The Romantic Strings, the Children Edition

 

Parents recognize that face.
That wonderful moment when a child
discovers that their talent is its own reward.  

Their enthusiasm builds on itself.
An amusement becomes an obsession
as each new skill inspires
a determination to learn more.  

It starts in that innocent time of childhood
when everything is a wonder.

And as parents and grandparents know
it begins with questions.
Many, many questions
about the world,
about how things work,

and about the infinite possibilities of life.

Today I present four examples 
of antique picture postcards
that have a romantic musical theme
of string instruments
and children.
 

My first postcard is a drawing in sepia tone of a youth in his nightshirt sitting on the edge of his bed and playing a violin. His expression is one of bright fixation on his music making. In the background is a woman, perhaps his mother, watching with clasped hands. Scattered on the floor are some pages of music. A picture of an organist at a keyboard, perhaps Johann Sebastian Bach, hands on the boy's bedroom wall.    

The title of the picture is Genesung~Recovery. The artist is identified in the lower right corner, both in the etching and printed on the sidebar, as Toby E. Rosenthal. His full name was Tobias Edward Rosenthal (1848–1917), a German artist born in Strasburg in Westpreußen, a place once part of Prussia which later became part of Germany. It is now called Brodnica and is a town in northern Poland. At a young age Rosenthal's parents emigrated to America, settling in San Francisco where Rosenthal received his first art training from a French-born sculptor and an expatriate Mexican artist.  

Rosenthal's postcard of a young violinist abed has a brief greeting on the back but was never posted. The publisher was Hermann A. Wiechmann of München~Munich, Germany. The style of the printing suggestions a date of 1915-1925.

Rosenthal's tutors in California recognized his natural talent for drawing and recommended to his parents that he travel back to Germany for further art study. In 1865 he enrolled in Munich's Academy of Fine Arts. By age 22 he won a prize medal for an imaginative painting of Bach's family at morning prayers. It was considered worthy enough to be acquired by the State Museum in Leipzig. 

Morning prayers in the Bach family
by Toby Edward Rosenthal, 1870
Source: Wikimedia

I found two versions of this painting on the internet. Above is an image from Wikimedia which I presume is Rosenthal's original painting in color. It shows the great composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) at home seated at a harpsichord with his lively family gathered around. Johann was married twice, first to Maria Barbara Bach (1684–1720) with whom he had seven children including three who died in infancy, and then Anna Magdalena Bach, née Wilcke (1701–1760) who gave him thirteen children including seven who died before reaching adulthood. 

There are eleven figures in the scene which includes a baby's cradle. I count six who are clearly not adults. According to the Wikipedia entry for Anna Magdalena Bach, "Only during the ten weeks from June to August 1732 were five of the couple’s children younger than 10 years of age living in the household."  It seems very likely that Rosenthal is depicting this Bach family of 1732.

Morning prayers in the Bach family
by Toby Edward Rosenthal, 1870
Source: Wikimedia

The second version of Rosenthal's painting is an engraving(?) made for an American book published in 1914. The engraver has reproduced Rosenthal's work very accurately, preserving all the animation of the original family scene. But their faces have more fine detail and I think the sepia tone picture is much more convincing as a work of art. 

Though he made a few return visits to America, Rosenthal made his career in Munich, Germany producing many paintings inspired by great writers of his time. His style followed the German Romantic movement which depicted historic events and nostalgic folk characters. 

This next drawing by Rosenthal was made in 1907. It is similar to the young violinist because this sketch shows another youth enthralled by his craft. Here an older boy concentrates on carving a small wooden figurine of Christ's Crucifixion. It's a sculpting skill which Rosenthal as an artist was likely very familiar with. 

Study of a Boy Carving a Crucifix
drawing by Toby E. Rosenthal, 1907
Source: Wikimedia 

* * *

My next postcard is a portrait of another young violinist engrossed in the sound of his instrument. This boy has wavy red hair not unlike the color of his violin and wears a blue-green jacket with a wide white collar. It's a thoughtful pose that invites us to admire the boy's focus on his music.  

