ABSTRACT Title of Document: MARIAN MACDOWELL AND THE MACDOWELL CLUBS Elizabeth A. Yackley, Master of Arts, 2008 Directed By: Dr. Shelley G. Davis, Musicology Division, School of Music The women?s club movement in the United States gave women the opportunity not only to hold leadership positions and serve the community, but also to enhance their education and practice of literature, drama, art, and music. The MacDowell clubs (listing, Appendix A), named for the composer Edward MacDowell (1860-1908), were unique in their appreciation of the allied arts; i.e., the contention that all forms of art are mutually beneficial and artists from different disciplines may influence one another?s work. Some of the clubs had two-fold goals: to work for the advancement of the arts in their respective communities, and to support the MacDowell Colony, an artist?s retreat founded in 1907 by MacDowell?s widow, Marian MacDowell (1857- 1956). Marian MacDowell became a leading figure for the arts in the U.S. by touring the nation performing concerts of her husband?s music, uniting MacDowell clubs and other music organizations in support of the Colony. MARIAN MACDOWELL AND THE MACDOWELL CLUBS By Elizabeth A. Yackley Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts 2008 Advisory Committee: Dr. Shelley Davis, Chair Dr. Suzanne Beicken Dr. Barbara Haggh-Huglo Ms. Robin Rausch, Music Specialist, Library of Congress Dr. Boden Sandstrom ? Copyright by Elizabeth Anne Yackley 2008 ii Preface Three years ago I became aware of the contributions of Marian MacDowell when doing research at the Library of Congress on Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, another important American woman patron. After speaking with Robin Rausch, Music Specialist, Library of Congress, who recently wrote a history of the MacDowell Colony, I became further interested in this strong and influential woman, who contributed so much to the arts in the United States. It was Ms. Rausch who suggested I do research on the MacDowell clubs, and I began pursuing their work supporting the MacDowell Colony. It was then when I discovered that the clubs were also deeply committed to supporting and promoting the arts in their hometowns, and I began to piece together their genealogies. It was thrilling to find out that there were a handful of MacDowell clubs still active?I became aware of fifteen by the end?and with their help, I was able to fill in research gaps. Owing to my research area, there were many primary and secondary sources, such as club histories, flyers, and programs found in the MacDowell clubs? private collections that were not academic publications but were invaluable to my research. I have noted these documents in my citations. The first chapter is a general context of women?s art clubs in the United States from 1865 to 1950. I credit June Cunningham Croly as the originator of the women?s club movement in the nation. Her pioneering efforts to form the General Federation of Women?s Clubs laid the groundwork for other umbrella organizations, like the National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC). The NFMC united the nation?s music clubs, including the popular MacDowell clubs, and through this front, the iii organization supported many artistic endeavors, most notably the MacDowell Colony, an artist?s retreat in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The MacDowell Colony, explained in Chapter 2, was founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, the wife of Edward MacDowell, on their piece of farmland in rural New England. Edward MacDowell was an advocate of the allied arts; i.e., the contention that all forms of art are mutually beneficial and artists from different disciplines may influence one another?s creative work. In 1907, Marian MacDowell enlisted the aid of the MacDowell Club of New York City and the Mendelssohn Glee Club, an ensemble MacDowell once directed, in order to raise funds for the establishment of an allied artist?s colony in his name. Mrs. MacDowell soon realized that she needed more financial support to sustain the Colony, and she began touring the nation, performing her husband?s piano music and lecturing on the Colony for MacDowell clubs and other music clubs. In Chapter 3, I discuss the ways in which Marian MacDowell established ties to the Colony through the MacDowell clubs, documenting the significant contributions of the clubs as a result of her performances. The MacDowell clubs were important artistic organizations in their respective communities. Chapter 4 highlights the different means of support the clubs gave and continue to give to advance the arts in their hometowns. This support includes student scholarships, performing ensembles, guest artists, outreach programs, and the construction of performance venues for the community. iv Acknowledgements This has been a wonderful period of discovery for me, but it could not have occurred without the help of a few individuals. First, I want to thank my advisor, Dr. Shelley Davis, for taking time out to guide my work and tirelessly edit my drafts, which has significantly increased my writing skills; Ms. Robin Rausch, Music Specialist at the Library of Congress, for her unending knowledge of Marian MacDowell and the MacDowell Colony, and for graciously providing her time and energy at the Library of Congress and beyond to answer my questions and queries; and my other committee members, Dr. Barbara Haggh-Huglo, Dr. Boden Sandstrom, and Dr. Suzanne Beicken, for contributing their input and wisdom. Wendy Belser and Emily Katzif at the MacDowell Colony have been of inestimable assistance in providing contacts for the current