1880. Devoted to concerts of symphonies and other high-class orchestral music. Mr. Bernhard Listemann was the conductor for the first season (1881), Dr. Louis Maas for the second (1881–82) and Mr. Carl Zerrahn for the third (1882–83). The Society has since followed the example of the Harvard Musical Association, and for the same reason. The concerts were all given in the Music Hall, and tickets were distributed among subscribing members, after the system described in the account of the Euterpe. Tickets for the public rehearsal which preceded each concert were, however, sold to the public.
Boston Symphony Orchestra. See vol. iv. p. 43. And add that after the third season Mr. Wilhelm Gericke of Vienna succeeded Mr. Henschel as conductor; and at the beginning of the fifth season Mr. Franz Kneisel, also of Vienna, took Mr. Listemann's post of leading violin.
Boston Orchestral Club. Formed in 1884 for the purpose of encouraging the study of orchestral works by young players, professional and amateur, who form a complete orchestra. Support of the enterprise comes from associate members (as in the case of the Apollo Club), to whom the orchestra gives in return several concerts in the course of a season. The concerts have been given in the Horticultural Hall under the direction of Mr. Bernhard Listemann.
Boston Chamber Music Society. Formed in 1886. Supported by subscriptions exactly as described in the case of the Euterpe. The concerts so far have included examples of chamber music in the larger forms and for instruments other than the string quartet, and have been given in Association Hall.
Orpheus Musical Society. Formed in 1853, and consisting chiefly of German members: that has been the tongue employed in the concerts. Of late the chorus of the Society (male voices) has only appeared in public for charitable purposes or on other special occasions. The Society has apartments fitted and furnished like a club house, and as the social element is now most prominent, this description is separated from the accounts of the other musical organisations, the chief purpose of which is, or has been, the cultivation of some peculiar branch of the art of music.
The Clefs. A social club, formed in 1881, limited at first to sixty, afterwards to a hundred members, three fourths of whom must be professionally connected with music. It holds monthly meetings during the six months beginning in November. The only permanent officer is that of secretary. At the beginning of each season the club elects six members to serve in turn as Masters, one for each social meeting. The Master is endowed with autocratic powers. Men only are eligible to membership.
Concerning the clubs supported on the associate membership principle it should be understood that the following have supplied the performers from their ranks of active members: Apollo, Boylston, Cecilia, Arlington, and Orchestral Club. The others (Euterpe, Philharmonic, and Chamber Music Society) have hired the performers for their concerts. The associate membership in each organisation is limited.
BOTE UND BOCK, a firm of music publishers in Berlin, founded by Eduard Bote and Gustav Bock Jan. 27, 1838. The former retired at the beginning of 1847, leaving Gustav Bock alone in the business until his death, Apr. 27, 1863. His widow became the proprietor, and his brother, E. Bock, undertook to direct the affairs of the firm.
Among the music issued by the house, the works of Neithardt, Hoffmann, Rebeling, von Hertzberg, etc., and in particular the collection of 'Musica Sacra,' edited for the use of the Domchor, deserve mention. The latter is a compilation of the most prominent compositions a capella, by Italian, Netherlandish, and especially German masters of past time. The publishers' catalogue contains also a number of original works by the best composers, and the firm has done much to disseminate a knowledge of the masterpieces of Handel, Gluck, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, by the publication of cheap editions; attention has also been given to modern operatic music, especially that of Gounod and Offenbach.
Gustav Bock established the 'Neue Berline Musikzeitung,' and succeeded in obtaining the help of all the more eminent writers on music, and in maintaining practical relations with them. In 1861 his brother Emil Bock became editor. It now appears weekly, and contains, besides a leading article on the science, theory, or history of music, numerous notices from all important towns; but in recent times its importance has become somewhat lessened.
The present owner of the publishing business is Herr Hugo Bock, into whose possession it passed in February 1873.
BOTTESINI, Giovanni, a very celebrated virtuoso on the double bass, also an excellent conductor and composer, was born on Dec. 24, 1822, at Crema in Lombardy. He is the son of a good musician and clarinet player of his native town, and as a boy sang in the chapel choir. He early displayed such a remarkable talent for music that at the age of eleven application was made for him to be admitted into the Conservatorio at Milan. It so happened that there was only one vacant place, and that for a contrabassist. Bottesini accordingly commenced the study of the double bass, was admitted at the Conservatoire and, it is said, before long played almost as well as he did afterwards, when his marvellous command over this unwieldy instrument excited the admiration of the whole musical world of Europe. His masters were Rossi for the double bass, Basili and Vaccai for harmony and composition. On leaving the Conservatorio he travelled with his fellow pupil Signor Arditi (then a violin player) and afterwards went to America. Eventually he accepted a lucrative engagement at the Havana as principal double bass in the orchestra, which he retained for many years.
