USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Gazetteer of Cheshire County, N.H., 1736-1885 > Part 55
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took his clarionet in hand again, and in a couple of years was a concert solo performer as a man, not as a boy. At the same time he began with the Violin, and practiced it with great energy for five years, studying the other stringed and brass instruments of the orchestra a little ; along with these went harmony and the theory of music, and very soon the Piano and Organ, and the higher branches of harmony, counterpoint and composition, under some of the most able teachers in Boston. It was a busy time he had for five or six years, and a great deal of the time his labors were continued far into the night. In Manchester, N. H., at the age of twenty, by advice of some good friends he had made there, he announced himself as " teacher of music," and held the position there during the next sixteen years. In the same year he was elected Director of the Orchestra of the Choral Society, with the agree- ment that he should arrange all the music of the Society for the small orches- tra belonging to it. This was a happy affair, for what better piece of luck could befall a young composer than putting him at the head of an orchestra, obliging him to write all its music and see that it was properly performed ?- enabling him to experiment with orchestral effects, get better acquainted with the different instruments and observe the blending of their tones.
The first work required of the young music director was to arrange the entire Oratorio of " David" for the orchestra of the Society. He declared himself incompetent for such a huge task, and declined the undertaking. But those in authority urged him on, declaring that they would pay the bills for the work and be satisfied, and there was no way to do except to go on, as the Society had voted to put " David " in rehearsal. So he took hold of his diffi- cult work, and, with some lighter pieces going along with it, in a few months it was finished, and shortly after a public performance of " David" was given. Following this came overtures, selections from other oratorios, and from operas and Mozart's 12th Mass entire, all of which caused much work and study. For about three years he held the position, but finally the Society disbanded, and his work here came to an end.
It was about this time, 1852, that the young composer felt, not without reason, that he was able to strike out freely for himself in original composi- tions, and after producing quite a number of marches, Waltzes, Polkas, Songs, Duets and other light pieces, the most of which were published, and about a hundred pieces of church music, he composed his first piece of length and importance-Concert Overture No. I, for full orchestra. During the four years, from 1852 to 1856, he was teaching a great deal, and was applying himself with renewed energy to study, so that much of the time his labors went far into the night, and for five years he did not visit his native village, principally because he could not afford the time, could not allow himself to know anything about vacations. In the autumn of 1856 he got together an orchestra of twenty-two performers, quite a large orchestra for those times, and gave two orchestra concerts, the first of the kind ever given in the State. He had both vocal and instrumental assistants from Bos-
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ton. It was at the first of these two concerts that his Concert Overture No. I, for full orchestra, was first performed, and it was received with loud and prolonged applause by a very large audience, and had to be re- peated. Its success was so decided that it was put upon the programme of the next concert, and again the audience would not relax in their applause until a repetition was granted. This ' was considered a great achievement, as it stood between the overtures of Mozart and Rossini on the programme, the composer resorting to no strategy of putting his overture into small, weak company, that it might stand out and stand up ! He had studied all of these compositions, so that he conducted most of them at those con- certs without notes. These orchestra concerts so delighted the music lovers of the city, that in the following year, by subscription, funds were raised to insure the expenses of a series of four concerts on precisely the same scale, and they were given with the same success, the large hall always being packed, seats and standing. The flattering success with which his first Concert Over- tures had met inspired Mr. Stratton to compose another, which he did dur- ing the year, and at these concerts Concert Overture No. 2 was performed twice and was well received. No. I was also given on two evenings, and, as before, loudly cheered, and repetitions always demanded. Following these came Concert Overtures No. 3 and No. 4. No. 4 has been given in public many times and the composer considers it superior to either of the others, but with audiences No. I has been the favorite, on account of the original and striking orchestral effects and pretty melodies.
