Chapter II

), the first books of psalmody pretending to be works of instruction were those of the Rev. John Tufts, of Newbury, Mass., published in 1712 and 1714, and that of the Rev. Thomas Walter, of Roxbury, Mass., published in 1721. Largely as a result of Tufts' and Walter's publications, singing schools to teach the reading of psalm-tunes by sight began to be established in New England, although not without strenuous opposition.

In 1723 the Rev. Thomas Symmes, of Bradford, Mass., published a 'joco-serious dialogue concerning regular singing,' which bore the title '_Utile Dulci_.' In this he presents and answers prevalent objections to singing by note, among which the following are significant of the ignorance, intolerance and pruriency of the 'unco guid' of that day:

'5. That it is _Quakerish_ and _Popish_, and introductive of _instrumental_ musick.

'6. That the names given to the notes are _bawdy_, yea _blasphemous_.'

The second stimulus to musical education in America was imparted by various American reprints of two English books on psalmody: W. Tansur's collection, 'The Royal Melody Complete,' published in 1754, and Aaron Williams' 'The New Universal Psalmodist,' published in 1763. The prevalent taste in England for musical rococo, such as florid and meaningless 'fuguing choruses,' was thus transplanted to the colonies, where it made a deep impression which was harder to remove and persisted longer than in the mother country.

The most conservative strain of English musical culture, that associated with the Anglican church, existed also in America, awaiting its turn to reign, when growth in general culture and artistic capacity should cause the people to tire of the ingratiating but inconsequential music which held sway. Its exponent was William Tuckey, an English musician of high training and culture, who came to New York in 1753 and made an earnest attempt to educate the colonial people in an appreciation of the best church music. His career as teacher as well as organist and composer has already been touched upon in these pages (see Chap. II). Tuckey called himself 'Professor of the Theory and Practice of Vocal Music,' and the part he played in the musical education of New York and Philadelphia fully justifies the assertion that he was the first teacher in America worthy of the title. His pupils became prominent in all movements of their respective cities for the elevation of not only sacred but secular music to the best standards of Europe.

Already there was the leaven of German influence working for the betterment of music in America. In 1741 Moravian Brethren in their community at Bethlehem, Pa., a little town which has retained to the present day the distinction of being a home of music of the highest order, had established singing schools. Ten years later they formed, in connection with these, an orchestra for the rendition of secular as well as sacred music. In the correspondence of the time, lovers of their country, men who, like Samuel Adams, of Boston, had begun to think nationally and who shortly afterward were to become patriots of the Revolution, put on record their gratification at this important contribution to American culture.

A taste for good music and a desire to inculcate it were also developing in Philadelphia and Baltimore, as shown by records of the time. In 1764 the vestry of St. Peter's and Christ Church in the prosperous city founded by William Penn extended a vote of thanks to two of its most cultured and public-spirited citizens, William Young and Francis Hopkinson (who was soon to achieve distinction as a poet and patriot of the Revolution), for instructing the children of the church in psalmody. In 1765, at St. Anne's Church, Baltimore, Hugh Maguire, probably the organist, established a singing school, for use in which he published 'a new version of the psalms, with all the tunes, both of particular and common measure.' He announced that he would teach singing at their homes to young ladies who played the spinet, his remuneration to be fifteen shillings a quarter and an entrance fee of one dollar.

Returning to New England, we find in William Billings, the 'great Yankee singing-master,' the most important musical influence of the time. The date of publication of his original compositions, 1770, marks an era in American music. By this time the old psalm-tunes in use, only four in number, were worn to death, and the new tunes, having been composed in the novel fuguing style of the English compositions, became instantly popular with the singing schools, which Billings was energetic in organizing and conducting. The most notable of these, that at Stoughton, Mass., is elsewhere described, as well as the general

