THIS IS a chapter from Mr. Shermans forthcoming book, "Music and Maestros: The Story of the Minneapolis ," which will be ptiblished by the University of Minnesota Press on November 3.

TlwBIRTHofa SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

JOHN K. SHERMAN

THE MINNEAPOLIS Symphony Orches­ sociate memberships available to those in­ tra, which marks its fiftieth season in terested, and in a few months augmented 1952-1953, can count among its ancestors the string group with reeds and brasses to numerous local musical organizations, no­ make a "symphony orchestra," so-called, tably Frank Danz's orchestra. That group, under the direction of B. A. Rose. which flourished during the last two decades This little orchestra, composed mostly of of the nineteenth century, may be called the amateurs, performed for four years under mother of the symphony-to-be. By the same Rose's direction and then expired. Changes token, a choral club organized in 1892 by were afoot; a new orientation was in the some giddy but progressive young men who wind. From the status of musical playboys gave themselves the awful name of Filhar- who thought that "Filharmonix" was an monix can rightly be called its father. amusing name, the club, headed by Clar­ The Filharmonix began with a member­ ence Strachauer, gradually grew into a solid ship of twenty, entirely male and amateur, and serious institution. Its early concerts and its purpose was social-musical fun in had been catch-all programs of miscellane­ the homes of its members. In hardly any ous character. But its glee club, originally time at all it spawned the Filharmonix Glee directed by Willard Patton, carried the seed Club, the Filharmonix Mandolin Club, the of true growth. After the founding in 1895 Filharmonix String Orchestra, a male quar­ of a rival group, the Apollo Club (which tet, and a corps of eager banjo players. restricted itself to male voices), Patton's Its first two public concerts were invitation glee club blossomed into a large mixed affairs and attracted many listeners to a chorus. new type of musical variety program. The change to the more dignified name Impressed by their success, the members of the Philharmonic Club came in 1897, and strengthened their organization, made as- the emphasis then shifted almost entirely to choral projects of a substantial nature. MR. SHERMAN is arts cditor for the Minneapolis The organization was in the process of be­ Star and Tribune. In the role of music critic, coming a new and aggressive force in the he has been writing about the Minneapolis city's cultural life. Some talk of merging Symphony Orchestra since 1926. the two singing clubs — the male Apollo

Autumn 1952 93 EMIL Oberhoffer on the conductor's stand about 1903

and the mixed Philharmonic — led to noth­ Reared in a musical household, Emfl ing. Each, apparently, was eager for dom­ proved himself an eager listener and learner inance. from the earliest age, with an extreme sensi­ Patton carried on with the Philharmonic's tivity to musical tone. Herr Ober Hoffer chorus until the fateful year 1900, when gave the boy his first lessons in violin and the possessive eye of the directorate fell organ, which were avidly learned. Then on the dynamic and ambitious leader of Emil went on to instruction at the Munich the rival Apollo Club. His name was Emil Conservatory, studying under Josef Rhein- Ober-Hoffer. berger and Cyrill Kistler. It was during This tawny-haired young Bavarian had these years that he learned much of the arrived without fanfare in St. Paul in the Catholic service, in which, in later life, he early 1890's. A kind of musical jack-of-all- was well versed. trades, he had been a prodigy violinist in His travels began with his removal from his native Munich and later a peripatetic Munich and Luxembourg to Paris, where student and teacher of music. He was born he studied under Isidore Philipp, who in 1867, the son of Johann Ober Hoffer, a was much impressed with his pupil's skiU musician and composer who had directed and taste and promise. In the meantime, opera at Munich and served as court organ­ the Ober Hoffer family had broken up, so ist in Luxembourg. (The name Ober Hoffer young Emil came to America in 1885, be­ became Ober-Hoffer in the 1890's and coming musical director at Col­ Oberhoffer after the turn of the century.) lege in , playing organ at St.

