Learn the origin of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s high musical standards, as the story of the CSO’s founding is told by host John Hagstrom and Frank Villella, director of the CSO’s Rosenthal Archives. Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association President Jeff Alexander also shares his perspective, and several current and former CSO musicians speak about maintaining and building the orchestra’s standards of excellence. InterMISSION @ the CSO is produced by CSO trumpet John Hagstrom and sound editor/mixer Rich Sigler.
John Hagstrom: Welcome to interMISSION @ the CSO, taking you behind the scenes at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and sharing stories about what it takes to make this one of the world's great orchestras. I'm John Hagstrom. I play in the trumpet section in the CSO, and you're about to hear the most important episode of this podcast so far, because this time we're going to tell the story of just exactly where the quality of the CSO came from originally.
If you're listening to this right now, you probably already know that the Chicago Symphony is one of the world's greatest orchestras, but it turns out that lots of other orchestras say that about themselves too. There's no doubt that almost every orchestra is committed to excellence, but the CSO has some unique early history that makes possible the consistent quality and support we've achieved over our 130 year history.
We've got some really special guests that are about to share our story with you, including several CSO musicians and Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association President, Jeff Alexander. No matter how much you might already know about the CSO, I promise you will be learning something new. So let's get started.
The CSO was originally called the Chicago Orchestra when it was founded in 1891, but that start date is a little deceiving because a large number of the musicians in that original group had already been performing together for many years, in a group already regarded as a gold standard of musical quality in the United States going back as far as 1862. That's a big head start, but even with all of that experience, it took a respected leader to have built it and to keep building it as Chicago's permanent orchestra.
And who was that leader? His name still appears on the front of the CSOs concert hall, and that name is Theodore Thomas. He was the most famous orchestra conductor in America during his lifetime, and today he is regarded as the father of the American Symphony Orchestra. He accomplished all of this by gaining the respect and loyalty of the people he worked with, so much so that his musicians and supporters took ownership of his commitment to quality and passed it on to their successors.
Theodore Thomas had a deep commitment to sharing transformative classical music concerts, and that commitment started not long after he came to America from Germany with his family in 1845. He had learned to play the violin as a child, and by the early 1850s he was playing in orchestras in New York City that accompanied some of the world's greatest singers performing in America for the first time.
He was so inspired by their great emotional expression that he dedicated his life to creating and sharing that same kind of transformative experience with his own group, the Theodore Thomas Orchestra, which traveled around the United States to perform for audiences that in many cases had never heard the music before—but they liked it. And it wasn't long before the appearances of the Thomas Orchestra were eagerly anticipated each time they toured the country.
By the late 1880s, a group of business leaders in Chicago wanted to create a permanent orchestra for the city that would show the world that Chicago was more than just an economic success. But starting an orchestra is extremely difficult because in order for the quality to be good enough for people to come back again and again, it takes lots of rehearsal time and musicians who have already spent their lives building their skill to totally dedicate themselves to the task of performing.
Ticket sales won't generate enough revenue to make it possible for musicians to give all of their time to preparing and performing. And Theodore Thomas knew this all too well. Even though his own orchestra was very successful artistically, he was often in debt personally, to cover the expenses that sometimes far exceeded the money generated from ticket sales, but he paid his musicians no matter what.
As a result, they were very loyal to him, and that's why there were so many of them who uprooted themselves to come with Thomas from New York to start the Chicago orchestra. But how could there be enough support to make this work? You must be wondering how could they trust that there would be any chance for success?
The name that answers all of these questions is Charles Norman Fay. He organized a group of Chicago business leaders that supported the Chicago Orchestra's founding, and he met Theodore Thomas in 1889 to make an offer Thomas didn't refuse. You're about to hear how it all happened from the CSOs most expert historian, Frank Villella. Frank's worked within the CSOs Rosenthal Archives since 1993 and has been its director since 2014.
Frank Villella: When Charles Norman Fay met Theodore Thomas in 1889 in New York, Fay had already worked with the people who would become the main early trustees of the Orchestra. He had a plan when he went to New York to meet Thomas in 1889. Thomas was not in a good place. His first wife had just recently passed away after a long illness. His Theodore Thomas Orchestra was struggling financially. The New York Philharmonic, of which he was also a music director at the time, was doing okay but it wasn't 100% artistically fulfilling for him.
Thomas in 1889 was almost ready to hang up his hat and say, okay, I had a good run, but maybe this is the end of the road. But when Fay met him, Fay had in his back pocket a promise from a group of Chicago business people. And that promise was, we want to bring an orchestra to Chicago. We want to establish Chicago as a cultural center, not just a manufacturing center. We've got the possibility of this world's fair on the horizon.
