Music in Houston, 1930-1971
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MUSIC IN HOUSTON, 1930-1971 With Annotated Index Donald William Looser, Ph.D. Revised 2020 by Donald W. Looser All rights reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: WORLD ENOUGH AND TIME, 1929-1936….………..……..1 SUMMARY…………………………………………………………………….27 CALENDARS………………………………………………………..……29-34 CHAPTER TWO: THE FLEDGLING YEARS, 1936-1948……………….….…35 SUMMARY…………………………………………………………………….64 CALENDARS…………………………………………….……………….67-80 CHAPTER THREE: GREAT EXPECTATIONS, 1948-1955………………..….81 SUMMARY……………………….………………………………………….113 CALENDARS………………………………………………………….116-131 CHAPTER FOUR: THE THREEPENNY OPERA, 1955-1961……………… 132 SUMMARY……………………………………….………………………….162 CALENDARS………………………………………………………….166-183 CHAPTER FIVE: A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, 1961-1966……….………..184 SUMMARY…………………………………………………………….…….220 CALENDARS………………………………………………………….224-242 CHAPTER SIX: THE SOUND AND THE FURY, 1966-1969………...……..243 SUMMARY…………………………………………………………………..261 CALENDARS………………………………………………………....264-280 CHAPTER SEVEN: THE FULLNESS OF TIME, 1966-1972………..………281 SUMMARY…………………………………………………………………..303 CHAPTER EIGHT: THE HEART OF THE MATTER: A SUMMARY…...……305 BIBLIOGRAPHY..………………………………………………….……..….325-345 INDEX (ANNOTATED)…………………..……..………………….………..347-437 CHAPTER ONE WORLD ENOUGH AND TIME 1929-1936 Houston in 1930 was one of two major American cities that had doubled its population since 1920.1 Houston had already ridden the crest of every major economic boom since the city’s founding —cotton, rice, lumber, cattle, and oil.2 It was a restless city, full of self-reliance and optimism—a city, though only one hundred years old, like an adolescent on the brink of maturity, pervaded by a sense of wonder and confident of its limitless future. Houston had been labeled a “whiskey and trombone” town—a montage of brassy frontierism and established gentility. Though Southern in its refinement, Houston was Western in its aggressiveness. Only years before, it had drawn the ocean fifty miles to its door, grabbing the torch of leadership from the once-strategic Galveston and creating for itself the nation’s third largest port. Its citizens were rugged individualists, accustomed to hard work and dependent on their own resourcefulness. Its new money was oil; its old money was cotton, cattle, and lumber. Cultural activities were not new to Houston, but there was no major cultural institution that dated from the nineteenth century.3 Houston had introduced the Singing Society to Texas in 1839,4 and as early as 1872, Mrs. Lucy Grunewald had established the Houston Philharmonic Society, which was composed of some thirty to forty mixed 1 Eroll F. Bogy, Houston in Brief (Houston, 1932), p. 8. 2 “Houston, Bold and Beautiful,” Plymouth Traveler, December, 1964, p. 4. 3 George M. Fuermann, Houston, the Feast Years (Houston: Premier Printing Co., 1962), p. 26. 4 Lota M. Spell, Music in Texas (Austin, 1936), p. 92. voices. The Houston Choral Club was organized in 1885 to give light opera and musical plays; and a Male Quartet Club, founded by Anton Diehl, functioned from 1894 to 1915. Houston also led the state of Texas with the formation of the first woman’s singing society, the Treble Clef, in 1895.5 This group later became the Woman’s Choral Club of Houston.6 Orchestral music in Houston dates from 1868 when a Professor Stadtler led a small ensemble at the Exchange Saloon. Orchestras connected with the German Sangerfeste from 1885 to 1913, a local Symphony Club by 1902, and a visit by Modeste Altschuler’s Russian Symphony Orchestra in 1912-13 whetted local appetites for a permanent ensemble7. Nonetheless, prior to 1930, operatic, symphonic, and concert activity in Houston had been largely of the non-resident, touring variety. However, major concert performers were no strangers to the Houston stage. Paderewski, McCormack, Kreisler, Heifetz, the Chicago Opera, and the New York Philharmonic had all visited the city in the early years of the new century6. Local, resident, institutional activity, however, began with the formation of the Houston Symphony Orchestra Association in 1913. In the spring of 1913, following a series of meetings held in the homes of several prominent Houstonians, the Houston Symphony Orchestra Association was founded; Mrs. E. B. Parker was elected its first president.8 The Association, whose membership was composed largely of women, employed a relative newcomer to Houston, cellist 5 Spell, p. 98. 6 David G. McComb, Houston: The Bayou City (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1969), p. 145. 7 “German Music,” The Handbook of Texas Online, Theodore Albrecht, Texas State Historical Society, July 23, 2002. 8 “Expansion of Symphony Orchestra Continues,” International Musician, February, 1938, p. 1. 