This artist's name is signed in the lower right corner and printed on the back. He is Albert Louis Aublet (1851–1938) a French painter born in Paris. Aublet's first Paris exhibition was in 1873. He traveled to the Middle East in the 1880s where his experience in Istanbul inspired him to develop an "Orientalist" style by painting exotic subjects and themes. He also produced a number of genre paintings and female nudes.     

This postcard was sent from Bern, Switzerland on 9 May 1918. The painting's title is printed on the back: le jeune vilon~The young violinist. It was printed in Paris.

Bathing Time at Le Tréport
painting by Albert Aublet, 1885
Source: Wikimedia

Wikimedia offered a several examples of Albert Aublet's work. This summer scene shows a crowd enjoying a stony beach at Le Tréport, a port town in Normandy, France. The swirl of women's umbrellas adds more movement than we would see on a modern beach.

French artist, Albert Aublet (1851–1938)
in his studio, photograph, date unknown
Source: Wikimedia

Another image from Wikimedia is a photo of Albert Aublet working at his studio in Paris. The date is unknown but judging from his appearance it likely late 1890s or 1900s. Notice that the painting Aublet has on his easel is a portrait of three young girls, likely three sisters. Remember to click any image to enlarge it. 

* * *

 

This next postcard shows a lovely father/daughter moment when a cellist plays for his little girl. She wears a golden gown and pulls her dress out as she marvels at this grown-up costume. Music is scattered on the floor by the man's chair. His concentration is, of course, focused not on his cello but on his child. 

The title of this painting is Chaconne, a Spanish dance form from the Baroque era involving variations over a repeated bass line. The artist's name, written in the lower corner of the painting and printed on the sidebar, is John Quincy Adams. 

Despite his American-sounding name, John Quincy Adams (1873–1933) was actually Austrian. He was the son of American tenor Charles Runey Adams (1834-1900) and Hungarian singer Nina Bleyer (1835-1899) who both sang in the company of the the Vienna Court Opera. Their son was named after the 6th President of the United States, John Quincy Adams (1767–1848), but there was no direct family connection. In 1879 the family moved back to Boston but when his parents separated in 1887 Adams returned to Vienna with his mother. He studied art at the Wien Academy of Fine Arts from 1892-1896, followed by a year of artistic training at the Munich Academy and another year in Paris at the Académie Julian.

This postcard was never used but I present the back for its beautiful floral border. The publisher was B.K.W.I. or Brüder Kohn Wien I, one of the most successful postcard companies in Vienna and Europe. This is the same publisher that produced the postcards of my favorite artist Fritz Schönpflug (1873 – 1951). Since he and Adams were contemporaries I expect they must have known each other. 

Kitty Baronin Rothschild
painting by John Quincy Adams, 1916
Source: Wikimedia

According to a biography of Adams, he produced around 500 paintings in a large variety of genres with different subjects and styles. Nonetheless his main work earned Adams a cliché as "painter of the beautiful, elegant Viennese lady". One example is this portrait of Kitty Rothschild (1885–1946), an American socialite who was considered by noted Parisian dress designers as one of the world's ten best-dressed women. Born in Philadelphia, as a young woman she studied music in Munich, where she met and then eloped with Dandridge Spotswood, a industrial and mining engineer from New York with a Virginian ancestry. For a time the young couple resided in New York but the marriage did not last and they divorced.

In 1911 Kitty married an Austrian nobleman, Count Erwin Schoenborn, from an ancient noble family of the Holy Roman Empire. This painting was made in 1916 when they were still together as in 1924 they divorced. I don't know who got the dog. That same year Kitty married Baron Eugène Daniel von Rothschild (1884–1976), a member of the notable Rothschild family. The Rothschild's made their home in Paris and became prominent in continental European society until the start of World War Two. 