MacDowell clubs and access to their current files, as well as Ruth Sieber Johnson, at Sigma Alpha Iota headquarters. Ruth immediately sent me files upon files of correspondence from Marian MacDowell when I told her about my research, of which the majority will be used in a future study because there was too much for this work! I would like to express my gratitude towards my family for encouraging me, and my mother, especially, for acting as another set of sharp eyes for my thesis drafts. Lastly, I am indebted to the presidents and other members of the MacDowell clubs all over the United States, who took the time to answer my emails, phone calls, letters, and mail packets of their personal archives to me; information which has proved invaluable to my research. For their unceasing efforts to improve the status of the arts in the nation, I would like to dedicate this thesis to them. v Table of Contents Preface........................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements...................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents.......................................................................................................... v List of Figures ............................................................................................................. vi Chapter 1: Arts Clubs in the United States, 1865-1950................................................ 1 Chapter 2: Genesis of an Ideal.................................................................................... 23 Chapter 3: Mrs. MacDowell, the Clubs and the Colony............................................. 37 Chapter 4: The MacDowell Clubs and their Communities......................................... 64 Appendix A. MacDowell Clubs 1895-2007 ............................................................... 91 Appendix B. Active MacDowell Clubs ...................................................................... 97 Appendix C. Facsimiles, Figures ????????????????????98 Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 107 vi List of Figures Figure I. Amphitheater, MacDowell Colony, 2006. Photo by the author. Figure II. Advertisement in the National Federation of Music Clubs magazine, ca1920, Box 68, Folder 2, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. Figure III. Program from a lecture-recital of Marian MacDowell, December 6, 1935, Ada, Oklahoma. ?Programs, Brochures,? Box 57, Folder 1, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. Figure IV. Hillcrest House, MacDowell Colony, 2006. Photo by the author. Figure V. Hillcrest Music Room, MacDowell Colony, 2006 Photo by the author. Figure VI. Log Cabin, MacDowell Colony, 2006. Photo by the author. Figure VII. Brochure advertising Marian MacDowell as a concert pianist. ?Programs, Brochures,? Box 57, Folder 1, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. Figure VIII. Flyer for Cincinnati MacDowell Society Latin Quarter Ball, March 19, 1914. Cincinnati MacDowell Society Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio. Figure IX. ?MacDowell Club Blessing,? by Emily Wood Bower. Used with permission by the MacDowell Club of Morris County, New Jersey. Figure X. Brochure for MacDowell Interpretation Class, Denver, Colorado. ?Programs, Brochures,? Box 57, Folder 1, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. Figure XI. MacDowell Colony League of Southern California Program Booklet, 1935. ?Programs, Brochures,? Box 57, Folder 3, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 1 Chapter 1: Arts Clubs in the United States, 1865-1950 The women?s club movement in the United States originated in the late nineteenth century. This period, marked as the first wave of feminism, was a time of change for women, most visible in the fight for women?s suffrage. Women across the nation were determined to employ their talents in areas beyond the domestic sphere; areas of intellectual, cultural, social, and political life that traditionally were denied their gender. The club movement had its roots in the General Federation of Women?s Clubs, an organization founded by journalist Jane Cunningham Croly (1829-1901) of the Sorosis Club of New York. According to history scholar Karen J. Blair, Croly was the ?single most important figure in the women?s club movement.?1 Croly established the Sorosis Club2 after she and other women were denied access to a dinner in honor of Charles Dickens, hosted by the male-only New York Press Club in 1868. She wanted to form an organization ?composed of women only,?should manage its own affairs, represent as far as possible the active interests of women, and should create a bond of fellowship between them.? 3 Croly succeeded in her efforts as the Sorosis Club, primarily a literary club, became increasingly popular in New York City and other chapters formed across the country. 1 Karen J. Blair, The Clubwoman as Feminist: True Womanhood Redefined, 1868-1914 (New York: Homes and Meier Publishers, 1980), 15. 2 Jane Croly and Charlotte Beebe Wilbur (1832-1914), journalist and fellow clubwoman (according to her obituary, she was later vice president of the New York City Mozart Musical Society), came across the Greek word ?Sorosis? in a botanical dictionary, which referred to plants with an aggregation of flowers. This definition suggested the clubwomen?s determination to ?turn supposedly frail women and lovely ladies into vital presences in the public sphere.? Ibid., 21. 3 Jane Cunningham Croly, The History of the Women?s Club Movement in America (New York: Henry G. Allen, 1989), 15. 