Sixty Years of California Song Part 27

OTTO BLANKART

Mr. Blankart studied the violin in Mannheim, Germany, with Carl Heydt, second violin of the then renowned Jean Becker quartette.

Notwithstanding his showing of great talent in his youth, his father refused to send him to the Leipsig Conservatory because of trouble with his ears. His father apprenticed him to a wholesale coffee house.

When twenty-one years old he left for America. He went first to his sister in Indianapolis, then to Quincy, Ill., where he took up his violin studies again, played in concerts with Eastern pianists, got pupils, besides having a position in a music store. There he met and married Mrs. Blankart and they worked together constantly. About 1874 he came to San Francisco and gradually he gained ground as a teacher and did very well. When the Blankarts had their studios on Geary street, near Larkin, about 1882-89, they gave musicals every two weeks, and musicians like Edgar S. Kelly, Fred Zech, Jr., Otto Bendix, Luchesi, Miss Hanchette and others played there. During those years Professor Blankart formed also, in connection with Miss Hanchette, the Beethoven Quartette club and gave for several seasons in succession public concerts. In the early nineties he left San Francisco for Oakland. He went about three times to Europe on business matters, but as usual discovered that it is better to stay with one's profession than to change, and eventually, after some time, came back to the fold and worked in a quiet way; that is, he practiced hard and gave lessons. He has had the satisfaction of giving pleasure and rousing interest for the better cla.s.sical music.

MRS. THERESA BLANKART

Mrs. Blankart had her musical education with the renowned Louis Kohler in Konigsberg, East Prussia, Germany. From the first she wanted to be a concert player. There being no piano in her home, she was compelled to practice at a piano house every morning from eight until twelve o'clock, and she said many times that she could have practiced longer if the military band pa.s.sing the store daily at noon had not reminded her of the time. She kept up this arduous practice until she broke down with typhoid fever and was near death's door. When she was able to start work again, Louis Kohler did not recognize her at all, she had changed so much. He encouraged her very much, but stated at once that, under the conditions, she ought to give up all hope of becoming a performer, as she could not stand the strain. He said she could make an excellent teacher and that he would help her in every way. For two years she taught under the guidance of this great teacher and in 1868 came to America. She taught about seven years in the East and came to California about 1874. She made the acquaintance of the then prominent San Francisco piano teachers--Trenkle, Kuhne, Holzhauer, Hartman--and they all very kindly recommended her after examination. She gradually built up her reputation and had the satisfaction to see many of her pupils become fine players. She was at the California College, teaching for over twenty years, and many a pupil from this college is today teaching with success. She always strictly attended to her profession with great love and devotion and never had time to attend social duties. Notwithstanding, she made many friends among her pupils and others.

M. AUGUSTA LOWELL-GARTHWAITE

"Gussie" Lowell was born in San Francisco in 1857 of New England parentage and began her first musical study with Professor Striby, one of the earliest piano teachers. On moving to Oakland, when nine years old, she studied first with Miss Mary Simpson (now Mrs. Barker) of the Blake seminary, then Miss Gaskill (now Mrs. Andrews) and afterwards with Mrs. Blanche Emerson and Mrs. Babc.o.c.k. Organ study (on the reed organ) was begun in 1874 with John H. Pratt, and when John P. Morgan in 1875 came to Oakland from New York, where he had for years been the beloved organist of Trinity Church, Miss Lowell took up the study of the pipe organ at the old Congregational Church in Oakland and practiced there, at the First Presbyterian Church and the Independent Church, where she later became organist after a two years' service at the First Baptist Church. As Mr. Morgan was the conductor of the San Francisco Handel and Haydn Oratorio society and the Oakland Harmonic, Miss Lowell had the unusual advantage as organist of these societies of playing in all the oratorios given under the direction of Mr.

Morgan as well as Mr. Toepke and Mr. Gustave Hinrichs. After Mr.

Morgan's lamented death, Miss Lowell took his place as teacher of the organ in the conservatory founded by him, where also taught Mr. Morgan (piano), Mr. Louis Lisser, Mr. Henry Heyneman and Mr. Julius Hinrichs (violoncello), Miss Susie Morgan, Mr. D.P. Hughes and dear old Stephen W. Leach (voice culture).

[Ill.u.s.tration:

Rose Champion Elsie Mae Hunt Mrs. Cora Rayburn Mrs. Mayme Ba.s.sford Arthur Victory Elizabeth Lanktree Elsie Noonan Jennie Christofferson Harry Crandall

PUPILS, 1898-1902]

For three years prior to Miss Lowell's departure for New York in 1880, she was organist for Rev. Mr. Hamilton's Independent Presbyterian Church, where she conducted a large choir of sixteen voices.

