A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Symphony Orchestra, The Boston

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, The Boston (U. S. A.), owes its existence, and its large perpetual endowment, to the generosity and taste of Mr. Henry Lee Higginson, a well-known citizen of Boston, and affords a good instance of the munificent way in which the Americans apply their great riches for the public benefit in the service of education and art. Mr. Higginson had for long cherished the idea of having 'an orchestra which should play the best music in the best way, and give concerts to all who could pay a small price.'^[1] At length, on March 30, 1881, he made his intention public in the Boston newspapers as follows:—The orchestra to number 60, and their remuneration to include the concerts and 'careful training.' Concerts to be twenty in number, on Saturday evenings, in the Music Hall, from middle of October to middle of March. Single tickets from 75 to 25 cents (3s. to 1s.); season tickets (concerts only) 10 to 5 dollars; one public rehearsal, 1s. entrance. Orchestra to be permanent, and to be called The Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Georg Henschel was appointed conductor, and Mr. B. Listemann leader and solo violin. A full musical library was purchased, and the first concert took place on Oct. 22, 1881, at 8 p.m. Its programme, and that of the 17th concert, Feb. 18, 1882, give a fair idea of the music performed:—

i. Overture, op. 124, Beethoven. Air, Orpheus, Gluck. Symphony in B♭, Haydn. Ballet music, Rosamunde, Schubert. Scena, Odysseus, Max Bruch. Festival Overture [Jubilee], Weber.

xvii. Overture, Leonore, no. 1, Beethoven. Rhapsody for contralto, chorus, and orch. (op. 53), Brahms. Symphony no. 8, Beethoven. Violin Concerto, Mendelssohn. Overture, Phèdre, Massenet.

There were twenty concerts in all, and the last ended with the Choral Symphony.

Since the first season some extensions have taken place. There are now 24 concerts in the series. The orchestra numbers 72, and there is a chorus of 200. There are three rehearsals for each concert, and on the Thursdays a concert is given in some neighbouring city of New England. Both the performances and the open rehearsals are crowded, and so far the noble intention of the founder, 'to serve the cause of good art only,' has been fulfilled. We can only say Esto perpetua.

[App. p.798 "For continuation see Boston in Appendix, and add that in the winter seasons from 1886 to 1889, Mr. Henschel organized a series of orchestral Symphony Concerts in St. James's Hall, on much the same footing as that of the concerts described in the Dictionary."]

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1. MS. letter to Editor.