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53-662: The Spirit of Music also known as the Theodore Thomas Memorial , is an outdoor 1923 sculpture and monument commemorating Theodore Thomas (founder of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra ) by Czech-American artist and educator Albin Polasek , installed in Chicago 's Grant Park , in the U.S. state of Illinois . This Chicago -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about

106-646: A benefit for the Chicago Sanitary Fair . Karl Formes gave concerts that September, followed by performances by the Hanlon Brothers comedy group. The Music Hall annex, intended mostly for lectures and concerts, was completed on November 29. It was here that Edwin Forrest made his first appearance in Chicago since 1848 on January 22, 1866, with a company led by John Edward McCullough and James Edward Murdoch gave

159-416: A decision to sell the building in 1866. The Crosby Opera House Art Association was formed to help Crosby sell the building by lottery. The lottery distributed over 210,000 tickets, awarding purchasers great works of art and even the building itself. After being sold back to Crosby by the lottery winner, A.H. Lee, the hall began producing more consistent performances. The opera house stood for less than six and

212-598: A dome encircled by paintings of Beethoven, Mozart, Auber, Weber, Verdi, and Wagner. Surrounding it were frescoes that were painted by Otto Jevne and Peter M. Almini, who were partners in a Chicago decorating firm specializing in ornamental painting. A forty-foot painting of Aurora, based on Guido Reni 's fresco, was displayed at the front of the stage above the orchestra. Wellbaum & Bauman handled carpentry and masonry with cut stone work by L. H. Boldenweck. The structure cost $ 600,000 (equivalent to $ 11,940,000 in 2023), which ruined Crosby financially. Crosby's Opera House

265-480: A final appearance in Chicago on March 23. The opera house was host to the 1868 Republican National Convention . In November 1869, Lydia Thompson brought her troupe of dancers for a burlesque . She returned the next year on February 14. Thompson performed again on the 24th with Pauline Markham ; after a particularly foul review by Wilbur F. Storey in the Chicago Times , Thompson and Markham assaulted Storey in

318-474: A fire tore through the city on the night before the re-opening. By the evening of the next day, the Great Chicago Fire had destroyed over 3.3 square miles (8.5 km ) of the city, including Crosby's Opera House. When the fire bell alarmed on Sunday, October 8, many Chicagoans paid no attention since the summer had been particularly dry and there had already been several fires. A strong wind blew through

371-436: A half years before it was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and was never rebuilt. In 1989 the city demolished the deteriorated properties on the site where it once stood, and took decades to subsequently formalize plans for redevelopment of the so-called Block 37 . During the city's twenty-year discussion regarding what to do with the property, it was used as an art studio for Chicago public school students and as

424-686: A new concert series, where they learned large portions of the city were destroyed by fire the night before, including the Crosby Opera House where he was to perform. The orchestra was ultimately dissolved in 1888. Thomas was also music director of the New York Philharmonic in 1877-78 and from 1879 to 1891; of the short-lived American Opera Company in New York in 1886; and of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Society 1862 to 1891. He

477-519: A reading for charity on February 5, 1866. After its brief heyday, the opera house began to experience a lull in activity. Crosby had overestimated the demand for opera in the city. The public's disinterest in operatic performances paired with Crosby's inexperience as a theater manager contributed to Crosby falling further into debt. The opera house remained open between opera performances by programming minstrel shows like comedy acts, dancing, and theater performances. By May 1866, investors were weary of

530-875: A respected musician in America, packed their belongings and made the six-week journey to New York City. In 1848, Thomas and his father joined the Navy Band, but in 1849 his father ceased to support him, and he set out on his own. Thomas soon became a regular member of several pit orchestras, including the Park, the Bowery, and the Niblo. He then toured the United States performing violin recitals. During this time Thomas served as his own manager, ticket sales, and press agent. He reached as far south as Mississippi. Thomas returned to New York in 1850, with

583-469: A sculpture in the United States is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Theodore Thomas (conductor) Theodore Christian Friedrich Thomas was born in Esens , Germany, on October 11, 1835, the son of Johann August Thomas. His mother, Sophia, was the daughter of a physician from Göttingen . He received his musical education principally from his father, who was a violinist of ability, and at