94 MINNESOTA History Cecilia's Church there, and serving for a rector of the Apollo Club —his first really time under Conductor Anton Seidl. important post. There he was able gradually It was one of the many Gilbert and Sul­ to take on more formidable assignments livan troupes then plying the countryside prompted not so much by others' sugges­ that took Oberhoffer and his young English tions as by his own desires and ambitions. wife, a singer, to the Twin Cities for the By 1900 he was causing much grumbling first time. Legend has it that the company and headshaking among the conservatives limped into town and halted there because for his rashness in presenting long oratorios of financial embarrassment. Whatever the and concertized operas. cause, the musical couple remained, and for a while their fortunes were at an ex­ IN 1900 the Philharmonic Club succeeded tremely low ebb. in luring Oberhoffer away from its com­ One night a worried and out-of-funds petitor, the Apollo Club. Some of the Apollo Oberhoffer called at the Frank Danz home men were bitter and regarded the maneu­ in St. Paul, borrowed ten dollars, and got ver as theft. They felt they had raised their a job playing viola the next day in Danz's leader from obscurity and by giving him West Hotel orchestra in Minneapolis. Old- his first important conducting post had timers recollect that the future symphony earned the right to retain him exclusively. conductor played in restaurants and saloons If he had expected to fill both positions, he during the first impoverished months after was disappointed. He resigned the Apollo his arrival in the Twin Cities, obtaining Club post under fire. these temporary musical jobs from Danz in The Philharmonic was now at a high tide Minneapolis and George Seibert in St. Paul. of ambition and achievement. Its days of Oberhoffer was not long to be cornered mandolin and banjo twanging and other in such humble occupations, and he soon kinds of musical dabbling were far behind. established himself in more dignified and In December, 1900, Oberhoffer conducted rewarding roles worthy of his talents. He his new chorus in a performance of Men­ became organist at the Church of St. John delssohn's "Elijah" which marked "a distinct the Evangelist in St. Paul, and not long advance musically for Minneapolis," A let­ afterward he was making himself valuable ter to the conductor from W. L, Harris, a to that city's leading musical organization, Philharmonic Club director, expressed the the Schubert Club. He lectured on musical hope that "Minneapolis will have such fa­ subjects, played in string quartets, gave cilities in the way of a proper hall and effi­ recitals, and before long formed a choir cient orchestra as to relieve the director of and orchestra for the club. In the meantime some of his handicaps," Harris' reference he employed his conducting gifts in per­ to an "efficient orchestra" was the opening formances of such fare as "The Mikado" gun in a we-want-an-orchestra campaign. and "The Chimes of Normandy," the latter The orchestra for the club was still an bringing him for the first time to general improvised, pro tem support for the choral public attention in October, 1893. performances. Orchestral musicians were In 1895 he moved to Minneapolis as or­ engaged on a haphazard basis —the pro­ ganist of the Church of the Immaculate fessionals were paid for piecework; others Conception, and then his abilities began to played for pleasure. The arrangement was thrust him into prominence. He acquired neither satisfactory nor businesslike, and it numerous voice and piano students and was was hardly efficient. As often as not, mu­ active in programs of the Ladies' Thursday sicians who had played at rehearsals were among those missing on nights of perform­ Musicale and its chorus. He assumed the ances, lured away by more remunerative organist's post at the Church of the Re­ assignments. Those who played for the fun deemer. In late 1896 he was appointed di­

