Blending the Popular and the Profound: Organ

Blending the Popular and the
Profound:
Organ Concerts at the
World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893
Presentation for AGO National Convention
Boston, 2014
Annie Laver, Eastman School of Music
[email protected]
View of South Canal by Charles Dudley Arnold, official photographer
Map of the grounds
Interior of Festival Hall
Mission of the Bureau of Music
Theodore Thomas
Director of Music
“1. To make a complete showing to the world of musical
progress in this country in all grades and departments,
from the lowest to the highest.
2. To bring before the people of the United States a full
illustration of music in its highest form, as exemplified by
the most enlightened nations of the world.”
-Official Announcement, dated June 30, 1892
Planned scope of music at the fair
“The entire range of the performances proposed may be seen from the following
tentative classification:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Semi-weekly orchestral concerts in Music Hall.
Semi-monthly choral concerts in Music Hall.
Six series of International Concerts, choral and orchestral, each consisting of
from four to six, in Festival Hall and in Music Hall
Three series of Oratorical Festivals by united American choral societies in
Festival Hall.
Concerts in Festival Hall, under the auspices of German singing societies.
Concerts in Festival Hall, under the auspices of Swedish singing societies.
Six series of Popular Miscellaneous Festival Concerts by American singers.
Twelve children’s concerts by Sunday School, Public School, and specially
organized children’s choruses.
Chamber-music Concerts and Organ Recitals.
Popular Concerts of orchestral music will be given daily in Festival Hall
during the six months of the Exposition.”
-Official Announcement
The state of construction on the Ferris Wheel when the fair
opened in May 1893.
Crowds on Chicago Day, October 9, 1893.
716,881 people attended on this day commemorating the
anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
“One of the most complete and satisfactory features of the music given at
the World’s Fair was the series of organ recitals in Festival Hall....The 62
programmes contained 507 compositions (including repetitions), of
which 464 were organ compositions, and 43 were “arrangements.” This
latter fact speaks well for the taste of our organists, who evidently prefer
the legitimate organ music. Of the 507 compositions, 62 were composed
by Bach, 43 by Guilmant, 8 by Merkel, 6 by Rheinberger, 5 by Best, 6 by
Batiste, 3 by [Lefébure-]Wely, and 22 by Dudley Buck. Bach’s Toccata
and Fugue in D-minor was given 10 times, the Toccata in F, 9 times, and
the Fantasia and Fugue in G-minor, 7 times. 49 numbers were sonatas,
complete or in part, and 53 were fugues. 176 compositions were by
German composers, 159 by French, 28 by English, 53 by American, and
91 by miscellaneous composers.”
-Everett Truette, “Music at the Fair,” The Organ 2, no. 9 (January 1894)
Number of pieces played, by composer nationality
German
French
American
English
Belgian
Italian
Polish
Hungarian
193
155
66
31
16
11
7
6
Norwegian
Austrian
Alsatian
Canadian
Danish
Dutch
3
2
1
1
4
1
Total
498
6 Improvisations not included
2 pieces not attributed to a composer
Frequency of composers performed, by nationality
German
French
American
English
Belgian
Italian
Polish
Hungarian
Bach (60), Wagner (21), Mendelssohn (20),
Handel (11)
Guilmant (48), Dubois (13), Salome (12),
Tombelle (11), Widor (10)
Buck (22), Whiting (8), Shelley (6)
Best (8), Smart (6), Spinney (5)
Lemmens (12), Franck (3), Mailly (1)
Martini (2), Morandi (2), Rossini (2)
Chopin (4), Moszkowski (3), Paderewski (1)
Liszt (6)
“As the head of the organist profession in Paris I place Guilmant,
because he is more catholic in his taste, has a broader scope, plays in all
schools, and is an organ virtuoso of the first rank...He has done more for
organ music than any one else in France, to popularize the instrument
and bring it before the public.”
“[Widor is] a great man, a great organist and a remarkable composer. He
plays almost nothing but Bach and Widor; the ill-disposed wickedly say it
‘Widor and Bach’--for it is, perhaps, true that the compositions of the
later master figure more often upon his programs.”
“His organ symphonies have a rank peculiarly their own. They are quite
symphonic in character, very contrapuntal—in fact, this element is perhaps
too strong in his latest symphony, the so-called ‘Gothic.’ He has
overladen it with contrapuntal design. It is full of canon and fugue and all
that sort of thing, exceedingly difficult and not particularly interesting.”
