Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians : American supplement : being the sixth volume of the complete work online

DICTIONARY

OF

MUSIC AND MUSICIANS



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO DALLAS
ATLANTA - SAN FRANCISCO

MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED

LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.

TORONTO



GROVE'S

V

DICTIONARY OF MUSIC

AND MUSICIANS



AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT

BEING THE SIXTH VOLUME
OF THE COMPLETE WORK



WALDO SELDEN PRATT

EDITOR

CHARLES N. BOYD

ASSOCIATE EDITOR



Nefo gorfc

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1920

All rights reserved



v,



COPYRIGHT, J920,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.



Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1920.



** '



Norinootr

J. S. Gushing Co. Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.



PREFACE



THE project of this volume, when proposed by The Macmillan Company to the
Editor whom they had selected, was finally taken up by him only with great hesita-
tion, not because an American Supplement to the existing five volumes of Grove's
famous Dictionary of Music and Musicians was not most desirable, but because of
the inherent difficulties in the problem of making it satisfactory. After prolonged
consultation the working-plan adopted was recognized as not so much a 'counsel of
perfection' as a frank adjustment of ideals to what was practical within the limits
of time, space and scope proposed.

In view of the fact that a work of this sort is essentially historical, an unusual
arrangement of the material was at length devised as useful in this particular case.
The volume is laid out in two distinct divisions, the one interlocking more or less
with the other. ^ The first division consists of a compact/ Historical Introduction,
surveying the unique environment of music in America and certain peculiarities in
its development, combined period by period with a^Chronological Register^indicating
those workers who seem representative of the spirit and effort of the successive stages
of progress. ^The second division, which is much larger, consists^of specific descrip-
tive articles about leading individuals, organizations, institutions and interests,
arranged in tfre customary alphabetical order. In this division, also^a great number
of the names, mentioned elsewhere are catalogued for ease of reference.

It is believed that this twofold presentation, though involving some duplication,
has definite advantages. The Introduction is not in any sense a formal history of
American music as such, yet it provides a sketch of the historic framework, of both
external circumstances and of internal tendencies, upon which alone such a history
can properly be modeled. In connection with this the Register affords opportunity
for brief reference to some 1700 persons, representing a variety of interests, some of
whom have not often been remembered or even catalogued. The descriptive articles
in the main body of the Dictionary then take up about 700 of these persons for more
particular fteatmeat, often with extensive lists of their works, and also give a vast
amount of information about numerous enterprises of a general or corporate nature.
The aim throughout the entire volume is to present as many facts as possible hi the
clearest manner, so as to make them accessible for reference, but to avoid the expression
of critical opinions except in general terms or in quoted form.

v

V



vi PREFACE

The Editor and the Associate Editor wish to express their great obligation to the
host of correspondents who have courteously supplied both material and encourage-
ment. They can only regret that certain lines of inquiry, though somewhat earnestly
pursued, proved surprisingly fruitless, so that many topics marked for inclusion, at
last had to be treated superficially or omitted altogether.

Throughout the volume the words 'America' and * American' are 6ft en used of
the United States and Canada taken together. Canadian musicians are here counted
with those of the United States, not only because no other course was seemly hi an
American extension of a work originally published in Great Britain, but also because
the cordial fraternity in musical art on this side of the ocean has always disregarded
the political frontier that stretches across the continent. To a very limited extent,
furthermore, it has been possible to include some representative names from Central
and South America. In the Register all who were born outside of the United States
and Canada, whether in Europe or in other parts of the Americas, are designated
by a special sign.

Inasmuch as the latest edition of Grove's Dictionary was issued ten to fifteen
years ago, the publishers desired that this volume should include continuations of
those articles that relate to the more conspicuous foreign musicians, as well as notices
of some that for any reason were previously omitted. Accordingly, in the Dictionary
proper will be found statements regarding more than a hundred musicians who are
entirely outside the American field. All these articles are indicated by a special sign.