Autumn 1952 95 of it were hardly more reliable; enjoyment Philharmonic directors, who now glimpsed could be a vague and fluctuating compen­ what might be done with Oberhoffer's or­ sation. ganizing and conducting abilities. For But Oberhoffer knew how important the many, the performance clinched the argu­ orchestral adjunct was to the success of ment on the need and desirability of a per­ the chorus, and from the time he took over manent orchestra, and Oberhoffer gained the Philharmonic baton he began to talk, valuable recruits for the cause. to plead, to persuade. A full-fledged sym­ The general response to "Samson and phony orchestra became his dream and his Delilah" was reflected in the review of goal. He visioned the greater possibilities — Florence Bosard in the Tribune the next the wider and more dramatic scope of mu­ day: "It is impossible to say what the pro­ sical literature — which a symphony or­ duction of this tremendous work means to chestra could bring to the people of the Minneapolis, It shows hitherto undreamed­ city. For the time being, though, he had to of possibilities. It shows that there are the make do with what he had. voices, the intelligence, the executive abfli- ty, and most necessary of all, the director. THE PHILHARMONIC'S next season, The orchestra was splendid. . . . [Ober­ 1901-02, was more than ever ambitious, hoffer] directed at once with a subtlety and for it offered two oratorios, "The Messiah" force . . . magnetic in his inffuence.' of Handel and "The Creation" of Haydn, This comment obviously was not routine and an evening of short cantatas and part praise, but arose from excitement and con­ songs. At the season's close Frederick Fay- viction. It was also recognition of the in­ ram, president, announced that the or­ creased mastery Oberhoffer had gained chestra was to be a regular feature of each over the sometimes reluctant and doughy of the ensuing season's concerts and that vocal forces he was trying to shape. At the past season had created a deficit, though rehearsals be was both a witty wooer and not a large one. The fact that businessmen despotic taskmaster. He could make sly were not only facing deficits as a penalty asides, once alluding to a suave passage for their cultural enthusiasm, but paying from a French composer's work: "Catch a them, was a significant orientation to the Frenchman writing anything hard." Then, problem of financing musical enterprises of with the suddenness of a thunderclap, he civic worth. would break out in a blistering tirade The club embarked on its most preten­ against his erring and perspiring singers. tious effort the following season, and there A trembling Philharmonic alto one night was portent in the fact that for its perform­ returned to her home and wrote in her ance of "Samson and Delilah" it author­ diary: "At rehearsal Mr, Oberhoffer ma­ ized its conductor to engage needed in­ ligned, browbeat, ridiculed and all but strumentalists from the Chicago orchestra bodily attacked the basses and tenors. He of Theodore Thomas. The Saint-Saens op­ got more quiet about 10 o'clock and let us era was to be given in concert version, and all leave in safety." Oberhoffer spent the summer of 1902 ar­ The weekly Philharmonic rehearsals were ranging parts so that it could be played held Mondays in the guildhall of St. Mark's with a maximum of forty-five instruments. Church on Sixth Street between Hennepin The opera was presented on November and Nicollet avenues. They were often tur­ 2 in the Swedish Tabernacle. The outcome bulent sessions, seasoned with sarcastic of Oberhoffer's long labors and the club's humor. Once Oberhoffer rapped a rehears­ expenditure of an unprecedented sum of al to a stop with his baton and furiously sixteen hundred dollars was impressive not snatched his score off the stand, burying only to the city's concertgoers but to the his face in it so that only his reddish hair

96 MINNESOTA History was visible — a ludicrous caricature of a singer with his nose in his music. Then he shouted: "What do you think I am waving ZCbe jfilbarmontx this stick for? For exercise? I don't need this exercise. I have an exerciser at home!" The choristers rallied for new and keener Hutuhin effort after such attacks; they accepted the scathing rebukes as part of their training from a man who intensely wished them to be as good as they could be, and they rel­ ished his wit, which was as often playful as destructive. After rehearsals they were wont to crowd around his stand for what further insights and suggestions he might offer. He offered much, and not all of it was technical instruction. His learning and interests leaped musical boundaries; by the time the choristers had mastered "Samson and Delilah," most of them felt they had taken a course of instruction in Biblical history. After its triumph with Saint-Saens Bible story in evening clothes, the Philharmonic continued its season with another perform­ ance of "The Messiah" on Christmas night, COVER of an early Filharmonix program 1902, of Verdi's "Requiem" on February 13, 1903, and of Mendelssohn's "Saint Paul" on at least a good portion of the expense in­ March 27. volved. The prospectus pledged that some part of MEN WHO HAD PLAYED under Danz, a symphony would be given at each and and Danz himself as concertmaster, were every concert, as well as "overtures of the vital aids in some of these productions, in­ highest importance." It gave assurance that cluding the "Samson and Delilah" success. there was no necessity for music lovers Their functioning under Oberhoffer fore­ "paying high prices to attend concerts given shadowed their role as the heart of the by visiting organizations, for in Minne­ orchestra to come. But the Danz orchestra, as a self-sustaining institution giving its apolis was an organization that would give own series of Minneapolis concerts, was as good as the best." A ceilinged shell was being lost in the shuffle in these days of built for the Metropolitan stage and new change. men appeared in the ensemble. Danz, who In 1901-02 it had enjoyed a last fficker had been known at times to throw things of glory, but there had been a note of together in routine fashion, took unusual desperation in its promotional appeals. pains in rehearsal, coaching his reed and Minneapolis was promised a "new venture," brass sections separately before blending a "mammoth undertaking," a "grand sym­ them with the full orchestra. phony orchestra" which would give eight But the reception at the opening concert concerts at the House. was cool, and the faithful scowled and made Concertgoers were urged to buy season strained excuses for Minneapolis audiences tickets in quantities large enough to defray that by nature were undemonstrative. In

