Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

SYMPHONY CONCERTS IN U.S. SYMPHONY CONCEETS IN U.S. 801
establishment of a higher standard of effieienoy
in performance. One of his most important
steps was the engagement, as leader, of Franz
Knt'isel, beginning with the season of 1885-86,
who occupied that highly important post until
the end of the season 1902-3. After five
years, during which Mr. Gericke had raised the
standard of the orchestra to a plane approximating
the founder's ideal, he was succeeded by
Arthur Nikisch, who remained conductor for
four years. After him came Emil Paur for
five years, when, in the autumn of 1898,
Gericke was recalled. He continued as conductor
until the end of the season of 1905-6,
when Dr. Karl Muck, of Berlin, was engaged
for two years.
The orchestra has been considerably enlarged
since its establishment. Itnow(1908) numbers
an effective force of about ninety-seven men.
The support given to the orchestra in Boston is
loyaland enthusiastic ; the concerts are crowded,
and a system of premiums for choice of seats at
the regular subscription sale each season greatly
increases the normal receipts. Only in one
season, however, have the receipts equalled the
expenditures. In the other seasons the deficits
met by Mr. Higginson have ranged from $2000 to
$40,000. The annual seriesof concerts nownumbers
twenty-four, given on Saturday evenings,
with public rehearsals (which are to all intents
and purposes the same as the concerts) on the
preceding Friday afternoons. For twenty years
the concerts were given in the old Music Hall,
lu the autumn of 1901, however, the orchestra
took possession of a fine new Symphony Hall,
built especially for its accommodation. A
series of nightly popular concerts, extending
over a period of two months, is given every
summer.
An important element of its work which has
reached a firmly established basis in recent years
is that accomplished outside of Boston. Besides
appearing frequently in New England cities
near Boston the orchestra makes five trips a
year, in season, to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and
New York, giving one concert on each visit to
the first two cities and three in New York (two
in the Borough of Manhattan and one in the
Borough of Brooklyn). The concerts in New
York have- been given uninterruptedly since
1887. In 1903 the orchestra took an important
step in establishing a pension fund, formed by
the self- assessment of the members, the proceeds
of two special concerts given annually, and contributions
of friends of the organisation, a. A.
Brooklyn.
The Philharmonic Society, incorporated
1857, has for its declared object 'the advancement
of music in the city of Brooklyn, by
procuring the public performance of the best
works in this department of art.' Its affairs
are controlled by a directorate of twenty-five
VOL. IV
members, chosen annually from which a government
is appointed. Membership is secured by
payment of the subscription annually designated
by the directors, who also prescribe the number
of these subscriptions, limited, for several years,
to 1200. Beginning in the autumn of 1857, five
or more concerts have been given in each season,
that at the close of the twenty-first season. May
10, 1879, being the 108th—each preceded by
three public rehearsals. During the first
five seasons the concerts were given at the
Brooklyn Athenaeum. Since 1862 the Brooklyn
Academy of Music, a large theatre holding
nearly 3000 people, has been made use of.
The orchestral conductors have been— Theodore
Eisfeld, 1857-62 ; Theodore Thomas, part of
1862 ; Mr. Eisfeld again, imtil the election of
Carl Bergmann, Sept. 5, 1865 ; Mr. Thomas,
re-elected Sept. 4, 1866 ; Mr. Bergmann again,
1870-73 ; succeeded May 26, 1873, by Mr.
Thomas, who retained the position until his
departure for Chicago (see below), assisted by
William G. Dietrich, who had charge of the
orchestra at the firet two rehearsals of each
concert. The concerts have always been of a
high order ; the orchestra large and composed
of the best musicians procurable ; the programmes
of a catholic nature, no especial school
of music having undue prominence. Important
works have been produced for the first time in
America, including several by native composers.
Large choral works have occasionally figured
on the Society's programmes, as well as solos
and instrumental concertos. The Society's
Library contains the scores and parts of over
100 orchestral works. F. H. J.
What was formerly the city of Brooklyn,
N.Y., is now a borough of the American
metropolis. Nevertheless the Philharmonic
Society retains the corporate name by which it
has been known since 1857. Theodore Thomas,
with his orchestra, gave its concerts from 1873
till 1891. On his departure for Chicago an
arrangement was made by which the concerts
(five annually, by the Boston Symphony
Orchestra) were continued under the joint
auspices of the Philharmonic Society and the
Institute of Arts and Sciences. After the
destruction of the Academy of Music, Nov. 29,
1903, the concerts were transferred to the
Baptist Temple. H. E. k.
Chicago.
The Theodore Thomas Orchestra of
Chicago is in several things unique amongst
the concert institutions of the United States,
but in none so much as its history, which
illustrates achievement through the persistence
of a man of dominant ambition and iron will,
the courage and steadfastness of a coterie of
friends and music-lovers, and the public spirit
of a young city of amazing resource and indomitable
energy. The orchestra is the only
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