## activities of Billings and other teachers of the same general school.

In the circle of musical development of which Philadelphia was the centre, Andrew Adgate of that city was the leading spirit. In 1784 he established an 'Institution for the Encouragement of Church Music' supported by subscription and governed by trustees. So fervent was Adgate in the cause of 'music for the people' that, as conductor of the institution, he organized 'public singings,' which became so popular that within a year the trustees, objecting to 'the indiscriminate assemblage' of the general public, restricted admission to subscribers. Adgate thereupon resigned his position and established a free school, 'Adgate's Institution for diffusing more generally the knowledge of vocal music.' It is significant of the public spirit of the 'cradle of independence' that he found a number of influential men willing to act as trustees of the new organization. The splendid institution which is now the University of Pennsylvania opened its doors to the new enterprise. Inviting requests to join these free classes, Adgate announced: 'The more there are who make this application and the sooner they make it, the more acceptable will it be to the trustees and the teacher.'

Adgate's Institution had a marked influence in Philadelphia in the development of musical appreciation, which is an essential precedent in any community of the practical cultivation of the art. Foreign music teachers after trying vainly in other places, such as New York, for something like remunerative recognition, finally found it in the city whose civic spirit had been broadened by Adgate to include artistic as well as material progress. Among these may be mentioned William Tuckey, already noted; the English musician, Rayner Taylor, who came to America in 1792; and Filippo Trajetta, a Venetian, the son of the noted composer Tomaso Trajetta. Filippo was trained by the best masters, notably Piccini; entering the revolutionary army of Italy, he was captured by the royalists, but, escaping, fled to America, arriving in Boston in 1799, where he taught singing. He toured through the South as a theatrical manager, and finally settled in Philadelphia, teaching and composing music ('Washington's Dead March' being his most popular composition) until his death at the age of seventy-eight in 1854. He published 'Rudiments of the Art of Singing' as a text-book for the 'American Conservatorio,' an institution established in Philadelphia by his pupil, Uri K. Hill; in this he advocated the Italian system of _solfeggio_ to supersede the 'defective sol-fa-ing' in universal use in America.

In New England, more particularly Boston, we find that the foreign influence was making itself felt in music through 'The Massachusetts Compiler,' a work which embodied something of the theory of music as given in the works of German, French, and English authorities. The introduction of this element was probably due to Hans Gram, the German organist at Brattle Church, Boston, who, with Oliver Holden and Samuel Holyoke, published the work in 1795. To Gottlieb Graupner, another German, was mainly due the foreign influence which caused Boston to become for half a century the leading city of the country in musical influence. The 'Philharmonic Society,' which was formed by Graupner and his associates in 1810, prepared the way for the Handel and Haydn Society, founded in 1815, which not only educated Boston and New England in musical appreciation, but had a formative influence on the taste of the entire country.

English talent conjoined at Boston with German in this educational work. Dr. G. J. Jackson, an English musician of the order of William Tuckey and Rayner Taylor--indeed, he was Taylor's schoolmate--had come to America in 1796, and taught music at Norfolk and Alexandria, Va., and Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. In his northward progress he arrived in Boston in 1812, and became organist successively of the Brattle Street Church, King's Chapel, Trinity Church, and St. Paul's Church. He was the leading choirmaster of his day, teaching the English method of chanting, and was employed as music teacher by the first families. He published a book of chants, anthems, etc., and contributed original compositions to 'The Churchman's Choral Companion,' published in New York in 1808 by the Rev. William Smith. His friend Rayner Taylor was also represented in the collection.

II

A singing club, more social than serious in its purpose, had been formed at Harvard in 1786. In 1808 a novel institution, the 'Pierean Sodality,' was established at the college. This was a singing fraternity, the members of which were linked together by a common interest in music. The Sodality was the germ of the present Department of Music in Harvard University. Out of it there arose in 1837 the 'Harvard Musical Association,' composed of alumni of the college who had been members of the Sodality. The report of the committee on organization admirably described the fraternal function of music and stated the fashion in which this was to be realized by the new association:

'Nothing unites men more than music. It makes brothers of strangers; it makes the most diffident feel at home; the most shy and suspicious it renders frank and full of trust; it overflows the rocks of separation between us; it comes up like a full tide beneath us, and opens a free intercourse of hearts.

'We propose, then, to form an association which shall meet here annually on commencement day: if for nothing more, at least to exchange salutations and review recollections, and feel the common bond of music and old scenes....

