This is a blog about music, photography, history, and culture. These are photographs from my collection that tell a story about lost time and forgotten music. Mike Brubaker
Lake Mills, Rock Mountain National Park taken by George Abeel, circa 1927
Great landscape photographs really need no caption, no description, no context to invoke wonder, awe, or reverence for the Earth. Yet they are the product of a human eye looking through a camera lens focusing on the subtle details of haze and sharpness, lines and curves, light and shadow.
<< Click the images to enlarge them. >>
Lake Mills, Rock Mountain National Park Source: The Internets, circa 2020
In the 21st century technology has given photographers new tools that produce images with color, movement, density, and realism. But it still requires a good eye to see the play of reflections, anticipate the movement of sunlight, and frame the moment.
Mount Assiniboine, Banff, Alberta, Canada taken by George Abeel, circa 1926
In earlier times a photographer used cameras with limited focus and film that could only capture a narrow spectrum of light.
Most people then only knew of exotic places through pictures in sepia or black and white tones.
The locations were often so remote that few humans had ever seen them. These pioneer photographers interpreted what they saw and arranged their camera to record a brief moment in the Earth's fullness of time.
If they were successful the images of faraway places inspired amazement, curiosity, and respect for the world. Every new photo expanded our knowledge of geography, geology, and natural environs of an unfamiliar place.
Today I wish to introduce a photographer whose work I have collected. His name is George Abeel.
He was a talented musician who played the piccolo and the oboe good enough to earn a position in John Philip Sousa's band.
I believe music was George's first love, but his passion was photography. As a young man he traveled the country and hiked in some of North America's grandest parks taking brilliant photos of their majestic mountains.
These samples of his camera work are from his trips to Banff, Alberta, Canada; Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado; and Glacier National Park, Montana.
Jackson Glacier, Glacier National Park taken by George Abeel, circa 1927
George developed and printed
these three photographs himself.
They are roughly the size
of a postcard, 5¼ x 3¼ inches.
But I have scanned them to enlarge the detail
and they are extraordinary beautiful photos,
the result of a fine camera
and a very skilled photographer.
Jackson Glacier, Glacier National Park Source: The Internets
Unfortunately I don't have time this weekend to tell the full story of George Abeel, the musician, so this is more of an introduction to George as a photographer.
Stay tuned for the complete story of George Abeel,
A Wunderkind is a German word for "wonder child", a term for a child prodigy who exhibits precocious talents or skills usually acquired only after reaching adult maturity. Though it's not an uncommon German loanword its usage in English has changed in the 21st century to include a much wider variety of activities that children may excel in. Exceptionally bright children are now found in math, science, language, chess, athletics, and more. But in the 19th century a Wunderkind almost always referred to a gifted young musician. A youngster whose phenomenal talent elicited awe from the people who heard them perform.
The classic example is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) whose musical genius on keyboard and violin was evident at age five when his father began presenting him in concerts to royalty. By the time he became a young adult he had toured Europe as a performer and was celebrated as a rising composer. But Wolfgang had a sister, Maria Anna Mozart, commonly known as Nannerl (1751–1829), who earned a right to be called a Wunderkind, too. Unfortunately her talents were never allowed to develop and she never shared in the great fame that her brother achieved.
Today I present another brother and sister duo, two musical prodigies who once posed for a camera in Aachen, Germany. Their names were Wilhelm and Johanna Hess. Johanna played piano and Willie played the violin. They were very talented musicians.
Johanna sits on the right with her elbow resting on a piano keyboard. She was the eldest child of Julius and Lina Hess of Mannheim where she was born in 1858. Mannheim was the second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the state capital. Her brother Wilhelm Hess stands on the left wearing a neat velvet jacket and holding his violin. "Willie or Willy" was born the following year in 1859. Their father Julius Hess was an accomplished musician on violin and viola, and just as Wolfgang's father, Leopold Mozart, had done, Julius naturally became his children's first music teacher.
In 1866 he took his family, now with five children, to New York City where he found work playing in the Theodore Thomas Orchestra, then one of the best orchestras in the United States. It did not take long before Thomas recognized Johanna and Willie's fantastic talents and arranged to include them in concerts of his orchestra.
The first was a memorial concert on 21 Nov 1868 for Edmund Remack, music critic and editor of the New York Abend-Zeitung, who had recently died. This benefit concert was presented to raise money for Remack's wife and children. Willie and Johanna played "La Favorite", a duo for piano and violin by Donizetti. A week later on 29 November they played with Theodore Thomas' Orchestra again with Willie playing a solo piece entitled "Fantasie on La petite tambour" by David. The concert was reviewed in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
Willie Hess performed a solo on the violin, "Le Petit Tambour." For a boy ten years old he shows wonderful precocity of genius on this instrument. He plays with the ease, exactness and almost the masterly touch and skill of Ole Bail or Paganini. He was interrupted with frequent applause. A delightful feature of the evening, and perhaps the most delightful feature to many, was the appearance of Miss Joanna [sic] (nine years old) and Willie Hess in a duo for the piano and violin on "Themes from La Favorita." If his performances on the violin betrayed high musical genius so did [her] playing on the piano. [Her] touch had all the delicacy of the maturest cultivation. They were most enthusiastically applauded, as they richly deserved.
