History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 66

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

been superseded by the more picturesque orders. The elegant post office building, on the corner of Vine and Fourth, is about the last example of the old styles that was erected here. The later Byzantine style is well rep- resented in the Masonic temple, St. Francis' (Catholic) church, and the depot of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad. All of these were designed by James W. Mclaughlin. Other fine specimens ars the St. Geor- gius church, on Calhoun street, and the Catholic Insti- tute building, now the Grand Opera House. The Italian or Renaissance style appears in the great Government building on Fifth street, designed by the Government architect, Mr. A. B. Mullett; the Johnston building, by Mclaughlin; the Cincinnati hospital, by A. C. Nash; the German Mutual Insurance company's building, by John Bast; the old Music Hall, by Sigmund Kutznitzki; Robinson's and Pike's opera houses, the Grand hotel, the Gibson house, the Public library, the hilltop resorts known as Bellevue and the Highland house, the Arcade, the Carlisle, Mitchell, Sinton, Halbert, Simon & Thurnauer blocks, and many others of more or less recent construc- tion. Several of these combine sculptural with archi- tectural art in their external effects. It is said that the first piece of statuary applied to a building front in the city is that on the Baker building, Fourth street, between Main and Walnut-a life-sized statue of Cincinnatus, by Nathan F. Baker.

The Moresque style of architecture is superbly repre- sented here by the two Jewish temples-the synagogue of the Children of Israel and that of the Benai Jeshurun.

Mr. Samuel Hannaford designed several buildings, among the more notable structures of Cincinnati's later day, which it is difficult to classify, except as of his design. Such are the city workhouse, the present Music Hall, and the Longworth and Bell buildings on Central avenue.

THE SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN.

The history of this institution, a department of the Cincinnati university and the first to be founded, has al- ready been outlined in our chapter on education. It now comprises not only the School of Art and Design proper, opened January 4, 1869, but also the Wood-carving school, started under Benn Pitman in 1873, and the de- partment of sculpture, organized by Professor Rebisso in 1875. The former was the first school ever established for the instruction of women in artistic wood-carving. Some of the admirable work done by its young-lady students may be seen upon the carved screen in front of the great organ in Music hall. This work was a labor of love for those engaged upon it, and is justly reckoned very elegant and tasteful. An exhibition of the work of the school made at the Centennial fair in Philadelphia, in the Women's pavilion, excited much attention, and won the award of three medals. It success has led di- rectly to the establishment of similar schools in St. Louis, Wheeling, Rochester, Portsmouth, Ohio, and Sheffield, England. The Hon. Samuel F. Hunt, president of the board of directors of the university, in his address at the annual commencement in June, 1880, thus testified to the influence of the Art school:

The influence of the school in Cincinnati during the eleven years of its existence has been of a marked character. It has elevated the standard of taste in the appreciation of all beautiful things. In fact, all the industries of this city in which artistic decoration is employed to enhance the value of the manufactured article are indebted to this school, not merely for the general improvement in taste, but for the education of many of the skilled artisans who produce the work. The object of the instruction is not, as many suppose, for the sake of an accomplish- ment, nor, indecd, for the development of the fine arts alone. It is de- signed to give thorough teclinical training in the principles as well as in the art of drawing, so that the information may subsequently be applied in all operative forms, whether of machinery, engi- neering, architecture, manufactures, or the arts. It is proposed to expand the inventive faculty of applying new forms to material. Rich and poor are alike received and alike trained free of charge, and the crowning usefulness of the school consists in the fact that a correct taste and a high artistic skill are inspired in those who carry it directly into the workshops of Cincinnati. Many have gone to all parts of the country front this school, who are now filling positions as teachers, ar- tisans or artists. Those who have gone abroad to complete their art education have taken honorable rank at once in the foreign schools. At the last exhibition of the Fine Art academy at Munich three of the former students were, at the end of the first year, awarded medals and one received honorable mention. In Paris another was admitted to the class of Gerome in the Ecole des Beaux Arts-a tribute to the thor- oughness of previous training. The group of Mr. Charles Nieham was placed in a niche of the gallery set apart for the most successful worker in the school.