-Eddy on Widor in Music 11 (November 1896)
An absolutely free and independent use of the
heel in pedal playing is seldom found, and yet
it is as important as a skillful employment of
the thumb upon the manuals. The old school
said avoid using the heels; but the new school
says, use every means to obtain artistic results.
-Eddy on “Organ Pedaling,” Organ 1, no. 5. (September 1892)
Clarence Eddy
(standing) with
Alexandre Guilmant
(seated)
Steinway Hall, Chicago
1898
BLENDING THE POPULAR AND THE PROFOUND:
ORGAN CONCERTS AT THE
WORLD’S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION OF 1893
Presentation for AGO National Convention
Boston
June 24, 2014
3:00 p.m.
Annie Laver
Eastman School of Music
[email protected]
Presentation Handout
Organ Recitalists at the World’s Columbian Exposition
Performer Name
No. of
Concerts
Clarence Eddy
21
Alexandre
Guilmant
4
R. Huntington
Woodman
Samuel A. Baldwin
William C. Carl
4
Walter E. Hall
3
Wilhelm
Middleschulte
Frank Taft
George Whiting
3
Harrison M. Wild
3
John Fred Wolle
2
George W.
Andrews
1
Louis Adolphe
Coerne
1
Newton J. Corey
C. A. W. Howland
1
1
B. J. Lang
1
Otto Pfefferkorn
Thomas Radcliffe
Winthrop S.
Sterling
Henry Gordon
Thunder
Augustus Stephen
Vogt
1
1
1
3
3
3
3
1
1
City of Residence at time of Exposition
and Biographical Notes
Chicago. Organizer, WCE organ concerts. Foremost concert
organist in US. Studied with Buck, Haupt (Germany), lived in
Europe for many years.
Paris. Studied with Lemmens, considered most exciting French
performer of his day. Succeeded Widor as organ professor of
Paris Conservatoire in 1896.
Brooklyn. Church organist and choral conductor. Studied with
Buck and Franck.
St. Paul. Would later become organist of City College of NY.
New York. Most active concert organist in U.S. next to Eddy.
Organist at Old First Presbyterian Church, NY. Studied with
Guilmant. Established Guilmant Organ School in 1899.
Pittsburgh. Had previously been organist of Chicago’s Church
of the Epiphany.
Chicago. RC Cathedral of the Holy Name. German émigré,
composer. Studied with Haupt. Often played from memory.
Brooklyn. Favorite student of Eddy’s.
Boston. Composer and faculty member, New England
Conservatory. Studied with W.T. Best.
Chicago. Studied in Leipzig and with Eddy. Conductor for
Apollo Club, Mendelssohn Club. Organized weekly recital
series at Chicago’s Unity Church.
Bethlehem, PA. Organist at Moravian Church, later founded
Bethlehem Bach Choir. Studied with Rheinberger.
Oberlin, OH. Faculty, Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
Studied with Rheinberger, Guilmant. Founding member of
AGO in 1896.
Boston. Orchestral composer. Studied with Paine, Rheinberger.
First to receive Ph.D in music from U.S. university (Harvard,
1905)
Detroit. Instructor, Michigan Conservatory of Music.
Detroit. First Unitarian Church. Blind, studied with
Rheinberger, Guilmant.
Boston. Conductor of Handel and Haydn Society.
Accomplished pianist (studied with Liszt) and chamber
musician. Champion of American music.
Chicago. German émigré, primarily pianist.
Salt Lake City. British émigré, trained in London.
Cincinnati. Dean and chair of organ department, Cincinnati
College of Music.
Philadelphia. Organist of St. Patrick’s Church, conductor of
Philadelphia Choral Society.
Canada. Important Canadian music teacher. Became founding
conductor of Mendelssohn Choir in Toronto in 1894.
2
Specification of the Farrand and Votey Organ in Festival Hall
3
Bibliography
ARCHIVAL MATERIALS
Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago, Illinois
James W. Ellsworth Papers
Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois
Frederic Grant Gleason Papers
“Official Report of the Bureau of Music of the World’s Columbian Exposition.”
Listed as “Exposition Scrapbook” in the Theodore Thomas Papers
PERIODICALS
American Art Journal
Chicago Daily Tribune
Chicago Inter Ocean
Diapason
Etude
Music
Musical Courier
Musical Times
Organ
Presto
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