Over the next 4 weeks in December 1868 the Hess children participated in a concert each week. On 17 December 1868 Johanna and Willie appeared on the stage of the Brooklyn Academy of Music f or a "Grand Gala Concert" with Theodore Thomas' "unrivalled orchestra."
Brooklyn Daily Eagle 17 December 1868
Jenny Twitchell Kempton contralto, circa 1860 Source: Wikipedia
The program featured Mrs. Jenny Kempton, the "Favorite Prima Donna Contralto". Jenny Twitchell Kempton (1835–1921) was born in Dublin, New Hampshire and at an early age demonstrated an extraordinary vocal range. As a young girl she moved to Boston where in 1850 at age 15 she sang the lead solos in the first American performances of Felix Mendelssohn's oratorios "St. Paul" and "Elijah" with the Handel and Haydn Society. After becoming a very accomplished singer in Boston she moved to New York for further vocal study. There she was engaged as a soloist by Father Kemp's Old Folks Concerts Company and for nearly three years toured the country. By 1868 she had already performed many concerts in New York, San Francisco, and most recently a two year tour of Europe. Having the Hess children share the solo bill on her concert was no mean feat.
On this concert Willie Hess played a violin solo entitled "La Petit Tambour" with the orchestra, and later a Grand Duet for Piano and Violin (William Tell) by Osborn and Beriot. Two days later on a Saturday afternoon they performed at Steinway Hall, a 2,500 seat concert hall and showrooms for Steinway & Sons pianos. Recently completed in October 1866 it was already establishing a reputation, in the words of one critic, as "the cradle of classical music in this country".
A reviewer for the Buffalo, NY Commercial newspaper wrote a review:
NEW YORK, Dec. 21st.
On Saturday afternoon, Dec. 19, the Hess children gave a matinee at Steinway Hall, and were assisted by-F. Bergner ('cello), Mme. Gazzaniga and Julius Hess (violin). The programme was a short one, and included the lst movement from one of Mozart's string quartets: In it these talented children appeared to better advantage than in any other selection; Miss Joanna—in particular—was very accurate as regards time, and she also exhibited some taste and an attempt at shading. I must repeat the opinion that it is unwise to bring prodigies before the public. It is my honest belief that such a course—in most cases—does incalculable injury to the advancement of the innocent victims, while the performance is productive of but little pleasure to the public. Let Mr. Hess take warning and discontinue the forcing process.
The website Music in Gotham provides a timeline of Willie and Johanna's performances in New York. Over the next four years they played over 19 concerts in the city with many more on tour to Philadelphia and around the northeast. Their programs featured more ambitious music of Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and other early Romantic era composers. Reviewers praised their accomplishments but cautioned their father Julius Hess against pushing them too hard. In this era there were, as yet, no laws concerning child labor and many cities were beginning to see increasing public complaints about exploitation of child entertainers and exhibiting them in unsavory and noisome theaters at late hours.
However in the summer of 1872 Julius Hess decided to avoid that situation and take Willie and Johanna back to the Old World for better musical study. Their first stop was Amsterdam followed by Leipzig, Germany where they performed at the famous Leipzig Gewandhaus. Johanna was age 15 and Willie was 14, though the newspapers knocked a year off each of them to earn every Wunderkind day.
A correspondent for London's Musical Standard newspaper wrote a review of Willie's and Johanna's debut concert at the Gewandhaus, an event the reviewer noted as highly unusual for having two juvenile artists from America play for Leipzig's highly critical patrons. On 9 July 1873 he wrote:
The reputation they had already made in the United States and in Holland had naturally raised great expectations in the minds of the critics of this good city, and it is most gratifying to be able to state that in no respect were these expectations disappointed; for the performance of the young lady upon the piano, and of her brother upon the violin, were most praiseworthy. Not only do they excel in solos, but also in trios, quartets, &c. For instance, Mozart's trio in Es dur was most artistically rendered by the brother and sister, assisted by one of the best second violins of Leipzig.
Johanna Hess is gifted with a most delicate and caressing touch which, joined to great taste for the art to which her young existence is now wedded, went far towards securing for her the sympathies of the audience. The boy displayed considerable technical skill, in his artistical manipulation of his violin; and as he is, likewise, keenly alive to the beauties contained in the works which he undertakes to render, he carried all before him. Many an older violinist. would lack the ease and faultless precision with which he gave the staccatos and arpeggios. And what a soft and expressive way he has of interpreting an adagio movement; for a display of his facility in this direction Spohr's ninth concerto for the violin afforded him a most favourable opportunity.
The concert was not a crowded one at all, but nobody expects a full room in the summer months as everybody of note being out of town during June, July, and August. The applause which fell to the lot of the two young artistes was of a most encouraging nature, however, and they must have been satisfied with the comparatively brilliant success they gained. Whether their future will be as bright as the present predicts it to be it is difficult to say, but it can he safely asserted that should they only continue to be as proficient as they now are they will ever command the attention of the public.