2 Julien Paul Blitz, as its musical director. Plans were made for an opening concert in June, and a group of some forty local musicians was engaged.9 A sold-out house gathered at the Majestic Theater for the first concert by the new orchestra. The Majestic Theater is now contained within the bowels of the Houston Chronicle Building on Texas Avenue. Musicians from other vaudeville and silent movie theaters, cafes, hotels, and the city-at-large rushed from their regular day jobs to make the 5:00 p.m. curtain. The Majestic’s own orchestra sounded the last note of its preceding vaudeville show and scrambled from pit to stage to complete the symphony orchestra’s personnel. The glittering audience warmly received Maestro Blitz, his chamber orchestra, and its vocal soloist, Miss Blanch Foley, who sang a Gluck aria.. The varied program included the Mozart Symphony No. 39 and “Dixie.” Thus, it was that on June 21, 1913, Houston’s cultural history entered a new era.10 This first trial concert was followed by a second one six months later. Rehearsals were open to children, and the musicians that year were paid five dollars for each rehearsal and concert. The fifteen- hundred dollar cost of the season was underwritten by a number of twenty-five dollar patron gifts.11 Paul Berge succeeded Julien Blitz on the podium and served as musical director until the orchestra disbanded in 1917 due to personnel inadequacies resulting from World War I. The Association, however, continued to function. Miss Ima Hogg became its second president and served until 1921. In the interim when no local orchestra was active, the Association met regularly and sponsored performances by the St. Louis and Minneapolis orchestras and a number of chamber groups. 9 Houston Post, October 26, 1941, Sec. III, p. 6. 10 Houston Chronicle, October 13, 1963, Texas Magazine, p. 4. 11 Ibid. 3 The twenties represented a dry cultural period in Houston, relying chiefly on visiting ensembles and performers. Mary Elizabeth Rouse, writing for The Houston Gargoyle, a remarkable local version of The New Yorker, described the status of cultural activity in the city in 1929. Houston is going backwards, musically. Twenty years ago, we seemed to have made a beginning. We had the nucleus of a civic symphony. The Treble and Choral Clubs had large memberships and were excellent training schools. They were bringing excellent artists. Everybody went to concerts. When people came, no ballyhoo was necessary. The city has grown; its audience hasn’t. Less than five hundred heard Elisabeth Rothberg. The town is full of music teachers who are failures. The Vitaphone is spreading its racket everywhere. The people of Houston aren’t music lovers or we’d have a symphony. We seem to expect it to pay for itself—none ever has. We had the Minneapolis Symphony here last year and so few came that I am through talking about a local one. .12 Despite this pessimistic report, at the end of the 20’s, some serious musical activity graced the city. A woman named Edna Saunders and the Girls Musical Club sponsored two series of recitalists. In addition, the Museum of Fine Arts hosted Sunday Musicales featuring local artists. Josephine Boudreaux, who was to become concertmistress of the reorganized Symphony, had formed a string quartet in 1928 that presented an active calendar of performances. Additionally, in 1928, Foley Brothers department store inaugurated a series of weekly Wednesday Musicales.13 A 1929 advertisement trumpeted: Activated purely by civic pride in things cultural in Houston, leading musicians are cooperating with Foley Brothers (department store) in presenting you this second season of Wednesday afternoon Musicales in an endeavor to bring to the music lovers of the city the wealth of talent right here at home.14 12 Mary Elizabeth Rouse, “Houston and Harmony,” The Houston Gargoyle, December 1, 1929, p. 25. 13 Houston Post, September 21, 1930, State News Section, p. 9. 14 The Houston Gargoyle, October 6, 1929, p. 17 (Foley Brothers advertisement). 4 This unobtrusive ad is historically significant because it articulates three strengths of Houston’s cultural development that may be observed throughout its history: (1) civic pride rather than cultural aspiration as a reason for support; (2) the major role of business and business people in the musical history of the city; and (3) an emphasis on the nurture and propagation of local musical talent. A 1930 Foley’s concert by two young Houston musicians, Alfred Teltschik, pianist, and Raphael Fliegel, violinist, was typical of the Wednesday afternoon Town Hall series. Robert Rice, President of the Musicians Local, estimated the Houston musicians’ union membership in 1929 at three hundred musicians. Many of these played at local theaters—the Metropolitan, the Majestic, and the Loew’s. Other musicians were members of resident groups at various hotels and radio stations. Former Houston Symphony conductor Julien Blitz was cellist at the Texas State Hotel. Although many musicians were unemployed, the best were apparently in short supply because the musician’s union allowed Kansas City union musicians to take Metropolitan Theater jobs in 1929 when no top local musicians could be secured.15 Despite the Great Depression, the 1929-1930 musical season in Houston was an active one. A local impresario, Edna Saunders, brought Galli-Curci, Beniamino Gigli, and Mary Garden with the Chicago Civic Opera.