And now, 1857, comes the great work which he had for over ten years been working for, a grand opera ! Having considerable confidence in his powers after what had transpired, he set to work in good cheer over his difficult task, and in four months it was completed, covering almost five hundred large pages of music paper. It was entitled " The Buccaneer," a grand tragic opera in three acts. It is, like other large operas, for solo singers, chorus and large orchestra. Soon after its completion, two public performances were given, with Boston solo singers for the difficult parts, of portions of the opera ; and the Manchester papers spoke in high praise of the music. It was known be- forehand that the entire opera could not be performed, as there was no opera troupe able to sing a grand opera in the English language ; the composer, there- fore, had no period of distress to pass through because he could not see his work put upon the stage, and performed, as all composers hope and expect- " many nights with great success !" The opera, however, accomplished its object ; the composer wished to try his strength ; it was a long step from a concert overture, and excepting considerable rather plain church music, songs, etc., he had had but limited experience in composing for voices. Af- ter the two successful performances of the selections before mentioned, he was entirely willing to put it upon the shelf, and, at least for the present, con- sider its career ended. Ten pieces were published as selections from "The Buccaneer," viz .: Cavitana, Trio, Air, Duett, Air, Garden Scene, Air, Quartet,
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Distant Chorus, and Tenor Song. The sale of these was, of course, only limited, and the composer never received any money from them, nor from the opera in any way. It gave him an extended reputation as an able mu- sician and composer.
Mr. Stratton now said he would compose some operatic music which could be sung in America, in the towns and small villages ; they shall be little operas on the same plan as the large Italian operas, with a regular story car- ried through in detail, giving him an opportunity to exercise himself in writ- ing graceful, well-formed melodies, and enabling him to produce dramatic effects, though in a somewhat limited form. The plan was entirely new, none similar having previously appeared, and the London (England) Morning Post said in a review of Mr. Stratton's operettas, as late as 1872, that no better works of the kind could be selected because no other exist. So, in a few months after "The Buccaneer" had been laid aside, and his mind en- tirely free from it, he was at work upon an operetta for young people entitled "The Fairy Grotto," and soon after its completion was brought out by a class of one hundred singers, all belonging to the city. In the course of two weeks. it was performed five times in the largest hall in Manchester, and on every occasion to a closely packed, enthusiastic audience. It was a great success .. Everybody seemed astonished to see what beautiful and dramatic ef- fects could be produced by a class of young folks who had never before appeared upon the operatic stage! Notwithstanding the decided suc- cess of this first operetta, the composer was not satisfied with it for one or two reasons. He knew that he could write some better ones, and decided to set "The Fairy Grotto " aside, and write a new one. It seemed but a light task to compose a little opera after the discipline he had been through in writing his grand opera. In a short time, then, he had his new work in hand, and in three week's time it was finished. The actual time oc- cupied in composing this operetta-"Laila," was less than ten hours. It was written in pencil sketches at various times during the days and evenings of these three weeks, between music lessons, a melody sometimes being taken down on the way from one house to another.
For these, less than ten hours work, the composer has received a clear profit, above all the expenses of making the books, advertising them and sell- ing them, of almost $5,000 (five thousand dollars). Over 20,000 (twenty thousand) books have been sold. On its completion it was performed with the expected success entertained by the composer, night after night, and, like "The Fairy Grotto," had to be discontinued, because many of the young singers became so tired out with the excitement and fatigue, being out so late nights.
Regarding the labor in writing "Laila," of course, there were several days of solid work in writing out the parts for the voices, piano and orchestra, from the pencil sketches ; but the real time of composing the operetta, according to- the memorandum on every sketch, was just seven hours and a half. In a
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short time after "Laila" had been performed with such marked success, the composer applied to a large music publisher in Boston for terms of publica- tion, and the best offer he could get was five dollars upon every hundred copies sold. At this seemingly very poor offer from a person who was sup- posed to know what musical works were worth, the composer was so exas- perated that he went home, put "Laila" in his desk, locked it up and said it should remain there until he was in Boston in business, and could publish and sell it himself. Seven long years "Laila" remained locked up-a prisoner !