Theodore Thomas had been to Chicago on a number of occasions touring with his Theodore Thomas Orchestra and was tremendously popular, not just in Chicago, of course, but he was the most well-known conductor of orchestras in the United States at the time. He was a rockstar and they wanted not only to bring an orchestra to Chicago, but they wanted Theodore Thomas to conduct it.
When Fay approached Thomas in 1889 in New York, he flat out said, "What will it take for us to bring you to Chicago? If we could provide not only an orchestra, but a performance space, would you come to Chicago if we could give you a permanent orchestra?" And of course, Thomas's famous reply was, "I would go to hell if you gave me a permanent orchestra." And that is what began the communication, that's what put the wheels in motion to bring Thomas to Chicago two years later.
Before Theodore Thomas founded the Chicago Orchestra in 1891, his entire professional life was primarily not only as the performer, but he was also the marketer. He was also the ticket seller. He was the person in charge of promoting. He was the person in charge of all of the tour arrangements, all of the operations, making sure that the music was in place. He was in charge of all of these things, which is one of the reasons why by 1889, he was exhausted. He was literally running out of steam in order to produce the concerts that he was so well-known for.
So when Charles Norman Fay offered him a permanent orchestra in Chicago, Fay promised that the only thing Thomas would have to worry about was the quality of the concerts. He would only have to worry about choosing the musicians, choosing the repertoire, conducting the concerts, making sure the concerts were of the highest possible quality that he could achieve. So Fay inviting Thomas to Chicago under those conditions was extremely attractive to Thomas because he would no longer have to worry about fundraising, ticket selling, literally posters for concerts, making sure that there were enough music stands, making sure that train schedules were in order, making sure all of the musicians got on the train.
Thomas would no longer have to worry about all of those things. All he would have to do was to make sure that the concerts were of the highest quality, that the musicians were of the highest quality that the soloists were of the highest possible quality. And he was also guaranteed that there would be funding behind that to make sure that would happen.
John Hagstrom: Every great organization needs committed leadership and Theodore Thomas was that leader whose passion and commitment to success was essential, but it still wouldn't be enough without committed support to keep it all going. That committed support came from the Orchestral Association, without which we never could have endured the challenges facing the new orchestra. Once again, Frank Villella shares the story of how they found success.
Frank Villella: The Orchestral Association was founded in December 1890, and that of course was the first step in establishing the Chicago Orchestra that would make its debut the following year. And the Orchestral Association was started by a group of Chicagoans, a group of Chicago business people, which is unlike the New York Philharmonic, for example, or the Boston Symphony, both of whom were founded by individuals. Individuals who were great visionaries, who had wonderful ideas and knew how to get those ideas in motion. But the Chicago Orchestra founded by a group enabled the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to hit the ground running. We were able to start our first season with a commitment of 20 some subscription weeks on a schedule that was established and announced when the first concert happened in October of 1891.
And these 51 individuals, these Chicago business leaders, all committed not only to the first season, but to the first several seasons, that if the orchestra was not able to pay all of their expenses with ticket sales, for example, that these Chicago business people would write checks and would commit themselves to keep the orchestra operation running even if the first several seasons resulted in deficits, which actually is exactly what happened.
So thanks to these individuals, we were able to establish this model. We were able to establish this tradition of community support and community giving in order to keep the orchestra up and running even in very difficult times, which of course, we have certainly experienced over the course of our history, which is what we are currently experiencing right now. And thanks to the generosity of members of the community, giving at all levels, people giving very small amounts, to people giving millions of dollars, that investment in our community, that investment in our orchestra is the thing that has kept us alive 130 years later.
John Hagstrom: Committed leaders and financial supporters helped the Chicago Orchestra survive the hardships they faced getting started. And these two elements are still working together to sustain the quality and stability of the orchestra today. Jeff Alexander has been the president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association since 2015. And he recently spoke to me about how it all fits together. Some reasons for supporting the CSO and the enjoyment he personally gets seeing audiences experience the music's reward.
Jeff Alexander: It’s quite a symbiotic relationship I would say. There would be no orchestra without the philanthropists and there would be no philanthropy without the orchestra. So one can't exist without the other and people who donate to the orchestra get great pleasure out of it, for a variety of reasons. I would say the vast majority of our donors love classical music. They've grown up with the orchestra. Perhaps they attended initially when they were in elementary school and they came on a school trip. We still have people attending whose grandparents or more likely great-grandparents were amongst the founders of the orchestra.