 

Kaiser Franz Joseph I
painting by John Quincy Adams, 1914
Source: Wikimedia

It is this portrait of Austria's Kaiser Franz Joseph I by John Quincy Adams that I find most interesting. It was completed in 1914 when Franz Joseph was 84 and shows a man bowed down by the weight of 66 years as monarch. What I don't know is if this portrait was finished before or after 28 June 1914 when his nephew and heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo by Serbian terrorists. This terrible murder of the Archduke and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, triggered the start of World War One. Franz Joseph would die two years later on 21 November 1916. 

* * *

My last picture postcard is another drawing that shows a small boy crouched behind an elderly cello player, presumably the boy's grandfather, who sits on a rustic stool. He grins with delight as he watches the bow race over the instrument's strings. Grandfather is bearded, barefoot, and dressed in shabby clothing. He smokes a long pipe as he looks directly at us. A violin hangs on the wall. He resembles characters in antique illustrations of Gypsy fiddlers that I have featured on another post, A Fiddler on the Street. 

There is a long message on the front around the drawing (more about that in a minute) and on the back is Kaiser Franz Joseph's picture in profile on a green 5 heller postage stamp. The stamp dates from 1908 in celebration of the Kaiser's 60th year as king and emperor. It was sent from Zadar, a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea, to an Oberleutnant~First Lieutenant Peteani in Dalmatia. The postmark date is illegible, but 1908-1910 seems reasonable.   

The artist of this little drawing signed his name in the lower corner: Valentini, 1882 but there is no other identification. After a hunt, I believe this was Valentino Valentini, (1858–?) an Italian artist who was born in Florence, Italy. Nothing much about his life is recorded on the internet but I did succeed in finding enough examples of his work to show that he understood musicians and musical instruments. 

Monk Musician
painting by Valentino Valentini, 1882
Source: MutualArt.com 

This painting by Valentini recently sold at auction. It shows a bearded monk playing a double bass. The monk stands in front of a heavy wooden music stand suitable for two players or even four. Scattered on the floor are more pages of music which seems to be a popular cliché to use when depicting earnest musicians. This painting is dated 1882 like the drawing so maybe the bearded man modeled for the cellist too.  

The Accordion Player
painting by Valentino Valentini
Source: MutualArt.com

This painting by Valentino Valentini shows a humble accordion player scanning the room or street in order to catch the eye of someone who will drop a few coins at his feet. It's a nice portrait of a folk musician as typical of Italy today as it was in the 19th century.   

* * *

Today in the 21st century we look at countless photographs and videos of people doing all sorts of things while expressing every kind of emotion. They are now so common that we forget how incredibly difficult it once was to capture a special moment on film. Just as they do today, people in the past smiled, laughed, cried, and hollered. But early photographers had to be very skilled, and lucky, too, to record those fleeting memories on film. 

Artists, on the other hand, have always relied on just a good eye and a deft hand to draw those human moments. With a good imagination and a familiar understanding of facial features, an artist can recreate an experience like love, joy, sadness, or anger that is instantly understood by any person, regardless of their language or point in time. It's that mastery of art which I think enhances our appreciation of this era when a picture postcard of a musician was more than just a pretty image. Sure, they were sentimental and designed to charm, but they also validate how prevalent it once was to have the wonder of music in people's lives. 

  Coda  

The German handwriting on this last postcard's message was made with a fountain pen and was consistent enough for me to recognize most of the letters if not the full words. For an experiment I removed the picture, increased the contrast, and rearranged the second part of the message into just a clear image of the script. I then uploaded it to three different AI services: ChatGpt, Perplexity, and Claude, giving each the same instruction: "Transcribe this handwritten German message from a 1910 Austrian postcard and translate it into English."

All three came up with pretty good equivalents for the German handwriting catching most umlauts, often written as just a dash over a vowel instead of '', and noting the funny German character ß for ss. Of the three, Claude was the most accurate. It produced this transcription:

Original: 

                    Lieber Harry! Nachdem mein Gagenzettel größer ausgefallen 

                als ich gedacht habe und etwas so noch hatte, habe ich mich
                entschlossen nach Hause zu fahren. Fahre am 3/9 um 8h früh weg.
                Werde niemandem sagen, dass du kommst, auch ich 
                werde momentan erscheinen. Almuier (?) wird 
                wahrscheinlich mit dir hinauffahren. Habe mich bezüglich deines
                Urlaubs erkundigt, da wurde mir gesagt vom...