Autumn 1952 97 early 1932 Danz postponed his sixth concert Danz himself was about ready to call it two weeks to give the concertgoing public quits as a symphonic leader. He was com­ a chance to "catch its breath" after a crowd­ fortably ensconced as theater orchestra di­ ed calendar of performances by visiting rector at the Metropolitan, and the years stars and by bands conducted by Creatore were teaching him that he loved his violin and Innes. The disparaged "visiting organ­ more than his baton. So the Danz orchestra izations" were taking their toll. The post­ finally gave up the ghost in the 1902-03 poned concert offered the Mozart Concer- season, and by becoming Oberhoffer's con­ tante for violin and viola, a choice that certmaster for the "Samson and Delilah" indicates the frequently high caliber of Danz's programming. performance in late 1902, Danz gravitated to the key position he would hold in his But the concert that followed on Feb­ ruary 16 was more an outright bid for mass last years. support, for it brandished as a lure Signor Liberati, noted cornetist, who promised AT THE SAME TIME the Philharmonic each lady attending an autographed copy officers saw more clearly the handwriting of one of his march compositions arranged on the wall. It formed a question: "Why for piano, "the same as is sold in music not a permanent orchestra? Why not an stores." This was an echo of a provincialism orchestra we can depend upon for both re­ that was becoming dated in a city where hearsals and performances?" musical tastes were growing more sophis­ Oberhoffer's insistent pleas were being ticated and where ambitions were not satis­ reinforced by developments. As the choral fied by such bait. undertakings grew larger and more ambi­ tious, the handicap of the makeshift or­ chestra became more obvious. The situa­ tion finally was no longer tolerable; the time had grown ripe for a bold decision. Fii'^t ^ijmphonij Goqcer't In the spring of 1903, after the Philhar­

Ol TIIK monic's most successful and brilliant season, SECOND SERIES the decision was made: An orchestra would be organized for the following fall, and it would be named the Minneapolis Sym­ phony Orchestra. In arriving at that decision. Philharmonic officers had to reconcile cross-purposes and iron out objections. It was a delicate opera­ tion in which the enthusiasm engendered by a big and thrilling idea had to be tem­ pered by diplomacy. KRANK nANZ, JR. J7ane' I^~all OrQhegtra. For one thing, the attitude of Frank Danz and his seasoned players could not be rnANK DANZ. .rii., DIBECTOR GEO. W. TRYON. MANACEK. ignored. Rumblings had come from the Danz camp, which claimed, with consider­ r^Al^MONIA F)ALL, able justice, that an old and proven or­ Sapdaq, febraarq 7lb, 1892, ganization deserved civic support rather At 3:30 f M than one new and untried. When the new one seemed a probability, the Danz men favored their own experienced maestro as its head, reasoning that Danz knew orches­ COVER of a Danz program tral technique, while Oberhoffer had more