'But the ultimate object proposed is the advancement of the cause of music, particularly in this university. We would have it regarded as an important object of attention within its walls, as something which sooner or later must hold its place in every liberal system of education; and that place not accidental or a stolen one, but formally recognized. We that love music feel that it is worthy of its professorship, as well as any other science.'

As we shall see later this high purpose was fulfilled in the establishment of a Department of Music in Harvard on an equal basis with the other departments. The association stated that one of its objects was to collect a musical library, and another to promote the production of great symphonies. This program was greatly extended in the course of the existence of the association; chamber concerts, hitherto unknown in Boston, were given in the winter under the leadership of such artists as Herwig and Hohnstock. These concerts led in 1849 to the organization of the Mendelssohn Quintet Club for the exclusive cultivation of chamber music. In 1852, with the moral backing of the association, J. S. Dwight, one of its leading spirits, established 'Dwight's Journal of Music,' a periodical of the highest aim and most authoritative character. Its publication ceased in 1881.

The 'Handel Society of Dartmouth College,' discussed in another connection, had a fate unworthy of its high character and sadly significant of the low state of musical appreciation in the smaller colleges of the times, and in the 'common people' from which class their students were chiefly drawn. It dwindled and died for lack of recruits. Pity it is that some loyal patron of the college had not provided for the perpetuation of the society, if only as a memorial of Dartmouth's chief glory, even surpassing that of having trained in some measure the classic rhetoric and Olympian accents of the greatest of American orators. Our democracy alone, unaided by college culture, produced Lincoln, in most minds the rival of Webster in perfect phrase and his superior in heart-moving utterance, if not in ear-entrancing tone. It has not yet brought forth the compeers of these in music, since education is required to supply the nurturing musical environment found abroad but hitherto lacking in American life. Had music been permanently established as a part of the curriculum of Dartmouth alone, not to speak of the other colleges, a few young men with a native taste for it would undoubtedly have been found in every class and these would have cherished and transmitted the sacred fire with increasing ardor until the inevitable time arrived when native genius would be kindled into immortal flame.

III

A new order of native-born music teachers, those who pursued European methods in their instruction, was now arising. The chief of this class was Lowell Mason. Mason was born at Medfield, Mass., and spent his youth and early manhood in Savannah, Ga., where he was engaged in business. A music-lover from early childhood, he carried to the South the psalmody of New England, but, becoming master of a church choir, he felt the inadequacy of existing collections of church music and, with the valuable assistance of a local music teacher, Mr. Abel, prepared a new one suited to his needs.

He came to Boston seeking a publisher and found it in the Handel and Haydn Society, which, in 1822, not only published the collection but gave the society's name to it. It met with great success, running through many editions. In 1826 its compiler delivered a series of lectures in Boston churches on church music which attracted such favorable attention that he was induced to make his home in the city. In time he became president of the Handel and Haydn Society, and, when the Boston Academy of Music was established, largely through his efforts, he was put in charge of it.

At this period began a movement to reform radically our entire system of school instruction, and the moment was propitious for the introduction of music in the public schools, a purpose upon which Mr. Mason had set his heart. In 1830 William C. Woodbridge delivered before the American Institute of Instruction in Boston an address on 'Vocal Music as a Branch of Common Education,' illustrated by Mason's pupils, in which the lecturer, recently returned from Europe, warmly advocated the cultivation of music as an essential element of American, as it was of foreign life. One sentence of his lecture is startling to us of the present generation in its inferential revelation of the primitive nature of juvenile instruction in the United States as late as 1830. Mr. Woodbridge, speaking of music being 'the property of the people' in Germany and Switzerland, heard in field and factory, and in gatherings for pleasure no less than in assemblies for worship, added: 'But we were touched to the heart when we heard its cheering animating strains issuing from the walls of a schoolroom.'