                * 1–4 habt ihr Trainübungen und dann 
                    kannst du fahren, wenn es dir unten vom Kader 
                    bewilligt wird. Auf Wiedersehen recht 
                    bald. Mit Gruß und Kuss Karl.

Translation:

                         Dear Harry! Since my pay slip turned out larger 

                    than I had expected and I still had something left over, I have 

                    decided to travel home. I am leaving on the 3rd of September
                                at 8 o'clock in the morning. 

                    I will not tell anyone that you are coming, and I myself
                    will appear for the time being. Almuier (?) will probably travel up 
                    with you. I inquired regarding your vacation, and I was told by...

                    * From the 1st to the 4th you have training exercises, and then 

                        you can travel if it is approved for you 

                        down at headquarters. See you again quite soon. 

                        With greetings and a kiss, Karl.

All three AI websites offer a free service and were very quick, producing a neat transcription and translation in 15-25 seconds. The key for using this tool is to prepare the image carefully so that there is nothing except the script for the AI engine to analyze. I'm very impressed that it correctly found letters that I would not have guessed because it recognized the context and the typical syntax of a message written in German. I'm eager to try it with other languages.  

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where feather bolsters are on sale all weekend.

The Watsonville Ladies' Band

 

A camera sees only the light.
But a photographer sees the faces. 

With so much white fabric and shiny brass
getting the contrast right is a challenge.

The lens focuses on highlights and radiance.
But a photographer's attention is drawn to a single moment

From just a small smile or a little head tilt
they instantly recognize it and click the shutter.

A moment of time is preserved on film.

The little girls, surely twins. sit attentively in front of a band of twenty women and one man. The women, all in white dresses, hold mostly brass instruments with a few drums and four clarinets. Though there are a few teenage faces, most of the women look older in their 20s and 30s. It's an engaging group photo only marred by a slightly fuzzy print which I have sharpened and corrected for fading. 

The man has no instrument but is positioned in the back row center, the usual place for a band's director. A woman standing next to him holds a long staff with a bow tied to the end, a common parade mace seen in other women's bands of this era. There is no caption to identify the ensemble but an unexpected bonus is having three names written on the postcard photo—Pearl, Lena, Mama.

The postcard was sent from Watsonville, California on December 22, 1910. It was addressed to Mrs. Birdie Stuart of Nampa, Idaho, just 20 miles west of Boise.

Merry Christmas
from Hattie
117 First St.
Watsonville Calif.

Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, on the coast of Monterey Bay. In 1910 it had a population of 4,446 and a well-established newspaper which provided answers about this group. The ladies of Watsonville first organized a brass band in the summer of 1910. By June they had 18 members, both single and married women, and had engaged Mr. Edgar A. Ball, a talented cornetist and employee of the "Ford Company", a local business, to be their leader. A report in the Watsonville newspaper listed the officers of the new band and the secretary was Miss Pearl Mather. Surely this might be the young woman with the euphonium that is identified on the photo. This clue inspired me to do some detective work to solve the other names on the post card. 

In August 1910 the ladies held a supper party following one of their band's practice sessions. It was just the type of local social event to get noticed by Watsonville's newspaper, The Pajaronian, (named after Watsonville's location in the Pajaro Valley south of Santa Cruz.)  Reports like this always contain long lists of guests, which is always a useful resource for photo detectives like myself.

Watsonville CA Pajaronian
18 August 1910

      BAND BANQUETTE.

Bright Bazooists Behave Beautifully

      Besides Blowing Bravely.        

                                      

      (From Thursday's daily.)      

  The Ladies' Band held practice at their last meeting at the home of Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Peckham, and when business was concluded Mrs. Peckham opened the dining room and there was discovered a feast of a la Fairmount ready to be consumed, and the way those band ladies consumed it indicated that the business of blowing bugles is not such a soft snap as some suppose and that there is more or less appetite producing exercise in the practice.