In the following year of 1874 the Hess family made several visits to the city of Aachen, a spa city near Germany’s borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, about halfway between Brussels and Bonn. They gave several concerts in Aachen that year, usually described as "aus New York" or from "Amerika". It was here that Johanna and Willie posed for their carte de visite photo at the studio of Carl Billotte of 24 Theaterstrasse in Aachen. On the back someone wrote their names in ink:
Johanna &
Willie Hess
This photo of Johanna and Willie resembles many other souvenir photos sold to promote professional concert artistes and theatrical entertainers, though I'm sure it still made their grandparents proud. If I am correct about the date then Johanna would be age 16 and Willie age 15, just beginning young adulthood and leaving their Wunderkind years.
Zweibrücken, Germany Pfälzische Blätter 15 October 1874
Besides Leipzig and Aachen I also found notices of their concerts in several cities in Germany, Belgium, France and even in Wien, Austria, too.
In October 1874 Willie and Johanna played an Instrumental-Concert at the Stadthaus Salle in Zweibrücken, Germany. Both played individual solos and also in chamber music with their Vater Julius Hess on viola, and their younger brother Friedrich Hess on cello. There was music by Mozart, Vieuxtemps, Rubenstein, Beethoven, and Spohr.
The Hess family surely did not perform for free but they seem to have deliberately avoided the music hall circuits played by other family bands of this era. Julius Hess helped his children find the good teachers for their instruments and both Johanna and Willie benefited from advanced study with some of the best musicians of this era.
In 1876 Willie Hess traveled to Berlin where he became a student of the great Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim (1831–1907) who brought Willie's musicianship to its highest standards. After two years in Berlin he was hired as principal leader and first violinist with the Oper Frankfurt. While there Willie Hess married Ida Sophie Johanna Traut in 1885.
In 1886 he left that post to assume a violin professorship at the Rotterdam Conservatorium which he held for two years.
In 1888 Willie Hess crossed the English Channel to become leader of The Hallé Orchestra in Manchester where he also became the principal professor of violin at the Royal Manchester College of Music. In 1895 he moved again for an appointment as principal professor of violin at the Conservatorium der Musik in Cologne, Germany. While there he led a string quartet, a chamber ensemble form that Joachim had help make popular for public concerts.
Guerzenich String Quartet from Cologne: Willy Hess (1st violin), Friedrich Grützmacher Younger (cello), Josef Schwartz (viola), Willy Seibert (2nd violin) circa 1895—1899 Source: Wikimedia
I interrupt this story to explain that Hess' proper German forename—Wilhelm—does not seem to have been used much during his career as either an adult or young boy. In America and England he was usually Master Willy Hess in his early years, but the spelling was not consistent, sometimes Willy or Willie. Since the annotation on the back of the photo has Willie Hess, and the German press used that spelling, that is the form I've used for this story, even though his Wikipedia entry uses "Willy Hess". I'm sure he found this a constant nuisance during his lifetime. Perhaps this nickname confusion was something he shared with Kaiser Wilhelm besides the mustache.
Boston Herald 19 June 1904
In 1904 Willie Hess was invited by Wilhelm Gericke (1845–1925) the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra to become its new concertmaster. Willie accepted and moved to Boston where he held the position for six seasons and also taught violin at Harvard University. However as the orchestra's concert season was only for a few months each year, his schedule allowed for travel back to Europe to play other concert engagements. It seems that Willie's wife chose to stay in Germany during his time in Boston. Sadly she died in February 1909 while he was away in America. This may have influenced his decision to leave the Boston Symphony Orchestra and return to Berlin in 1910. There he was appointed premier violin instructor at the Royal Academy of Music (Königliche Akademische Hochschule für ausübende Tonkunst), the same teaching position of his teacher Joseph Joachim.
Of course the whole world of music was turned upside down by the onslaught of World War One. In Britain and France many German and Austrian musicians were ostracized and Germanic music was banned. In Boston the German-born conductor Karl Muck (1859–1940), who in 1906 succeeded Wilhelm Gericke as music director of the Boston Symphony, was falsely accused of disloyalty as the United States entered the Great War in 1917. Despite having a valid Swiss passport Muck was arrested and from March 1918 until August 1919 he was interned in a prison camp in Georgia as an enemy alien. Upon his release in 1919 Karl Muck and his wife were immediately deported from the United States.
Fortunately Willie Hess was able to avoid such harsh circumstance and he retained his position at the Berlin Academy for several more years after the war. In 1919 he married Anna Katharina Hilgers.
During his time in Berlin Willie Hess premiered several musical works written for him, including some for viola. Considering that he was a violin professor in the Netherlands, England, America, and Germany, his influence as a teacher was very broad and many of his violin students went on to successful careers as concert artists.
Willie Hess died in Berlin on 17 February 1939 at age 79.
But this is a story about two Wunderkinder.
Willie's sister Johanna Hess was clearly an equal partner in their early development as musical artists even though her instrument was very different. While her brother naturally concentrated on violin due to their father's instrument, Johanna's training on piano was clearly not neglected. She was always given equal promotion on their concerts with just as many solo opportunities. When Willie went to Berlin she came too to study with Waldemar Bargiel. There she had the privilege to continue as piano accompanist for him, his fellow students, and even for Joseph Joachim, himself. As she matured she began taking engagements as an accompanist for other instrumentalists and vocalists.