Mr. Woodbridge was an enthusiast over the Pestalozzian method as applied to instruction in music. He not only collected all the literature he could on the subject, but even translated the more important works and turned over the entire material to Mr. Mason. This wise teacher experimented first with the method before adopting it. The success of the trial made him an ardent supporter of the new system of instruction, which completely overthrew the old custom of starting the pupil off with a complete tune and correcting defects as these manifested themselves. The Pestalozzian method is truly the natural one, building up, instead of patching up. This will be seen by examining its principles:

1. To teach sounds before signs (have the pupil learn notes orally first).

2. To lead the pupil to observe and execute differences in sound, instead of explaining these to him, i. e., to make him active instead of passive in learning.

3. To teach one thing at a time--rhythm, melody, expression--instead of a selection embodying all these elements.

4. To have the pupil master each step by practice before passing to the next.

5. To explain principles after practice (the inductive method).

6. Analysis and practice of articulation of speech in order to use it in song.

To apply this revolutionary method to teaching music was the central purpose of the establishment of the Boston Academy of Music. It had a useful career during the fourteen years of its existence. Mr. Mason, like Mr. Adgate, of Philadelphia, believed in 'music for the people,' and his generosity in extending this without considering material profit kept the institution in constant need of funds until it gave up the struggle and closed its doors in 1847.

The Academy was more than a New England institution: it was a national one, in that music teachers in every part of the country wrote to it for guidance in their work. And it left behind it the finest of mmorials, the establishment in Boston, and, through Boston's example, all over the nation, of music in the public schools, not merely as a relief from other studies, but as a study itself. This innovation was made by the city fathers of Boston in 1837, after a trial of the propositions had proved successful. T. Kemper Davis, chairman of the school committee, made a long and learned report upon the subject which is a classic of its kind, and as such may be read with profit by teachers of music, particularly those in the public schools.[56]

Music in the public schools of New York had an independent origin. In 1835 Darius E. Jones experimented with the idea of forming singing classes in the schools and teaching them without compensation. The trial was successful, and the school board gave him permission to continue the work provided no expense was incurred and regular studies were not interfered with. Music in the New York schools was not effectively recognized by provision for compensation until 1853. T. B. Mason, the brother of Lowell Mason, introduced singing in the public schools of Cincinnati. Pittsburgh began such instruction in 1840. Nathaniel D. Gould, a music teacher and composer, claimed to have been the first to teach singing to children in a systematic method. From 1820 onward he organized such classes in New England, New York, and New Jersey.

The recognition by municipal authority of music as an essential element of education has been ratified in the fullest manner by national authority. Philander P. Claxton, United States Commissioner of Education, addressing the National Education Association convened at St. Paul, in July, 1914, asserted that music is of more practical value than any subject of the usual curriculum, except reading and writing, and with these studies, and physical culture and arithmetic, forms the fundamentals in elementary education.

While in the later thirties colleges and universities were not prepared to grant music a place in the academic curriculum, they began to recognize it as an important element of culture, and to extend to it their patronage. In 1838 William Robyn, a professor in St. Louis University, formed, under the auspices of the institution, a musical society called the 'Philharmonic' for the performance of public concerts. These were well patronized.[57]

IV

The German immigration was in full force in the forties, cities such as St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Milwaukee becoming the homes of great numbers of this music-loving people. In the broad sense of the term, they formed the greatest educational influence in music that the country had yet received. It is said that wherever two Germans settled in America they organized themselves into a _Sängerbund_. Tyrolese and Swiss singers and bell-ringers began to tour the country in 1840 and delighted Americans of every class--even now they are popular in the Chautauqua circles. However, when, lured by the success of the _jodlers_, really fine German bands, such as the Steiermarkers, Gungl's band, the Saxonia and Germania, came over in quest of American dollars, they met with consistent failure, and were forced to dissolve--to the great benefit of American musical education, for the individual members generally became teachers of instrumental music in the localities where they were stranded. It was only by playing dance music and popular airs that the bands met with any success whatsoever. Gungl (whose 'Railroad Galop,' an imitative composition, was the most popular in his répertoire) wrote home to a musical journal in Berlin that music 'lies still in the cradle here and nourishes herself on sugar-teats.'