Cincinnati is a great manufacturing centre, and there are many skilled workmen in her shops. The great need is to apply that æsthetic taste and that educated hand and ear and eye, as far as may be necessary, to industrial pursuits. There is great need to destroy the idea that any antagonism exists between art and industry. It will be found that the greater part of our manufactures owe their merit, their attraction and their profitable sale to the degree of taste which they exhibit in the art of design. This will not only be seen in the manufacture of bronze and the more valuable metals, but in tapestry and silks and satins and multiplied in calico prints.

A prominent manufacturer of the city adds the opinion that the establishment of this department of the university has already revolutionized the style of the higher grades of goods, and that Cincinnati is rapidly taking the lead of all cities in the world for first-class parlor furniture. Sixteen ladies from the school of wood-carving were employed by Mr. William Hooper, who was building an elegant resi- dence on the hills, to decorate the entire wainscot panel- ing of a large hall, which was done, it is said, "with such excellent taste and feeling that it has called forth the most hearty commendation from the proprietor as well as from others who, from study and observation, are capable of forming an intelligent opinion." The very shop-win- dows of the city, now among the finest in the world, show in a conspicuous way the influence of the art school. A thorough, graded course of instruction has been intro- duced, culminating in a university diploma at the end of successful study. Instead of prizes at the annual ex- hibition, the quality of work exhibited is hereafter to de- termine the grade of diploma awarded.

Among the art-works possessed by the school are casts from some of the most famous antiques, as the Laocoon, the Venus of Milo, Diana and the Stag, etc., of heroic size; the Wrestlers, the Discobolus, the Venus de Medici, and others, life size; Cincinnatus, the Faun with a Flute, the Moses of Michael Angelo, the Dying Gladiator, and many more, of reduced size; with still smaller casts, busts, fragments, etc., and many large and small paint- ings, crayon and pastel drawings, autotypes from draw- ings of old masters, engravings and lithographs, and a

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valuable library of books on art. The collection in- cludes the gift of paintings and statuary made to the " McMicken university" in June, 1864, by the Ladies' Academy of Art, the institution organized by Mrs. Sarah Peter and others some time before 1855, but not now in existence. This donation really started the movement which led to the formation of the art school.

FRY'S CARVING-SCHOOL

is a private institution under the management of the vet- eran artist in wood, Professor Henry S. Fry, and his son William H. Fry, and a granddaughter. These instructors and artists did much of the beautiful work on the great organ in Music hall, and also the adornment in carved work of Mr. Henry Probasco's residence in Clifton and the dwellings of Judge Longworth and Colonel George Ward Nichols, on the Grandin road. Their school is over Wiswell's art store, at No. 70 Fourth street.

ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATIONS.

The Women's Art Museum Association of Cincinnati grew out of a resolution adopted at the final meeting, January 18, 1877, of the Women's Centennial Executive Committee of Cincinnati, as follows:

Resolved, That it is the wish of this committee that they re-organize as an association to advance women's work, more especially in the field of industrial art. Also,

Resolved, That Mrs. A. F. Perry be requested, at a suitable time, to call a meeting for deliberation, and lay before it a definite plan of work.

In pursuance of these resolutions, a meeting of ladies was held January 27, 1877, at which the paper requested was presented by Mrs. Perry. It argued ably, with am- ple and forcible illustrations, for the establishment of a ladies association here, which should look to the found- ing of an art museum. A joint meeting of ladies and gentlemen was held March 12th, at the house of Mrs. A. S. Winslow, which resulted in the appointment of a com- mittee to prepare a scheme for the organization and estab- lishment of an art museum and training schools in this city. The committee reported at a subsequent meeting at the same place, recommending "that the ladies who have been for some time discussing the feasibility of such an undertaking should perfect an organization, in aid of the movement; and, in order to inspire confidence in those who may wish to contribute to the support of the enterprise, they recommend further that the following named gentlemen: A. T. Goshorn, Joseph Longworth, L. B. Harrison, A. D. Bullock, A. S. Winslow, Julius Dexter, George Ward Nichols, William H. Davis, O. J. Wilson, be invited to act as a committee to draft a form of subscription and to take such steps as, in their judg- ment, will best promote the establishment of an art museum, until such time as the subseribers to a fund for this object shall effect a permanent organization."