Every work of this class rests largely upon its predecessors in the same field, as
well as upon other literary sources. This particular volume would have been almost
impossible to prepare except for the several historical studies that have appeared
regarding American music and musicians, and especially without the invaluable
material gathered in works like Who's Who in Music (1918) and Baker's Dictionary
of Musicians (3rd edition, 1919). To the authors and editors of all of these the most
hearty acknowledgment of constant indebtedness is due.*

* Books that have been specially utilized include Jones, Handbook of American Music and Musicians
(1886), Mathews, Hundred Years of Music in America (1889), Ritter, Music in America (3rd ed., 1893), Elson,
History of American Music (2nd ed., 1915), The Art of Music, Vol. iv (1916), The American History and Ency-
clopedia of Music, Vol. on American Music (1910), articles on 'Music' in The International Year-Book (1907-19),
Hughes, American Composers (revised ed., 1915), Sonneck, Early Concert-Life in America (1907) and Early
Opera in America (1915), Krehbiel, Chapters of Opera (1911) and More Chapters of Opera (1917), Upton, Musical
Memories (1918), etc.






LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS



PAGE

MRS. H. H. A. BEACH 126

DUDLEY BUCK . 146

CHARLES WAKEFIELD CADMAN . . . 150

JONAS CHICKERING 160

LEOPOLD DAMROSCH 180

ARTHUR FOOTE 206

HENRY KIMBALL HADLEY 230

RAFAEL JOSEFFY 258

EDGAR STILLMAN KELLEY 260

HENRY EDWARD KREHBIEL 264

CHARLES MARTIN LOEFFLER 272

WILLIAM MASON 286

LILLIAN NORDICA 312

MAUD POWELL 330

OSCAR G. SONNECK 364

BERNHARD ZIEHN 410



In previous volumes of the Dictionary will be found also portraits of MME. ALBANI, GEORGE
W. CHADWICK, CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG, the KNEISEL QUARTET, EDWARD A. MAcD DWELL.
CHRISTINE NILSSON, JOHN K. PAINE, HORATIO W. PARKER, ANTON SEIDL, MARCELLA SEMBRICH,
ALEXANDER W. THAYER, THEODORE THOMAS and CARL ZERRAHN.



vii



HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

AND

CHRONOLOGICAL REGISTER



INTRODUCTION AND REGISTER

PAGE

THE CENTURY OF SETTLEMENT 3

THE COLONIAL CENTURY ...... 5

REGISTER, SEC. 1. 1700-1775 . . . . . 7

REGISTER, SEC. 2. 1775-1800 9

THE ERA OF NATIONAL EXPANSION .... 12

REGISTER, SEC. 3. 1800-1840 16

REGISTER, SEC. 4. 1840-1860 . . . . .21

THE PERIOD AFTER THE CIVIL WAR .... 30

REGISTER, SEC. 5. 1860-1870 .... 37

REGISTER, SEC. 6. 1870-1880 43

THE TRANSITION ABOUT 1880 ..... 51

REGISTER, SEC. 7. 1880-1890 53

REGISTER, SEC. 8. 1890-1900 66

THE OPENING OF THE 20TH CENTURY .... 80

REGISTER, SEC. 9. 1900-1910 88

REGISTER, SEC. 10. 1910-1920 100



NOTE. The cross-reference 'See art.' indicates that a more extended
notice will be found in the body of the Dictionary. The larger cities of the
United States and Canada are regularly entered without naming the states in
which they lie.

Persons born outside of the United States or Canada are indicated by *.



HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION



WITH



CHRONOLOGICAL REGISTER OF NAMES

The history of music in America is decidedly peculiar in many of its aspects,
owing to the unusual way in which civilization and culture have here been estab-
lished. Although permanent settlements in North America multiplied from about
1600 and the independent existence of the United States is counted from 1776,
musical life remained quite immature, or at most provincial, until after 1800.
After the middle of the 19th century, however, when an extensive and vital
connection with the progressive artistic culture of Europe began to be effected, the
rapidity, variety and vigor of the ensuing advance were altogether phenomenal.
Developments that have taken centuries were then crowded into decades and
elaborate enterprises often took shape without the gradual preparation that might
have been expected.

In view of this, a compact statement is here presented of some of the historic
conditions within which American musical progress has come to pass and of its
more salient features from period to period. With this is combined at each suc-
cessive stage a REGISTER of the persons who seem to have been representative and
influential, taking them in groups by the time when they entered upon pro-
fessional activity. It is believed that this method of presentation will illuminate
the whole evolution and be a guide to placing various matters in due sequence
and relation.

