Music in the Oklahoma Territory: 1889-1907
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3 '? ,'e1/ MUSIC IN THE OKLAHOMA TERRITORY: 1889-1907 DISSERTATION Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By K. Gary Adams, B. M., M. M. Denton, Texas August 1979 Adams, K. Gary, Music in the Oklahoma Territory: 1889 L2QZ. Doctor of Philosophy (Musicology), August 1979, 226 pp., 13 plates, 10 figures, bibliography. This study is a history of the musical activities in the Territory of Oklahoma from 1889 to 1907. Material for this dissertation was gathered from newspapers, books, periodicals, letters, sheet music, concert programs, college catalogues, church records, and photographs. Oklahoma City and Guthrie, the most important cities of the territory, provide the locale for the greater part of the study. These two communities re flect the cultural tastes and activities of the entire terri tory. Opera houses and theaters were the centers of musical activity during the territorial years. Professional touring companies brought the best in Italian, German, French, Eng lish, and American opera to Oklahoma before statehood. Be sides opera, musical comedy, drama, minstrel shows, and vaudeville entertained numerous audiences during this period. These lighter forms of entertainment were among the most pop ular with frontier patrons. In addition to local bands, professional touring bands performed in Oklahoma with regularity. The most popular of these were Patrick Gilmore's Band, the Liberati Concert Band, Sorrentino's Banda Rossa, John Philip Sousa's Band, and the Innes Orchestral Band. With the exception of dance orchestras and other similar 2 ensembles, local orchestras in the territory were uncommon. The most successful attempts to form local symphony orchestras were those of H.P. Wells in Guthrie and E. Chouteau Legg in Oklahoma City. A decade passed before the first professional symphony orchestra traveled to the territory. In 1899, the Mozart Symphony of New York appeared in concert at Oklahoma City's Methodist Episcopal Church. Later appearances were made by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Ladies Symphony Concert Company, the Royal Hungarian Court Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, the New York Symphony, Bessie Burnell's Ladies Orchestra, and the Cleveland Ladies Orchestra. Probably more pioneers in Oklahoma participated in church music than in any other type of musical activity. Hymns, from the earliest days of the territory, were often sung in the home while congregational singing, quartet choirs, and church choirs, all with organ accompaniment, made up the in-church contributions. In general, special days and holidays were far more elaborate musically than ordinary Sundays. Church concerts featuring both vocal and instrumental music by local musicians were popular. In some instances cantatas or orato rios were rendered, usually with choirs specially augmented for the occasion. Organ recitals by both local and profes sional organists also advanced church music in the territory. Concerts by local and professional musicians were plen tiful between 1889 and 1907. Vocal soloists and ensembles, 3 and piano and violin soloists were particularly admired by frontier audiences. Some of the more celebrated artists to perform in Oklahoma included Ellen Beach Yaw, Emma Nevada, Lillian Nordica, Blind Tom, Eduard Remenyi, and Edward Baxter Perry. Music instruction before statehood was primarily the con cern of private teachers. It was not until the latter part of this period that music in the public schools became a reality; however, music departments in the colleges and universities, under the leadership of men such as Fredrik Holmberg and John J. Merrill, flourished from the first territorial days. The role of the music merchants in the territory cannot be overemphasized. It was through their efforts that instru ments, music, and musical supplies were readily available on the frontier. Composers of music in the area were rare, though the ter ritory can claim one composer of international reputation as her native son. Roy Harris was born in Lincoln County in the Oklahoma Territory on February 12, 1898. 0 1979 KERMIT GARY ADAMS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii i PREFACE In 1966, Donald McCorkle wrote in the Journal of the Amefrican Musiclogical Society that we need histories of musical traditions in each of the United States and the major (and formerly major) municipalities, of the many ethnic groups which settled them, of the churches, the orches tras and other ensembles of the 19th century. 