CHAPTER III

EARLY CONCERT LIFE

Sources of information--Boston Concerts of the eighteenth century; New England outside of Boston--Concerts in New York--Concerts in Philadelphia; open-air concerts--Concert life of the South; Charleston, Baltimore, etc.; conclusion.

In our last chapter we spoke to some extent of concert life in America during the eighteenth century, and it may be well to complete the record here as far as the information at our disposal will allow. The importance of concerts as reflecting the musical culture of a people can very easily be overestimated. At best, they represent the taste of merely a small portion of the community; at worst they serve simply as occasions for social display and for the indulgence of various forms of snobbery. It is very difficult at a distance to judge a true from a false artistic life. For aught we know to the contrary, the concerts of the American colonists represented chiefly their ideas of what was socially correct. On the other hand, we are equally justified in assuming that these concerts reflected accurately the musical taste of the people. The truth is that we must accept the record of early concert life in America purely for its historic interest. Such deductions as we may draw from it must always be presumptive. On the surface, as we have already said, it speaks well for the state of musical culture in America of the eighteenth century. It would be futile--perhaps disappointing--to pry further into its possible significance.

A certain characteristic indifference to the importance of historical remains has lost to us irretrievably much documentary evidence that would be of great value in compiling a complete history of music in America. Of our earliest newspapers, such as the 'Boston News Letter,' the 'New York Gazette,' the 'American Weekly Mercury,' and the 'South Carolina Gazette,' no complete files seem to have been preserved, and there is an irritating poverty of other documents that would supplement the information contained therein or fill out such lacunæ as the lost numbers may have left. For our information on early concerts in America we are almost totally dependent on old newspaper files. Even if these files were complete it would not follow by any means that the information obtainable from them would be exhaustive, for it is not probable that the newspapers mentioned all the concerts given. A few diaries and similar documents have been discovered which throw a little added light on the subject, but there still remain many dark corners.[25]

I

We cannot say when or where the first public concert was given in America. The first of which we have any record was advertised in the Boston 'Weekly News Letter' of December 16-23, 1731. It was 'a Concert of Music on sundry Instruments at Mr. Pelham's great Room, being the house of the late Doctor Noyes near the Sun Tavern.' Further than that we know nothing about it. We find notices of other concerts at intervals for several years, but nothing is said about the music played or the people who took part in them. In 1744 a concert was given at the historic Faneuil Hall, which had been built two years earlier and which was apparently the favorite place for such functions until about the year 1755, when it was supplanted by the newly erected Concert Hall in Queen Street.[26]

Most of the concerts at Faneuil Hall were given for the benefit of the poor and were held, it would appear, only by express permission of the selectmen. In 1755 we first notice concerts given for the benefit of private individuals and presumably without the permission of the selectmen. One was given for John Rice, organist of Trinity Church, and several for Thomas Dipper, organist of King's Chapel. We know nothing about these concerts except that they consisted of 'select pieces by the best masters.' It is possible that there existed from about the year 1744 a musical organization of which a Mr. Stephen Deblois was treasurer and which gave frequent concerts. The minutes of the Boston selectmen meetings, as reprinted in the 'Boston Town Records,' contain an entry under date of Nov. 21, 1744, to the effect that 'Mr. William Sheafe and a number of gentlemen desire the Use of Faneuil Hall for a Concert of Musick ... the Benefit arising by the Tickets to be for the Use of the Poor of the Town....' On Dec. 12, it was reported that 'the Selectmen received of Mr. Stephen Deblois two hundred and five pounds five shillings old Tenor being collected by a Concert of Musick in Faneuil Hall for the Use of the Poor of the Town'--obviously the same concert for which permission was granted to 'Mr. William Sheafe and a number of gentlemen.' In September, 1754, Stephen Deblois purchased Concert Hall for two thousand pounds, with the result that concerts immediately shifted there from Faneuil Hall. Thomas Dipper, for whom so many benefits were given, apparently had a hand in the organization, if there was one. We find an announcement in January, 1761, that 'Mr. Dipper's Public Concert will begin on Tuesday the 20th instant.' This suggests that there may have been also a series of private concerts for subscribers, as the term 'public' concert was very unusual in Colonial times. We read in the Boston 'News Letter' of April 29, 1762: 'The members of the Concert, usually performed at Concert Hall, are hereby notified that the same is deferred to the end of the Summer months. And it is desired that in the meantime each member would settle his respective arrearage with Stephen Deblois, with whom the several accounts are lodged for that purpose.' We are, in fact, confronted with suggestions of a musical organization which held a series of concerts for members and another for non-members. Whether such an organization existed or not, it is at least certain that Boston enjoyed the luxury of subscription concerts as early as 1761.

The 'Massachusetts Gazette' of October 2, 1766, advertised a series of concerts to begin on October 7, and 'to be continued every Tuesday evening for eight months.' The concerts were to be held at Concert Hall and intending subscribers were referred to Stephen Deblois. Beginning with the year 1770, several series were given by William Turner, Thomas Hartley, and David Propert, the latter promising in his announcement selections 'out of Mr. Handel's oratorios' besides 'select pieces upon the harpsichord with accompaniment compos'd by the most celebrated masters of Italy and London.' W. S. Morgan also gave some concerts immediately before the war. It had not yet become customary to announce the programs in detail and we are consequently in the dark as to the nature of most of them. Some of the concerts apparently were merely operas in concert form. An announcement of June 20, 1770, speaks of a vocal entertainment of three acts. 'The songs (which are numerous) are taken from a new celebrated opera, call'd "Lionel and Clarissa."' In the diary of John Rowe there is the following entry under date of March 23, 1770: 'In the evening I went to the Concert Hall to hear Mr. Joan read the Beggar's Opera and sing the songs....'

We find, however, a very fine program announced for May 17, 1771, by Josiah Flagg--the same of whom we have already spoken as a prominent compiler of psalm-tunes. Flagg was for many years a most conspicuous figure in the musical life of Boston. Besides publishing two good collections of psalm-tunes, he founded and trained a militia band and was active in promoting concerts of remarkably high quality. As he was the first to publish programs we cannot well compare his musical taste with that of his contemporaries, but it is doubtful if the average concert of the time rose to the level of the following:

## Act I. Overture Ptolemy Handel

Song 'From the East breaks the morn' Concerto 1st Stanley Symphony 3d Bach

## Act II. Overture 1st Schwindl

Duetto 'Turn fair Clora' Organ Concerto Periodical Symphony Stamitz

## Act III. Overture 1st Abel

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.

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