A History of Music Aurora, Illinois
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
A HISTORY OF MUSIC IN AURORA, ILLINOIS BY JOHN REX McMULLEN EDITED BY KEVIN KAISERSHOT April 2020 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Doctor of Music Education degree Chicago Musical College August 1955 F O R E W O R D Let me start by saying that Dr. John R. McMullen was a friend of mine and that we shared the same birth date, albeit 40 years apart – July 27. We also share the experience of having both taught instrumental music in the Aurora East School District #131; he for 25 years and myself 31 years. I met and got to know him by way of his frequent visits to Aurora, Illinois in the late 1980s as I was directing the Aurora American Legion Band. Our conversations were primarily band related, but I got to know him personally and over the years we were regular pen pals. John promoted a great deal of my music via his association with the Sabbar Shrine Concert Band and the Beavers Tucson Concert Band. These two groups operated in the Tucson, Arizona community where John made his residence and where he was also an active playing member. My taking on the challenge of completely retyping his entire dissertation was a labor of love. After John told me about his dissertation, and that the only copy outside of his personal copy and one housed in the Chicago Musical College was in the Aurora, Illinois public library, I knew I had to find a way to read it. The only difficulty was that the Aurora library copy was designated “reference” and could not be checked out. To the rescue came a friend behind the scenes in the library who allowed me to use it for a few days. During that time I painstakingly copied every one of the 142 some pages (one-sided) contained within the binding. This was perhaps the late 1990s. I had always said that I would eventually get around to digitizing the entire volume so as to be able to put it up on the internet for everyone to read without the necessity of having to access the Aurora, Illinois public library. This hemming and hawing took place for almost 25 years before (now retired) I had the time to buckle down to the task at hand. It was truly a delight to revisit this all over again and in the process make some corrections / edits in what otherwise might be considered some awkward syntax. While I could pick up where John left off in telling more of the History of Music in Aurora, Illinois seeing as how I was a part of it for 31 years myself (1984-2015), I will leave that to future generations. I would hope that they find its continued success and future to be as fascinating as John did in his telling of its beginnings. Kevin Kaisershot - 2020 A HISTORY OF MUSIC IN AURORA, ILLINOIS BY JOHN REX McMULLEN EDITED BY KEVIN KAISERSHOT April 2020 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Doctor of Music Education degree Chicago Musical College August 1955 ACKNOWLEDGMENT The present writer wishes to acknowledge with thanks the cooperation and the assistance given him by the following individuals in the consummation of this study: Alice Applegate, curator, Aurora Historical Museum; the Aurora Public Library staff; Robert Barclay, music editor, Aurora Beacon News; Ralph Blackman, English instructor; Unabelle Chitty, musician and music librarian; Vernon Derry, photographer and historian; Dr. John W. Gates, superintendent of schools, District Number 131, Aurora; Charles Gridley, musician and historian; Justus Johnson, editor, “Now and Then,” Aurora Beacon News; Richard F. Marti, musician and printer; Clifton Simmons, president, Board of Education, District Number 131, Aurora; and Dr. Merton S. Zahrt, advisor. J.R.M. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER Page I. INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the Problem 1 Nature of the Problem 1 Need for the Investigation 2 Importance of Problem to the Field and to the Writer 2 Desired Outcomes 2 Scope and Limits of Study 3 Working Hypotheses and Basic Assumptions 4 Review of Related Literature 5 Methods, Techniques, and Procedures 9 Summary 11 II. HISTORY OF AURORA 12 Early Happenings 13 Founding of the City 13 The First Post Office 14 Early Schools 15 Early Industries 17 Early Disasters 18 Early Banking 19 Transportation Facilities 19 Early Politics 19 Early Churches 21 The Establishment of a Library 21 Early City Government 22 Business, Industry, and Importance of Railroad 22 The Twentieth Century 23 iii. CHAPTER Page Summary 24 III. MUSIC FROM 1837 TO 1885 25 First Musical Performances 26 Early Bands 26 An Early Soloist 29 Fourth of July Celebration 30 Professor Stein and his Orchestra 30 Music for Dancing 33 First High School Orchestra 34 Coulter Opera House 34 Miscellaneous Later Developments 35 Piano Music Development 35 Summary 36 IV. MUSIC FROM 1886 TO 1895 37 Outstanding Personalities 37 Alice