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636-464: A skating rink through the winter season. Uranus Harold Crosby came to Chicago from Chatham, Massachusetts , on September 4, 1850. He did so on recommendation of his cousin Albert, who insisted that the city was well-cultured. Albert had arrived two years earlier to establish a liquor and tea trading house, Albert Crosby & Co. In 1851, the cousins established a liquor manufactory and the operation became

689-492: A ticket. The prizes, and their values advertised, were: The drawing was originally scheduled for October 11, 1866, but because of high ticket demand it was delayed until January 21, 1867. The association distributed 210,000 tickets and offered three hundred and two prizes, with the opera house as the grand prize. 25,593 tickets were purchased by Crosby in hopes of maintaining ownership; the rest were sold. Most shops and businesses in Chicago closed so that employees could attend

742-503: The Bush political family . He died at Chicago, Illinois , on January 4, 1905. His funeral service was held at St. James Episcopal Cathedral in Chicago and he was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts . Thomas is honored with a memorial monument and garden in Chicago's Grant Park , near Orchestra Hall. Crosby Opera House Crosby's Opera House (1865–1871)

795-550: The Metropolitan Opera House , New York , he conducted the U.S. premiere of Saint-Saëns 's "Organ Symphony" (Symphony No. 3). Thomas, who was never completely satisfied with the Auditorium Theatre (finding it far too cavernous and nearly impossible to sell over 4,200 tickets twice weekly), fully realized his dream of a permanent home, when Orchestra Hall , designed by the Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham ,

848-414: The $ 200,000 given to A.H. Lee, Crosby paid off the construction cost and pocketed profits all while still maintaining ownership of the opera house. Given the convenience of the transaction, the public began to speculate as to whether or not A. H. Lee even existed or if Crosby had staged the outcome. Shortly after, Uranus Crosby returned to Massachusetts. Adelaide Ristori made her first Chicago appearance

901-459: The South, giving violin concerts in little towns. He traveled on horseback. When he came into a town, he went about all day tacking up posters announcing his concert in the evening. Before the concert, he stood at the door taking in the admission money until his audience had arrived, and then he went on the platform and played. It was a lazy, hand-to-mouth existence . . . and when he got back to New York in

954-939: The Theodore Thomas Orchestra in 1864. That orchestra would in turn have a chamber music connection of its own: Joseph Zoellner, who was at least for a time its concertmaster, later went on to form the Zoellner Quartet , another pioneering promoter of classical music in the United States. In 1864, Thomas began a series of summer concerts with his orchestra, first in New York City, and later in Philadelphia , Cincinnati , St. Louis , Milwaukee , and eventually Chicago . The orchestra toured regularly and received consistent critical and popular acclaim, despite persistent financial setbacks. One such setback occurred on October 9, 1871, when he and his orchestra arrived in Chicago for

1007-480: The United States premieres of works of Anton Bruckner , Dvořák, Edward Elgar , Alexander Glazunov , Edvard Grieg , Jules Massenet , Bedřich Smetana , Tchaikovsky, and his personal friend Richard Strauss who became the orchestra's first guest conductor, appearing with his wife Pauline de Ahna in April 1904 at Thomas's invitation. During this time, he also conducted in other places. For example, on 19 February 1887 at

1060-479: The Wagner union in 1872. Thomas always received an enthusiastic welcome in Chicago. In 1889, Charles Norman Fay , a Chicago businessman and devoted supporter of the Theodore Thomas Orchestra, encountered Thomas in New York and inquired whether he would come to Chicago if he was given a permanent orchestra. Thomas's legendary reply was, "I would go to hell if they gave me a permanent orchestra." On December 17, 1890,

1113-409: The age of six years he played the violin in public concerts. His father was the town Stadtpfeifer (bandleader) who also arranged music for state occasions. Thomas showed interest in the violin at an early age, and by age ten, he was practically the breadwinner of the family, performing at weddings, balls, and even in taverns. By 1845, Johann Thomas and his family, convinced there was a better life for

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1166-426: The chance to acquire the opera house or any of its holdings. Works from the art gallery wing were of particular interest. The lottery was very successful, and the association had to open branch offices in other cities to comply with the demand for tickets. In the meantime, the money raised helped the opera house to hold performances from Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa and Pasquale Brignoli , which were free to anyone holding