98 MINNESOTA HlstOTy experience in choral directing. But Danz the orchestral series, $5.00 and $7.50; for counseled against any opposition to Ober­ the choral concerts, $2.50 and $3.75; for the hoffer, pointing out that the men behind combined series, $6.00 and $10.00. And the young conductor were citizens of means a campaign to raise a guaranty fund of whose support meant a surer guarantee of $10,000.00 a year for three years was suc­ weekly pay. His argument prevailed, and cessfully consummated. there was no further resistance in the Danz This was something new to Minneapolis ranks. — a new concept and a new procedure. The Nothing in the record, or in the memories first fund-raising campaign involved an un­ of those who knew him, indicates that Danz precedented marshaling of civic forces and pined for the exalted position of Minne­ moneyed men and interests, all in behalf of apolis Symphony leader. The symphony a cultural enterprise of hoped-for com­ was Oberhoffer's dream, which became also munity value. The drive signified a revolu­ the Philharmonic's dream and eventual real­ tionary shift from private to civic enter­ ity. Oberhoffer would have preferred to prise in support of a musical organization. form his own orchestra and pick his own It instituted, for the first time, committee players, without recourse to Danz and his promotion and control of an orchestral ven­ musicians, but the simple fact was that ture in place of one-man management. Danz and his men were needed. The Danz orchestra had been a private There were misgiving and opposition, too, venture, striving for profit or at least sol­ within the bosom of the Philharmonic Club vency against ffuctuating odds. It had itself. Among many members there was pleaded but never campaigned for support. more than a doubt that Oberhoffer's new It had made no attempt to organize a city- project, and his whole-souled zeal for it, wide patronage as insurance against calam­ boded well for the health and morale of ity, and it had little power to do so. the choral organization. The new plan had its roots in the growth But objections were overcome and con­ of a large and influential organization, and ciliation and persuasion won the day. The one of the keys to its success lay, quite club called a meeting of leading citizens, simply, in numbers. An all-city chorus had and the plan was laid before them and sprung up and flourished during the last threshed out. The outcome was a compre­ decade of the Danz regime. The chorus hensive blueprint of the orchestral venture, in time needed a permanent orchestra, and with Oberhoffer engaged for three years as through sheer numbers and the prestige and conductor in complete charge of program­ influence of its guiding spirits, it could ming and performance. reach out into the community as could no thirty-man orchestra and no individual TO TAKE CARE of the additional respon­ leader. sibilities of the new orchestra, the Philhar­ Minneapolis at last wanted something monic's board of directors was increased that no one man or organization could af­ to twenty-five members. Among the new ford. It wanted something that could no appointees was a young lumberman who more pay for itself or show a profit than had once dreamed of being an opera singer, could a public library or an art museum. Elbert L. Carpenter. So the device of the guaranty fund, a cit­ Nine committees were named by Presi­ izens' subsidy, was adopted, amounting in dent Fayram, and a season of six concerts essence to a self-imposed tax by people by the orchestra, plus the regular con­ who were public-spirited and also wealthy certs by the club, was announced. Artists enough to pay the assessment, Minneapolis of international reputation were promised. would maintain its proudest cultural insti­ Season ticket prices were established: for tution through deficit financing, but to the

