The Cambridge Companion to the Orchestra (Cambridge Companions to Music) by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2003-04-24T04:00:00+00:00

7.1 The London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre, London. Photo: Keith Saunders

4 New York Philharmonic Orchestra

Like the LSO, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra was also formed as a self governing co-operative, but for very different reasons, and its constitution and operations subsequently developed in markedly different ways. Unlike the case of the Berlin Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestras, which were formed by players who desired independence from existing privately run orchestras, the New York Philharmonic was created by a group of musicians who wished to provide the city of New York with its first permanent orchestra. In 1842 the conductor Ureli Corelli Hill called a meeting of locally well-known and influential names of the time, who included Anthony Rief jr, Vincent Wallace, George Loder jr, Alfred Boucher, Edward Hodges and William Scharfenberg. They formed the Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York, and funds from wealthy patrons were raised to assemble sixty-three players for the first concert of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra that December. Hill conducted and the programme included Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, which had received its American première under Hill at another society’s concert the previous year. The concert was a success, but the Philharmonic Symphony Society soon found that the practicality of financing and organising a full-time orchestra was a daunting challenge. The orchestra did continue; however, in effect it was a part-time ensemble for many decades, as indeed at that time were most of the world’s musical organisations that were not owned or funded by monarchies and courts. Only a few concerts a year were given, and the conductors were frequently drawn from the orchestra’s membership. Nevertheless there were Principal Conductors who assumed the role of Music Director – Ureli Hill up to 1847, followed by Theodore Eisfeld, then Carl Bergmann in 1855.

In 1867 the New York Philharmonic’s membership increased to 100 and the orchestra acquired new, larger premises at the Academy of Music. In 1876 Leopold Damrosch was the Principal Conductor for a season, and then the following year a highly respected American conductor, Theodore Thomas, took over the position, raising the orchestra’s profile significantly. He was succeeded in 1891 by a conductor of international repute, the Hungarian Anton Seidl. The same year the Carnegie Hall opened and in 1892 the orchestra gave its first concert in that venue, which was to be its main centre until 1963. Seidl remained as Principal Conductor until his death in 1898, and that year his position was taken by Emil Paur, who was succeeded by Walter Damrosch for a season in 1902. By now the number of concerts per year had begun to increase and the Philharmonic Symphony Society had gathered increasing respect, although its finances were still drawn from a relatively small number of donors. The repertory throughout this period had often been dominated by German music, reflecting the musical backgrounds of many of the conductors, and indeed some of the members of the orchestra were of German and occasionally other European origin. It appears that the

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