1219-477: The city and exhausted the firefighters' efforts. By Tuesday morning the fire had ended and nearly 300 people died, 100,000 were homeless, and Chicago's business district was in ruins. Chief usher James S. Osgood and Crosby went back to the opera house to save some of the art gallery. They took large pictures out of the frames and lowered them by rope out of the windows, eventually taking them to Garrisons House at 226 South Wabash Street. Thomas and his orchestra played

1272-506: The cultural center of Chicago entertainment, but Crosby believed that the city was overdue for a grand opera house like the ones he knew back East. He selected a site on the north side of Washington Street between State Street and Dearborn Avenue, then embarked with architect William W. Boyington on a tour of opera houses in Union cities. Boyington then designed Crosby's Opera House with assistant architect John W. Roberts. The building itself

1325-646: The day after the lottery, January 22, 1867, as the lead role in Médée . James William Wallack and Edward Loomis Davenport gave a rendition of Othello on September 16. Edward Payson Weston held two receptions on November 28 after completing his walk from Portland, Maine . Patrick Gilmore 's band, featuring Camilla Urso , began a series of concerts starting January 20, 1868. Fanny Janauschek performed for two weeks starting February 18. Works included Médée, Adriana Lecouvreur , Marie Stuart , Deborah , Love and Intrigue , and Emilia Galotti . Edwin Forrest made

1378-409: The event. Nineteen trusted public officials from around the country such as banker William F. Coolbaugh , former Lieutenant Governor of Illinois Francis Hoffmann , American Express agent J. C. Fargo , and historian David Pulsifer oversaw the drawing. On the morning of the 21st, special trains brought ticket-buyers from all over the country into the city. At precisely 11 AM the first ticket number

1431-424: The fall, he was rather torpid . . . From this adolescent drowsiness the lad was awakened by two voices, by two women who sang in New York in 1851: Jenny Lind and Henrietta Sontag. They were the first great artists he had ever heard, and he never forgot his debt to them. . . . . Night after night he went to hear them, striving to reproduce the quality of their tone upon his violin. From that time his idea about strings

1484-718: The first meeting for incorporation of the Orchestral Association, organized by Fay, was held at the Chicago Club . Less than one year later on October 16 and 17, 1891, the first concerts of the Chicago Orchestra, led by Thomas, were given at the Auditorium Theatre . The concert included Wagner's Faust Overture, Tchaikovsky 's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Rafael Joseffy , Beethoven 's Symphony No. 5 , and Dvořák 's Hussite Overture . During his tenure, Thomas introduced several new works to his Chicago audiences, including

1537-553: The house for his production, The Twelve Temptations . Following the outrage over Rev. Lorenzo Sabine's refusal to accept the remains of actor George Holland , a charity event was held on February 16, 1871, at Crosby's, raising almost $ 2,000 in support of Rev. George Hendric Houghton at the Little Church Around the Corner . Charles Wyndham gave the last major performance, a two-week engagement with his English Comedy Company. In

1590-509: The intent of returning to Germany for advanced musical education; instead, he began his studies conducting in New York with Karl Eckert and Louis Antoine Jullien . He became first violin in the orchestra that accompanied Jenny Lind in that year, Henrietta Sontag in 1852, and Giulia Grisi and Giuseppe Mario in 1854. Also in 1854, at the age of nineteen, he was invited to play with the Philharmonic Society 's orchestra. He led

1643-437: The largest wholesale distributor of distilled alcohol and camphine . Despite his new-found wealth, Uranus Crosby was disappointed at the lack of culture that he was promised in Chicago. The growing city could offer little more than brothels , saloons, and gambling houses for entertainment. The area's only theater, built by John Blake Rice in 1847, had been destroyed in a fire shortly before Crosby's arrival. When Rice rebuilt

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1696-402: The leadership of Crosby, who failed to make significant profit on the property. The Crosby Opera House Art Association was formed and they organized a scheme to raise funds and dispose of property through a lottery. Instead of having people think they were gambling, they encouraged people to believe they were promoting culture in the city. For $ 5 a ticket, people would receive an engraving and had