But again, I know that the great joy that we all receive from hearing the orchestra perform is almost indescribable. And what the orchestra does for the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois and for the United States and wherever the orchestra performs around the world is, it's on the one hand intangible but on the other hand, in fact, tangible, where we can see on a weekly basis the great joy that it brings to the listeners. I always think how proud we all can be and should be of the work that's done by the members of the orchestra and by our conductors and guest artists.
One of my favorite things to do is to stand in the lobby about a half an hour before a concert begins and watch the audience coming in and just looking at the joy and the anticipation on their faces. And some of those audience members attend almost every week. Some of them actually attend more than once a week to hear a program that they like and others perhaps are only coming four or five times a year, or maybe it's the first time they've ever walked into the building. But it's very clear if you watch people entering orchestra halls on any given night or any given afternoon that they know what they're about to experience is going to be life enriching. And it's often life-changing in fact.
John Hagstrom: As with any attempt to make a long story shorter, there's lots of fascinating details that we can't cover in a short time, but there's one really important point that we can't skip, which is that in addition to leading the Chicago Orchestra Theodore Thomas was also hired to be the music director of the World's Fair Columbian Exposition in 1893. And he accepted that challenge too, as Frank explains.
Frank Villella: Theodore Thomas was hired to come to Chicago really for two reasons. First and foremost, of course, was to start the Chicago Orchestra, which had its first concerts in October 1891. But the second reason was for Thomas to be the music director of the World's Fair in Chicago, originally scheduled to start in 1892 in observance of the 400th anniversary of Columbus's trip to the New World. However, due to a variety of planning delays, the fair didn't open until May of 1893.
There were all kinds of music performances scheduled, lots of choruses from all over the world would be coming to Chicago, lots of smaller ensembles from all over the world. But Thomas was in charge of in essence, the serious music that would be performed. And Thomas was very ambitious in his music programming for the World's Fair. He wanted to program a lot of the standard repertoire, there were several large scale chorus works that were programmed with choruses that numbered from 400 to 2000.
It really boggles the mind, not only how these works were performed with forces like that, but just the practicality of rehearsal. How do you rehearse a chorus of 2000 is really beyond me, but it gave the opportunity not only for these works to be performed, but it also gave the opportunity for a lot of community involvement.
John Hagstrom: The legacy that Theodore Thomas left us is one that has inspired generations of listeners and musicians. We all have inherited the same opportunity to work tirelessly for the excellence that rewards audiences with musical inspiration. And in a moment we'll hear from a few CSO musicians about all of that, but first there's one last big part of this story that you still have to know. It's as big a part of our sound as any musician, because it is the story of where that sound is heard. Orchestra Hall. It wasn't built until 1904 and here's how Theodore Thomas helped to make it happen.
Frank Villella: When the Chicago Orchestra first started performing here in the city, the venue was the Auditorium Theater. The Auditorium was only a couple of years old. However, it was huge. The seating capacity of the Auditorium was well over 4,000. It was not difficult to get a ticket, to see Theodore Thomas and his orchestra because there were so many seats available, but that also made selling subscriptions extraordinarily difficult for the association. And of course, a subscription base is what's needed in order to get the funds in advance, in order to book soloists, sell programs, et cetera.
So shortly after he arrived in Chicago, he started his campaign for the orchestra to have its own dedicated performance space. By 1902, a property became available on Michigan Avenue, just South of what was then the Pullman building at the intersection of Michigan and Adams. So a couple of our original trustees footed the bill to temporarily pay for the property until the Orchestral Association could reimburse them. And there was a public appeal for the property and the building of Orchestra Hall.
Thousands of Chicagoans came forth from schoolchildren donating 50 cents, to business people donating significantly more amounts. Daniel Burnham, with whom Thomas had worked on the World’s Columbian Exhibition in 1893, they had become very good friends. By this time Burnham was a trustee of the Orchestra. Burnham was approached by Thomas to be the architect for the space. Burnham agreed to do it and waived his fee for the design of the hall, and also helped out a lot with the fund raising for the hall.
Across the street at the Art Institute is the Burnham Collection, and in that collection there are copies of several letters of Burnham writing to prominent Chicagoans saying thank you for your one thousand dollar donation to the building of Orchestra Hall, but come on, you can make it two or three or four thousand dollars, can’t you? So Burnham was a huge advocate, not only for the Orchestra, but also for Thomas. And thanks to him, Orchestra Hall became a reality.