This was probably a fortunate circumstance, and displayed unusual busi- ness talent for one seemingly so much a born artist. He said himself that, if the publisher had offered him double the amount, he thinks he would have ac- cepted the terms, and probably the next and the next operetta would have gone in the same way, and he would never have received one-fourth so much for them as he already has, so that perhaps, as things were so well managed afterwards, it was well for him that only the small offer was made, though it was rather discouraging. During the next few years Mr. Stratton gave nearly all his time and mind to teaching, and composed but little. Pupils came to him from all parts of the State, and he was much pressed, and much of the time his lessons went far into the night.
At this time, 1860, came as he says, one of the two misfortunes of his life ; in his own words-"If there had been some one competent, some educated musical friend to encourage me on with assuring words regarding my talents, I could just as well as not have produced eight or ten operettas and ten or fifteen overtures or other instrumental pieces of length, for I found music composition a delightful occupation." After four or five more years of con- stant teaching, he began to seriously think that an end must come to it, and what must follow occupied his mind for a long time, being naturally rather cautious. He became restive ; for many years had longed for travel ; he wished to go to Germany. not merely to see it, but to remain for a length of time in the land of the great artists, the great composers of music who had given him so much happiness through the study of their great masterpieces. The question came through this, must he forsake a professional life ? Again we will give his own words :- "For months I was very unhappy. It was a struggle for me to make up my mind to tear myself from my art which I loved so well, and go into the miserable business of money getting! But to carry out my plans of life I must live in Europe several years, and to do it I must have money, and I must have a business to bring in money while I am away. To do this I must work hard and lively, I know, for several years ; but I de- clare, when this undertaking is pretty well accomplished, I will again return to my art !"
This declaration Mr. Stratton has already made partly true, as will be seen further on.
In 1867 Mr. Stratton moved to Boston and established himself in the gen- eral Musical Merchandise trade, as a wholesale house, which has been his
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principal business from that time to the present. In order to insure success in this business, which was entirely new to him, it was necessary that he should apply his mind to it and work with the greatest energy. A few years later he became interested in the piano-forte trade, was made wholesale agent of the Arlington Piano Co. (an incorporated company), and this added much to his- labors, as he was the musician of the concern, the only one knowing anything about pianos ; he also imported from Berlin upright pianos, being the first to make known to any extent this style of pianos in America. For a couple of years he was editor and proprietor of a Musical Journal, which added to his cares, and the labor on which was most entirely done nights. But when he went to Europe to remain for a time, this enterprise was thrown up, because there was no one in his concern to take care of it. Then not long after this. came the German language, which he took in hand and determined to learn it well in as short a time as possible, for he expected soon to remain in Ger- many most of the time for some years, and as nearly all his goods were made in Germany, (a portion in France and Italy), in order to be a good business. man it was necessary for him to learn to speak and write German. As before has been mentioned, he learned French when a young man.
Almost as soon as he was fairly settled in business, "Laila" was taken in hand and made ready for the printer, and in a few weeks the first edition of one thousand copies was ready for sale and advertised, moderately and mod- estly only, in several musical journals. Orders came in very rapidly from all directions, and in a few weeks the first edition was exhausted ; and then fol- lowed the second and third editions, neither of which lasted so long as the first ; and so it went on for a long time, the particulars of which it is not nec- essary to give. Every one knowing about the success of the little opera seemed surprised that it should get such a lively start without any apparent rea- son. Mr. Stratton says he was probably the most astonished of any one at the manner in which the musical public took hold of it and managed it. It was written for children from five to fifteen years of age, and the heroine, Laila, intended to be a girl of about a dozen years. One of the first things he heard was that it was being brought out in academies and seminaries by grown-up. young ladies, in churches by Sunday-school classes, in theatres and opera. houses, married ladies sometimes taking the part of Laila ! It was played in churches of little villages where not more than fiften or twenty singers could be got together, in the larger towns and cities usually with a class of from 60 to 100 singers ; and in Philadelphia, in the Academy of Music, by the pupils. of the city schools, numbering over 1,000 singers. This last occasion was re- ported in the papers as being one of the most interesting affairs of the kind that had ever taken place in the city. And now that "Laila" had become famous all over the country, had fairly and honestly made herself a reputation, there was a wedding ! Concert Overture No. I, though a full grown man, was married to the little dozen-years-old girl, Laila, gave up his name, and has since been known as The Overture to "Laila."