THE CENTURY OF SETTLEMENT

After being casually and vaguely known for perhaps five hundred years,
America was formally ' discovered' in 1492 by Colombo, a Genoese navigator sent
out by the court of Spain. The name 'America' was conferred upon it, as has
been picturesquely remarked, ' by an obscure German professor in a French college
after another Italian [Amerigo Vespucci] in the service of Portugal/

' The New World/ as it was generally known which, by the way, did not
originally include North America was at first simply an object for romantic
and greedy exploitation. The incursions and conquests of Spain produced noth-
ing permanent except a nominal domination over Mexico (from 1520) and the
Pacific Coast, with a precarious foothold upon the peninsula of Florida, where
St. Augustine was founded in 1565. The effective occupation of the coast of
North America was the later task of the 17th century, and was wrought out by

other nations.

3






4 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

In 1607 Jamestown (Va.) was settled by about a hundred adventurers from
England, establishing an area of Cavalier sympathies which ultimately acquired
the popular name of 'The Old Dominion' under Charles II. At the same time,
far to the north, French traders and missionaries began at Quebec (1608) and
Montreal (1611) to lay down the long chain of frontier posts that finally stretched
westward to the Great Lakes and thence southward down the Mississippi Valley
to New Orleans (1718). In 1613 the Dutch located themselves at the mouth of the
Hudson River, where New York now is, retaining control of its valley and of some
territory east and west of it until ousted by the English in 1664. In 1620 Plym-
outh (Mass.) was founded by a party of about a hundred English folk (Separat-
ists or Independents), commonly called ' The Pilgrims/ because their migration to
America, like their earlier one to Holland, was to escape from the oppressive
autocracy of the Church of England. In 1628-30 the much stronger settlements
at Salem, Cambridge and Boston (Mass.), not many miles away, were begun by
perhaps a thousand Puritans, members of the English Church who desired reform
in its practice and spirit, though at first without meaning to leave it. These
Massachusetts settlements were consolidated under one government in 1692.
In 1632 English Roman Catholics established themselves at Baltimore (Md.). In
1638 a few Swedes were pioneers in the region that later came to be called Dela-
ware. In 1636-38 groups breaking away from Massachusetts effected the settle-
ment first of Providence (R. I.) and then of Hartford and New Haven (Conn.),
the last two being consolidated in 1662. In 1670-80 similar branch-colonies from
Virginia pushed southward into North and South Carolina. In 1681 came the
unique and influential Quaker settlement of Philadelphia (Pa.). It was not till
1733 that the series of primary establishments was completed by the founding of
Savannah (Ga.), originally intended to be a refuge for English prisoners for debt or
conscience, but early utilized also by refugees from intolerance in southern Ger-
many. To all these centers, with their outlying dependencies, a gradually increas-
ing stream of additional colonists came from year to year.

Out of the several grants, patents or charters from the English Crown with
which most of these settlements began were developed the distinct administrations
of them as colonies. These were the autonomous units known later as 'The
Thirteen Original States' (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con-
necticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia), the federation of which in 1781-88
constituted the United States.

J The pioneer conditions of the whole 17th century were manifestly unconducive
to artistic life. Even at its close the total population may not have exceeded
275,000 (including many negro slaves), sparsely distributed over almost a thou-
sand miles of coastland a distance about equal to that from London to
Budapest. Large towns were almost wanting. Even Boston in 1700 had less
than 7000 inhabitants. The several colonies were as yet not bound together
by much community of interest or sentiment, and their social habits differed
greatly.



THE COLONIAL CENTURY 5

What records there are of this early period are strikingly deficient in references
to music or instruments. In the North there was a tendency to treat the art as
' worldly ' and hence objectionable, so that even church-singing became curiously
degenerate because unsupported by general knowledge. In the South there was
probably much more freedom of thought and practice, though exact data are
wanting. It seems that at first none of the colonists possessed any special taste
or aptitude in the musical field.

THE COLONIAL CENTURY

During the 18th century the total population grew at the rate of about one-
third in every decade, so that in 1750 it amounted to nearly 1,250,000 and in 1800
to over 5,300,000, of which, however, about one-sixth were slaves. More than
90 per cent were farmers. The occupied territory lay close to the Atlantic
coast, until late in the century nowhere reaching inland more than 150 miles.
Military outposts were planted here and there at more distant points, but, even
allowing for these, the total area effectively taken up by the English colonies can
hardly have exceeded 250,000 square miles. By 1800 a few cities had attained
considerable size, especially Philadelphia (69,400 inhabitants), New York (60,500),
Baltimore (26,500), Boston (25,000) and Charleston (20,500), with Salem, New
Orleans, Providence, Norfolk, Newport, Newburyport, Richmond, Nantucket ( !),
Albany, Hartford and Portsmouth completing the list of large towns down to 5000
inhabitants.

