Thomas, Theodore (Christian Friedrich)

Thomas, Theodore (Christian Friedrich), renowned German-American conductor; b. Esens, East Friesland, Oct. 11, 1835; d. Chicago, Jan. 4, 1905. Taught by his father, a violinist, he played in public at the age of 6. In 1845 the family went to N.Y., where Thomas soon began to play for dances, weddings, and in theaters, helping to support the family; in 1851 he made a concert tour as a soloist, and in 1853 he joined Jullien’s orch. on its visit to N.Y., later touring the country with Jenny Lind, Grisi, Sontag, Mario, et al. He became a member of the N.Y. Phil. Society in 1854. With the pianist William Mason, he founded a series of monthly matinee chamber concerts at N.Y/s Dodworth Hall in 1855, which remained a vital force until it was disbanded in 1869. He first gained notice as a conductor when he led a performance of La favorite at the N.Y. Academy of Music on April 29, 1859. In 1862 he led his first orch. concerts at N.Y/s Irving Hall, which became known as Symphonic Soirées in 1864; they were continued at Steinway Hall (1872-78); in 1865 he began a series of summer concerts in Terrace Garden, relocating these in 1868 to Central Park Garden. The influence of these enterprises on musical culture in N.Y. was enormous, and Thomas’s programs attained European celebrity. The first concert tour with the Theodore Thomas orch. was made in 1869, and in subsequent years he led it on many tours of the U.S. and Canada. In 1873 he established the famous Cincinnati Biennial May Festival, which he conducted until his death. He also founded the Cincinnati Coll. of Music, of which he was president and director from 1878 to 1880, having given up his own orch. in N.Y. and the conductorship of the N.Y. Phil. Society (1877-78) to accept this post. After his resignation, he returned to N.Y, where he immediately reorganized his own orch. and was reelected conductor of the Phil. Society Orch. and the Brooklyn Phil. Orch. (having been conductor of the latter in 1862-63, 1866-68, and 1873-78). Besides conducting these orch. bodies, he was at different times director of several choruses; from 1885 to 1887 he was conductor and artistic director of the American Opera Co. In 1891 he settled permanently in Chicago as conductor of the Chicago Orch. In recognition of Thomas’s distinguished services, a permanent home, Orch. Hall, was built by popular subscription, and formally opened in Dec. 1904, with a series of festival concerts, which were the last directed by him. After his death, the name of the orch. was changed to the Theodore Thomas Orch. in 1906; it became the Chicago Sym. Orch. in 1912.

The influence of Thomas upon the musical development of the U.S. has been strong and lasting. An ardent apostle of Wagner, Liszt, and Brahms, he also played for the first time in America works of Tchaikovsky, Dvorˇák, Rubinstein, Bruckner, Goldmark, Saint-Saëns, Cowen, Stanford, Raff, and Richard Strauss. He likewise programmed many works by American composers.

Bibliography

G. Upton, ed., T. T.: A Musical Autobiography (2 vols.; Chicago, 1905); R. Thomas (his 2nd wife), Memoirs of T. T.(N.Y., 1911); C. Russell, The American Orchestra and T. T.(N.Y., 1927); T. Russell, T. T: His Role in the Development of Musical Culture in the United States, 1835-1905 (diss., Univ. of Minn., 1969); E. Schabas, T. T.: America’s Conductor and Builder of Orchestras, 1835-1905 (Champaign- Urbana, 1989).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire