Article on the Theodore Thomas concerts and the future of opera in the United States

“With the expiration of the season of 1873, the series of concerts given by Thomas’s orchestra, which will have extended through a period of six years, will come to an end. The announcement will be made in due [illegible], at the appropriate time, but knowing that the question is inevitable it may not be inopportune, even in advance of it, to ask  how far the organization has succeeded in the accomplishment of the task it set itself to perform.

To do this fairly it is impossible to regard its labors with the spirit of one who has been simply entertained, though, at the same time, it is allowed that the record of pleasures received from this fine band of musicians would be an unexampled one. It has done much more than to amuse; it has earned for itself a character as an educator.

Its labors were commenced at Terrace Garden, and after two seasons they were transferred to Central Park Garden, with which it has since been identified.

Early distresses

Like all enterprises in which are germs of good, it encountered at the outset a heavy under-current of disasters and cold sympathies. Financial troubles blocked the way; [doubters?] in newspapers, in society, in musical circles looked askance, and the attempt of one man, with two-score of players at his back, to [illegible] the ears of a raw public by interpreting the best works of the best composers was thought to be a very pattern of temerity.

One cannot sufficiently applaud the energy and faith that supported Mr. Thomas through the difficulties which for three long years [illegible] him and his orchestra. It is told of him that he never once doubted that he should ultimately succeed in winning regard among the people who at first had regarded him so coldly. He knew us better than we did ourselves. We were inert. We were told that he was an experimenting innovator; that he was a closet [anarchist?]; that he was a fierce specialist, who intended to ply us with what he called music; [illegible] we should finally be forced to receive it by [illegible].

Therefore we stayed away. His benches remained empty. It was said in the lower town that somewhere in the upper town there was a fine orchestra perpetually engaged in playing fine music. But we did not listen until the persistent story was heard one year after another.

A change commences

Curiosity and the appeals of a few believers began to work a change. Those who had been abroad and had heard the orchestras which are supported by royal subsidies told us that we had at our doors an organization that was equal to the best.

Then people began to visit the place where [the?] wonder was. The venture which had been so hazardous and so profitless began to be strengthened. It commenced to acquire a [illegible] commensurate with it deserts.

The composition of the orchestra

Mr. Thomas had collected fifty men from all parts of the world where the science of music was understood and practiced. From [illegible] foreign city he brought a violin virtuoso, from this, one celebrated for his mastery of the cornet; from here, another famous as a performer on the oboe; from there, a great [harper?]; and so on, picking out the best and [illegible] the specialists until he had under his control a true galaxy.

It was only such a one as would fill his [design?]. He was not content to amass a quantity of mediocre talent and to bedizen it here and there with a light, but the spirit of his endeavor required that all the portions should [illegible] equal radiance.

These materials he bound together by arduous drill, intelligent direction and supreme [illegible], until he produced an harmonious entirety, [illegible] and symphonic whole. Each ingredient had its value, each function its influence, [each?] proportion its true and exact weight, [illegible] made a unit with that sympathy and [illegible] that long communion alone could give; a true orchestra was at length produced. It began its work.

The character of that task has been [illegible]. It entailed upon the laborers losses, disappointments, ridicule—everything but [illegible]. There were no rebuffs that they did not encounter, and no disasters that did not fall to their lot; but their leader, [illegible] of his purpose and with a definite goal before him, carried his enterprise through, and [illegible], and more than attained, the result he wanted. That result was to imbue his hearers, wherever he found them, with a sincere love of good music; not a transient and fallible [illegible], susceptible to various prettinesses and [illegible], but a deep and earnest regard for the works of the masters.

Proofs of success

What are the evidences that he has done [it?]? In what does it appear that this process [illegible] has been successful? First, in the improved character of his auditors. That must be a powerful magnet that draws a [illegible] of cultivated Americans two miles from their homes to gain pleasure under circumstances which are new to them. At first listeners were of a poor quality of people. They gained for the Garden a name that was [illegible] good. But in spite of this prejudice, in spite of the fact that Americans do not appreciate popular pleasures, in spite of the distance, of the crowded conveyances, of time wasted in travelling, the people whose [illegible] Mr. Thomas wanted to reach at length began to throng upon him.

Second—in his periodic journeys with his orchestra into New England and the West and South he has been welcomed with an ardor not accorded to others who have paid visits for like purposes. He carried with him the [illegible] to render the finest music in the finest [illegible]. He was received with open arms.

The best evidence

[His?] third witness is himself. He is more than satisfied, and nothing could have greater influence than this admission. [Illegible] he who has assumed the task of teaching the uneducated in that in which he is so [illegible] educated himself, is willing to assert that he has surpassed his expectations and has [illegible] the public to be warmer and more [illegible] than he hoped, is an indication of great, [illegible] possibilities, but probabilities.

Mr. Thomas found, as soon as his work and [ambition?] became clearly understood, and arose [illegible] the strata of spasmodic adventures and [illegible] enterprises with which the people [illegible] been deceived, that he was welcome. [Illegible] these two great things appear to have been achieved: First, there has been produced in New York an orchestra inferior to none of [illegible] in the great world. It is perfectly [illegible], perfectly attuned, perfectly composed, and is an excellent as well as a [illegible] power. Second, a comprehension of the [illegible] of the great composers has been [illegible] all over the country. Where in former days the orchestra would, in stirring abroad, [illegible] a chilling atmosphere, it now encounters applause and warmth. The change has been great; it might almost be said marvelous.

