Portraits of Four Bandsmen

Once upon a time, a man in uniform
was not a soldier or policeman
but a bandsman.

The fabric colors, the gold braid,
  the fancy embroidery
dazzled the eye before the band
even played a note of music.

Such a fine band uniform
commanded attention,
bestowing a prestige
that highlighted the special occasion
of a concert or parade.

But no uniform was complete
without a fancy hat.
And in the case of these four bandsmen,
it was a French style Kepi cap
with a wreath badge and the initials:

LOUHI

These four anonymous  musicians in matching uniforms were members of the same band. They posed for an unknown photographer who produced three cabinet card photographs which were later cut and pasted into an album. The first two bandsmen posed perched on the arms of a wooden chair that cradled a tuba and cornet. The young man on the right with his cap pushed back to reveal his curly locks, is the tubist, I think, because he leans on the tuba's mouthpipe in a familiar way that only the instrument's player would do. Both men gaze into the camera lens with confidence and a certain bravura.

The second bandsman plays a B-flat tenor horn which he has upturned onto the seat of a different  wooden chair. A narrow braid, perhaps in gold thread, goes down one trouser leg, a mark of a full dress uniform. 

The third portrait is of the E-flat clarinetist, the solo descant woodwind voice of a brass band. He stands next to the same chair with decorative twisted legs and back as did the tenor horn player. Both have the same direct aspect to the camera that coveys assurance and pride. 

Dressed in expensive uniforms, did these four musicians belong to a professional band? A circus band or traveling concert band? Without a photographer's name there was no location. The only clue was the cap badge, LOUHI, which was not typical of most bands which usually had insignia using just three initials, the last two ending in C.B. for Cornet Band or Citizens Band. Was there a LOUHI Band?

Indeed there was and its musicians were Finnish-Americans who lived in Monessen, Pennsylvania

Monessen PA Daily Independent
24 June 1911

In 1911 the Louhi Band celebrated its 11th year of concerts in Monessen, a small city in western Pennsylvania just south of Pittsburgh on the Monongahela River. In 1910 its population was 11,775, a 436.0% increase from 1900 when just 2,197 people lived there. The growth was the result of America's steel industry boom, when in the first decades of the 20th century, many immigrants from Finland, which has a heritage of steel making, came to work in Monessen's mills.

The Monessen Daily Independent featured a photo of the Louhi Band and a short history of how it was established in February 1900 with fourteen Finnish-American musicians. By 1911 it had 30 bandsmen and was led by Prof. J. B. Limatainen, who received his musical education in the Finnish Military Music School at Wieber, Finland. The photo is very grainy but I think the band wears the same uniforms as the bandsmen, so I believe it helps date their cabinet photos to that first decade 1900 to 1910.

In this era the Finnish people were not a free people. Finland has a long history of subjection under one of their larger neighboring countries, and since 1809 it was known as the Grand Duchy of Finland, a autonomous principality of the Russian Empire. Before that it was part of Sweden for hundreds of years beginning in the 12th century. Yet the Finnish language is unlike any of the Scandinavian languages of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, and is very different from Russian. It actually has more similarities with Hungarian.

So in 1900-1910, Finnish immigrants, like Poles, Czechs, Ukrainians, and many other European folk, brought their rich culture to America from a place that was not a true independent nation. The band's name LOUHI comes from a female character in the great Finnish saga, The Kalevala. In this long epic poem, Louhi is the powerful queen of the northern realm of Pohjola, with the ability to change shape and weave mighty enchantments. She is described as wicked, which seems an odd choice for a band's name. But The Kalevala's many characters and myths are so important to Finland's language and national culture that many of its legendary figures were added to place and business names.

Monessen PA Daily Independent
16 June 1915

By the summer of 1915 the Louhi Band had a new band director, George E. Wahlström and 40 musicians, including one woman on cornet, Miss Ksenna Tanttari. The Monessen newspaper promoted one of their concerts with a photo, program, and roster of all the musicians and their instruments. This photo is also too dark to see much detail, but their uniforms look less ornate. A simple cadet style jacket would certainly have been more affordable for a larger band.

The summer before, just two months prior to the onset of the Great War in 1914, the great Finnish composer Jean Sibelius visited America to conduct his new tone poem, The Oceanides, at the Norfolk Music Festival in Connecticut. Already a famous figure in music, his arrival inspired many Finnish-Americans to celebrate Finnish music. In 1915 Sibelius granted some Finns in Monessen permission to use his name to establish a Sibelius Society to promote the musical heritage of the Finnish people.

When the war ended in 1918, Finland finally became an independent nation. In 1920 the Louhi Band and member of the Monessen Sibelius Society took the band and 400 Finnish-Americans back to their homeland for a concert tour. In attendance at the Louhi Bnd's first performance in Helsinki was Jean Sibelius.

Monessen's population reached its peak in 1930 with 20,268 residents. In addition to the Finnish-American Louhi Band, the Monessen community boasted of Italian, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Slovak, and Croatian bands too, all made up of immigrants. Sadly in the 1930s the Great Depression changed the steel industry forcing Monessen's mills to close. The older immigrant neighborhoods began to lose their ethnic homogeneity as younger people moved away. Also new Federal laws established quotas on immigration and the numbers of Finnish immigrants drastically declined. By the start of WW2, the Louhi Band no longer had enough bandsmen, and according to a short history of the band, it stopped performing in 1942.

The population of Monessen today (2017) is estimated at about 7,339. 

 * * *

In 1901, the Lyon & Healy Musical Instrument Company of Chicago released a mail order catalog of band instruments, musician's supplies, and band uniforms. They supplied over 30 styles of uniforms, price on request, in various combinations of fabrics, colors, braids, epaulets, plumes and hats. . In the first image, No. 784 is not unlike the Louhi Bandsmen's uniforms.  

1901 Lyon & Healy's Catalog of
Band Instruments, Drums, and Uniforms,

1901 Lyon & Healy's Catalog of
Band Instruments, Drums, and Uniforms,

1901 Lyon & Healy's Catalog of
Band Instruments, Drums, and Uniforms,

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where Finns are fun.