1749-557: The only Pulitzer Prize ever awarded for the biography of a musician." Thomas also makes a brief appearance as a character in Chapter VI of Willa Cather 's The Song of the Lark (1915) in which he recounts some of the struggles of his early years and describes how listening to the singing of sopranos Jenny Lind and Henrietta Sontag influenced his violin playing: He said he had spent the summer of his fifteenth year wandering about alone in

1802-410: The orchestras that accompanied La Grange , Maria Piccolomini , and Thalberg through the country. Meanwhile, in 1855, with himself as first violin, Joseph Mosenthal , second violin, George Matzka , viola, Carl Bergmann , violoncello, and William Mason as pianist, he began a series of chamber music soirées which were given at Dodworth's Academy. The Mason-Thomas concerts lasted until his founding of

1855-498: The performances were assessed by critic George Upton, a critic for the Chicago Tribune who arrived to Chicago in 1855 with a bachelor of music degree from Brown University. Upton favored Italian opera and had strong feelings against Wagnerian opera. Because the opera house did not employ a permanent company, performances were not consistently scheduled. In late May 1865, three comedies and a performance of Hamlet were staged as

1908-526: The street. Four were arrested and the trial made headlines. In April 1870, the Germania Männerchor gave three performances of The Magic Flute . In May, they exhibited Stradella . In November, Marie Seebach presented Marie Stuart and Faust . Christina Nilsson sang three concerts in December 1870. Starting on December 28 and continuing for over a month, notorious businessman James Fisk leased

1961-522: The summer of 1871, the opera house underwent alterations after $ 80,000 had been raised to lavishly redecorate the venue. An advertisement stated that the Crosby Opera House was to re-open on October 9, 1871, with a performance by Theodore Thomas . Theodore Thomas was on tour in early October 1871 and had planned to head to the opera house for a two-week series event of orchestral concerts for the reopening. However, two years of planning were wasted when

2014-484: The theater in 1851, Crosby was disappointed by Rice's lack of interest in exhibiting opera performances. James Hubert McVicker , a close friend of Crosby's who was a neighbor in the Briggs House hotel, built a playhouse. Crosby probably assisted McVicker with raising credit for the institution. By 1855, Rice had retired from the theater business, leaving his theater a house of novelty shows. McVicker's Theater became

2067-580: Was a Probate Judge for Middlesex County, Massachusetts , for 35 years and served on the Board of Overseers of Harvard College for 28 years. She was the great-great granddaughter of Dr. Abel Prescott , a physician in Concord, Massachusetts and the father of two American patriots who sounded the alarm on April 19, 1775. Her first cousin was Harriet Eleanor Fay, the wife of Rev. James Smith Bush , an attorney and Episcopal priest and religious writer, and an ancestor of

2120-622: Was a graduate and later a teacher at Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut . They met at a series of chamber concerts in Farmington, Connecticut. Thomas and Minna had five children: Franz Thomas, Marion Thomas, Herman Thomas, Hector W. Thomas and Mrs. D.N.B. Sturgis. He married, his second wife in Chicago , Cook County, Illinois , at the Church of the Ascension on May 7, 1890. Rose Emily Fay

2173-553: Was also the sister of businessman Charles Norman Fay, who was Thomas's chief booster and supporter in organizing a major Chicago orchestra. She was the granddaughter of John Henry Hopkins , who was the first bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont and was the eighth Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America . She was also the granddaughter of Samuel Prescott Phillips Fay (1778–1856). He

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2226-488: Was an opera house in Chicago , Illinois , United States. It was founded by Uranus H. Crosby in 1865 with the goal of advancing the arts in Chicago by bringing opera to the city. The five-story building was designed by William W. Boyington and contained statues of painting, sculpture, music and commerce that welcomed visitors as they entered through the arch of the building. After holding only occasional performances, Crosby ran into many business difficulties that resulted in

2279-467: Was assumed by Frederick Stock , who in 1905 wrote a symphonic poem Eines Menschenlebens Morgen, Mittag, und Abend , dedicated to "Theodore Thomas and the Members of the Chicago Orchestra." The work was first performed on April 7 and 8, 1905. Music historian Judith Tick writes: "Theodore Thomas was a legend in his own time, and in 1927 the journalist Charles Edward Russell 's biography of Theodore Thomas won