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In about year after " Laila" had been published, the composer began to. receive letters from those who had brought it out, strongly urging him to give them another operetta of similar style. The appeals seemed to be so earnest that Mr. Stratton says he scarcely knew what to do. He was now a business man, overwhelmed with work and anxiety about his young musical-instru- ment establishment, had thought but little about musical composition for several years, and had no mind nor time for it, and very much feared he should. not write so good a work as he ought to, if he should under the unfavorable circumstances, make the attempt. But while he was thinking the matter over, the appeals continued to come, some saying-" You must write us another operetta !" So he concluded, as composing music always him happy, he would go right at work, giving the order to himself to make the music of" this operetta a great deal better than that of " Laila." He decided that this should not be so much of an operetta for little folks as "Laila," but that he- would write it more for grown up girls, for academies and seminaries which seemed so eager for a work of this kind. Also that he would have only sim- ple costumes and scenery necessary, so that it could be easily put on the stage-no dazzling fairies, as in " Laila." Then, as it was known that the- new operetta, " Genevieve," was not quite so good a story as " Laila," and was not to look so prettily on the stage, to insure a success the music must be better ; so the composer gave much more time to it than to " Laila," lengthening out and developing some of the pieces, making them quite suit- able for a regular opera. In about a year " Genevieve " was completed, and feeling that he had not time to study out a worthy overture, there was another wedding. Concert Overture No. 4 was married to "Genevieve," and put in the book-also published for a piano, 4 hands. The overture to " Laila " was published for piano, 4 hands, and violin and piano, but is not in the book as it is not quite so easily played with 2 hands on account of the pecu- liar instrumentation before mentioned, but it is not difficult.
"Genevieve " proved to be a success. Like "Laila," it went from the State of Maine to California, Texas and Florida, being played in all the States- and some of the Territories. The composer felt happy that he had not made a failure with his second published operetta, as it is often the case that young composers, after a brilliant success, will write one or two weak operas. The universal judgment passed upon the music of "Geneveive" was that it was much superior, of a higher order to that of "Laila." Being a little more difficult it was know that not so many books could be sold, but the sales have- gone up to about 15,000, which is more than was expected. .
Among the very many enthusiastic editorial reviews and notices which have been given to " Laila " and "Genevieve," we think it would interest the read- ers of this book to see a few of them, but we will give merely one as a speci- men, from Fitzgerald's City Item, Philadelphia, Mr. Fitzgerald himself being a musician and composer of piano music :-
" Mr. Stratton is well known as an editor, musician, and composer. His
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opera ' Laila' was, at our suggestion some time ago, eagerly sought after and produced by a number of school institutions in our State, and on one occa- sion when we were present, it did our heart good to see the amusement and delight it afforded. 'Genevieve' is Mr. Stratton's latest work, and we are much pleased with it. The plot is simple, but there are several admirable situations, which the talented author elaborates charmingly. The " Over- ture " is carefully written. It opens with a presto movement, common time, followed by an adagio introducing an andante in three-four time ; several mel- odies of the opera are introduced, in a spirited and effective manner. Gen- evieve's solo ' If the world were mine to give,' in Act III., is probably the most striking melody of the opera, and will please the young ladies immensely. We regret that there is not a hero in ' Genevieve,' but, as the work is written expressly for representation by young ladies at school institutions, of course there would be nobody to take the hero's 'part. '"
There are fourteen quite large pages of these notices from all parts of the country, given in the operetta circular issued by Mr. Stratton's house in Bos- ton, and it appears to be a business document, giving other particulars about the works ; no doubt it is mailed to any one interested in such works, who will send in a request. It is certainly amusing to look over these pages and see how much delight the opperettas have made for the young and also the older people all over the country.
