Music (American), German Influence on
From the 1840s to 1914, German music dominated American performance halls. Its influence was profound, laying the seeds of German musical prominence that has continued to this day.
Although German musicians and music had been part of American culture since the colonial era, the turmoil in Germany caused by the Revolution of 1848 irreparably altered the musical landscape of the United States. The Revolution of 1848 brought large numbers of German musicians to American shores, fleeing the political instability in Germany and Austria.The Germania Musical Society, referred to by contemporaries as the Germania Orchestra, was one of the products of the revolution. Organized in 1848 by German immigrants recently arrived in America, the orchestra toured for six years, spreading German music throughout America, especially the works of Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and other German composers. The orchestra was exceedingly disciplined, holding daily rehearsals—a practice almost unknown in America—and enforcing a high level of professionalism. In 1854 the orchestra disbanded, but many of its players settled in American cities, spreading their musical tastes to even remote parts of the country.
More than anyone else, however, Theodore Thomas was responsible for developing and spreading orchestral music to all corners of the United States. A native of Essen, Thomas came to the United States at age ten with his family in 1845. In New York, young Thomas played violin with local orchestras and in theatres, but no permanent orchestra existed in the city. As a serious musician, he gradually became an influential figure in the New York music scene, especially when he combined his talents with pianist William Mason to perform chamber music concerts. Although the Mason-Thomas combination was successful, Thomas was determined to become a conductor.
In particular, he wished to establish a full-time, permanent orchestra that played to his exacting standards. Beginning in 1867, Thomas had his orchestra. Under his direction, it toured the country for several years, performing in cities both large and small. The thousands who flocked to his concerts got a healthy dose of German music, especially Beethoven, whom Thomas held in the highest regard. For many Americans, because this was their first exposure to orchestral music, German compositions became their most important—and often, only—connection to classical music. Eventually, Thomas conducted the New York Philharmonic to great success, until his status in the city’s musical circles was challenged by another German American, Leopold Damrosch. Damrosch, a native of Posen, trumped Thomas by premiering Johannes Brahms’s First Symphony in New York City. Thomas left New York and founded the Chicago Symphony in 1891. While in Chicago, Thomas’s orchestra performed a wide range of composers, but placed most emphasis upon Richard Wagner and Beethoven.Like orchestral music, most Americans were introduced to opera through German composers and performers. New York obtained its first taste of a permanent professional opera with the formation of the Metropolitan Opera in 1880. Battling poor box office receipts initially, Director Leopold Damrosch decided to offer a season of German opera performances, a decision designed to appeal to new immigrants as much as the social elite. All operas were German works, or compositions performed in German, and Dam- rosch went as far as to recruit German performers from Europe. The season, which featured Wagner, was an unparalleled success and brought opera to the ears of thousands who previously had little to no knowledge of it. For several years, the Metropolitan could perform little but German compositions for fear of creating unrest. Eventually, the repertoire was expanded significantly, but not before German opera, especially Wagner, was firmly established as the standard.
One of the Met’s greatest moments occurred under the direction of Heinrich Conried, a German who had immigrated to the United States in the 1870s. Con- reid’s Metropolitan delivered the American premier of Wagner’s Parsifal in 1904, violating the Wagner family’s wishes that it not be performed outside of Germany. This coup was exceedingly successful, demonstrating America’s love affair with Wagnerian opera.
Outside of art music circles, Manner- chor societies were widespread, especially in midwestern cities that did not have well- established musical cultures. Mannerchore were male choirs that gained large followings after 1848 and often served as social organizations for German immigrants. They became famous for organizing large choral concerts that appealed to mass audiences as well as social elites. Their repertoire was filled with choral standards and peppered with German composers who specialized in Mannerchor and choral compositions. Some Mannerchore were very professional and far more than simply local choirs. The best performed with major professional ensembles and performers such as Theodore Thomas’s orchestra and violinist Fritz Kreisler. Mannerchore, some of which still exist in the early twenty-first century, planted and reinforced German musical culture throughout large sections of the United States.
By the 1890s and 1900s, German music and performers were without question the dominant musical forces in America. German influence was of such high standing that well-known American composers such as George Chadwick, John Knowles Paine, Edward MacDowell, and many others went to Germany to study and train. Many of America’s principal orchestras were conducted by Germans. Upon Theodore Thomas’s death in 1905, Frederick Stock, a native of Julich, took the reins of the Chicago Symphony. Stock, a Cologne Conservatory-trained violinist, led the Chicago Symphony from 1905 to 1942. The Philadelphia Orchestra was founded and directed for several years by the German conductor Fritz Scheel, who had earlier conducted in San Francisco.
Ernst Kunwald, a native of Vienna and a well-traveled conductor, led Cincinnati’s symphony, one of the best in America, from 1912 to 1917. In New York, the Philharmonic Society Orchestra from its inception was directed by Germans, including Carl Bergmann and Gustav Mahler.
Boston, the American capital of orchestral music, was more heavily influenced by German music and musicians than any other city. Even prior to the establishment of the Boston Symphony, German musicians dominated Boston’s music scene. When Henry Higginson founded the Boston Symphony in 1881, it was led by George Henshel, a German, and was heavily staffed by German and Austrian players. Its musicians quickly demonstrated professional skill that rivaled European symphonies. American performers of this quality were not to be found during this era. In Henshel’s first year as conductor, the symphony performed all of Beethoven’s symphonies. Henshel handed the baton to another German, Wilhelm Gericke, who served from 1884 to 1889 and from 1898 to 1906. He was followed by the greatest conductor of the era, another German, Karl Muck. Although each of these conductors played music from non-German composers, the so-called German musical canon became fully recognized in this era. Even the tone for German dominance was set in orchestra rehearsals where the German language was spoken instead of English.
German performers, often performing German compositions, captivated the country. Among the most famous was Fritz Kreisler, an Austrian-born violinist beloved for his stylistic technique and supreme musicianship. As one of the greatest violinists in history, Kreisler played to thousands, giving hundreds of concerts each year. He was the most popular musician of his day. The voices of Ernestine Schumann-Heink and Geraldine Farrar lingered in the ears of countless Americans. Both performers had cult followings, with Schumann-Heink, a native of Prague, famous for playing Wagnerian roles. The soprano Farrar, American by birth, had studied extensively in Germany and performed to great acclaim in Berlin before returning to the United States.
Her greatest achievements in Germany had been under the direction of the famed Karl Muck. Countless other German performers were featured in operas and symphonies prior to America’s entry into World War I.Before America’s declaration of war in 1917, German music not only served as the musical canon in the United States but it was the entrepot for musical training and study. Only with the war, and the concomitant rejection of all things German, were American orchestral music and American musicians permitted to challenge German dominance and then only for a brief period.
Robert B. McCormick
See also Hammerstein, Oscar, I; Kunwald,
Ernst; Muck, Karl
References and Further Reading
Hart, Philip. Orpheus in the New World: The Symphony Orchestra as an American Institution. New York: Norton, 1973.
Howard, George Kent, and John Tasker Howard. A Short History of Music in America. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1957.
Nicholls, David, ed. The Cambridge History of American Music. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University, 1998.