In the middle of the century (1754-63) occurred the struggle with the aggres-
sive French interests in Canada, assisted by a strong Indian alliance. The issue
of this contest settled the critical point that not only Canada, but the entire basin
of the Mississippi, was thenceforth to come under English influence. It also broke
the power of the dangerous Indian confederacies. Close upon this followed the
controversies with England that culminated in the War of Independence (1775-83),
by which for the first time all the colonies were drawn into virtual union as a na-
tion. This war, however, naturally led to a prolonged period of discussion and
internal readjustment. Except in the cities and large towns, conditions were still
not specially favorable for much cultural advance.

On the whole, social thought and customs were strongly dominated by English
influences. The sense of an independent destiny awoke only late in the period,
when also appeared a new sensitiveness to ideas from France, due in part to
sympathy received in the American Revolution and given in the French Revolu-
tion. Although there was as yet no great influx of immigration from Europe and
no habit of foreign travel, commerce with England was steady and enterprising, so
that not only commodities, but social ideas and practices, were rather promptly
communicated, at least to the main ports of entry. In these latter centers wealth
and leisure had increased enough to create a demand for something more than
small diversions.

It is not strange, therefore, that such musical entertainments as were popular
in England concerts and operas of the ballad or song type should have



6 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

become more and more frequent. The performers were almost wholly visiting
artists from abroad, at first from England, but after 1790 from France as well.
Many of these remained for a series of years and some of them permanently. Not
a few represented a high degree of knowledge and taste, as measured by the
standards of the day. So far as these artists became known they undoubtedly
exerted a positive and stimulating artistic influence. In certain instances we know
that they started definite currents of native effort.

Side by side with this exotic influence, especially in New England, ran a
movement for the improvement of congregational singing in churches which
had some importance and which continued far into the 19th century. The
absolute artistic results were slight, but the awakening of social interest through
'singing-schools' under peripatetic leaders and through the multiplication of
song-manuals foreshadowed more significant undertakings later. (See article
on Tune-Books.)

Musical instruments slowly became noticeable among the articles of importa-
tion and sale, implying an increasing interest in them and some ability to use them.
This developing interest led also to the first steps in commercial manufacture,
giving promise of the remarkable energy that was displayed in the early 19th
century in making pianos, organs and some stringed instruments.

Associations for the promotion and practice of music were formed here and
there, indicating an instinctive desire to make it a substantial factor in social life.

The only native-born musician of distinction was Francis Hopkinson. But the
line of contributors to ' psalmody ' was well established before 1800.

In the two sections of the CHRONOLOGICAL REGISTER that are here inserted
will be found references to many details, personal and otherwise, which do not
lend themselves readily to summary statement. The chief purpose of these
lists, it should be remembered, is to record a fairly large number of persons
who are known to have had some importance in the total development, to
group them according to the time when their professional work seems to have
begun, and in each case to indicate in a few words the place and character of
their activities. It is fully recognized that such lists must be tentative and
provisional.

Our information regarding the 18th century is fragmentary, in spite of
Sonneck's invaluable researches. His two books, Concert-Life and Early Opera,
refer by name to nearly 500 musicians of greater or less degree, of whom
about one-fourth appeared prior to the Revolution and the remainder in the
two decades after it. The majority of them were only visitors and exercised
their talents only in those few centers where music had acquired a fashion-
able vogue. It is not yet clear how deep and lasting was their artistic impress.
Their total repertory was extensive, including more than 200 operas and other
musical plays, a great variety of popular songs, usually of the English ballad
type, and a notable array of instrumental works by the composers who were
most admired before the time when Mozart began to be recognized. From
the point of view of permanent culture, it is likely that the standards uncon-
sciously established by the instrumentalists, either by public performance or
through teaching of pupils, were specially important.



1 : 1700-1775] CHRONOLOGICAL REGISTER

CHRONOLOGICAL REGISTER



1. Before the Revolution, 1700-1775

NOTE . Throughout the Register the persons
named are entered under the period when they
apparently began professional activity, even
though this activity continued and increased
later. Those foreign-born are entered accord-
ing to the dates of arrival in America, and are
designated by a * before their names. Such
names are often given in their common angli-
cized form.