The sentimental strain in German vocal music of the period made it more popular than German instrumental music, in that the American palate had been prepared for sentimentality by a saccharine sort of psalmody and secular music which was being sprinkled over the country by a second generation of Yankee music teachers of the Billings order. Elijah K. Prouty and Moses E. Cheney were leading representatives of this class. Prouty was a peddler, singing teacher, and piano tuner. Cheney was a leader of a church choir. In 1839 they organized and conducted a musical 'convention' at Montpelier, Vt., at which, with shrewd perception of popular interest in novelty and variety, they practised 'unusual tunes, anthems, male quartets, and duets and solos for both sexes.' For the secular music they used the 'Boston Glee Book and Social Choir,' compiled by George Kingsley. In order to attract the attendance of non-musical people, in the intervals between performances short debates were held between the local ministers, lawyers, and other prominent citizens.

In May, 1848, another musical convention was held in Chicago, which discussed the general question of musical education and the specific one of music in the public schools. Four years later William B. Bradbury led a similar but larger convention. At this convention the 'Alpine Glee Singer,' a compilation by Bradbury, was used for secular music, indicating the strong influence which the elementary sentimentality of German popular music exerted upon Americans. Sugared American psalmody, flavored with German sentimentality, and colored with a crudity of technique almost aboriginal produced that sort of musical candy which we know as the Sunday-school song. Bradbury was a pioneer in the composition and publication of such music, although, to do him justice, the especially deleterious coloring of the mixture was added by his successors, among whom Ira D. Sankey and P. P. Bliss may be mentioned as chief offenders. The collections of this school of musical composers must be reckoned by thousands in editions and millions in numbers of copies. Bradbury alone compiled more than fifty singing books, containing many of his own compositions. Of these collections 'The Jubilee,' published in 1857, sold 200,000 copies; 'Fresh Laurels' (1867), 1,200,000 copies; and a series known as the 'Golden Series,' 2,000,000 copies.

This flood of sentimentality, completely inundating the Sunday-school, poured into the public school, and almost swamped the ark of juvenile education in music which careful hands had just committed to that great stream of popular culture. When music became recognized as an essential element of education, it was inevitable that the only available juvenile songs, those of the Sunday-school, should be introduced in the public schools. Indeed, the singing of anything in the schools was preferable to the entire absence of song, and so this order of music, representing, as it did, the popular taste of the time, marks, although we are loath to say it, an important step forward.

Dr. Lowell Mason was the chief assistant at an event which marks an epoch in American musical education, namely, the birth of the normal musical institute from the so-called musical convention. This occurred in 1856 at North Reading, Mass., where an annual musical convention of the usual sort was converted into a school of a fortnight's duration for instructing its members, particularly teachers, in both musical theory and practice. The example was followed all over the country to the great benefit of musical pedagogy. Associated with Dr. Mason in this work of popularizing music was George F. Root, who journeyed over the country conducting conventions, lecturing, etc.[58]

V

During the second half of the nineteenth century the teaching of music passed in large measure from the hands of single, independent teachers into the direction of music masters associated in institutions for class instruction, which are generally known as conservatories, although this term in its European signification of a large, completely equipped and nationally endowed school of music is misleading. Indeed, the pretense seems to have been deliberate. Dr. Frank Damrosch, in an address on 'The American Conservatory,' before the Music Teachers' National Association at Oberlin, Ohio, in 1906, said:

'The so-called conservatory, college, or university of music ... may be found in every American community.... It is usually organized by an individual whose commercial instincts are stronger than his musical conscience, and who, banking on the dense ignorance of the average citizen in matters of art, offers what seems to be a great bargain in the acquisition of musical ability in one form or another.... There are many such schools which seemingly flourish by the glittering, if empty, promises which they advertise. Some of them confer degrees; ... one of the first musical doctor degrees conferred by the director of one of these schools was on himself!'

While there are hundreds of conservatories of the class described by Dr. Damrosch scattered over the Union, a number of institutions are to be found which rank in thoroughness and comprehensiveness of instruction with the best European conservatories. These have been in every instance of slow growth, the most pretentious in chartered plans having made early and signal failures in the province of musical education, though some of them won success in other musical activities. A typical example of this order is the Academy of Music of New York, whose career is recorded in