In November 1885 the Hess family ensemble split up when Johanna Hess married Albert Henry Burr of Chicago. Albert was a physician who trained at Chicago Medical College and served as an attending physician at Provident Hospital. He was a lecturer on Rhinology and Laryngology at the Post-Graduate Medical School of Chicago and an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He later became Medical Inspector for the Chicago Board of Education.
Unlike most women of this era who gave up their professional careers upon marriage, Johanna continued to work as a music teacher and piano accompanist in Chicago. In the 1890s a new metropolis was rising out of the ashes of Chicago's Great Fire of 1871. With the influx of new immigrants it was rapidly becoming an important center for opera, theater, and musical arts of all kinds. Johanna must have been pleased when in 1891 the conductor Theodore Thomas, who had first introduced her and her brother to New York audiences, moved to Chicago to start a new orchestra that would eventually be the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Her professional name became Mrs. Johanna Hess-Burr and she developed a specialty in training vocalists. Her name became connected to several prominent opera singers whom she accompanied at private recitals, a popular entertainment in America's Gilded Age society.
In the first weeks of December 1895 Johanna Hess-Burr was a very busy pianist. On Friday, December 6, she traveled 300 miles to Dayton, Ohio to accompany a soprano in a recital at the Women's Christian Association Auditorium. The following Monday, December 9, she was one of seven soloists listed for a "Grand Military Band Concert" presented by the First Regiment Band at Chicago's huge municipal auditorium. On Tuesday, December 10, she played another recital in Chicago for two opera singers, a soprano and a baritone. It would be repeated two days later on Thursday, December 12.
In between on Wednesday, December 11, she presented her own recital at Chicago's new Steinway Hall on East Van Buren Street. She would accompany Mr. George W. Fergusson, baritone, and Mr. Max Bendix, the concertmaster of Theodore Thomas's Orchestra.
The reviewer for Chicago's Inter-Ocean newspaper wrote one of most succinct descriptions of the role an accompanist plays in music. He also praised Mrs. Johanna Hess-Burr in a way that lets us appreciate her talent even though we were not there.
JOHANNA HESS-BURR CONCERT.
In spite of the inclement weather, the friends of Mrs. Johanna Hess-Burr gathered in force at Steinway Hall Wednesday evening, the occasion being a concert, where the name of the talented piano accompanist headed the list of artists. instead of, as usual, having a modest position below the others. Those assisting were George W. Ferguson, barytone. and Max Bendix, violinist.
Frequenters of the concert-room do not appreciate the subtle beauties of skillful accompaniment; becoming accustomed to its presence. they take it as a matter of course. But the artists know how rare is the ability to follow and to lead, as the case may require, giving to the caprice of the virtuoso the earnest attention that he reserves for his composer alone. It is a delicate task. requiring a peculiarly adaptable temperament, with sympathy, refinement of feeling, and above all, perception, both quick and keen. Mrs. Hess-Burr possesses these requirements at their best and has used them so well that her reputation has crossed the Atlantic.
The selections given last evening were such as to enable the player to set forth her varied abilities, although not once did she intrude her tone over that of the soloist. She was accompanying. Enough is said about Mr. Bendix and the handsome young barytone on other occasions to warrant on this no more than the mention of their names; suffice it, their work was up to the high standard they aim to sustain. Let it be written of last evening's concert that the sympathetic accompaniments of Mrs. Hess-Burr were helped to great effectiveness by the efforts of the soloists. The sonata for piano and violin provided a larger opportunity. Unquestionably the pianist would have achieved distinction as a concert soloist had she chosen this field.
Johann Hess Burr died at her home in Dixon, Illinois on 8 April 1928 after a long illness. She was age 70. She was survived by her husband, Dr. Albert H. Burr; a daughter, Mrs. Burr-Benson of New York; and a son, Walter A. burr of Evanston, Illinois.
* * *
My photo of Johanna and Willie Hess is a charming portrait of two talented siblings. Vintage photographs of young violinists from 1860-1890 are pretty ordinary but photos of pianists from this era with their instrument are uncommon. Though the second half of the 19th century became an exciting time in music when the piano became the premier solo instrument, thank Mr. Steinway, and soloists became true concert hall celebrities, I've rarely encountered a photo like this, even if it's just a glimpse of a keyboard.
But without that simple annotation I might never have discovered Johanna's and Willie's identity or their remarkable history as musicians. Unlike many other family ensembles of this time the Hess children evidently had very capable parents, especially their father, Julius Hess, who provided all his children, eight in total, with instrumental training and artistic inspiration. Younger brothers Friedrich Hess, a cellist, and Alfred Hesse, a violinist, both became noted principal players in major orchestras.
Though I was impressed with Willie's achievements as a concertmaster and teacher, it was Johanna's career path that most surprised me. According to her obituary she accompanied a long list of celebrated singers and violinists including "Melba, Nordica, Eames, Brema, Schumann-Heink, Bispham, Campanari, Ysaye, Manteau, Sauret, and many others." Great soloists know that their success depends on the finetuned artistry and wide expertise of their music partners. Undoubtedly that was something Willie learned to appreciate in Johanna when he placed his hand on her shoulder that day in Aachen.