No sooner had " Genevieve " gone the rounds, following " Laila," mostly, letters began to come in almost as rapidly as two years before, which caused " Genevieve " to come into existence, saying, We want another operetta, with fairies in it, -a fairy operetta !
Mr. Stratton's business had been growing larger and larger all the time, and he was naturally enough of a business man to know that he must not allow his business to go to ruin from neglect by giving too much of his mind to operatic compositions ; and again it was difficult to decide exactly what to do. It was very difficult and disagreeable, after these two successes, to an- nounce to the musical public that he could not comply with its request. for whatever excuses he might give, the composer felt that it might be thought that he feared to take the risk of putting forth another operetta so soon after "Genevieve." And it is a fact that he did have some fears about a third success, but he decided, in a very short time, that he would write another fairy opera ; it should be more fairy-like than "Laila," with handsomer pictures for the stage, and a much larger work, with men and boys in it,- the other two works being wholly for girls and young ladies. "The Fairy Grotto " was a very pretty name, and that was the first thing decided upon -that it should be so named. An entirely new story was written, so the libretto was entirely new, and all that is in the book of "The Fairy Grotto," as it now stands, that was in the first work of the same title, is the name and six or seven of the best pieces of the music. Work was immediately com- menced upon it, and when about in the middle of the second act, Mr. Stratton suddenly started for Europe, to remain quite a time, and the oper- etta was finished in Germany, printed there and sent to Boston for sale. It
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85 TRATTON FREE LIBRARY
STRATTON FREE LIBRARY AND ART GALLERY, WEST SWANZEY, N. H.
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is in four acts, and considerably larger than "Genevieve," and requiring brilliant costumes and scenery. It was known beyond a possibility of doubt, on account of these mentioned things, that it could never have anything like the extended circulation that " Laila " had, because it could not be brought out in little village churches with fifteen or twenty young singers; but the composer set some value upon his reputation, and declared that his works should be, one after another, larger and better, if possible, and no money consideration of a few thousand dollars should keep him always writing in the same style, simple and easy music, but his operettas should be educational and progressive, bringing the ideas of the young people, scattered over the territory of our great land, in most parts of which the best music is seldom if ever heard, gradually up, and enabling them to better understand and create a love for the music of the great masters.
The sale of " The Fairy Grotto " has reached about 10,000 copies, and this fact alone has settled its reputation-it was a success.
What is very gratifying regarding Mr. Stratton's operettas is that they still have a continued steady sale without any prospect of their going out of fashion and coming to an end.
The reader has seen by what has been recorded that Mr. Stratton for sev- eral years has been working very hard, much beyond his strength, and he was warned during the time by his friends, that it was dangerous for him to con- tinue his labors day and night, and he had better be on his guard ; but being a pretty strong, healthy man, of strict temperate habits, he thought there was no danger ; but the crash came, and he had to bear the consequences, which were indeed very severe. His sensitive nervous organization, an indispens- able requisite to an artist, but an obstacle to a business man, who has to fight battles with the cold-hearted world, broke down. And here is the great mis- fortune of his life. He had a severe partial congestion of the brain and prostration of the nervous system, and nearly lost his life ! For two years he was a very weak man, unable to do scarcely anything, sleeping only one, two or three hours out of the twenty-four. These two years he spent mostly in Europe and rested all he thought he could, but having so much business on his hands, much instruction had continually to be sent to Boston. Could he have had something like unbroken rest for two or three years he thinks he could have become pretty strong again, but the busy world seemed determined to keep him at work about his business matters. But musical composition could no more be thought of ! His head was so weak, nervous and excitable, that fifteen minutes study over a musical idea would entirely exhaust him and throw him into distress from which he could not recover for hours.
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