All those who are separately treated in the
body of the Dictionary are entered briefly in
the Register in their proper chronological place,
with the cross-reference ' See art.'

For ease of consultation, the dates of birth
and death are uniformly printed together, with
the place of birth preceding and the place of
death following.

*Behrent, John, either a German or a Swede,
in 1775 made in Philadelphia what appears to
have been the first American piano. See Spil-
lane, American Pianoforte, p. 76.

*Beissel, Johann Conrad (Palatinate, 1690-
1768, Ephrata, Pa.), was an odd, but gifted,
mystic who in 1720 came to Germantown, Pa.,
and in 1735 founded a communistic fraternity
at Ephrata (about 50 miles west of Philadel-
phia), which flourished till about 1800. He was
a well-trained violinist. Some of his poems
made up the first German book issued in Amer-
ica (1730, printed by Franklin). This book was
followed by a curious series of reprints of Ger-
man hymn-books and new collections, edited by
various hands and published mainly at German-
town or Ephrata (at least 30 GesangbUcher
and similar works before 1800).

*Biferi, Nicholas, a Neapolitan harpsichord-
ist, in 1775 gave concerts in New York, havmg
opened a- school for music and dancing in
1774. Sonneck (Concert- Life, p. 175) queries
whether he may be the same as Francesco
Biferi (b. 1739?), who in 1770 issued an in-
struction-book at Paris.

Billings, William (Boston, 1746-1800, Bos-
ton) , was one of the earliest leaders of singing-
schools and an ambitious, but crude, tune-com-
poser. See Tune-Books and art.

Brattle, Thomas (d. 1713, Boston), a promi-
nent Boston merchant who imported an organ
which he bequeathed to the Brattle Square
Church, but whicn, there refused, went to
King's Chapel. In 1756 it was taken to New-
buryport, and in 1836 to St. John's in Ports-
mouth, N. H., where it still is. See Brooks,
Olden-Time Music, p. 49, Sonneck, Concert-Life,
p. 9, and ' New Music Review,' May, 1902.

*Bremner, James (d. 1780, Philadelphia), a
relative of Robert Bremner, the Edinburgh
music-publisher, came to Philadelphia in 1763,
opened a music-school, was Hopkinson's
teacher, played the organ at Christ Church,
and did much to promote good music. See



Sonneck, Concert-Life, pp. 66-70, and Hopkin-
son and Lyon.

Bromfield, Edward, Jr. (Boston, 1723-1746,
Boston), graduated from Harvard in 1742 and
is said soon after to have partially constructed
an organ. See Brooks, p. 32.

*Dipper, Thomas (d. 1763?, Jamaica), an
Englishman who in 1756-62 was organist at
King's Chapel, Boston.

*Douglass, David (d. 1786?, Jamaica), a
capable English singer, actor and manager,
who came to New York in 1758, succeeded
Hallam as head of the American Company
(marrying his widow), and gave plays and
operas North and South till 1775, when he left
for Jamaica. See Sonneck, Early Opera, pp.
26-52.

*Enstone, Edward, an Englishman, who
from 1714 was organist at King's Chapel,
Boston, taught music and dancing and sold
various instruments.

Flagg, Josiah (Boston, 1738-1794, Boston),
issued a tune-book in 1764 (engraved by Paul
Revere), gave concerts in 1769-71 and organ-
ized a military band. See Sonneck, Concert-
Life, pp. 261-4, and Tune-Books.

Franklin, Benjamin (Boston, 1706-1790,
Philadelphia). See Vol. ii. 103-4, 297-8, and
art.

*Gualdo, Giovanni, an Italian who in 1767
came to Philadelphia as wine-dealer and music-
teacher, and in 1769-71 gave concerts, includ-
ing instrumental works of his own (not extant).
See Sonneck, Concert-Life, pp. 70-4.

*Hallam, a family of English actors and
singers who were active in America from 1753,
when Lewis Hallam (d. 1755, Jamaica) came
as manager of the London Company. His
widow married Douglass, who directed the
troupe in 1758-74 under the names American
Company and Old American Company.
Among the singers after 1759 were Lewis
Hallam, Jr. (1741-1808) and his sister, both
competent artists. The former returned as