Woman's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago
The Woman's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago was an American orchestra based in Chicago. In addition to its regular radio broadcasts which spanned 1925–1948 (or 1952), the Woman's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago also toured.[citation needed]
History
The orchestra was founded in 1925 by flutist Adeline Schmidt, cellist Lois Bichl, and clarinetist Lillian Poenisch.[1] Like most industries of the era, women were barred from participating in most professional orchestras throughout the mid-20th century. Nonetheless, in 1924, a year before the Woman's Symphony Orchestra of this article was founded, another one with nearly the same name was founded by Elena Moneak,[Notes 1][2] which lasted until 1928.[1] (see Disambiguation section, below)
Schmidt, Bichl, and Poenisch felt that Moneak's orchestra lacked professionalism from vocational, performance quality, and business management perspectives and aspired to create one. Initially, their overarching organizational objective was to offer professional performing experiences for women artists, which soon included women composers and conductors. The orchestra premiered notable works of women composers and showcased the artistry of several acclaimed women conductors. Among other things, the orchestra launched a scholarship program aimed at developing more opportunities for female professional orchestral brass and woodwind musicians.
Demise of the orchestra
There is some debate about the end of the orchestra. Some music historians[who?] have dated the orchestra's termination to its bankruptcy in 1948. However a photo of the orchestra exists dated 1952.[3][4] The bankruptcy of the Woman's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago is generally known to have been the result of systemic changes following World War II rather than a simple lack of demand for all-female orchestras. As men in the U.S. were drafted in great numbers, often not returning, this resulted in a great demand in previously all-male professional orchestras to recruit female musicians from all female orchestras.[5]
Timeline
- 1925: Organized under charter by the Illinois Secretary of State as the "Woman's Symphony Orchestral Association"
- October 1925: First rehearsals began[6]
- May 9, 1926: Inaugural concert in the Goodman Theater
Selected personnel
Founding musicians
- Lillian Poenisch (née Lillian Juanita Poenisch), clarinetist, also founded the Chicago Women's Concert Band[7]
- Adeline Schmidt (née Adeline Elizabeth Moore), flutist, who, on December 27, 1910, in Milwaukee, married Christian Carl Martin Schmidt.
- xylophonist and second, on August 21, 1925, to Edgar Anthony Bichl. Lois Bichl, under the name Lois Colburn, was a cellist with the Houston and San Antonio Symphonies, and also was an influential music educator.
Founding non-musicians (patrons)
- Kathryn Funk (née Kathryn Frances Meeker). Since 1895, she had been married to Clarence Sydney Funk. She was a vocalist. Kathryn had a degree from the Chicago Musical College.[8]
Conductors
- 1924–1927: Richard Czerwonky (né Richard Rudolph Czerwonky)[9]
- 1927–1929: Ethel Leginska
- 1929–1939: Ebba Sundstrom Nylander (née Ebba Irene Violet Sundstrom;m), violinist, who, in 1920, married Victor Theodore Nylander[5][9]
- 1938–1940: Gladys Welge (née Gladys Louise Welge)[9] Welge, a violinist, founded, in 1931, the Symphony of Oak Park & River Forest. Welge was the Woman's Symphony's last woman conductor. Welge was assistant conductor of the orchestra for nine years and conductor for two.
- 1940–1944: Izler Solomon[10] Notably, Solomon conducted the orchestra for 26 weekly broadcasts for Libby Owen
- 1942: Nikolai Malko
- 1944–1945: Jerzy Bojanowski
Guest conductors
- 1930: Gena Branscombe
- George Enescu
- Leonard Bernstein
- Leo Kopp(né Leo Laszlo Kopp)
- Frederick Stock
Guest soloists
- Lillian Waller (née Lillian Magnuson), pianist, was the first soloist with the orchestra. On August 23, 1924, she married Percy Harold Waller in Indiana.
- Leone Kruse, opera singer, notably, beginning 1927, with the National Theatre Munich, and the German Opera Theater at Prague. Before launching her career, Kruse had been a scholarship student at the American Conservatory of Music. She later was on the faculty at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.
- Mae Doelling Schmidt, piano
- Theodora Troendle, piano
Notable performances
- May 9, 1926: Inaugural concert in the Goodman Theater with violinist Amy Neill[11][Notes 2] as guest soloist. Five men musicians filled chairs not yet filled by women.[citation needed]
- Program:
- The Hebrides by Felix Mendelssohn
- Siegfried Idyll by Richard Wagner
- Violin Concerto No. 1 by Max Bruch
- Scènes Alsaciennes by Jules Massenet
- Two Elegiac Melodies by Edvard Grieg
- "Danse Bacchanale" by Camille Saint-Saëns (from Samson and Delilah)
- December 4, 1927: Composer Theodora Troendle joined the orchestra as the piano soloist to premiere her own piano concerto.[12]
- 1934: Ford Symphony Gardens at the CBS radio.[5]
- Piano Concerto in D minor by Florence Price (1887–1953); Margaret Bonds, piano[5]
Disambiguation
- Elena Moneak[Notes 1] founded in 1924 an unrelated ensemble which was also named the Women's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago. That orchestra debuted at the Woman's World's Fair in Chicago in 1924 under the direction Moneak, conducting. It performed its final concert at the Woman's World Fair in 1928.[1][Notes 1][2]
- In 1948, Bohumir Kryl led an ensemble named the Kryl's Women's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago, which was unrelated to the Women's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago.[13]
Notes and references
Notes
- ^ a b c Elena Moneak was one of a small body of artists – the others included Lucie Bigelow Rosen and Clara Rockmore – who promoted the playing of the theremin. Elena married twice, first on March 14, 1917, in Chicago to Henry Howind (né Heinrich Friedrich Ernst Howind), with whom she had two daughters. Her second marriage was on April 30, 1939, to Frankie Snite (né Frank Joseph Snite).
- ^ Amy Neill Amy Neill (née Amy Emerson Weldon Neill) owned, from 1921 to 1930, a violin made by Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri, del Gesù, made in Cremona in 1736, nicknamed the "Count Cessol" violin: (Cozio online catalog No. 40422); the violin had formerly been owned by Virginia Ferni Teja (née Virginia Ferni), sister of violinist Carolina Ferni. Neill, on September 24, 1924, married Avern B. Scolnik, a lawyer and amateur albeit accomplished violinist and violin collector. They divorced sometime before 1952.
References
- ^ JSTOR 4487666.
- ^ Audiocraft Magazine16–19 & 33
- . Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- OCLC 709937788.
- ^ JSTOR 3052554.
- Newspapers.com at Part 3, p. 1 and Part 3, p. 3, subscription required)
- )
- ^ "Woman's Symphony Orchestra Opens Season Wednesday". Chicago Tribune. October 19, 1941, Part 6, p. 3 Newspapers.com, subscription required)
- ^ ISSN 0069-5696)
- Columbus Dispatch, August 3, 1941, p. 56 (accessible via GenealogyBank.com, subscription required)
- ^ The Violin-makers of the Guarneri Family, 1626–1762,
By William Henry Hill (1857–1927), Arthur Frederick Hill, Alfred Ebsworth HillWilliam E. Hill & Sons(1931)
Dover Publications, Inc.(1989)
OCLC 750470444S2CID 191467476.- ^ "Kryl: Women's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago: 44th Annual Tour". Iowa Digital Library. University of Iowa. 1948. Retrieved April 19, 2019.