Autumn 1952 99 canny it constituted a civic advertisement dinate position. It was a crisis that good- well worth the cost, natured Ed Schugens solved quickly by relinquishing his status of principal to the IN JUNE Oberhoffer with his wife went to baron. Europe on a special mission, to hear con­ It may have been a distinction to play certs in various music centers, but more with the new Minneapolis symphony, but important to seek out and sign up needed it was no road to riches. Musicians were instrumentalists and to procure scores for paid $1.50 per rehearsal and $6.00 per con­ the orchestra's scanty library. He returned cert. As time went on a symphony musician in September, having engaged two French could make as much as $20.00 to $25.00 horns (Edward Erck and Franz Baltrusch), a week. an (Paul Hofman), and a The conductor, who believed in the con­ (Henry Cunnington), He brought with him cert hall proprieties and wanted no Middle more than a thousand dollars' worth of Western gaucheries to mar his opening pro­ music, mostly novelties, including several gram, was particularly intent on observing scores by Richard Strauss which at that all the niceties, all the punctilio, the occa­ time could be obtained only through con­ sion required. With that in mind he lec­ tact with the master himself. He had heard tured his men on stage deportment at the Fremstad, whom he compared favorably with Nordica, and Schumann-Heink, the final rehearsals. He adjured them not to "idol of Munich" in 1903, He was bubbling cross their knees or talk among themselves over with ambition and high spirits, and while on the platform, and gave them ex­ came back to Minneapolis with the con­ plicit instructions on how to file to their viction that in America "the great music seats before the concert started. of the future is to be developed," THE ORCHESTRA'S debut was set for Twenty-five Twin Cities musicians had Thursday night, November 5, 1903. On that already been contracted for, and the con­ night the newborn Minneapolis Symphony ductor promptly went about signing up Orchestra and its conductor, Emil Ober­ others to make up a complement of nearly hoffer, tremulously faced their first-night fifty. The orchestra's music library, even audience in a makeshift concert hall. with Oberhoffer's purchases, was sadly in­ A huge cluster of chrysanthemums, an adequate, and now in addition to Danz and exclamatory blob of pink, shared the stage's Danz's men, the Danz music was called center with the dark, svelte figure of the upon, and freely handed over. Some of it conductor on the platform. Above and still reposes in the symphony's library. around the half-hundred seated musicians Sectional rehearsals started within a week was festive green that rebuked the Novem­ or two after Oberhoffer's return, and by ber chill outside, with potted palms tracing mid-October the whole orchestra was prac­ waxy curves and a festoon of yellow blooms ticing three times a week in the old Hol- making a blithe border around the stage. comb Dancing Academy on Fourth Street The town had mustered more than a quo­ between the Tribune and Journal buildings. rum to see and hear its new musical baby, In all there were nine rehearsals for the cribbed in the windy expanses of the Ex­ opening concert. position Buflding on the east side. The At the very start the conductor ran head- temperature had dipped to freezing, but on into temperament trouble. Friedrich von raw weather kept only the faintest-hearted Wittmar, the orchestra's titled bass player, away from the exciting premiere. "Every­ discovered when he arrived for the first one" was there — everyone from society's rehearsal that his stand was number 2, and upper realm, everyone from the circles of he refused outright to play in that subor­ the music-wise and music-mad.

100 MINNESOTA History Before his first downbeat that Thursday night, Oberhoffer was still a bit breathless on the platform. He had made a tardy ar­ rival at the Exposition Building, delayed by the press of traffic moving over the bridge toward the hall, and blocked at the hall's entrance by a conscientious but con­ fused doorman until he was identified and permitted to go inside. He was a portrait of elegance. Oberhoffer never would be one to neglect the proper < ^YAVPMONY U and picturesque habiliments of his profes­ sion. He laid down his gold-headed cane, ^ OR-CHEJTRA r: doffed his topper, whipped off his silk-lined cape, pulled off his white gloves, and then •• TML i: made his entrance to the welcoming hand- : PHILHARMONIC '• spatter of nearly three thousand concert­ goers. CLUB ;: Below at his left sat stout, sleepy-eyed, I tf;vr (!!;< n! • n; M < OM tr.i dependable Frank Danz, concertmaster and 7., i principal of the eight-man first violin team. Heading the cello section of four players was Carlo Fischer, brilliant young instru­ mentalist who had just been signed up by COVER of the first symphony program the Cincinnati orchestra for three years, but who was playing this first concert before his departure. He was to return later and amount of money available for musicians' take an important role in the orchestra's salaries. But some of the men were only development. part-time musicians, Ed Schugens, bass, Among the first violinists were old Fred operated a shop that sold and repaired mu­ Will, bearded, aristocratic in bearing, a sical instruments and served as a gathering Danz veteran whose career went back as place for the musical fraternity. Julius Blak- far as the senior Danz's first concert in kestad, cello, was a salesman in his brother's 1880; the floridly handsome Claude Mad­ musical instrument store. P. J. Lawrence, den; and next to Danz in the first stand a flute, was a lawyer. Cragg Walston, second skinny strippling, Albert Rudd, who had violin, was in the lumber business with his studied under Danz and taken charge of father. As time went on, the orchestra would the Bijou Theater orchestra. In 1935 Rudd number in its ranks a mathematics professor was to return to the symphonic fold after who played bassoon, a paperhanger who a career of many years as the city's best- played bass, and many another who divided known theater orchestra leader and violinist. his time between music and an outside In the second violins was another prom­ trade or profession. ising youngster, William S. MacPhail, a Some doubling was necessary, and at Madden pupil and Danz man whose Euro­ least five men in the ensemble were ver­ pean SLudies were still ahead of him, and satile enough to be able to shift from strings stfll farther ahead his founding of the music to wind instruments — from cello to bass school bearing his name. , from string bass to , from The personnel was reasonably profession­ string bass to flute — and back again, Danz al, considering the times and the limited in the front chair, plus Danz men strate-