At a meeting of ladies alone, held Saturday, April 28, 1877, to complete an organization whose objeet should be to interest the women of Cincinnati in aid of the es- tablishment of an art museum in the city, it was resolved to give it the form of an association, which should reach by its membership every neighborhood, cirele, and inter- est of the city and its suburbs. At this meeting a con- stitution was adopted and officers elected for the follow-

ing year. The constitution defined the objects of the association to be "the cultivation and application of the principles of art to industrial pursuits, and the establish- ment of an art museum in the city of Cincinnati." The officers elect were:

President, Mrs. Aaron F. Perry; vice-presidents, Mrs. John Davis, Mrs. A. D. Bullock, Mrs. John Shillito, Mrs. A. S. Winslow, Mrs. George Carlisle, Mrs. William Dodd; treasurer, Mrs. H. C. Whitman ; secretaries, Miss Elizabeth H. Appleton, Miss Laura Vallette. Mrs. Perry is still president, Miss Appleton recording secretary, and Mrs. Whitman treasurer of the association.

The organization did much good work in the stimula- tion of fine art in the community, the holding of a loan exhibition in 1879, the preparation of many art works by its own members and their exhibition at the annual industrial expositions in the city, and by putting ideas and plans in the air which undoubtedly hastened the oncoming of the more immediately promising move- ment we are now about to record.

On the eighth of September, 1880, at the opening of the annual industrial exposition, a letter was read from Mr. Charles W. West, a retired and wealthy merchant of Cincinnati, offering the munificent gift of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the establishment of an art museum in the city, conditioned upon the subscription of an additional and similar amount by others for the same purpose. The gift was hailed with immense acclama- tion near and far, and the work of raising the remainder was entered upon promptly. In a very few weeks, even before the exposition had closed, by the action of a few public-spirited gentlemen and the beneficence of a num- ber somewhat larger, the entire sum was raised, with sev- eral thousands to spare. The subscribers were then formed into a joint-stock company, which has held a number of meetings, principally with reference to a site for the museum. This matter was the subject of warm debate in the newspapers and community, as well as among those more closely interested; and many sites apparently eligible were suggested. As this work goes through the press, a site has not yet been definitely determined. A suitable building will of course go up rapidly upon it, when chosen, and art-collections cluster within its walls at once upon its completion.

ART-CLUBS.

The only societies of this character known to the gen- eral public in Cincinnati are the Pottery and Etching clubs. The former is a ladies' society, organized in April, 1879, by a number of ambitious amateurs, for the decora- tion in underglaze painting of pottery made from the Ohio valley clays. It meets twice a week in the rooms of the Women's Art Museum association, in Music-hall. Its president, Miss M. Louise Mclaughlin, is author of "China Painting: A Practical Manual for the Use of Amateurs, in the Decoration of Hard Porcelain," which has been published in several editions, and of one or two other related books. She and others of the club have made very beautiful exhibits at the Industrial expositions.

The Etching club is a society of gentlemen, under the

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original presidency of Mr. Daniel S. Young, founded in March, 1879, and meeting fortnightly at the studio of the artist Farny, in Pike's Opera-house building, where the members have the use of a press for taking impressions of their etchings.

CHAPTER XXVI. MUSIC.

THE FIRST SOCIETIES.

The divine arts of harmonious and melodious vocali- zation and instrumentation had, like those of the fine arts which appeal to the eye, an early beginning in the Queen City. Readers who have pushed their way through the annals of Cincinnati's first decade, will remember that very early in those years a Mr. McLean joined to several other vocations, as of butcher and public officer, that of a singing-master. From time to time during all the years of Cincinnati village and town, advertisements similar to those of country singing- schools appear in the local papers. For example, in a local paper for September, 1801, Mr. McLean advertises a singing-school to be maintained by subscription at one dollar a member for thirteen nights, or two dollars per quarter-"subscribers to find their own wood and candles. "

At last, in the very year when Cincinnati town became Cincinnati city, we begin to have definite information of the formation of musical societies-as the Episcopal Singing society, organized in 1819, with Luman Watson, the clockmaker who was afterwards Hiram Powers' mas- ter, for president; F. A. Blake, vice president; Ed B. Cooke, secretary; and James M. Mason, treasurer. The younger Arthur St. Clair offered a lot and Mr. Jacob Bay- miller a building as a permanent home for this society. It nevertheless met in Christ Episcopal church, other- wise the old Baptist meeting-house on Sixth street, which had been leased by the Christ church organization.