2 Croly believed women should be highly educated in culture and conducted the Sorosis meetings through the four main committees of literature, art, drama, and music. In the cultural realm, music was an avenue that bordered women?s domestic responsibilities and their ambitions for wider engagement. Music had a long-standing association with genteel domestic accomplishment and moral uplift, which made its study fitting for the woman wanting ?more? out of life. In 1889, at the age of seventy, Croly organized the General Federation of Women?s Clubs, hereafter referred to as ?GFWC,? in which all the Sorosis Club chapters became affiliated in addition to numerous art and music clubs.4 The GFWC was the first of its kind to act as an umbrella organization uniting all types of women?s clubs; the National Federation of Music Clubs had yet to be established (1898), and clubs such as the Mozart Club of Jamestown, NY, the Musical Club of St. Louis, MO, the Tuesday Musical Club of Denver, CO, and others found support in the GFWC. In the last decade of the nineteenth century, the number of women?s music clubs increased significantly. Excluded from the male-dominated field of public musical performance, composition and conducting, domestic women, who in their youth were musically trained, joined these clubs as a social outlet, but more importantly they joined in order to emerge from their domestic sphere and have the opportunity to hold leadership positions, organize events, and contribute to the local community. In her book, entitled The History of the Women?s Club Movement in 4 The GFWC was chartered by the fifty-sixth United States Congress in 1901 and is still active today. The organization has become nonpartisan, nondenominational, and international in its efforts to unite women in volunteer service. http://www.gfwc.org/index.cfm. 3 America and published in 1890, Croly declared ?In no place in the world can a woman so easily come to the front as in a large women?s club.?5 Women?s music clubs commonly took the names of well-known European composers for their titles, such as Schubert, Mozart, Schumann (generally Clara Schumann), Chopin, and later Amy Cheney Beach and Edward MacDowell. Others were named for the day of the week when the club held their meetings, e.g. the Monday Music Club of Orange, New Jersey. The primary purposes for the clubs were to assist in the advancement of women in music through education, composition and performance. Many clubs accomplished these goals by establishing young artist scholarships, women-only performing ensembles that would premiere their fellow clubwomen?s compositions, and by supporting the MacDowell Colony, an artist?s community in which women artists were allowed admittance. With the idea that every individual should not be denied the enjoyment of fine music, women?s music clubs booked internationally known artists to perform in their cities and towns, at large and small venues. Many of the clubs? goals were to increase interest in classical music within the general population. In the early twentieth century, there was a noticeable shift in the music clubs from promoting European classical music to promoting American classical music; a primary reason for this shift is owing to the formation of the National Federation of Music Clubs in 1898 and in part resulting from the founding of MacDowell, Beach, and other clubs named for American composers. 5 Croly, x. The increasing number of women?s clubs in the nation did not go unnoticed by the male population. See Appendix C, i, ?To Clarissa at her Clubs.? 4 The National Federation of Music Clubs and the MacDowell Colony The National Federation of Music Clubs, hereafter referred to as ?NFMC,? was the largest and most influential organization uniting women?s musical societies in the United States in the early twentieth century. The organization originated in 1893 under the leadership of Rose Fay Thomas, wife of Theodore Thomas, the conductor of the Theodore Thomas Symphony Orchestra (now the Chicago Symphony Orchestra). Rose Thomas organized the gathering of forty-two women?s amateur6 music societies (four delegates from each club) at the World?s Columbian Exposition in Chicago to discuss their own and America?s musical future.7 During the 1893 forum, the clubs outlined their goals for the National Federation: To show the actual standard of musical culture among the best class of American women in all parts of the country, and the character and quality of the educational work in music being done by Women?s Amateur Music Clubs; to stimulate the formation of clubs and improve the work of these already organized, by giving them an opportunity to measure themselves with each other; to give national recognition to this department of women?s educational work, hitherto overlooked.8 The NFMC was chartered in Illinois in June, 1897, and many states joined afterwards. 6 It should be noted that the term ?amateur? must be put into the context of the nineteenth century; the level of ?amateur? musical performance was, in general, significantly higher than it is today. 7 Lucille Parrish Ward, A Musical Legacy of 100 Years A History of the National Federation of Music Clubs (Greenville, South Carolina: A Press, 1995), 26. 8 ?Minutes,? National Convention of Women?s Amateur Music Clubs (Chicago: Stromberg, Allen, 1893), 2. 