Autumn 1952 101 THE Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra with Oberhoffer on the podium gically located in all parts of the ensemble, Metropolitan Opera rehearsals, held earlier formed the nucleus of the new organization, than usual, prevented his coming. without whom Oberhoffer could hardly Only two well-known singers were avail­ have mustered a corporal's guard. able at that late date — Charlotte Maconda at $175.00 and Marcella Sembrich at THE FIRST PERFORMANCE of the new $1,800.00. The latter was fearfully expen­ orchestra needed a big and costly name, sive, but after prolonged discussion by the preferably a singer's name, as an ace-in-the- Philharmonic's board and the guarantors' hole guarantee of its success and as lure committee, she was engaged, on the theory for that sizable portion of the populace that the first concert demanded the best that might be more name-conscious than guest artist available, regardless of cost. symphony-hungry. The orchestra's backers Sembrich was being trumpeted as the were willing to spend five hundred dollars "successor of ," and she had for such a name. Minneapolis' own Olive become the rival of Lillian Nordica as the Fremstad, who in the last three years had prima donna then most in the public eye become the darling of European opera- and ear. The imperious Polish coloratura, goers, would have filled all specifications. who had retained so much of girlish spirit But she was not available for the opening and grace, had appeared a year earlier in night and could only be engaged for a later Minneapolis, but her program, devoted appearance. The choice finally narrowed to wholly to song, had withheld from her the noted Anton van Rooy, Dutch baritone hearers those highly ornamented arias in who had sung at Bayreuth, but a week be­ which she excelled and for which she was fore the concert he canceled his engage­ famous. This time, with great acclaim, she ment, pleading that his attendance at sang with the orchestra "Ah! fors' e lui"

102 MINNESOTA Hlstory Massenet's ballet, "Le Cid," and Rossini's overture to "William Tell." How did the orchestra sound on that far­ away November night of its birth? Thin, presumably. By today's standards it cer­ tainly must have sounded thin, with the strings, hardly more than half the person­ nel, drowned out when the brass blasted. This was pointed out in the critical post­ mortems. Apparently Oberhoffer's strata­ gem of bringing the double basses forward, close to the first violins, was not enough to make the strings hold their own in the tuttis. But the violins, at least the firsts, were a sound and seasoned little body of men who could carry on acceptably even in a crisis, and in the Moszkowski morsel for strings they gave testimony of their finesse and co-ordination. This little serenade, in fact, was the most avidly greeted of the or­ chestral offerings, and Mr, Oberhoffer, with a raising of eyebrows that plainly said "it can't be helped," was persuaded to play it a second time. The brasses and woodwinds from Verdi's "Traviata" and the Johann were less secure, their tones sometimes Strauss waltz aria "Friihlingsstimmen," and rough, and their phrasing hesitant. to Oberhoffer's piano accompaniment three It was Oberhoffer who, after Sembrich, songs by Schumann, Arne, and Richard reaped the lion's share of the kudos, Henry Strauss. B, Curry of the Minneapolis Journal alluded Without question Sembrich added allure to the artistic repression and tasteful thor­ to the orchestra's premiere, exuding that oughness of "the self-possessed conductor," regal aura that the idols of opera's golden while the orchestra was credited with pre­ age always carried with them as an almost cision, dynamic variety, and consistency. tangible stage property. One of the chief True, there also was fault-picking, but values of her appearance was the attention considering the inescapable hazards of a it diverted from the obvious flaws of the first try in an improvised auditorium, the orchestra's performance. orchestra's bow was auspicious. Many of On the night of the concert, after Schu­ course wondered whether the whole project bert's "Unfinished" symphony was per­ wasn't another flash in the pan; there had formed, Mme, Sembrich was led gallantly always been a high mortality rate in the from the wings by the maestro himself, the city's new musical organizations. First-night two walking on to the stage with fingertips dazzle had often been followed, in an just touching in a high and elegant hand­ alarmingly short period, by last-night fizzle. hold. In addition to her vocal numbers and But the officers of the Philharmonic Club the symphony, the lengthy program in­ allowed themselves no dark premonitions, cluded the prelude to Wagner's "Meister- no more than did the man who overnight singer," Liszt's "Les Preludes," Mosz- became a full-fledged symphony conductor. kowski's "Serenata," a selection from A dream had materialized, a comfortable