What is intended

[Illegible] comprehending the significance of [illegible] two new quantities among us, one is [illegible] to ask. What do they foreshadow? To what will they lead? What will grow out of [illegible]?

That something better must result from the [illegible] of a splendid power by an intelligent [illegible] is as imperative as that light shall [illegible] from flame and air.

[Illegible] it be that the ambitions of the central [illegible] in all this movement can be contented [illegible] with what they have already led [illegible to do? Can it be that the deep and eager [illegible] for the satisfactions and inspirations of the music that have lately sprung into life are to be appeased with draughts from this [unheralded?] unsupported source? Impossible, there must be something greater still; something so broad, so lofty, that even these influences, potent as they are, shall be to [illegible] [adjunets?]. The highest expression of music is in the opera. The opera is the voice, [illegible], the scene, the human face in [illegible] harmony. Our comprehension does not [illegible] to conceive a grander medium than [illegible] of these four elements in their highest [illegible]. Bring such together and there will [illegible] a pleasure beyond which we can [illegible] nothing [continues with two additional paragraphs difficult to decipher because the left column is blackened].

He has thus far led us successfully. His encounters with untoward events and his triumphs over their influences justify all who have watched him, and the results he has secured, in asking, ‘What will come next?’ What is to grow out of this? What form will it take? When will it appear?

Here is the spirit, the title, and one perfect [illegible]. The presence is felt, and one portion of the sublime, great body is visible, the rest must be behind.

What is to be done

It is not too much that little time can now elapse before there will be published the details of a great operatic enterprise which is to be purely American. It is towards this high point that Mr. Thomas and those who have assisted him have constantly kept their eyes. From the beginning of his career, which now has become a long one, he has guided his efforts in a channel leading directly towards this object. Some time ago he imparted enough of his idea to his supporters to enable them to understand the drift of his work.

This idea comprehends the sum of all human efforts to produce the works of the great composers in the fittest place and under the fittest circumstances.

The requirements

This place must be a perfect one; the entourage must be perfect; the voices and chorus must all be perfect. This word ‘perfect’ means a great deal. To purchase the epithet will require a treasure, an enormous labor, the shrewdest business tact and the highest artistic comprehension.

The composition of the perfect orchestra was a distinct and definite part of the great plan. Its labors amid the careless throngs of hearers in New York, in Boston, in Chicago, in New Orleans, was another. The securing of this and that expert, the arrangement of the programmes, the severe and unrelenting discipline of the great corps, all bore straight upon the ultimate design.

One has but to know that the same exact care will be applied to all the other great parts to gain an idea of what is to be produced.

The chorus

A chorus is to be selected by a high standard, and it is to be specially trained, carefully combined, and taught the duties of actors as well as of singers. It will be kept together as the orchestra is, and it will, therefore, acquire a precision and a unity of which we have never yet learned the force and benefit.

The voices

In relation to the higher class of voices the spirit of the enterprise will stand as a foster parent. Inasmuch as it will be American, it will afford to American talent such an opportunity as has never yet been granted. European schools are full of fine singers from our land whom we never hear. They become transplanted into a soil more grateful than ours has been, and becoming educated far beyond us, they outgrow our laggard sympathies and remain in the happier atmospheres. To attract these wanderers back again, to awaken fresh zeal among those hundreds of our countrymen who require but great demands to be great, will be two of the duties that our new enterprise will be set to perform. Moreover, it will afford to the foreign people an incentive and a compulsion to parade their best qualities; it will teach us what and how to exact.

The stage

All that appertains to pictorial representation will be, in the broadest sense, artistic. The utterances of sublime voices from impoverished surroundings will be among the past misfortunes. The pictures of the field, the village, the dungeon, the palace, will be fit for the rustic, the swain, the prisoner and the princess, instead of adaptable to the requirements of either. Whatever the painter, the mechanic, the decorator, the modiste and costumer can do will be required. The stage will be made to regain triumphs instead of contempt.

The house is to be fit for its purposes. Its architecture is to be grand, the spaces about it are to be wide and beautiful, its position is to be commanding, and it is to bear, one might say, in its own person sufficient declarations of its high calling.

The preparations for all this have been going on behind a semi-screen. It is almost time to take it away and exhibit fully what has been done and what is intended. 1876 is the furthest date that is fixed for the dedication of this new development. It may occur sooner—perhaps in 1875.

It is not to be looked upon as a scheme. It is the outgrowth of the popular desire, and it is to be an expression of the national progress in that direction in which we have been told we have never travelled. It is to be the place where American players, singers, artists and people can together join in disseminating the love and enjoyment of what is true in the musical art.

Its influence

It will not concern this city or state or section alone, but its perfect appliances, its pleasures and its lessons will be for all.

The same sincerity, integrity and lofty motives which entered into the establishment of one part of this great opera will animate the construction of all the others, and therefore of the grand whole.

Upon its completion we shall begin to appreciate new and higher phases of pleasure, and we shall become grateful to those who discovered that there existed among us, even in this early age of our existence as a separate people, that which required so splendid an exponent.”