The same year, and only four years after the Handel and Haydn society was organized in Boston, the Haydn society was organized here, composed of sing- ers of the different choirs and other musical organ- izations of the infant city. Its first concert was given May 25, 1819, in the Baptist-Episcopal church men- tioned, for the benefit of a fund to purchase an organ for the church. The novelty of such an entertainment in Cincinnati is distinctly hinted in an announcement of it in the Spy newspaper, which said:

Public concerts of this description, although rather a novelty here, are quite common in the eastern cities, and if well performed never fail to afford great pleasure to the audience.

The same paper was enthusiastic in its praise after the affair, saying it gave "very general satisfaction," and adding:

In addition to the excellent selection, the execution would have reflected credit on our eastern cities, and the melody in several

instances was divine. This exhibition must have been highly grati- fying to those who begin to feel proud of our city. It is the strongest evidence we can adduce of our advancement in those embellishments which refine and harmonize society and give a zest to life. We hope that another opportunity will shortly occur for a further display of the talents of the Haydn society. For their endeavors to create a correct musical taste among us they deserve our thanks; but when to their efforts is added the disposition to aid the views of public charities or the services of the church, their claims to the most respectful attention and applause rise to an obligation on the community.

The Haydns gave their second concert in the fall of 1819, with a programme partly composed of classical music. Tickets were one dollar each-"one half of the proceeds to be appropriated to the several Sunday schools in the city, the other half to be applied for the purchase of music to remain the permanent property of the Cin- cinnati Haydn society." The committee of arrange- ments for this concert consisted of Edwin Mathews and Charles Fox, the latter of whom, in union with Benjamin Ely, advertised a singing-school to open at the Second Presbyterian church December 17th following, "at early candlelight."

It is certain that, long before 1819, there was a lively interest in musical affairs here, for a prominent Cincin- natian, the well-known author Timothy Flint, had had printed in 1816 at the Liberty Hall office a new music book called The Columbian Harmonist, for which there must have been some local demand, or he would not have ventured it upon the market. A year or more before this, in Liberty Hall of April 8, 1815, proposals were advertised for the publication by subscription of "a new and valuable collection of music, entitled 'The Western Harmonist,' by John McCormick,'" in which is this statement: "The author, having been many years in the contemplation of this work, flatters himself that he will be able to furnish the different societies with the most useful tunes and anthems." From this it appears that there were also musical societies already in exist- ence, from whom the author expected co-operation and material aid. A brass band is known to have been for- mally organized under a more general name as early as 1814, by inference from the following notice in Liberty hall of October 1Ith, of that year:

CINCINNATI HARMONICAL SOCIETY.

At a meeting held at Mr. Burt's tavern on Saturday evening last, it was unanimously resolved that the society shall meet at the established hour at the same place on Saturday evening of each succeeding week ; and that on next Saturday evening a proposed amendment of the by- laws will be finally discussed, of which previous notice shall be given to the society in general.

The members are therefore requested to be punctual in attending on Mr. Burt's on the fifteenth instant, at seven o'clock, P. M. -

A general attendance of the honorary members is particularly re- quired. By order,

THOMAS DANBY, Secretary.

CINCINNATI, October 10.

The annual concert and ball of this society or band was given December sixteenth ensuing, "at the large brick house on Front street, lately occupied by General Harrison." The repertoire of the band was quite exten- sive, and its selections, as played after the toasts at the banquet on the Fourth of July, 1819, are well worth naming again, as hints of Cincinnati band-music two generations ago. They were: Life let us Cherish, Will

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you Come to the Bower, Hail Columbia, The White Cockade, Victory of Orleans, Italian Waltz, Echo, Mon- roe's March, America, Commerce and Freedom, Liberty or Death, Masonic Dead March, Liberty's March, Hull's Victory, Friendship, Lafayette's March, March in Blue Beard, Adams and Liberty, Star-spangled Banner, Sweet Harmony, Massachusetts March, Haydn's Fancy, Miss Ware's March, Pleyel's Hymn, Lawrence's Dirge, Away with Melancholy, Rural Felicity, Harmonical Society's March. It is believed that this society flourished to some date this side of 1820.