By December 1904, when the hall first opened, Thomas finally realized his ultimate goal, which was to have his own permanent orchestra in its own permanent space. He was extremely pleased with the results. He conducted the inaugural concert on December 14, 1904, and then he conducted two more weeks of subscription concerts. Unfortunately, by this time he had become ill. His health hadn't been good in the last couple of years of his life. It was a Chicago winter. He contracted the flu, which became pneumonia, which unfortunately took his life the very first week in January, 1905.
John Hagstrom: As members of the CSO, we all have big shoulders to stand on and big shoes to fill. Each of us feels a connection to the hard work that has preceded us and we strive to always give our best effort. John Bruce Yeh was hired into the CSOs clarinet section in 1977 by then music director, Sir Georg Solti. He's been assistant principal since 1979 and he speaks about our connection to the early history of the CSO.
John Bruce Yeh: Our hall is of course, named the Theodore Thomas Orchestra Hall. And he was the one that spearheaded the building of this hall to house the music that we'd create day in and day out. His absolute passion for making this music at the very highest level, carries through these generations to us. One hundred thirty years later, we uphold the same standards and we strive to maintain the same quality.
And from what I understand, the orchestra of Theodore Thomas' day, they individually took ownership of the values that their leader espoused. He got them to play unified in a certain way that set the standard and raised the standard all the time. And of course, really this remains with every member of the Chicago Symphony to this very day. And we have had new members embrace the standard of the orchestra, and because of their skill and their experience, they are able to integrate into this orchestra that has carried on a deep tradition. So that the overall effect, every time we step on stage to perform is far greater than the sum of the individual parts.
John Hagstrom: The high standards of the CSO are passed on from one generation to the next, sometimes because new members of the orchestra had studied with a CSO member, but whether they have, or not, it's impossible not to sense the seriousness and commitment of veteran players, especially when you first join the orchestra. Diane Mues was hired as a violist by Sir Georg Solti in 1987. She studied formally with former principal violist, Milton Preves, who had been a CSO member for 52 years. She shares her thoughts on how she learned skills from older players and how we all learn from one another.
Diane Mues: Well that's something I've always felt really fortunate to be a part of, is this long chain of musicians. I know plenty of musicians from before my time, around my teacher's time, Milton Preves, and this chain of musicians stretches all the way back to the original days of Theodore Thomas and his handpicked group. Every group has a culture, and to have the culture of the Chicago Symphony steeped, as long as it has been through all these years, I just see it as a continuous chain. And though I didn't know all of those musicians, I just feel as though I have something in common with them.
I think also of one of those stews or soups that you hear about that in essence, it's maybe a 500 year old stew because the same pot has been boiling over the fire for all these years and different ingredients always added and it's not something that just sprung up overnight. It's been steeping and stewing for lifetimes. So the end product or the product you'll hear this year is going to be all part of that original orchestra. It's not an influence, we're just like a family built on the shoulders of those who came before us.
John Hagstrom: Sir Georg Solti hired Tom Hall into the CSOs violin section in 1970. Tom's been retired now since 2006 and after leaving the orchestra, he then served for 11 years as president of the CSO Alumni Association. Tom recently shared with me his memories of older players passing on some of their skill to him when he was a new member and why we all feel the importance of keeping our standards high.
Tom Hall: Some of the older members of the orchestra welcomed me and would occasionally sit with me or I would go to them and say, "Shall we play this passage together?" And that was extremely helpful to me. And the people that I sat with of course had high standards. So I knew right then…they weren't putting me on the spot, and I went to them for help as well and said, "What do you do here?”, or “How do you play this passage?”, or “What fingering do you use?" And you're trading ideas already with people that have played under Reiner and in some cases under Stock, and they're helping you to work on your music so that you're prepared to play.
You can play a Beethoven symphony for the 100th time, but somebody who's listening is hearing it for the first time and you cannot risk being mediocre. You have to connect with that person to whom this is a new and exciting experience. You want to get them turned on by what you are doing. You want them to get excited by Beethoven and Brahms and Tchaikovsky, even if you've played these pieces a hundred times or more. You still have to make that spark happen between audience and performers. And that's the wonderful thing about the Chicago Symphony. It's always trying to create that level of excitement.
John Hagstrom: Tom Hall was also in the CSO when the Orchestra toured Europe for the first time in 1971. The critical acclaim that came afterward solidified the CSOs reputation as one of the world's leading orchestras, and it was a moment when the discipline and the impact of our orchestra's tradition could finally be experienced by international audiences familiar with other leading orchestras. Tom shared how it felt to be there and hear their response.
