To try to move this thread back to where it began (for me at least) which
was the contention I made that symphony orchestras and opera companies were
springing up all over America during the mid to late 19th century:
Regarding the title 'Opera House' you're absolutely right, David - but my
intention was never to demonstrate that the ubiquitous 'Opera House' in
nearly every small town of the 19th century was dedicated solely to opera or
classical music - but that those venues (from the very small to the large)
DID provide for a performance space which was given over to SOME "classical"
music. And that various forms of amateur - through professional classical
soloists, opera excerpts or full-length productions, chamber and orchestral
concerts were presented in towns from the very small to the very large. My
contention was - and remains: that in 19th century America, there was a
thirst/hunger for 'sophisticated' entertainment (whether fully understood or
no by the eager audience) all over the country, which was satisfied in many
ways.
You've noted your classification as "popular" of some forms of musical arts
I would consider to be along the lines of 'serious' music: (i.e. virtuosic
pianism such as Liszt's, Gottschalk's, Jenny Lind's tours which contained a
great deal of opera arias, cantata arias - in addition to popular song of
the period) and so we simply have a disagreement on what is and is not
'classical.' So you and I may not agree on what is and is not art - or
even non-pop music. But if you consider grand opera to be serious art
music, then, please consider this:
And my apologies, but I REALLY do find this specific subject within music
history absolutely fascinating:
I cited the book "Verdi at the Golden Gate: Opera and San Francisco in the
Gold Rush Years" by George Martin (University of California Press, 1993,
ISBN 0-520-08123-4) Only ONE city; only one composer's works/stats:
SanFrancisco's Population: 1850: 34,776 1860: 56,802
San Fran Opera Houses: Seating Capacity: Year Built:
1. Jenny Lind (1) 400
1850
Jenny Lind (2) 700
1851
Jenny Lind (3) 2,000
1851
2. Adelphi (1) 400
1850
Adelphi (2) 700
1851
3.Metropolitan (1) 2,000
1853
Metropolitan (2) 2,000
1861
4. American (1) 2,000
1851
American (2) 2,000
1854
American (3) 2,800
1859
5. San Francisco Hall (became:) 700
1852
Maguire's Opera House (1) 1,100
1856
Maguire's Opera House (2) 1,700
1858
Maguire's Opera House (3) 1,700
1859
By 1853 there were 5 large opera houses in San Francisco alone. A city
with a population (at that time) of about 40,000. The theatres I've
listed were burned down and rebuilt, or (in one case - sank two inches on
opening night - built on landfill) but represent 5 separate theatres serving
up - primarily in each theatre's case opera. And what operatic works?
Grand opera. Fully-produced with full casts and full orchestra. Some of
the reviews from the SF productions are amazing to me in their
sophistication of this then-new music.
Fascinating to me - and looking just at the example of Verdi:
WORLD PREMIERE
US PREMIERE SAN FRANCISCO PREMIERE
Nabucco
(as Nabucodonosor) Milan (Scala) 1842 NY (Astor Place Opera
House) 1848 SF: (Metropolitan) 1854
I Lombardi Milan 1843 NY (Palmo's
Opera House) 1847 SF (Met) 1855
Ernani Venice (Fenice) 1844 NY (Park
Theatre) 1847 SF (Adelphi) 1851
I due Foscari Rome (Argentina) 1844 BOSTON:
(Howard-Atheneum) 1847 SF (American) 1855
Attila Venice (Felice) 1846 NY:
(Niblo's Garden) 1850 SF (American) 1859
Macbeth Florence (Pergola) 1847 NY: (Niblo's
Garden) 1850 SF (Maguire's) 1862
I masnadieri LONDON (Her Maj's) 1847 NY: (Winter
Garden) 1860 SF (Metropolitan) 1863
Luisa Miller Naples (San Carlo) 1849 PHILADELPHIA
(Walnut Street) 1852 SF: (Met) 1863
Trovatore Rome (Apollo) 1853 NY (Academy of
Music) 1855 SF: (Maguire's) 1859
Traviata Venice (Felice) 1853 NY (Academy of
Music) 1856 SF: (American) 1859
(I won't waste more bandwidth, but the Verdi oeuvre continues with similar
date relationships for his remaining output.)
As I first noted, symphony orchestras (as cited in a previous e-mail) and
opera companies WERE springing up all over. Simply looking at the touring
or location-based companies OR theatres presenting opera in NY, Boston,
Philly, and then-small SF from the 1850's I've noted above, with ONLY Verdi
premieres cited - I would hope - give flight to the erroneous premise that
there were nearly no such productions in the country during the given years.
Sorry - again - for length, but I unfortunately type rapidly. And really -
the evidence is fairly massive, as well as compelling.
Best,
Les
Les Marsden
Founding Music Director and Conductor,
The Mariposa Symphony Orchestra
Music and Mariposa? Ahhhhh, Paradise!!!
http://arts-mariposa.org/symphony.html
http://www.geocities.com/~jbenz/lesbio.html
----- Original Message -----
From: David W. Fenton
To: finale@shsu.edu
Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2007 10:28 AM
Subject: Re: [Finale] OT: American culture (sorry - a tad long)
On 26 May 2007 at 18:01, Mariposa Symphony Orchestra wrote:
I'll admit, a slight exaggeration, John, but I'm not talking the Met.
Read what I said: "every last small town had its Opera House." And,
despite your information offered in response to my e-mail, even those
somewhat larger, including your very own hometown of Seattle - dating
back to the 1870's! (Read below.) I'm talking those buildings
built as - and called 'Opera Houses.' Which were the cultural
centers of ubiquitous towns. Which weren't usually the 800-seat
caverns (such as the Millett Opera House in Austin, TX) but were
usually more often the smaller venues which hosted amateur local
presentations of everything from G & S prods to scenes from grand
opera to instrumental recitals.
I don't actually have any historicaly documentation to prove this,
but my understanding is that "opera house" in this period was just a
synonym for "big theater that hosts all kinds of shows." Some of the
actually were operas (travelling companies), but most of them would
be popular entertainments, burlesques, visiting speakers (Mark Twain
travelled a lot and gave speeches all over), and so forth. My
understanding, which may very well be completelyl mistaken, was that
these venues had little to do with what we today consider "opera."
Maybe operetta, but that was considered popular entertainment at the
time.
--
David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com
David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/
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