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Playing for the Big Time: Musicians, Concerts, and Reputation-Building in Cincinnati, 1872–82
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 November 2010
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Like many midwestern cities in the nineteenth century, Cincinnati, Ohio, was home to large numbers of German immigrant musicians, among them the founders of the Cincinnati Grand Orchestra in 1872. Their model of musician-based organization eventually ran counter to the prestige-building potential of Western art music, which made it attractive to local civic leaders determined to earn respect for their city at a national level. The successful Cincinnati May festivals beginning in 1873 under the artistic leadership of conductor Theodore Thomas brought the city the desired renown. But the musical monumentality needed for large festival performances could not be obtained locally, leaving Cincinnati's players with opportunities to perform at a high level but without a way to define their performance as a significant achievement in the world of high art. Although their orchestra was ultimately unsuccessful, however, these musicians demonstrated an agency that transcends their historical obscurity and helps incorporate aesthetic and practical aspects of institution-building into the social arguments common to discussions of Western art music in the United States.
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References
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29 Ibid.
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34 Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, Oct. 17, 1880, 5, Nov. 28, 1880, 5, Dec. 26, 1880, 6, Apr. 24, 1881, 5; Michael Brand's uncle, Joseph Brand, had introduced bands with winds in addition to brass to Cincinnati's outdoor musical life. Joseph Brand obituary, Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, Jan. 13, 1875, 8.
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37 1880 Cincinnati May Festival program.
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39 Katherine K. Preston, Opera on the Road: Traveling Opera Troupes in the United States, 1825–60 (Urbana, 1993).
40 Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, Jan. 31, 1881, 8 (quotation), Feb. 20, 1881, 12,
41 Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, Feb. 20, 1881, 12.
42 A fifth festival under new leadership failed financially in November 1886. Holliday, “Cincinnati Opera Festivals,” 147–49.
43 List given in the Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, Feb.12, 1882, 4.
44 Schabas, Theodore Thomas, 114.
45 New York Herald, May 6, 1882, 7.
46 New York Times, May 17–18, 1880. The paper's reporting on the individual concerts was more evenhanded and complimentary; see May 17, 19, 21, 1880.
47 New York Times, May 18, 1880, 4.
48 Louis Ballenberg and Michael Brand to Lucien Wulsin, Oct. 8, 1880, in Wulsin Family Papers, ser. 1, box 23, folder 8, Cincinnati Historical Society Library; Commercial, Apr. 30, 1882; L. Thomas, “Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra,” 71–72.
49 Schabas, Theodore Thomas, 88.