Tom Hall: The 1971 tour was a very thrilling experience for me. I had never been to Europe before, and we went to all of the major capitals during the course of that tour, London and Paris and Berlin and Milan. And I think audiences were overwhelmed. I know the expectations must have been high. T he audiences in these cities are sophisticated, experienced listeners. They've heard many good orchestras before, and I still think they were overwhelmed by the intensity and the excellence of the orchestra.
And the orchestra I think was overwhelmed by the response because we would end the Mahler fifth or one of the major pieces in our repertoire. And there was this explosion of cheering and applauding, this outpouring of joy and appreciation, which I had never experienced in any other orchestra. It was a wonderful experience to feel that you had brought this special experience to the audience and they in turn had provided you with an ovation that was a special experience. And this happened again and again and again.
John Hagstrom: As a CSO member, I've frequently heard little bits in pieces about this orchestra's history. But when I finally read the autobiography of Theodore Thomas a few years ago, it became perfectly clear to me exactly how the orchestra became the great institution that it is, and how it continues to survive and thrive. If you're a CSO fan or an aspiring musician of any kind, I hope you'll also take the time to learn more about Theodore Thomas and the CSO. It's a foundation that was built to last. Here are some final thoughts from our guests.
Tom Hall: I have great faith that the Chicago Symphony will continue to survive and thrive because I believe in the power of the music, I believe in the power of the music to transform. And I believe that the Chicago Symphony has the power, even after 130 years and still going strong, has the power to continue to survive and thrive by presenting music in a way that inspires audiences to want to come and listen.
Diane Mues: So how do you quantify that? How do you say it's preferable or it's not? Because the payoff is not always in dollars and cents. It's in actual human experience. I always think of it in terms of vibrations. It's not just the sound vibrations. Everything that's in those vibrations, everything about a person that is in their makeup goes into their performance and touches people. And everything about their presence in the concert hall and everything about them is also a vibration that we sense on a very subconscious level. That's why performers always say the audience makes such a difference. And we love it when we feel like we're communicating with the audience. That sort of thing is what made me want to become a musician.
John Yeh: And because of our tradition, because of our leadership from Theodore Thomas, this foundation that was laid is so strong and every generation has built upon that to improve little by little. And so we have big shoulders to stand on, for sure. We want to create the platform for the next generation.
Jeff Alexander: So many times, a guess artists has said to me either, if it's their debut with us, it's been my dream to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, what an honor this has been, or every time I come back to perform at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, I'm reminded in the first few seconds of the first rehearsal, why it has the reputation it has. The quality of the musicians, the discipline of the musicians.
More than one guest conductor has said to me how impressed they are with so many things about the orchestra, but including the intensity of concentration during rehearsals and how serious everyone takes the rehearsals. I think that discipline goes back to Theodore Thomas and has been sustained through the nine music directors since, including our current Music Director, Maestro Muti.
Frank Villella: Thank you to Theodore Thomas for having the vision, for acting on that vision, for having faith, not only in musicians, but also in the community, the community of listeners, the community of investors, the community of educators. Thank you for having that faith in all of us, not only in your time, but in our present time. Thank you for that opportunity.
Tom Hall: It’s a wonderful thing to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Being a part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is stepping into history. To the river that found its source back in 1891 and will continue to flow with great power. Those of us who step into it, step in and make our contribution and then step out. But we've been a part of it. There will always be people who will get caught up in that flow and that powerful stream will continue to flow and the orchestra will continue to survive and continue to thrive.
John Hagstrom: Thanks so much to our guests in this episode that shared their time with us. Jeff Alexander, John Yeh, Diane Mues, Tom Hall, and especially Frank Villella. And thanks so much to you for listening to this podcast. We hope you'll be joining us as our concerts resume at Symphony Center and at Ravinia this summer. Until then, please take the time to explore and enjoy some of the great recordings made by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, some excerpts of which you've just heard.
For more information about this podcast, our guests and links to the music in this episode, please visit cso.org where you'll also find complete playlists for each episode and up-to-date information about the exciting programming we're planning on CSO-TV, which is part of our commitment to provide musical excellence both before and after our regular concerts resume at Symphony Center.
While you're visiting cso.org, if you've enjoyed this podcast and would like to support the mission to the CSO, please consider a donation or a sponsorship. And thanks to Phyllis Bleck and Bruce Altman for their generous support of this program. InterMISSION @ the CSO is produced by John Hagstrom and Richard Sigler for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association. And thank you for listening.