  Miss Pearl Mather was toastmistress, and all of the young ladies contributed to the fun of the event with a short story or a joke.

  The participating members, host and guests were: 

  Pearl Mather, Edna Jefsen, Myrtle Byer, Lena Mather, Alice Byer, Mildred Sandberg, Lois Jefsen, Dorothy Butterfield, Carmen Mortizia, Frances Fowler, Ray Fowler, Irma Kapherner,Marie Rudebeck, Agnes Case, Irene Hopkins, Hattie George, Mrs. Byer, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Peckham, Mr. and Mrs. Ball, Elwood G. Lammiman and Mrs. George.

Pearl Mather was 21 and worked as a bookkeeper for the telephone company. Lena, the clarinetist back row center, was her sister Magdalene Mather, three years younger. In the 1910 census Pearl and Lena were listed as living in Alameda, California with their parents, about 90 miles north of Watsonville next to Oakland. But Pearl also appeared in the Watsonville census as a boarder so perhaps the sisters lived together that summer.

The writer who wished Mrs. Stuart a Merry Christmas was named Hattie, and I think it is Hattie George, another member of this band at the party. In the 1910 census for Watsonville, Hattie was age 26 and employed as a "stenographer" for a "packing company". She lived in Watsonville with just her mother Sadie George, age 51. In other reports of the band Hattie is listed as a trombonist, so she might be the young woman standing behind Pearl or the other trombonist standing on the right. It seems likely that Hattie would assume that Mrs. Stuart would recognize her in the photo but not her two friends, Pearl and Lena, and possibly not her mother—"Mama"—Sadie George. 

I think this  makes a promising hypothesis, but I may have it wrong. In 1910 Mrs. George and Hattie lived at 36 Jefferson St. not on First Street. Today First Street is more of a trade and industry area, so Hattie may have used a business address where she worked. Then again, Pearl and Lena's mother was also named Hattie, so perhaps she was staying in Watsonville that winter and sent the postcard of her daughter's new band to her friend in Idaho. Maybe it's another Hattie altogether. In which case, who is "Mama" behind the bass drum? Is she the mother of the twins? That woman's serious gaze does appear to be directed towards them. And what are their names? Oh, well. Not every mystery can be solved. 

Watsonville CA Pajaronian
18 August 1910

In the same edition as the newspaper's report on their party, the Watsonville Ladies Concert Band also announced their first concert would be on October 3rd at the Watsonville Opera House. 

On that day the theater was packed with friends and families. The Opera House was also equipped with a projector and screen, a relatively new entertainment medium, so short films were shown too. The musical program began with a national air, "America"; followed by a march, "Plantation'; an overture "The Valley of Apples"; a song and dance schottische, "Watermelon Vine"; a cornet solo played by their bandleader E. A. Ball; an "illustrated song" accompanied by a silent film; a waltz, "Moonlight on the Pajaro"; and the finale, "Victory'; ending with the "Star Spangled Banner". 

The newspaper's review gave fulsome praise to the soloists and especially to the band's musicians. "Their training and practice has been thorough and exacting yet of short duration and their work last evening was more than creditable.  It was almost perfect.  Each and every member of the band handled the various musical instruments as do artists and not once did the band falter or lag in the rendition of a selection." 

From this success a second concert of the Watsonville Ladies Concert Band was scheduled for February 1911. That performance was equally well received, despite a few blemishes, but it encouraged the women to strive for even more. The band took on some new members and ordered "natty uniforms". In June they announced that henceforth they would be called the Lady Hussars Concert Band. 

For that summer of 1911 the band's business manager secured dates at theaters and parks outside of Watsonville in towns around the area. They played for a beach park in Capitola; accompanied a road trip of Watsonville town boosters; and were featured at a county apple festival. The band's roster was often listed and Hattie George, trombonist, was with the band, but Pearl and Lena Mather seem to have dropped from the group.

