Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

SYMPHONY CONCERTS IN U.S. SYMPHONY CONCBETS IN U.S. 803
basis. A system was adopted which appealed
for subscriptions to all classes of the population,
and 8000 subscriptions were secured, ranging
in amount from 10 cents to $25,000, and
amounting to $650,000. Building operations
were begun in May 1904, and the hall which
cost §7 50, 000 was dedicated on Dec. 14 of the
same year. Up to this time the losses on
each season had been as follows ; 1st season
853,000 ; 2nd, $51,000 ; 3rd, $49,000 ; 4th,
$34,000; 5th, $27,000; 6th, $27,000; 7th,
$39,000 ; 8th, $16,000 ; 9th, $16,000 ; 10th,
$26,000 ; 11th, $30,000-; 12th, $20,000 ;
13th, $21,000 ; 14th, $19,000 ; 15th, $15,000.
In March 1907 the treasurer, Frederick J.
"Wessels, wrote touching the result of the new
policy of the Orchestral Association :
'
The
theory of the Trustees has proved correct. The
ticketsales have increased every year, thedemand
for seats being suffipient to induce the Trustees
to lengthen the season of 24 weeks (48 concerts)
to 28 weeks (56 concerts). The present patronage,
together with the building rentals ^ud
hiring of the hall for outside attractions is
sufficient to keep the orchestra on a no-loss basis,
notwithstanding the large interest and tax
expenditures to be met.' Mr. Thomas Uvedto
conduct only five concerts in the new hall, the
last on Dec. 24, 1904. He died on Jan. 4,
1905, and was succeeded by JFrederiok A. Stock
(g.'i).), who had been his assistant. H^ E. K.
Cincinnati.
The Cincinnati Symphony Oechestea.
Concerts of symphonic music were given by this
organisation from Jan. 1895 to April 1907,
under the auspices of the Cincinnati Orchestra
Association, whose affairs are administered by
a Board of Directors composed of women, and
supported financially by bodies of shareholders,
stockholders, and subscribers to a guarantee
fund. The Association was organised in 1895
for the purpose of promoting the culture of highclass
orchestral music, which for fifteen years
had been dependent upon the somewhat desultory
and sporadic efforts of the College of
Music of Cincinnati. The concerts of the first
season, given between January and April of
1895, were divided into three series of three
concerts each, preceded by afternoon public
rehearsals, and were conducted by Frank Van
der Stucken, Anton Seidl, and Henry Schradieck.
Mr. Van der Stucken was then engaged as sole
conductor, and remained such for twelve years,
during which period ten afternoon and ten
evening concerts were given annually. At the
close of the thirteenth season (1906-7), the
Orchestra Association, rather than submit to
the dictation of the American Federation of
Musicians, disbanded the orchestra and resolved
to invite the orchestras of the eastern
cities and Chicago to give concerts under its
auspices. h. e. k.
New York.
The Philharmonic Society of New
York is the oldest orchestral body in continuous
service in the United States devoted to
the perfoi-mance of instrumental music. Incidentally
it also extends help to its superannuated
members, and to that end maintains a
pension fund created by gifts from its friends,
one half of the initiation fees paid by new
members on their election, fines assessed against
members and a share of the earnings of the
concerts. It is a communistic body of professional
musicians, with three classes of members,
viz. Actual, Honorary, and Honorai-y Associate.
In the first class there are none but professional
players upon orchestral instruments. The title
of Honorary Member is bestowed by vote
of the Society upon musicians whose emiaence
entitles them to that distinction in the
eyes of the members ; that of Honorary
Associate upon laymen for the same reason.
Election to membei'ship in the three classes
requii'es a unanimous Vote. Active devotion to
the Society's interests is enforced on the part
of the Actual Members by a system of fines.
At the concerts of the Society, which take
place only in the regular musical season
the actual members constitute a little less
than two-thirds of the performers, generally
numbering from 90 to 110. The additional
players are engaged by the Directors in the
ordinary way, and paid the ruling rate of wage.
At the end of each season the money in the
hands of the Treasurer,save a small sum withheld
for contingent expenses, is divided equally
among the members who have participated in
the concerts. All the oflScers of the Society are
musicians except the President, who as a rule,
is a citizen of New York distinguished by love
of music and devotion to its interests. The
conductor need not be a member of the Society,
but must be elected like the other officers. His
salary is fixed by agreement between him and
the Board of Directors. The regular subscription
concerts of the Philharmonic Society now (in
1908) number sixteen in each season, and are
given in pail's on Friday afternoons and Saturday
evenings from November to April, the programmes
of each pah- of concerts being identical.
Until 1906 it was a rule of the Society that its
name should not be used for any concerts
except those given under its own auspices ; but
the advent of 'star conductors ' led to a modification
of the rule in the hope that the Society might
participate in other concerts than its own, thus
adding to its income and recouping it for
the large salaries demanded by the 'stars.'
The results of the first season did not justify
the change. Among the Honorary Members
of the Society since its foundation have
been Vieuxtemps (the first one, elected in
1843), Spohr, Mendelssohn, Jenny Lind, Sontag,