Autumn 1952 103 pot of money had been raised, and a ques­ the best of order until the program's epic tion had been answered —the question of finale. whether a paid and permanent orchestral This was the blood-curdling "1812" over­ accomplice of the club could be set up and ture of Tschaikovsky. A special set of made to stand on its own feet. chimes had been imported to lend added luster and magnificence to the climax of WITH THE TENSIONS and satisfactions the work, where the Russian hymn finally of the opening concert behind them, con­ quells, in a triumphant din, all opposition ductor and musicians plunged into prep­ from the French "Marseillaise." The chimes arations for the second concert, to be given were resplendent in gold leaf and elabo­ December 1, when Harold Bauer, pianist, rately decorated with sportive cupids, and and Dvorak's "New World" symphony they were given a position of honor and (then just ten years old) were the major prominence in front of the orchestra. Joseph attractions. Frank, who played viola and ran a music What seems now an innocuous and ami­ store on Sixth Street, was assigned to play ably sentimental work, the "Rustic Wed­ them. ding" symphony of Goldmark, was played At Frank's very first stroke the head of January 29, 1904, and was termed fantastic, his hammer flew off and rolled under the bizarre, and ultramodern by the knowing chairs of the first violins. It was quite ir­ Caryl B. Storrs in his first signed review in retrievable, particularly at that cataclysmic the Tribune. The "tremendous difficul­ moment when the Muscovites had Na­ ties (!) of this work, he wrote, were at­ poleon on the run. The "1812" rolled on to tacked with courage and evident enjoyment its jubilant finish, without benefit of chimes. in "an artistic if not perfectly finished inter­ Frank, feeling and looking foolish, stood pretation." it out with a stick in his hand. By this time the orchestra was uprooted, a wanderer in search of a home. The In­ THE FIRST SEASON was over! It had ternational Auditorium at the Exposition been gratifyingly successful, and the second Building had proved its inadequacies. The season was already in preparation. first three concer;s were played there, but The Minneapolis Symphony thus became, then Oberhoffer and his men found another in 1903, the eighth major orchestra to be refuge, though one hardly better suited to established in the United States. Two of their purposes: Wesley Methodist Epis­ them were in New York. This was only copal Church. There the fourth and fifth three years after the birth of the Phila­ concerts were played on January 29 and delphia orchestra, six years before the San February 16, 1904, and there Beethoven's Francisco Symphony Orchestra was organ­ "Pastoral" symphony was given complete ized, and fifteen years before the Cleveland for the first time by the orchestra. orchestra was founded. In four short months The sixth and final concert of the first the Minneapolis orchestra had established season, on March 23, 1904, reverted to the permanency against odds that must have International Auditorium. Olive Fremstad, been formidable, considering the fact that absent from her home city for ten years a city ranking eighteenth in population was and now laureled with success, was the now one of seven in America possessing an soloist, singing "O Don Fatale" from Verdi's orchestra of its own. "Don Carlos," four Norwegian folksongs of THE PHOTOGRAPH of OberhofiEer on page 94 Grieg, Wagner's "Traume," and the "Se- is reproduced from the first symphony program, guidilla" from Bizet's "Carmen." Frank dated November 5, 1903. This program and the Danz took a bow for his fine obbligato in others pictured herewith are in the society's col­ lections, as is the view of the orchestra under Handel's "Largo," and everything was in Oberhoffer's direction on the stage of the Lyceum.

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