Hollister CA Free Lance
6 September 1911

In September they were booked at the Opal Theatre in Hollister. A new photo of the band was printed in the theater notice, with the women all dressed in wonderful "hussar" uniforms (though Hussars, originally a Hungarian light cavalry unit, seldom wore skirts). The program was 2 hours long with vocal and instrumental solos, dances, and marches played around a feature picture show: "Capt. Kate, the Animal Trainer's Daughter", one of Tom Mix's first films. Ticket prices were 25, 35, and 50 cents.

Lady Hussars Concert Band
of Watsonville, California
Source: Pajarovalleyhistory.org  

Here is another photo of the Lady Hussars Concert Band, a variation of the one printed for the theater notice, from the archives of the Pajaro Valley historical society. Arranged around a plaza are 24 women wearing dark uniforms with hussar style capes, tunics with military braid, and white fur busbies with tall plumes. Mr. Ball is similarly dressed but with a taller white busby. At first I missed him in this photo as he's a bit camouflaged in a black and white print. See if you can spot him. He is better positioned on the left in the newspaper photo. This quasi Central European military fashion was imitated in this era by numerous women's bands. But in August 1914 they quickly disappeared as the Great War in Europe made such imperial Germanic traditions very politically incorrect. 

Despite several rave reports of the band's concerts that summer, there must have been a hidden tension between the band's director, Mr. Edgar Atholburt Ball, and the business manager, Mr. J. D. Madaugh. By November 1911 their disagreements reached a flash point and both Madaugh and Ball abruptly resigned. Ball had also been engaged by a boys band in Watsonville which he  dropped at the same time. By December he was hired to form a traditional men's band in Santa Barbara.  

The Watsonville Lady Hussars Concert Band engaged another man, Elmer J. Whipple, as a replacement. Elmer was a pianist at the Watsonville opera house and his wife played in the band, too. But the band was now reduced to only 15 members and Mr. Whipple failed to inspire new members. By the end of the year the Lady Hussars Band had folded. 

  = * = * =

A story like this happens all the time with musical groups. A daydream is shared with friends and coalesces into a idea. Enthusiasm drives a plan forward, perhaps helped by a trained guide. Practice builds teamwork which is often its own reward. And accomplishments bring praise and recognition. But acclaim sparks ambitions and fuels egos. Conflict incites division and without a resolution that first dream disintegrates. 

Women in the olden times endured many severe strictures in society, many that limited their personal freedom, dignity, and potential. Music became one of their few outlets for individual expression and creativity. On my blog I've featured several stories on photos of women's bands and orchestras like the Watsonville Ladies Concert Band. They all share similar bright faces with often happy smiles. In this era starting a band for young women or girls was more than just an outlet for recreation. It offered an opportunity for young ladies to share a love of music with other women. It was surely fun while it lasted.

I like to believe that somewhere in California, stored away in a forgotten trunk in a dusty old attic, is a fancy embroidered cape and a fuzzy white fur hat. A memento of a long ago summer of making music with friends. 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where every Saturday is Mother's Day.

Velvet, Lace, and Violins

There is something about lacework
that once made a fashion statement
that signified genteel qualities
and polished refinement.

Though usually an embellishment of female garments,
sometimes lace enhanced boys' clothing too.
 

Lace collars and cuffs
added a flourish of elegance
that implied cultivated class
to boy in a velvet jacket.
Even if his sleeves
were too short
or too long.

In olden times
young musicians,
for some reason violin players in particular,
often dressed in suits of fuzzy material
decorated with fine lacework.

Maybe it was suitable
for playing Mozart
but it was not the kind of uniform
a boy would wear to play baseball.

Today I present a collection of boys
dressed in velvet and lace
who made their mothers proud.

 

The first boy has a serious countenance as he stands on a photographer's studio stage. He wears a dark velvet suit with wide lace collar and cuffs. On his feet are a kind of slipper rather than sturdy  button top shoes. An anchor pin and bright ribbon at his neck adds a nautical theme. The boy holds a violin, a half-size one, I think, that would be suitable for a child of his small stature. Though he doesn't exude the confidence of a wunderkind, I think he still has the look of someone who knows how to play a violin and not merely hold a stage prop. 