Doty Wernicke 37 Emma Skinner Miller 43 Maud Powell 45 Choral Activities 51 The Apollo Club 51 The Peerless Quartet 52 The St. Cecilia Musical Club 53 Instrumental Music Groups 55 The Union Cornet Band 56 The Burlington Park Band Contests 56 The Earl Drake Orchestra 57 Illinois Music Teachers’ Association 57 iv. CHAPTER Page Recollections 58 We Gotta Piano 58 Recollections of John Fauth 59 The Matt Kusel Musical Show 59 Summary 60 V. MUSIC FROM 1896 TO 1915 61 Enterprising Musicians 61 Dwight Godard 61 William Eitelgeorge 66 E.C. Hoffman 66 A Music Philanthropist 67 Instrumental Music 68 Bands 68 Orchestras 70 Musicians Union Organized 72 Vocal Music 73 Small Ensembles 73 Larger Organizations 74 School Music 75 Memories of a Song 75 High School Music 77 The Columbia Conservatory 78 Other Activities Regarding Music 79 Aurora Musical Festival 79 A Musical Society 80 v. CHAPTER Page The Aurora Chautauqua Assembly 80 The Music Ordinance 81 Visiting Artists 81 Organizations 81 Soloists 82 Summary 83 VI. MUSIC FROM 1916 TO 1928 84 Some Interesting Musical Activities 85 The Commercial Club Band 85 A Visiting Organist Recital 86 The Kells Studio of Fine Arts 86 The Chicago Symphony Orchestra 86 The Blackhawk Orchestra an Some Outstanding Members 87 More Band Music and Special Concerts 101 Vocal Music 103 Outstanding Vocalists 103 Presentation of Oratorios 106 Opera Talks 106 The Civic Music Association 107 School Instrumental Music 108 Summary 109 VII. MUSIC FROM 1929 TO 1936 110 School Music 111 East Side School Music 112 West Side School Music 120 vi. CHAPTER Page Mooseheart School Music 122 Aurora College Music 124 The Aurora Symphony Orchestra 125 A Radio Star Vocalist 126 Summary 127 VIII. MUSIC FROM 1937 TO 1948 129 Instrumental Music 130 Violinists 130 Pianists 133 Accordion Bands 137 The Aurora Legion Band 138 Vocal Music 141 Outstanding Vocalists 141 The Palestrina Choir 145 Negro Artists 146 School Music 148 The Marmion Military Academy Band 149 The Madonna High School Music Department 150 West Side Public Schools 150 East Side Public Schools 152 Summary 155 vii. CHAPTER Page IX. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS 156 Summary 157 Conclusions 160 Recommendations 166 BIBLIOGRAPHY 167 viii. LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. First Brass Band 2. Aurora Cornet Band 3. Coulter Opera House program presented by Aurora Light Guard Band 4. Choir of the Old First Congregational Church ix. 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION From the beginning of time, the writing and study of history has been a necessity in understanding various developmental phases of the human race. Some historiographers cover a large span of time in their writing, while others confine their investigations to a short period of history. In order to write a history of larger areas, histories of smaller areas are needed to complete the integral picture. This is substantiated by Britton1 who stated that more histories of smaller districts should be written before those of larger areas can be undertaken. The present study could contribute to a larger regional or sectional study of musical development. Statement of the Problem Aurora, Illinois, located in Kane County forty miles west of Chicago, is a Mid-western city with a population of approximately 50,000. The present writer feels that this is a typical Mid-western community located near a large metropolitan area, and is immensely rich in musical heritage. The collecting of the historical data concerning musical development in Aurora and the presentation of this information in an understandable form is the problem of the present investigator. Nature of the problem. With this city located in the fertile Fox River Valley of Illinois, and with easy accessibility to metropolitan Chicago, it would naturally seem that a musical culture should emerge along with the 1 Personal letter written by Allen P. Britton to the present writer on May 6, 1955. 2 development of other aspects of the community. The present writer wishes to show, historically, the development of that musical culture. Need for the investigation. At the present time, no complete history of music in Aurora, Illinois, has been written. There have been many sketches or very short histories, and some organizations have written histories of their own particular musical organizations, but, as stated before, no complete history of music in Aurora has been attempted. Importance of problem to the field and to the writer. The writer of this history will help to give to the present writer a more complete understanding of the community and its present musical needs as well as to increase his understanding of the development of music in typical mid- western American communities.2 Naturally, it is hoped that this dissertation will do the same for others who may take the time to read it.