2332-420: Was awarded to Daniel Russell of Boston, Massachusetts . A. H. Lee of Prairie du Rocher, Illinois had the winning ticket, #58,600, for the opera house. However, Lee's wife was ill and he had little interest in leaving her for Chicago. On January 25, 1867, he met with Crosby in Chicago and agreed to sell the house to him for $ 200,000. The public bought over $ 1,000,000 in chances on a $ 600,000 building. Subtracting

2385-402: Was completed. Thomas led the dedicatory concert on December 14, 1904. He would only lead two weeks of subscription concerts in the new hall, after contracting influenza during rehearsals for the dedicatory concert. Though he continued with his customary vigor, he conducted his beloved Chicago Orchestra for the last time on Christmas Eve 1904 and died of pneumonia on January 4, 1905. His post

2438-446: Was completely changed, and on his violin he tried always for the singing, vibrating tone, instead of the loud and somewhat harsh tone then prevalent among even the best German violinists. In later years he often advised violinists to study singing, and singers to study violin. . . ." But, of course", he added, "the great thing I got from Lind and Sontag was the indefinite, not the definite, thing. For an impressionable boy, their inspiration

2491-540: Was director of the Cincinnati College of Music from 1878 to 1879, and from 1873 to 1904 the conductor of the biennial May festivals at Cincinnati. In his Wagner concerts, Thomas used the Deutscher Liederkranz der Stadt New York choir, that he directed from 1882 to 1884 and from 1887 to 1888. To Theodore Thomas is largely due the popularization of Richard Wagner 's works in America, and it was he who founded

2544-401: Was five stories. The first floor housed businesses like music publishers Root & Cady, the piano store of W.W. Kimball, and the restaurant of H.M. Kinsley. The second and third floors were occupied by business offices and the fourth floor was an art gallery equipped with studios for the artists. The 3,000-seat opera house was situated in the rear of the building. The center of the ceiling was

2597-593: Was incalculable. They gave me my first feeling for the Italian style -- but I could never say how much they gave me. At that age, such influences are actually creative. I always think of my artistic consciousness as beginning then. All his life Thomas did his best to repay what he felt he owed to the singer's art. No man could get such singing from choruses, and no man worked harder to raise the standard of singing in schools and churches and choral societies. He married his first wife in 1864 in New York City, Minna L. Rhodes. She

2650-500: Was pulled out of a drum. This continued until 112 pieces of art were awarded to visiting patrons. Woods in Autumn was won by J. J. Taylor of Springfield, Illinois and Alpine Scenery was awarded to E. P. Dwyer of Chicago. Crosby maintained possession of The Yo Semite Valley , An American Autumn , and a sculpture of Abraham Lincoln by Leonard Volk , valued at $ 2,500. Deer on the Prairie

2703-631: Was scheduled to open April 17, 1865. The conductor Jules Grau would lead the inaugural series of Italian operas, performed by a company from New York City 's Academy of Music featuring Clara Louise Kellogg . However, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln forced a three-day delay in the house's opening. Il trovatore was the first performance, followed by a four-week season with Lucia di Lammermoor , Il Poliuto , Martha , Norma , Faust , Linda di Chamounix , La sonnambula , I puritani , Un ballo in maschera , Dom Sébastien , Lucrezia Borgia , Ernani , and Fra Diavolo . Many of

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2756-473: Was the daughter of Rev. Charles Fay, Harvard College 1829, an Episcopal priest and Emily Hopkins. She was born in 1853 in Burlington, Vermont , and died on April 19, 1929, at Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is buried next to her husband at Mount Auburn Cemetery , in Cambridge, Massachusetts . Rose was a gifted woman who contributed many of the critical notices published in the New York and Chicago Journals; Rose

2809-425: Was well known in Chicago as a decorative artist. Her marriage was a society event. She was a sister of Amy Fay , a prominent pianist, and Harriet Melusina "Zina" Fay who married in 1862, Charles Sanders Peirce , an American philosopher, logician, mathematician, and scientist. The philosopher Paul Weiss called Peirce "the most original and versatile of American philosophers and America's greatest logician". She

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