The photography studio was  Hartley Bros. of 2 South Road, Waterloo in Liverpool, England. The back of the cabinet card advertises that the Hartley Brothers made a specialty in "Outdoor Photography" and offered "Instantaneous Portraits of Children". 

What attracted me to this card were two handwritten notations made on the back, probably a century apart. The first is along the side in black ink:

John Hollamon Harwood
taken on his sixth birthday
March 31/94

The second is in blue ballpoint ink along the top and bottom:

Happy 40th
Birthday
Chuck!
XXX   Bill

Chuck @ 6 yr in 1894

I generally don't approve of annotations on antique photos that are made by a modern hand, but in this case Bill's gift tag adds an amusing twist to this charming picture. Was Chuck a violinist? We will probably never know.

With a full name, date and location on the photo it seemed simple enough to track down little John Hollamon Harwood, but it proved to be a bit more challenging. First off the name John Harwood is moderately common. And British public records do not list middle names as regularly as American records. 

But with a little digging I found the name of John Harwood in the 1891 England census for Waterloo, Lancashire, a town just north of Liverpool on the River Mersey. Harwood, age 55, was a "Boot & Shoe Manufacturer". His household included his wife Mary Harwood and three sons, John, Edward,  and Francis, along with three female servants. Except for the boys, all were born in Ireland. The oldest son was John H. Harwood, age 3, which fit with the date on the photo. But the best clue was their address, 14 & 16 Bath St. It was only 400 ft. to the Hartley Bros. studio on 2 South Road. A distance that Google Maps suggests takes a 2 minute walk.

 

We can now imagine Mrs. Harwood leading little John up the street to the photographer's gallery. The boy tries not to step into any puddles and spoil his new slippers from his father's shop. And clutching a small violin case Mr. Harwood wonders how many prints he will order. Perhaps he should send one to his old friend Chuck.

The lacy suit that John Hollamon Harwood wears was a fashion derived from Little Lord Fauntleroy, a fictional character in a children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849 – 1924), a British-American novelist and playwright.  The story was first published as a serial in St. Nicholas Magazine, a popular American children's monthly from November 1885 to October 1886. It then was released as a book in 1886 by Scribner's, the publisher of St. Nicholas Magazine, with illustrations by Reginald B. Birch. These drawings helped make Burnett's book a best seller and like J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books of our modern era, the gallant images of young Cedric Errol, the title character, created a craze for dressing boys in a Fauntleroy suit of velvet and lace trim. 

Elsie Leslie as Little Lord Fauntleroy (1888),
photograph by Napoleon Sarony, NYC
Source: Wikimedia

Curiously when the novel was adapted for the London stage in 1888, Cedric Earl was played by girl actor, Elsie Leslie (1881 – 1966). Photos of her in the role were reproduced and sold as souvenirs of the play. Interestingly Leslie also played the title role in a 1890 staging of Mark Twains' novel The Prince and the Pauper, a similar story of mixed-up kids and confused adults.

Over the past few years I have featured a number of boy violinists who wore a Fauntleroy suit for their portrait. These two boys from Chicago were in Boys Will Be Boys a recent story from October 2024. They are unidentified but I believe they were professional entertainers from the early 1890s.

And this trio of boys from Iowa are Sidney, Howard, and Percival, the Little Vernon Brothers who also dressed in velvet and lace as part of their traveling family band. The photo was taken in 1892 and in my story from July 2022 I have a longer section on how Little Lord Fauntleroy influenced fashion trends for boys in the last decades of the 19th century.  

As far as I know, Cedric Errol did not play a violin in Little Lord Fauntleroy. Yet as I have discovered from collecting old photos of child performers, after the sailor suit (Check out my story Three Boys in Sailor Suits) the velvet Fauntleroy suit with its lace collar and cuffs was the next most common concert costume for boy violinists. 

This boy posed in one at a photographer's studio in Boston, Massachusetts. Like John Harwood he has theatrical slippers, dark stockings, knee pants, and a jacket tricked out with shiny brass buttons and delicate lacework. He is older than the boy from Waterloo, having started that growth spurt that alarms mothers trying to keep their child in shoes, trousers and shirts that fit. At least lace is stretchy. 