The style of musical instruction in those days was somewhat unique. Such an advertisement as the follow- ing, which appeared in a local journal of December 18, 1815, would be regarded nowadays as decidedly queer, and perhaps as indicating small performance for so large promise :

MUSICAL ACADEMY

at Mrs. Hopkins', opposite Columbia Inn, Main street, Cincinnati. For teaching in a scientific and comprehensive manner, a scholar thir- teen tunes at least, in eighteen lessons, or no compensation will be re- quired, on any of the following instruments, viz :

Clarinet,

Flagotto or bassoon,

Trumpet,

Serpent,

French horn,

Flagolet,

Bugle horn,

Sacbut,

Oboe,

Hurdygurdy or beggar's lyre,

Grand oboe or voice umane,

Violin,

Trombone,

Violincello,

Fife,

Bass drum,

German flute,

Octave flute,

Cymbals, etc., etc., etc.

Military bands taught accurately and expeditiously, on a correct scale, on any of the above instruments, with appropriate music, by JAMES H. HOFFMAN, P.

A writer in the Daily Gazette of May 15, 1880-a number giving many historical facts concerning music in Cincinnati-to whose industry we are indebted for these citations, finds also notes of two other early concerts. On Saturday, May 29, 1819, "the Caledonian youths from Glasgow" gave a select concert on the Scotch harp at the Cincinnati hotel, and on July 18, 1821, three sing- ing societies united in giving a concert of sacred music under the direction of Charles Fox, at which "Comfort Ye My People," and the Hallelujah Chorus from Han- del's Messiah were sung for the first time in Cincinnati.

NOT THE FIRST CONCERT.

It is very singular that Miss Martineau, who was here in 1835, should have received the impression from somne Cincinnati friend, or otherwise, that the concert given during her visit was the first ever offered to the local public, when, doubtless, several scores had preceded it. Yet she so mentions it in her notes of the affair, as pub- lished in her Retrospect of Western Travel:

Before cight o'clock in the evening the Cincinnati public was pouring into Mrs. Trollope's Bazaar, to the first concert ever offered to them. This Bazaar is the great deformity of the city. Happily, it is not very conspicuous, being squatted down among houses nearly as lofty as the summit of its domc. From my windows at the boarding-house, how- ever, it was only too distinctly visible. It is built of brick, and has Gothic windows, Grecian pillars, and a Turkish dome; and it was orig- inally ornamented with Egyptian devices, which have, however, disap- pcared under the brush of the whitewasher.

The concert was held in a large, plain room, where a quiet, well-man- nered audience was collected. There was something extremely interest-

ing in the spectacle of the first public introduction of music into this rising city. One of the best performers was an elderly man, clothed from head to foot in gray homespun. He was absorbed in his enjoy- ment, so intent on his violin that one might watch the changes of his pleased countenance the whole performance through, without fear of disconeerting him. There was a young girl in a plain, white frock, with a splendid voice, a good ear, and a love of warbling which carried her through very well indeed, though her own taste had obviously been her only teacher. If I remember right, there were about five-and-twenty instrumental performers and six or seven vocalists, besides a long row for the closing chorus. It was a most promising begining. The thought came across me how far we were from the musical regions of the old world, and how lately this place had been a canebrake, echoing with the bellow and growl of wild beast; and here was the spirit of Mozart swaying and inspiring a silent crowd, as if they were assembled in the chapel at Salzburg !

These were, we believe, all local performers.

THE CHRONOLOGICAL STORY.

In a more consecutive way Mr. H. A. Ratterman, in an elaborate essay read before the Literary club Novem- ber 9, 1879, has outlined the history of early music in Cincinnati. We subjoin some notes from the pages that embody the results of his industrious and well-directed labors :

General Wilkinson, who was commandant at Fort Washington after the departure of General Anthony Wayne, kept a band at the fort, which seems to have been rather highly accomplished for the time. They were, indeed, German and French musicians, who, says Klau- precht, in his German Chronicle in the History of the Ohio Valley, after speaking of Wilkinson's superb barge and the pleasure-parties thereon, "accompanied them with the harmonies of Gluck and Haydn, and the reports of the champagne bottles transported the guests from the wilds of the Northwestern territory into the Lucullian feasts of the European aristocracy."

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History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 66

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co. Number of Pages: 666

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666