Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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SYMPHONY CONCEKTS IN U.S. SYMPHONY CONCERTS IN U.S. 805
Society'3 invitation was accepted by "Willem
Mengelberg of Amsterdam, Victor Herbert,
Max Fiedler of Hamburg, M. Safonoff, Dr.
Ernst Kunwald of Frankfort, and Fritz Steinbach
of Cologne. At the end of this season an
engagement was made with M. Safonoff as sole
conductor for three years. To carry out these
new policies a number of public-spu-ited citizens
placed a considerable fund at the service of the
Society.
(For a history of the Society see The PhUharmonic
Society of New York, a memorial by
Henry Edward Krehbiel published on the
occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the
founding of the Society, April 1892, London,
Novello, Ewer & Co.) h. e, k.
The New York Symphony Society. This
organisation is a successor, dejure if not defacto,
of a Society of like name, which was founded in
1878 by Ur. Leopold Damrosoh. During the
early years of its existence the New York
Symphony Society maintained an exceedingly
active competition with the orchestraof Theodore
Thomas, and the rivalry of the organisations
had much to do with famiKarising the New
York public with the works of the German,
French, and Russian composers as fast as they
were published, and even before, since Dr.
Damrosch and Mr. Thomas were both in the
habit of securing manuscript copies of their
compositions from the leading authors of Europe.
After the death of Dr. Damrosch in 1885 his
son Walter succeeded to the conductorship of
the Society, and has remained its administrative
as well as artistic head ever since. The Society
has passed through many vicissitudes, and has
several times appeared to be moribund, only to
be awakened to renewed life by its energetic
and indefatigable conductor. The concerts were
permitted to lapse in 1899, when Mr. Damrosch
devoted a year to composition ;
again when he
travelled with his own opera company, and still
again when he became conductor for a season
(1902-3) of the Philharmonic Society of New
York (?.».). Retiring from that post Mr. Damrosch
organised what for four years was called
the New York Sjrmphony Orchestra, on a cooperative
basis, profit and loss being shared by
the members of the organisation and a committee
of guarantors. The plan proved to be unsatisfactory,
and in the spring of 1907 the guarantors
to many cities and towns in the United States.
It also remainsintact during the summermonths,
and provides music for large and fashionable
resorts near Philadelphia and Chicago. H. B. K.
People's Symphony Concerts of New
York. Under this title a series of concerts are
annually given in the chief American city by
an orchestoa of excellent proportions and artistic
character, and with progi-amnies of a high class,
for which there is little more than a nominal
charge for admission, the prices varying from
ten cents to fifty. The concerts are also given
in pairs, iirst in the large hall of Cooper Union,
situated in the densely populated district known
as the East Side ; then in Carnegie Hall, the homeof
all the fashionable concerts, the purpose being;
to reach all classes of the people whose tastes:
the concerts are designed to educate. Under
the
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title The People's Symphony Concerts
auxiliary chamber concerts are also given by
local combinations of players. All the concerts,
which were called into being by Franz Xavier
Arens in 1902 and have been directed by him
ever since, are given under the auspices of an
organisation incorporated under the laws of the
State of New York, and are maintained largely
by the contributions of philanthropic persons
interested in musical culture. These contributions
range from $2500, which sum entitles the
donor to be a founder, to a dollar a year.
Receipts and expenses are about $12,000 a year,
and at the end of 1905 the organisation had
a permanently invested fund of the same
amount. h. E. K.
Young People's Symphony Concerts of
New York. For the purpose of giving children
and young people an opportunity not only to
hear standard symphonic works but also to
become familiar with their structure and contents
Frank Damrosch organised an annual
series of concerts under the above title in 1898.
Appreciation of the compositions is helped by
explanatory remarks made by the conductor, in
which the forms are briefly analysed and the
poetic contents suggested, themes and phrases
being played in illustration by the orchestra.
The concerts are given at popular prices, and
teachers and pupils of the public schools of the
Inasmuch as
city receive tickets at half price.
the orchestral has full symphonic dimensions,
that of the New York Symphony Society being
employed and solo artists are frequently engaged,
the expenses are not always covered,
called the old Symphony Society back to Kfe,
and resolved to proceed under the old style and
in the old manner, paying the players weekly though for years all the seats in Carnegie Hall
wages throughout the season, and assuming all have been subscribed for, and the resulting deficit
financial re-sponsibiHties. At the same tame it is usually met by private subscription of publicspirited
music-lovers. The management of the
was determined to increase the number of
concerts in New York City to twenty-eight, concerts is in the hands of a small committee of
half of them to be given on Sunday afternoons. ladies ; there is no ofiicial organisation. H. B. k.
In the season 1905-6 Felix Weingartner alternated
with Mr. Damrosch in conducting concerts
Philadelphia.
in New York and other cities for, unlike the The Philadelphia Orchestra, whose affairs
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Philharmonic Society, this band makes tours are administered by the Philadelphia Orchestra