The bottom of the cabinet card has the imprint of the  photographers' studio: Bushby, Macurdy, & Fritz of Temple Place in Boston. And just to the right is the printed name of the boy, Carl Peirce , a mark of a real entertainer's promotional photo. He was about eight years old when this was taken.  

10 December 1882 Boston Globe

In late November 1882, Carl Peirce made his first appearance in the amusement section of Boston's newspapers. Billed as "The child violinist whose wonderful execution at the age of eight years has won the admiration and astonishment of the best musicians and public generally" the notice announced his availability for concerts at "Lyceums, Churches, Lodges, and others..."  and included quotes from newspaper critics lavishing praise on Master Carl Peirce, a musical prodigy.

Carl Peirce was born on 10 January 1874 in Taunton, Massachusetts, about 35 miles south of Boston. He got his start on violin through his father, William P. Peirce, a druggist and also a talented violinist, who became his first manager. According to the notice Carl was studying with Signor (Leandro) Campanari, (1859 – 1939) an Italian violinist, conductor, and composer who came to Boston in 1881 when the Boston Symphony was first founded.  

16 March 1883 Boston Globe

The boy's first concerts were part of a larger concert company that included a pianist, four vocalists, and a clarinetist performing a varied program of high-culture music. Master Peirce's part consisted of playing solos like "Air et Varied" by Wieniawski, and "Gypsy Dance" by Paganini. This was music that would be challenging for a adult violinist and demonstrated a remarkable talent and skill for one so young.

16 October 1887 Boston Herald

Carl proved to be popular with Boston music patrons and for the next 8 years regularly performed a dozen concerts each season there. Most were presented as part of a larger concert troupe with his name receiving top billing. His father William P. Peirce acted as his manager and when Carl was older arranged for concerts in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. In October 1887 Carl's portrait appeared in one Boston concert notice with a hair style and lace collar very similar to how he appears in my photograph. (The notice is incorrect that it was his "first appearance" in Boston.)

Of course no child prodigy stays young forever and inevitably grows up. After his father died in July 1895 at age 43, Carl Peirce seems to have set high goals that allowed him to continue pursuing a career in music. By his early twenties he was a reported as an active concert violinist in Boston and was now teaching music there, too. 

28 November 1902 Worcester MA Spy

In November 1902 Carl Peirce performed an unusual recital in Worcester, Massachusetts at the "warerooms" of music dealer M. Steinert & Sons. Carl was listed as the only performer but he was accompanied by an Aeolian Orchestrelle and a Pianolo. These were two types of self-playing keyboard instruments that could play music pneumatically triggered from data stored on perforated paper rolls. It was a very novel idea for its time and must have caused a small sensation for those who heard his concert.    

26 September 1903 Boston Herald

Around this time Carl was engaged to teach violin by the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. In 1903 his name was listed as part of the string faculty which included Emil Mahr, Felix Winternitz, and Eugene Gruenberg. They were all members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra which Carl had also recently joined.  

1905 New England Conservatory yearbook,
THE NEUME

In 1905 The NEUME, the yearbook for the New England Conservatory published a long list of its faculty along with their photos. There was Carl Peirce, Violin dressed neatly with a concert white tie, but no lace. 

Carl Peirce taught violin at NEC for 40 years and in searching newspaper archive I found his name mentioned several times in the biographies of his successful former students. He died at his daughter's home in Newton, Massachusetts on 5 October 1960. He was 86. 

 

To finish I offer a short performance 
of Bach's Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004
performed by violinist Inmo Yang,
an Artist Diploma graduate from 2019
at the New England Conservatory. 
He studied with Miriam Fried
and performs on the Joachim-Ma Stradivarius violin
on loan from NEC.

I think Carl Peirce would have been very proud
to have had a student like Inmo Yang. 
Even if he doesn't wear a lace collar.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where everyone is outside
enjoying a garden tour.