She studied for a short time in the New England Conservatory of Music at Boston, but as New York had the greater attraction in the presence of Mr. Samuel P. Warren, the leading organist of the country, she went there and throughout her ten years' residence in the East studied solely with Mr. Warren, but added two seasons of study in harmony technique under that master, John H. Cornell. Miss Lowell's California experience proved of great advantage to her in obtaining church positions in the big city, and immediately upon her arrival in New York she became a.s.sistant organist at St. George's and later St.

Bartholomew's, Grace and other churches, and for three years was organist at the Madison Avenue Dutch Reformed Church. The desire of her heart was attained, however, when the position was offered to her as organist at the beautiful new Roosevelt organ at the Church of the Incarnation (Arthur Brooks, brother of Phillips Brooks, pastor), to succeed Frederick Archer, the great English organist. This position she held for seven years, until her marriage in 1890. The choir of thirty paid voices was the finest in the city, and at this organ Miss Lowell gave over sixty recitals. While in New York, Miss Lowell played in many public and private concerts and was conductor for seven years of the Ladies' Vocal club at Montclair, N.J., and for three years of the Choral club (ladies'), Mt. Vernon, N.Y.

After her marriage in Oakland in 1890 to Edwin Garthwaite, a mining engineer of great reputation, she retired from public life and went with him to Mexico, where much piano and ensemble work was enjoyed, then later to South Africa for twelve years. While there was no organ playing in the parts where she lived, she was able to gather musical people about her always, and in her home near Johannesburg she conducted a fine glee club of mixed voices. Up in Bulawayo, Rhodesia, she was always identified with good music and formed a musical club, where much fine work in ensemble and choral music was accomplished.

On her return to her native land, five years ago, after nearly twenty years' absence practically from the organ, Mrs. Garthwaite was able to give occasional public performances, playing as organist in the First Church of Christ, Scientist, for a year and a half, and after all these years is again organist of the First Baptist Church in Oakland, the church where she began her career as a girl of nineteen for five dollars a month.

Mrs. Garthwaite considers the most noteworthy event in her career to be the anniversary recital given last year in the Baptist Church, when she repeated her performance of twenty years before, subst.i.tuting her two sons and her nephew, Lowell Redfield, for Mr. Sigmund Beel and Miss Lizzie Bogue, and giving as a great surprise to her audience a wonderful and inspiring performance by Mrs. Blake-Alverson of "The Last Rose of Summer." It was said afterwards that it was like a song from heaven and would never be forgotten.

SANTIAGO ARRILLAGA Y ANSOLA

Mr. Arrillaga was born in 1848 at Iolosa in the Province of Guipuzcoa, Spain, and at the age of ten began the study of music in the old Spanish fas.h.i.+on, with a solfeggio master who employed no instrumental accompaniment whatever. In the course of a year he had fully mastered all that could be taught him by his master. He then began the study of the piano as a recreation, his teacher being D.E. Aguayo, organist of the parish church. He attended school, both in Spain and France, until the age of sixteen, when, having decided to pursue the musical art as a profession, he was sent to the Royal Conservatory at Madrid, where he became the pupil of Don M. Mendizabal in piano, Don R. Hermando in harmony and Dr. H. Esloa in counterpoint. At the close of three years he was graduated with the highest honors, having obtained the first prize at the public examination and being decorated with the gold medal of the university, which was conferred on him by Queen Isabella (the second). In 1867 Senor Arrillaga went to Paris, where he studied at the conservatory and also took private lessons. At the age of twenty-one he was seized with a desire to travel and, after a sojourn in several South American cities and in the Antilles, he came to this country.

At San Jose de Costa Rica he remained for five years and he would in all probability have made his home at that delightful place, as he had every inducement offered him to do so, had not the climate of the tropics shattered his health. This compelled him to seek a more congenial locality, and in 1875 he departed for San Francisco, where he has since resided. In all the places where he has resided or visited he has given concerts with marked success, his playing being particularly admired for the elegant and graceful style and his facile technique. When Carlotta Patti visited the Pacific coast she especially engaged him to act as her accompanist for her concert tour.

Although his time has mainly been devoted to teaching, he has found opportunity to do clever and characteristic work as a composer.