This story needs some music to illustrate the idea of a Wunderkind. Here is Jinxuan Zhang, Violin, 12 Years Old playing a Scherzo and Tarantella. I suspect his mother is accompanying him on piano.
It was published on YouTube in 2021.
And here is the Breshears String Quartet playing Beethoven's String Quartet No. 1, Op. 18, mvts. 3 & 4.
They are called the Stars Aligned Siblings (ages 8, 11, 12, 13)
Dustin Breshears, violin I
Valery Breshears, violin II
Colin Breshears, viola
Starla Breshears, cello The video was released in October 2020.
A bass drum is the heartbeat of any musical ensemble. In a military band its beat sets the stride cadence for marching soldiers. In a pop band its thumping accents mark the step turns for dancers. In an orchestra it thunders at every crescendo and always strikes the last wallop in a finale. It's an essential instrument for a wide variety of rhythmic music but it's often underappreciated for how it synchronizes the pulse of an ensemble's musicians.
This bass drummer certainly knew his worth as he wrote a note on his postcard photo.
Let this do Your Drumming
He is a young man, late teens or early twenties, dressed in dark trousers, a bright white uniform jacket with white bowtie, and a white hat with his band's name — ELLINGTON. He is actually holding two instruments—a bass drum and a set of cymbals. His drum uses old-fashioned rope tensioning for the heads. Bits of leather called ears tighten the rope loops to make the heads taunt for a ringing thud. One cymbal is attached to the drum shell while the other is held in the drummer's left hand. It's a traditional coupling for a percussionist which lets the bass drum sound strong beats while cymbals mark weaker afterbeats as in BOOM-pah, BOOM-pah, BOOM-pah, etc. And so he doesn't lose count there is a music lyre attached to the top of the drum to hold his part.
Unfortunately his postcard is not marked and I can only guess that it was taken in the United States sometime around 1906-1916. There are eight towns named Ellington in the U.S. and it's likely that each one had a band in the early 20th century. And of course the band might be named for its band leader, too. However I don't think Duke Ellington's band, which was formed a few decades later, every did much marching.
* * *
My second drummer stands in front of a photographer's studio backdrop, a painted scene of a bucolic landscape. At his waist hangs a snare drum which has threaded rod tensioners and possibly a metal shell. The drum is tilted so that his drumsticks are positioned in a characteristic grip that puts more power to the dominant right hand. Notice that he has his music held in a lyre which is pinned to his coat. This man looks to be in his late twenties or thirties. He wears a bandsman's uniform and kepi hat in a dark color, typical of those worn by bands in the late 19th century. His long twisty mustache likely dates him to the 1890s.
This cabinet card photograph was taken at the Photographic Art Studio of C. Numa in Halstein, Iowa. At sometime in the distant past the photo was mounted on a wall as it has four holes punched through the cardstock.
Halstein is situated in west central Iowa about 46 miles east of Sioux City. In 1890, on its first census, it had just 539 inhabitants. A decade later in 1900 it could boast of a 61.4% increase to 870. Its current population is about 1,500.
* * *
My third percussionist is a cymbals player, technically not a drum, but still a vital part of a drum section. The flashy clash of brass cymbals has always been an important sound color in music dating back to the ancient cultures of China, Egypt, and India. European music adopted cymbals from the Ottoman Empire's Janissary military bands. In the late 18th century both Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn used cymbals to add an exotic Turkish flavor to their music.
This young man stands in front of another photographer's faux wooded glen but with extra 3-D shrubbery, grass, and stumps to add realism. He keeps a tight grip on his pair of cymbals as the most embarassing moment for any percussionist is to unwittingly initiate an accidental cymbal crash. His bandsman's uniform is similar to the previous drummer but I think it dates from the 1880s. The white belt across his left shoulder is for his music satchel, hidden by his right hand. I don't know that I've ever seen a cymbalist use a music lyre. Maybe they just memorize the score. His kepi hat has large badge that in neat lettering reads Seventh Ward Band, which relates to a neighborhood section of his hometown of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
The photo was taken by photographer G. M. Greene of No 127 Franklin Steet, opposite the M. E. Stone Church, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Johnstown. His full name was George Miles Greene. Born in 1835 he set up a successful studio in downtown Johnstown which was tragically destroyed in the Great Johnstown Flood of 1889.
This horrendous catastrophe occurred on Friday, 31 May 1889, after the South Fork Dam, located on the Little Conemaugh River, 14 miles (23 km) upstream of Johnstown, ruptured after several days of extremely heavy rainfall. Over 14.55 million cubic meters of water was suddenly released and the resulting flood killed 2,208 people. The damage cost to the city and environs was estimated at $17 million (equivalent to $536 million in 2024).
Mr. Greene was able to restart his business but in 1894 poor health forced him to sell it. He died the following year at age 65.
Because of this terrible calamity this photo must date prior to May 1889. It also begs a question, did the young man survive? We can never know but it adds a special back story to the photo.
