may yet be made without departing from the genuine type of abstract instrumental music; and that when there is room for individual expression there is still good work to be done, though we can hardly hope that even the greatest composers of the future will surpass the symphonic triumphs of the past, whatever they may do in other fields of composition.
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, The Boston (U. S. A.), owes its existence, and its large perpetual endowment, to the generosity and taste of Mr. Henry Lee Higginson, a well-known citizen of Boston, and affords a good instance of the munificent way in which the Americans apply their great riches for the public benefit in the service of education and art. Mr. Higginson had for long cherished the idea of having 'an orchestra which should play the best music in the best way, and give concerts to all who could pay a small price.'[1] At length, on March 30, 1881, he made his intention public in the Boston newspapers as follows:—The orchestra to number 60, and their remuneration to include the concerts and 'careful training.' Concerts to be twenty in number, on Saturday evenings, in the Music Hall, from middle of October to middle of March. Single tickets from 75 to 25 cents (3s. to 1s.); season tickets (concerts only) 10 to 5 dollars; one public rehearsal, 1s. entrance. Orchestra to be permanent, and to be called The Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Georg Henschel was appointed conductor, and Mr. B. Listemann leader and solo violin. A full musical library was purchased, and the first concert took place on Oct. 22, 1881, at 8 p.m. Its programme, and that of the 17th concert, Feb. 18, 1882, give a fair idea of the music performed:—
i. Overture, op. 124, Beethoven. Air, Orpheus, Gluck. Symphony in B♭, Haydn. Ballet music, Rosamunde, Schubert. Scena, Odysseus, Max Bruch. Festival Overture [Jubilee], Weber.
xvii. Overture, Leonore, no. 1, Beethoven. Rhapsody for contralto, chorus, and orch. (op. 53), Brahms. Symphony no. 8, Beethoven. Violin Concerto, Mendelssohn. Overture, Phèdre, Massenet.
There were twenty concerts in all, and the last ended with the Choral Symphony.
Since the first season some extensions have taken place. There are now 24 concerts in the series. The orchestra numbers 72, and there is a chorus of 200. There are three rehearsals for each concert, and on the Thursdays a concert is given in some neighbouring city of New England. Both the performances and the open rehearsals are crowded, and so far the noble intention of the founder, 'to serve the cause of good art only,' has been fulfilled. We can only say Esto perpetua.
[App. p.798 "For continuation see Boston in Appendix, and add that in the winter seasons from 1886 to 1889, Mr. Henschel organized a series of orchestral Symphony Concerts in St. James's Hall, on much the same footing as that of the concerts described in the Dictionary."]
SYMPHONY SOCIETY, New York, U.S., organised October 15, 1878, and incorporated by the State legislature, April 8, 1879. Its object is the advancement of music by procuring the public performance of the best classical compositions, especially those of a symphonic character. The society in its five seasons has given thirty regular concerts and as many public rehearsals (six in each season), and two special concerts with the public rehearsals—in all, sixty-four entertainments. At these concerts there have been brought out 89 works, 14 of them for the first time in New York. The orchestra numbers 70 players, and the soloists, vocal and instrumental, are the most distinguished attainable. The concerts of the first four seasons were given in Steinway Hall; those of the fifth in the Academy of Music. Dr. Leopold Damrosch has been the conductor since the start. Officers (1883):—president, Hilborne L. Rossevelt; treasurer, W. H. Draper, M.D.; recording secretary, Richmond Delafield; corresponding secretary, Morris Reno; librarian, D. M. Knevals, and twelve others, directors.
SYMPSON (or SIMPSON, as he sometimes spelled his name), Christopher, was an eminent performer on, and teacher of the viol, in the 17th century. During the Civil War he served in the army raised by William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, in support of the royal cause, and afterwards became an inmate of the house of Sir Robert Bolles, a Leicestershire baronet, whose son he taught. In 1655 he annotated Dr. Campion's 'Art of Setting or Composing of Musick in Parts,' another edition of which appeared in 1664, and the tract and annotations were added to several of the early editions of Playford's 'Introduction to the Skill of Musick.' [See Campion, Thomas, and Playford, John.] In 1659 he published 'The Division Violist, or, An Introduction to the Playing upon a Ground,' dedicated to his patron, Sir Robert Bolles, for the instruction of whose son he tells us the book was originally prepared, with commendatory verses by Dr. Charles Colman, John Jenkins, Matthew Lock, John Carwarden, and Edward Galsthorp, prefixed. In 1665 he published a second edition with a Latin translation printed in parallel columns with the English text, and the double title, 'Chelys, Minuritionum Artificio Exornata sive, Minuritiones ad Basin, etiam Ex-tempore Modulandi Ratio. The Division Viol, or, The Art of Playing Ex-tempore upon a Ground,' dedicated to his former pupil, Sir John Bolles, who had succeeded to the baronetcy. A third edition appeared in 1712, to which a portrait of Sympson, finely engraved by Faithorne, after J. Carwarden, was prefixed. In 1665 he published 'The Principles of Practical Musick,' of which he issued a second edition in 1667, under the title of 'A Compendium of Practical Musick, in five Parts. Teaching, by a New and Easie Method, 1. The Rudiments of Song. 2. The Principles of Composition. 3. The Use of Discords. 4. The Form of Figurate Descant. 5. The Contrivance of Canon.' This was dedicated to the Duke of Newcastle, and had commendatory verses by Matthew Lock and John Jenkins prefixed. It became popular, and other editions with additions appeared in 1678, 1706,
- ↑ MS. letter to Editor.
