Search Results

This chapter examines the career development of Georges Barrère in 1905. It was during this year that Barrère was invited by New York Symphony Orchestra's (NYSO) music director Walter Damrosch to perform for his orchestra. The decision to emigrate to the U.S. was not an easy one for Barrère, being a principal of the Colonne, a member of the Opera, director of the Société des Instruments à Vent (SMIV) and a busy teacher. He set conditions for his employment which Damrosch accepted on May 2. This chapter discusses the contract signed by Barrère and the controversies faced by Damrosch in hiring Barrère and four other foreign musicians for the NYSO.

This chapter examines the career development of Georges Barrère during the period from 1905 to 1909. In June 1950, Michelette Barrère came to New York to join his husband and perform for Walter Damrosch's orchestra as a flutist. In October of that year, Damrosch's older brother Frank established the Institute of Musical Art, which later eclipsed the success of other conservatories in the New York area. During this period, Walter organized a series of orchestra tours which had an influence on American flutists. Barrère's success influenced many other careers and it epitomized the triumph of French woodwind style.

This chapter presents the text of music critic Lawrence Gilman's review of George Gershwin's performance of his Concerto in F at the Carnegie Hall with the New York Symphony Orchestra (NYSO) which was published in the December 4, 1925, issue of the New York Herald. In his article, Gilman evaluates Gershwin's “jazz concerto” by applying each of those terms to the works content and he concludes that the vitality of the former makes dependence of the latter burdensome. He also mentions NYSO conductor Walter Damrosch's positive comments on Gershwin's composition and musical style.

David Mannes, concertmaster of Walter Damrosch's New York Symphony and Director of the city's Musical Settlement Houses, engaged James Reese Europe, charismatic conductor and composer, and his unusual Negro orchestra, the “Clef Club”, to play what turned out to be a triumphal benefit concert for the new Harlem branch, at Carnegie Hall — the first concert of its kind (1912). Europe was interviewed about his very specific ideas about the future of Negro music and musicians. Mannes described his own teacher, an African-American violinist, composer, John Thomas Douglas, as “the man who helped shape my life”.

This chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the life and career of flutist Georges Barrère. This book chronicles Barrère's training at the Paris Conservatoire in France, his premiere performance of Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun at the age of 17 and his transition to becoming solo flutist of the Concerts Colonne. It examines his founding of the Société Moderne d'Instruments a Vent, or the Modern Society for Wind Instruments (SMIV), a pioneering woodwind ensemble that premiered the works of 40 composers in its first ten years. It also discusses the role of Paul Taffanel and Walter Damrosch in Barrère's musical career.

The first selective service registration on 5 June forced Schumann-Heink’s sons, the members of the ODJB, and millions of other American men between twenty-one and thirty to register for the draft. George M. Cohan’s song “Over There” was introduced to the public by singer Nora Bayes. James Reese Europe played a concert before seven thousand on 22 June but underwent thyroid surgery days later. The ODJB took a two-week vacation, during which Dunbar’s Tennessee Ten took their place on the Reisenweber’s bandstand. The board of the Oratorio Society of New York replaced popular conductor Louis Koemmenich with Walter Damrosch against the wishes of the membership.

Within weeks of the release of the ODJB’s “Livery Stable Blues” on 15 April, jazz became a household word across the United States. The frantic, unbridled sound of the new music seemed to suit the spirit of the times ideally. In the midst of a copyright dispute with Victor, the ODJB recorded for Columbia. Walter Damrosch’s New York Symphony Orchestra toured from coast to coast, and Karl Muck brought the Boston Symphony Orchestra season to an end amid rumors of his loyalty to Germany. New restrictions on enemy aliens threatened to impact musical performers and presenters. James Reese Europe gathered woodwind players on a whirlwind trip to Puerto Rico, then took his Fifteenth Infantry Regiment Band to train and rehearse at Peekskill, New York.

The activities of eight musicians on New Year’s Eve 1916 reflected their positions in the varied musical tapestry of the United States. Two symphony orchestra conductors, three classical soloists, two jazz musicians, and a military bandleader entertained patrons in a wide range of settings as they and their audiences prepared for the year ahead. As the old year ended, Europe was at war, but the United States was not. This fortunate situation created lucrative opportunities for performers of both classical and popular music. Their positions in the musical hierarchy were about to be upended in the turbulent year of 1917.

Before air conditioning became the norm, concerts in the summer months were seldom given indoors. Muck, Samaroff, and other classical musicians vacationed in Seal Harbor, Maine, a small town that attracted a disproportionate number of musical vacationers. Their activities were closely observed by the newly established Military Intelligence Section. The Fifteenth Regiment Band continued to hone its skills during training stints at Camp Whitman and Camp Dix as the army brass debated what to do with black recruits in a segregated army. The summer of 1917 saw a flurry of new jazz records as well as numerous articles purporting to explain the popular phenomenon.

On 2 April 1917, President Woodrow Wilson urged Congress to enter the European war, and Congress voted to do so on Friday, 6 April. On the 15th of that month, Victor released the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s record of “Livery Stable Blues” and “Dixieland Jass Band One-Step”; it caused an immediate nationwide sensation. James Reese Europe travelled to Puerto Rico in search of woodwind players for the Fifteenth New York Regiment Band, and the Creole Band ended its vaudeville career when it missed the train to Portland, Maine. German musicians in the United States came under increased scrutiny in the weeks after the declaration of war, as the country prepared to adopt new laws and regulations for wartime.

The activities of the eight musicians on New Year’s Day 1918 reflected their changed status in the musical world. Kreisler and Schumann-Heink had withdrawn from the stage, and Muck was under intense pressure to follow suit. Damrosch and Samaroff continued to be popular with audiences, but the climate of a country at war made their positions tenuous. Nick LaRocca’s Original Dixieland Jazz Band was the toast of New York after being virtually unknown a year earlier. Keppard and the Original Creole Band continued to travel the vaudeville circuits, essentially where they had been a year earlier. Jim Europe’s first concert on French soil set the stage for the introduction of jazz to Europe.