* * *
My fourth drummer is a handsome young man with arguably the best mustache. He leans against a faux plinth with a dramatic natural scene behind him, not a landscape, I think, but either a seascape or river/lake view. His arms and legs are casually crossed with his shako hat and music satchel placed atop the plinth and his snare drum lying at his feet. He wears a very impressive military style uniform with striped trousers, cutaway jacket, white belt, and fringed epaulets. It very like a state militia/nation guardsman's uniform. On his white music satchel is a name: Chelsea.
Chelsea is a small city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, about 53 miles west of Detroit, in between Ann Arbor and Jackson, Michigan. In 1880 Chelsea had 1,160 residents and in 140+ years its population has grown to around 5,500.
The photographer was E. E. Shaver of Chelsea whose cardstock back has an nice illustration of a camera and artist's palette illuminated by the sun. Just above is a wonderful clear note with names and a date.
Mr. G. A. Lacey Original member of the Excelsior Cornet Band organzed (sic) Feb. 19 - 1878 Presented by Lillie Wackenhut
The snare drummer was George A. Lacey. In the 1880 U. S. census for Chelsea village he was listed, age 29, next to his wife, Phebe Lacey, age 27, with no children. George's occupation was "Watch Tinker", i.e. watch repairer. Unfortunately I was unable to find any more references to him in any official records or newspapers. So he will remain lost in time.
The photographer was Ernest Ebenizer Shaver. He was also listed in Chelsea's 1880 census, at age 30 living with his wife, Martha Shaver, age 22, but without children. Ernest's occupation was "Deguerian (sic) Artist." According to another short history on Chelsea, Ernest Shaver, like George Lacey, was also a founding member of Chelsea's Excelsior Cornet Band. I found just one reference to the band in an 1881 report about a county band contest where it won 2nd prize. It was described as having just 13 musicians. In other reports it played for local dances and patriotic events but does not seem to have lasted more than a decade. Shaver died in 1917.
Lillie Wackenhut was also in the 1880 census. She was the youngest of two daughters of George and Martha Wackenhut. Her older sister Letta was 3 and Lillie was just 1 year of age. George Wackenhut was 29 and worked as a "Clerk in Store". Since he was the same age as George, I suspect they both played together with Ernest in the Excelsior Cornet Band. I'd bet anything that Ernest made portraits of all the band's members, too, especially as I think George Lacey is posing in a splendid new uniform.
The bottom phrase in the annotation: "Presented by Lillie Wackenhut" sounds to me like it was a gift from Lillie, and not to Lillie, especially as she was not yet born when the Excelsior Cornet Band was established. I suspect that when she was much older she gave this photo to someone or some historical society as a memento of Chelsea's cultural history. I also think it's possible that she had copies of the other portraits of the band's members and may have donated them too. Lillie May Wackenhut died in 1965 at age 86 and is buried with her parents in a cemetery in Chelsea, Michigan. I could not find any information that she ever married or had children.
***
Nearly every antique photograph in my collection of a band has drummers. A band's name was often stenciled onto the head of a bass drum which serves to identify the band and its location. Bass drums, snare drums and cymbals are not complicated instruments and, of course, never get to play a melody. But to keep a musical group together, drums require a player who has a fine sense of rhythm and impeccable timing. For some inexplicable reason portraits of drummers are surprising rare. I have hundreds of cdv and cabinet photos of individual musicians with their cornet, clarinet, trombone, tuba, violin, cello, and the like, but hardly any percussion musicians pictured with their drum. The cymbal player from Johnstown is the first one I have acquired like that. I'll keep my eye out for more.
To finish with some drum noise here is a short YouTube video from the Marching.com channel of the U.S. Marine Drum & Bugle Corps Percussion playing their warmup drill just before the closing ceremony of the World Association of Marching Show Bands (WAMSB) 2023 World Championships held in Buckhannon, West Virginia. It's a good demonstration of how drummers think differently than other musicians.
Did you know the U.S. military issued cow bells?
And here is another YouTube video from the Marching.com channel of the Euroband Rotterdam (Netherlands) in the 2025 Corso Zundert flower parade. The cameraman is positioned at the front of the band as it marches giving a great viewpoint of the drummers and the drum major.
They called it an "Opera House" because it was a temple of music; a playhouse of thespian art; a venue for education, science, and culture; and most of all a center of civic pride. This fancy big-city term for a theater, or theatre to use the more refined spelling, was adopted in the 19th and early 20th centuries by countless small communities all across America from Maine to California. Some towns built their opera house with public funds that incorporated civic offices like police and fire departments into the building. Others were private ventures into America's burgeoning entertainment industry that subsidized the investment in a theatre by renting out ground floor space to small shops and businesses. Many opera houses were built by fraternal societies as both a lodge assembly hall and a community auditorium. These innumerable stages in small towns served as as platforms for politicians' speeches, high school commencements, church conclaves, music school recitals, and much more.
And in the center of the continent, in the state of Kansas there were a surprising number of opera houses. Want to make a guess how many? The answer will be revealed at the end of this story.
We begin with this colorized half-tone photo of a stout red brick building situated on the corner of two unpaved streets. It is the Opera House of Caldwell, Kansas that was pictured on a postcard sent from Caldwell on 4 July 1909 at 7:30 PM to Floyd A. Barnes of Ft Worth, Texas.