Conspicuously successful have been his "Gata and Danga Habanera" and his "Trip to Spain," the latter being for piano and orchestra. He has written many piano compositions, two ma.s.ses and a great deal of church music, generally distinguished for its imaginative and musicianly qualities. As a teacher, Senor Arrillaga has been remarkably successful, and during his long sojourn in San Francisco he has gathered about him a large coterie of pupils, to whom he is guide in art and a valued personal friend.

[From "A Hundred Years of Music in America," published in 1889, Chicago, by G.L. Howe and W.S.B. Matthews.]

MISS CARRIE HEINEMANN

Miss Heinemann was born in the city of New York, June 12, 1863. At the age of thirteen she came with her parents to San Francisco, where her father went into business on Leavenworth street. At the age of fifteen, while visiting friends, her voice was tested under the tuition of Miss Louisa Tourney, who successfully brought her out after three years of study, so she was able to take her place as a leading mezzo-soprano, suitable for church work and concert singing. The music committee of the O Habai Sholom choir very promptly engaged her as their soprano, a place which she successfully held for fifteen years.

During her time in this synagogue she was prominent in concerts and festivals and sang at special services in different churches and societies. During her singing career she was also a generous and charitable singer and gave her services often to aid other churches, societies and charities without regard to creed. I had the pleasure of singing in the same choir with her. We were together six years with the following members of the choir: Soprano, Carrie Heinemann; contralto, Mrs. Blake-Alverson; ba.s.so, Mr. Mills; tenor, Mr. Newman, and organist, G.A. Scott. On holidays extra singers a.s.sisted the regular choir. I resigned from this choir to go to San Bernardino, while she remained indefinitely. She married at that time. She still continues her singing and a.s.sists the fraternal orders in San Francisco, of which she is a prominent member as Mrs. Carrie Wallenstein.

HENRY S. STEDMAN

Mr. Stedman received his first instruction on the organ from Thos. N.

Caulfield at Indianapolis, Ind. During the ten years preceding 1876 he was engaged continuously in the churches of that city, the larger portion being in the First Presbyterian, the church of which President Benjamin Harrison was a member and at that time a teacher of a Bible cla.s.s. In October, 1876, he arrived in San Francisco, having come to the coast under engagement to the firm of Sherman and Hyde. He had already been engaged as organist of the Howard M.E. Church and took up that work at once. The "silver-tongued orator," Rev. Thomas Guard, was in charge of the church then, and his popularity drew large audiences, who were entertained not only with oratory but music also. The church choir was under the leaders.h.i.+p of Mr. Geo. W. Jackson, who was one of the first to announce himself as a "voice builder." May 1, 1878, Mr.

Stedman was seated as organist and director of music in Plymouth Congregational Church, a position filled continuously for twenty years. During this period many of the very best known and ablest singers, now occupying positions in the highest salaried choirs of the coast as well as in the East, had their first start and encouragement from this source. In 1898 the First Congregational Church of Alameda made offers that, added to the comfort of being at home and free from travel across the bay, were accepted, and Mr. Stedman began a service which continued for five years. At this time business interests impelled a change of residence to San Francisco and, having already put in a goodly portion of time on the bench, all offers for additional service were rejected, and no work of importance has been undertaken in the way of organ-playing save an occasional day as "subst.i.tute" for a friend.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

Freda Lahre Mrs. O.B. Caldwell Mrs. Akerly Florence Bruce Mrs. Ethel B. Nagle-Pittman Geo. Flick Mrs. Ruth Bruce-Wold Mrs. Sue Lanktree-Kenney Louisa Garcia

PUPILS OF THE 1900's]

THE HINRICHS FAMILY

One of the musical families of early years was the Hinrichs family. I think Gustav, the object of this sketch, is the oldest. He was connected with the old Tivoli and was the first to introduce opera there at popular prices. His success was permanent. He is not only a fine director but a teacher of the voice as well and is a busy man.

Even in the summer, when vacation comes, he is obliged to remain in the city. Through Joseffy he was persuaded to go to New York, as the field was broader.

In opera naturally the leading singers, the chorus, the musicians, all play an important part, but by far the most important of all is that a.s.sumed by the musical director. It is his hand that binds all the component parts, that might otherwise not act in unison, into a harmonious whole; his genius that brings out all the hidden beauties of the score, all the delicate nuances the composer had in mind. It was therefore an event of more than ordinary importance and an entirely new departure in the musical world when Henry W. Savage made the announcement in regard to his immensely popular comic opera. The Prince of Pilsen, that he had as musical director no less a celebrated maestro than Gustav Hinrichs, formerly conductor for the Metropolitan grand opera company. Mr. Hinrichs ranks among the very foremost operatic musical directors, standing on a level with such geniuses as Alfred Hertz, Toscanini, Mancinelli, Campanari, Gustav Mahler and Leopold Damrosch.

