we can only guess.
They were undoubtedly conscious attempts to organize all the music
lovers of these towns into compact bodies for the better promotion and
enjoyment of their favorite art. It is our conviction that dozens of
such societies existed in the smaller towns throughout the country. In
fact, it would seem that sometimes several societies co-existed within
a very small area--at least in New England--and formed themselves into
associations. We have an instance in the case of the Essex Musical
Association of Massachusetts, which was founded in 1797. A copy of
its constitution is preserved in the Roston Athenæum. In 1821 the
'Euterpeiad' woke up to the fact that there was a very large amount
of musical activity throughout the country. 'During the last week,'
it says, 'we noticed the following musical performances that were to
take place in the present month of May: A concert of sacred music by
the Beethoven Society at Portland (Me.), a grand concert at Augusta
(Ga.), a select oratorio at Providence by the Psallion Society, a grand
concert of music by the Philadelphia Musical Fund, the grand Oratorio
the "Creation" by the Harmonic Society of Baltimore, a performance of
sacred music by the New Hampshire Musical Society at Hanover, in Boston
an instrumental and vocal concert for the benefit of Mr. Ostinelli, and
a public oratorio by the Handel and Haydn Society.'
About this time there existed in Dartmouth College a Handel Society,
which is notable as having been the first serious attempt by an
American college to promote musical culture. It was also the last for
a considerable period. Concerning this society Dr. Ritter quotes the
following from a letter written to him by Dr. A. G. Brown, president
of Hamilton College: 'The aims of the society were of the best. A good
working library of the best musical works then attainable was procured,
including such works as the "Messiah," the "Creation," The Handel and
Haydn Society Collection of Anthems, the old Colony Collection, and
other music of like kind. This was carefully studied by the Society,
and at the regular weekly meetings carefully sung.... Members of the
society were chosen after due examination, and counted it an honor
to be members of the association. Ladies were admitted as honorary
members. And I have never heard better church-music than from that
society at some period of its existence. Its influence did not stop
within the walls of the college, but was widely diffused, and continued
beyond college life.' Unfortunately its influence did not continue for
very long.
[Illustration: Building of the Handel and Haydn Society
of Boston (1850).]
Without doubt there were many musical societies in Boston during
the early years of the nineteenth century, but, with the exception
of the Philharmonic Society, we have been able to discover only the
Massachusetts Musical Society, formed in 1807 'for improving the mode
of performing sacred music.' It would appear that this society confined
its activities exclusively to hymns, with the natural result that few
members were attracted to it. It ceased to exist in 1810. Whatever
other societies may have existed in Boston were completely overshadowed
by the founding of the Handel and Haydn Society in 1815. This famous
organization antedates several of the societies we have already
mentioned, but the greater part of its career is covered by a later
period. We consequently defer treatment of it to the chapter dealing
with these important modern societies, of which it may be said to have
been the first.
W. D. D.
FOOTNOTES:
[35] Until 1790, as we have previously noted, the name was spelled
'Cæcilia.'
[36] It must not, of course, be forgotten that a comparison between
this and a modern orchestral program would be unfair. The program was
light, and conspicuously ignored the great Germans, but it was good of
its time and kind. It included an oboe solo, which must have been a
novelty to New Yorkers.