7/4/09 Dear Floyd, Did you get my letter about the papers. Don't over look sending them because I would like to keep up with the club & also will have to send off my report from here. Yours F. E. Ligon P. O. Box 312
Caldwell, Kansas is a city in Sumner County, Kansas that was founded in 1871. In 1910 it boasted of 2,205 citizens, but over a century later in 2020 its population has reduced to 1,025. It is located about 2 miles north of the Oklahoma border and 45 miles south of Wichita, Kansas.
Caldwell KS News 25 March 1909
Melodramas and comedies were standard fare for theatres like the Caldwell Opera House. In the late 19th and early 20th century small companies of actors traveled the continent by rail following a growing circuit of small town theaters. A theatrical troupe was booked by an opera house manager, usually through an agency, and the production would be promoted by the local newspapers. In March 1909 the Opera House offered "A Dangerous Friend", "a comedy drama that's just right. No play of late years has met with such success and praise. 50 nights in New York. 35 nights in Chicago." The newspaper advert for the show shows a scene from the production with two women, and four men. A couple of fellows look like they need some help getting off the floor.
Though it was called an "opera house" this theater presented all kinds of entertainment from plays to concerts to lectures. Many performances were by local talent or groups. Most theaters would also employ local musicians to accompany acts. According to the 1905 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide, the Caldwell Opera House seated 800 and used oil lamps for illumination. Its proscenium opening was 24 ft wide and 30 ft high. There was one hotel in Caldwell that charged $1.50 and $2 for rooms.
Today in 2026, on the corner of South Main Street (U.S. 81) and West 2nd Avenue in Caldwell, Kansas is a sign that commemorates the opera house and its historic importance to the people of Caldwell.
The Grand Opera House
By 1884 the growing city of Caldwell was interested in promoting the finer cultural aspects of life and plans were made to construct a new Grand Opera House. During that year an opulent three story brick structure was erected on this site. It was the pride of Caldwell and its size and elegance were unmatched anywhere in the Southwest. It was erected at a cost of $20,000, seated about 1200 people and contained a roller skating rink in the basement. The dedication was held on the evening of January 12, 1885 and was followed by the opening performance of "The Mascotte" presented by the Fay Templeton Comic Opera Company.
Over the years it became the hub of the Caldwell social scene and was used for such events as graduation ceremonies as well as being visited by the major theatrical troupes of the day, such as the Boston Opera Company.
On February 19, 1918, the Grand Opera House was destroyed in a spectacular fire. While nearby businesses were saved, the Opera House was a total loss along with 25 trained dogs which were kennelled in the basement and a number of Home Guard rifles which added to the flames. Plans were immediately begun to build again on the old site, but never came to fruition.
Erected 1993 by The Caldwell Historical Society.
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Thirty-four miles due east of Caldwell's Opera House is the Fifth Avenue Opera House of Arkansas City, Kansas. This three-story opera house was made of grey limestone blocks, a common building material used throughout Kansas. Just below the top edifice is an arch with "Fifth Avenue Opera House" carved in the stone. Below it is the entrance flanked with billboards for an upcoming show. On the two front corners of the building are shops with tall glass windows.
The Fifth Avenue Opera House was larger than Caldwell's with 1,400 seats, both gas and electric lights, and a square proscenium stage 36 feet wide and tall. It was served by several hotels and train connections to four railroads. It was constructed between 1886 and 1890 at a cost of over $100,000. It became a popular venue with traveling shows that considered it one of the finest theatres in Kansas.
Arkansas City is in Cowley County, Kansas, situated at the confluence of the Arkansas and Walnut rivers in the southwestern part of the county. In 1890 when its opera house was built the Arkansas City counted 8,347 inhabitants. Its current estimate is around 11,765 citizens, roughly half the number of Etzanoa, the ancestral city of the Wichita people, which flourished there from 1450 to 1700 with an estimated population of 20,000. Arkansas City was established in 1870 and its name is pronounced R-Can-sis, unlike the state of Arkansas which is R-Can-saw. Kansas doesn't even share a border with Arkansas, which has its own Arkansas City, too.
This picture postcard of the Fifth Avenue Opera House was likely printed in around 1910 but was sent from Arkansas City on 28 January 1925 to Mrs. G. W. Kirk of Kansas City, Kansas.
Arkansas city Kansas Jan 28th 1925 My Dear Shirley and all received card and am a shamed I had not wrote but will write you a long letter some day
We have all been sick with bad colds and Tilda not(?) overhers but is better hope your mother get's to feeling better yes I guess Edward is keeping you busy these days Tell him we are looking for to see him this Spring and wish your mother could come to and will look for glad to tell Glad the radio is fine these nights ual(?) I will do better next time love Mrs C E Stewart
In the post-war years small town theaters were competing against several new mediums. The first rival to theatrical entertainment came from cinema films, silent at first, though always accompanied by live music performed by a single keyboardist on piano or organ, or an orchestra of many instruments. In 1926
Warner Bros. studios released Don Juan, the first feature-length film with a musical score and sound effects synchronized to the film but without spoken dialogue. Then in October 1927 came Al Jolson's breakout movie The Jazz Singer which had synchronized singing and limited spoken dialogue using the Vitaphone disk system. Soon Hollywood's movie industry was taking up all the space on the entertainment page of newspapers.