Julius Hinrichs was the cello player and a most sympathetic and beautiful one. I remember in 1875 I gave a concert in old Platt's hall in Montgomery street, and he played for me that night and also played the obbligato to the slumber song by Randegger. I never sang it so well in my life. Gustave Scott was the accompanist that evening, and it proved to be the choice number of the concert. Mr. Hinrichs married one of my talented pupils, Miss Nellie Paddock. She was not only a sweet singer, but also a pianist of repute, and to hear those artists play was truly a treat. They were popular for a number of years before Julius died, some time in the eighties. I never heard what Mrs.

Hinrichs did after the death of her husband. I was living in San Bernardino at the time, and when I returned to San Francisco I moved to the Western addition and never met any of the Hinrichs family until years after, when I moved to Oakland in 1891 and after the earthquake.

The youngest son, August Hinrichs, is the popular leader of Ye Liberty theater orchestra, Oakland, and at this theater he charms his hearers with the magic touch of his treasured Stradivarius which he uses with such artistic skill. For years he was leader in the orchestras of old San Francisco. After the earthquake he found in Oakland a permanent refuge where he can continue his excellent work, which is duly appreciated by the constant patrons of this theater.

H.B. PASMORE

Mr. Pasmore, composer and teacher of harmony, studied harmony and organ and singing with John P. Morgan until the latter's death. Later he studied organ with J.H. Dohrmann and piano with Professor Lisser.

When he was twenty-five years old he studied in Leipsic the art of composition and harmony, a branch of music he is eminently able to teach. He is still teaching in San Francisco. He has written many fine songs and has translated with Torek, Joda.s.sohn's "Manual of Harmony."

WALLACE A. SABIN, F.R.C.O., F.A.G.O.

Mr. Sabin was born in Northamptons.h.i.+re, England. His education was acquired at Chardstock College and Magdalen College, school, Brackley.

He studied piano and organ under Dr. M.J. Monk, organist of Banbury parish church, and later piano, organ, theory, etc., under Dr. T.W.

Dodds, Queen's College, Oxford. He was graduated as a.s.sociate and later as fellow the Royal College of Organists, London. He was organist of Magdalen College school, Brackley, 1882-1886; St. George's church, Oxford, 1887-1889; organist and choirmaster, S.S., Mary and John, Oxford, 1889-1893; a.s.sistant organist, Queen's College, Oxford, 1886-1893; organist and choirmaster, All Saints', Warwick, 1893-1894.

He came to California in October, 1894, to take position of organist and choirmaster of St. Luke's Church, San Francisco, which position he held until the fire of 1906. Since that time he has played at First Church of Christ, Scientist, San Francisco. In 1895 he became organist of Temple Emanuel, San Francisco, which position he still holds. He has been director since 1894 of Vested Choir a.s.sociation of San Francisco and vicinity; director of Sat.u.r.day Morning (ladies') orchestra and Twentieth Century Musical club, giving such works as Bach's "Pa.s.sion," Handel's "Alexander's Feast," etc. He was representative as California organist, World's Fair, St. Louis, 1904, giving two recitals. He has been president of the Musicians' club, twice a director of the Bohemian club, and composed the music for a forest play ent.i.tled St. Patrick at Tara, given at a midsummer jinks of the Bohemian club. At present he is dean of the Northern California Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, conductor of the Loring club and the choral section of the San Francisco Musical club, and is engaged in teaching and composition.

JOHN W. METCALF

California has produced her share of composers. They have been prominent as pianists, violinists, leaders of musical bodies and teachers of harmony. They are writers of the highest merit and some can be cla.s.sed with the song writers of Europe. The state is too young for many native composers. Our musicians all came to us in the days of gold, and others who came later educated their sons and daughters in the East and in Europe in the highest art of music and, returning to the state, made a place for themselves as writers of music.

John W. Metcalf for the last twenty-one years has been among us as teacher of piano, harmony and a song writer of the highest order, and we are glad to claim him, even if he is not a native son. We love his music and appreciate the writer who is able to give to the singing world soulful compositions that compare with those of Schubert and Mendelssohn. They are superlatively correct and scholarly. I am not a song writer but a song singer, and when I find such compositions I am proud to interpret them to the best of my ability.