1 McCorkle echoed the words of Oscar G. Sonneck, who, fifty years earlier, had written: As to general histories of music in America, they plainly suffer from a dearth of local or otherwise specialized literature. We can not do our selves justice or expect justice at the hands of foreigners until we have produced a methodologi cally correct and abundant literature of city and state musical histories, on a critical digest of which tse general historian may safely base his survey. With these thoughts in mind, the present study was under taken in order to provide an accurate account of the musical. activity in one of the most colorful regions of the Old Wests the Oklahoma Territory. The two most important cities of the territory, Oklahoma City and Guthrie, provide the locale for the greater part of the study, and they reflect the cultural tastes and activities of the entire territory. Donald M. McCorkle, "Finding a Place for American Stud ies in American Musicology," Journal of the American Musi cologica. Society XXIX/1 (Spring, 1966). ?90 2 Oscar G. Sonneck, Suum Cuigue Essays in Music (New York: G. Schirmer, 1916), 131-32. With few exceptions, most of the materials required for this study are located in two large collections: the Western History Collection of the University of Oklahoma and the ar chives of the Oklahoma Historical Society in Oklahoma City. Contemporary newspaper accounts constitute the most important primary source, and most of these are available for study at the Oklahoma Historical Society. Newspaper quotations used in this dissertation retain the grammar, structure, and or thography found in the original. Other primary sources utilized include letters, sheet music, programs, college catalogues, church records, and photographs. Secondary sources such as general histories of Oklahoma were helpful in filling in gaps and providing infor mation concerning territorial history. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE . , . LIST OF FIGURESRE.0. .. .. ..... ,, , , ix LIST OF PLATES . .,. ix Chapter I. INTRODUCTION . ., 1 II. MUSIC FOR THE STAGE ...... ...... 13 Opera Musical Comedy Drama The Minstrel Show and Vaudeville III. BANDS AND ORCHESTRAS . - . - . - . 59 Local Bands Professional Touring Bands in Oklahoma Professional Touring Orchestras in Oklahoma Local Orchestras IV. CHURCH MUSIC.I. ... ,,. 97 Service Music Organ Recitals Concerts in the Churches V. CONCERTLIFE F..... .. ... .. 121 Concerts by Traveling Professional Musicians Concerts by Local Musicians Music Clubs Music in Social Clubs Concerts by Church Societies Music Festivals vii VI. MUSIC EDUCATION, MERCHANDISING, AND COMPOSITION IN THE TERRITORY . 169 Music Teachers Music Conservatories Music in the Schools Music Merchandising Musical Composition Summary BIBLIOGRAPHY . 223 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. The Oklahoma Lands opened by the land rush of April 22, 1889 . .0-0a * . 0 5 2. Oklahoma Land Openings from 1889 to 1906 . 9 3. Advertisement for Fr. D'av;l at the Delmar Garden Theater . , 39 4. Advertisement for vaudeville acts at the Delmar Garden . Theater . - . - S -S 57 5, Advertisement for Liberati Concert . * S * 81 6. Advertisement for Irene Jewell Newton Concert .. *..*.*,*,, * . 135 7. Advertisement for The Belip of Corneville 153 8. Advertisement for Frederickson & Kroh Music Co. a0. ..O. 0. .0* 0 * . * 207 9, Advertisement for J.W. Jenkins' Sons Music Co. * , . , , , * * * 211 10. Oklahoma. A Toast . * . * . * . 216 LIST OF PLATES Plate Page 1. The land rush for the Cherokee Strip in 1893 . * * . * . , * , 15 2. The McKennon Opera House under construction ** * . .*. .,, . in 1889 . * . 19 3. The Overholser Opera House in 1903 . * . 0 23 4. The Club Theatre in Guthrie, Oklahoma, 1889 .0 27 0 5. The Franing Opera House, ca. 1907 . * . 31 6. 0 TheGuthrie city Band in1889, *0. .. 61 ix Plate Page 7. The Oklahoma Cavalry Band with Tom Mix as drum major . - - . t-.- .0 , 0 . 65 8. The Garber Concert Band in 1906 . .*. * 0 " 0 77 9. The Club Theatre Orchestra in 1889 . 0 -" * - 93 10. The University of Oklahoma Mandolin Club, ca. 1900 . - . - . - -a . 185 11. The University of Oklahoma Band in 1904 . 189 12. The University of Oklahoma Glee Club in 1906 . 193 13. The University of Oklahoma Orchestra in 1907 * 197 x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In the nearly two decades of the Oklahoma Territory's existence (1889-1907), music occupied an important role in its social and cultural life. Music halls, theaters, and opera houses were constructed in virtually every town large enough to sustain them. For example, approximately three months after its founding, Guthrie "boasted five banks, fif teen hotels, three music halls, fifty grocery stores, and six printing offices with three daily papers."' Itinerant opera companies, musical comedy troupes, vaudeville acts, and minstrel groups appeared in these theaters and opera houses with regularity. In addition, prominent concert art ists of national and international reputation as well as local musicians performed in the opera