The second rival to live theater shows was invisible and didn't even need an actual building. Radio broadcasting stations first began operating in the 1920s providing multiple kinds of programs with music, spoken drama, and even real opera, and as Mrs. C. E. Stewart notes it was "fine". Now anyone with a radio receiver could listen to shows in the privacy of their own home. In response many theaters in the 1920s converted their auditorium space into radio sound stages for live performances sent over the airways.
To cope with the changing times the Fifth Avenue Opera House changed its name to just the "Fifth Avenue Theatre".
Arkansas City, KS Daily News 24 January 1920
But no film or radio of this era could match a theater for a live display of a bevy of feminine charms. This 1920s advert for the Fifth Avenue Theatre promoted a "smart revue deluxe" called "Oh! Baby" with 50 performers. This newspaper illustration for the show has over a dozen women revealing far more ankles and bare shoulders than what a chorus line would have shown a decade earlier. "Seemingly a never ending vista of fair women bedecked with the masterpieces of the modiste's art making in fact and without question Queen of All Beauty Shows."
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This is a postcard of the Opera House of Colby, Kansas. According to information from the Prairie Museum of Art and History in Colby, this theater opened in 1908 but was not the success its investors hoped for. Made of brick with just two floors it is smaller than the Caldwell opera house so I'd guess that it seats only 500 patrons.
Colby, Kansas is located in the northwest corner of the state and is the county seat of Thomas County. In 1910 its population was 1,130 and its current number is about 5,590. This postcard was sent on 12 July 1910 from Colby to Miss Hazel Kowes of Wichita, Kansas.
This looks good on paper x Gen but it is dry and hot out here
As far as I can discover, real authentic opera productions were never programed at any of the small opera houses in Kansas, though many did host large musicals and minstrel shows. Nonetheless they still booked high class entertainers who would play one-night engagements as they toured the western states. Colby is about 400 miles west from Kansas City, Missouri (the larger of two Kansas Cities) and another 200 miles on to Denver, Colorado. For an artiste traveling by train it was easy money to stop in a small town for a concert and then as soon as the curtain fell, run to catch a late night train.
Colby KS Tribune 13 January 1910
In January 1910 the Colby Opera House presented an adaption of Goethe's immortal tragedy, Faust, starring Miss Olga Verne as Marguerite. This show had six acts and must have had a large company. It also brought its own elaborate scenery with "wonderful electrical effects".
Colby KS Free Press Tribune 7 April 1910
Later in April 1910 the Colby Opera House presented two nights of "illustrated lectures" by W. D. Street on "The Great Wild West" and "Camp Fires on the Plains". The speaker was William Daniel Street (1851–1911), a pioneer plainsman and Indian fighter who served as a scout and guide for General George Armstrong Custer, though he was not present at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. The newspaper illustration on the advertisement of his lecture shows an Indian warrior on horseback chasing down a buffalo. In 1910 such a scene would have been within the living memory of many Kansans.
That summer of 1910 found the Colby Opera House in dire financial trouble. Construction of the building in 1908 had cost $18,000 but its investors, all local businessmen, were only able to raise $13,000 which forced them to take out a mortgage for $5,000. In its first two seasons the theatre's ticket sales had been insufficient to cover operating costs and now payment on the note was overdue with interest. In August the bankruptcy law required that the Colby Opera House be sold by auction on the steps of the county courthouse.
On that day the investors lost their money, but the town's wealthiest businessman, J. T. Fitzgerald, owner of the county's largest general store, bought himself a great bargain as he was the only bidder at $5.000. And he was also the holder of the mortgage, too, so he was essentially paying himself. This might be a story worthy of an opera or a melodrama.
Colby KS Tribune 10 November 1910
In November 1910 a touring company of "Nancy" by C. H. Kerr played the Colby Opera House. It starred Grace Cameron, "America's Favorite Comedienne" and was a "Great, Soul Stirring Play of Home Life." It also came "with special music" which suggests it had songs with instrumental accompaniment.
The Colby Opera House continued to present shows for a few more years but by 1918 it began offering more movies than live acts. In 1924 the building was converted into a Baptist Church. During the next war it briefly became a National Guard armory until it was replaced by a new building. The Colby Opera House was demolished in 1959.
the Kansas Historic Theatres Association the state once had an estimated 900 "opera houses", of which roughly 200are still standing. The oldest is White Cloud Opera House, constructed in 1862.
Today I featured three opera houses which leaves just 897 more to present. So stay tuned for the next thrilling sequel:
This is a web gallery of antique photographs of musicians. Most are of people whose names are now lost in time but they represent the many kinds of players, instruments, and ensembles that once defined musical culture. But these photographs also capture a moment in the history of people and places, so I write about that too.
All the photos shown here are in my personal collection.
For Best Effect Click on the Images for a Larger View
For information on my music for horn - go to the bottom of this column.
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