5 An important turning point in classical American music occurred in 1899, when the support of strictly American music, composers, and artists, became the keystone of the NFMC.9 The majority of the music clubs in the Unites States became affiliated with the NFMC, and subsequently began to support American music. Edward MacDowell (1860-1908), the composer, pianist, and Chair of Columbia College?s Music Department, became a prevalent choice for many of the clubs? names. The NFMC became the umbrella organization that united the music clubs, creating a more powerful force in the advancement of music in the United States. As a collective organization, the NFMC not only supported individual music clubs; the Federation also donated funds towards public music education and major arts organizations such as the Chautauqua Institute in New York, the Brevard Music Center, and the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The Colony was the first major organization the NFMC supported, and their support continued throughout the twentieth century. Marian MacDowell and the ?Peterborough Idea? Marian Nevins MacDowell (1857-1956), wife of the American composer Edward MacDowell, founded the MacDowell Colony in 1907. Mrs. MacDowell built the institution from the ground up, without any financial backing of her own. The Colony was founded on the philosophy of the allied arts: artists from different disciplines could influence each other?s creative work. Edward MacDowell believed deeply in this philosophy throughout his life. An accomplished painter, photographer, and poet, in addition to his musical attributes as a composer, pianist, and music professor, the allied arts were a central part of MacDowell?s life. Mrs. 9 Parish, 70. 6 MacDowell knew well her husband?s passion of the allied arts, and with this philosophy she founded the MacDowell Colony, a place in which creative artists from different disciplines could work on their crafts in uninterrupted solitude. The NFMC was closely connected to the Colony; many of its members were MacDowell Club members who corresponded on a regular basis with Marian MacDowell. During Mrs. Albert J. Oschner?s term (1915 -1919)10 as president of the NFMC, the MacDowell League was established which raised substantial funds for the Colony, and many more MacDowell Clubs, such as the Chickasha, OK MacDowell Club, became affiliated. A relatively early but crucial event in the Colony?s formative years had been Marian MacDowell?s piano performance and lecture presentation at the 1917 NFMC Biennial Meeting in Birmingham, Alabama. Following her usual lecture-recital format (she performed and lectured regularly throughout her life as part of her fundraising campaign for the Colony), she first performed her husband?s piano music, then lectured on the ?Peterborough Idea,? showing photographs of the Colony while addressing questions about the new expansions, general upkeep, and the growing need for funding. During that same 1917 meeting, there was a forum to decide where to hold the conference two years hence, and the MacDowell Colony was unanimously the preferred location. This venue became official, and the 1919 NFMC meeting in Peterborough proved an enormous success. As a gift to the Colony, the Federation built a stone amphitheater that was used during the meeting for a re-enactment of a 10 Mrs. Oschner?s first name is unknown; she and other past NFMC presidents are only listed in the sources with their husband?s names. See Parish, A Musical Legacy, 201. 7 pageant Marian MacDowell had earlier organized and performed in 1910. Though rarely used, the amphitheater still exists on the Colony property today.11 11 See Figure I. 8 Figure I. Amphitheater, MacDowell Colony, 2006. Photo by the author. 9 In her speeches and memoirs, Marian herself regarded the 1919 biennial celebrations of the NFMC to be one of the most important events in the early years of the Colony?s existence.12 The event not only brought awareness of the Colony?s cause and some financial support, it also spread information nation-wide to creative artists, who then became ever more interested in residing at the Colony. Also during Mrs. Oschner?s term, many MacDowell Clubs joined the NFMC, helping to spark the ?MacDowell Crusade,? another method to raise funds for the Colony. In the NFMC magazine, along with its own emblem, the MacDowell Crusade ?Wild Rose? pin is advertised, after Edward?s MacDowell piano piece, op.51, no.1, To a Wild Rose, the most popular piece Marian MacDowell played on her concertizing/fundraising tours across the nation.13 Another significant connection the NFMC sustained with the Colony was made by its eleventh president, Jesse Stillman Kelley. She and her husband, Edgar Stillman Kelley (1857-1944), a composer and critic, were instrumental in founding one of the most successful MacDowell clubs in 1913, the Cincinnati MacDowell Society. During her NFMC presidency from 1925 to 1929, the Children?s ?Penny? Crusade for the Colony was established in order for the junior music clubs (many also named after MacDowell) to support the Colony, and a separate sum of $10,000 was raised through the senior clubs and presented to Mrs. MacDowell at the 1927 Chicago Biennial Convention. 12 The other two events Marian MacDowell held as most significant to the welfare of the Colony were a pageant, held in 1910 of the scenes that might have taken place at the founding of Peterborough, and the death of her neighbor whose family sold her his adjacent farmland at a very modest price, in which Marian used to expand the Colony, nearly doubling its size. 13 See Figure II. Advertisement in the National Federation of Music Clubs magazine, ca 1920, Box 68, Folder 2, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 10 Figure II. Advertisement in the National Federation of Music Clubs magazine, ca1920, Box 68, Folder 2, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 11 The supporting NFMC funds continued steadily; the annual reports of the Colony indicate that the NFMC and its clubs donated substantially to the Colony almost every year.14 Major contributions were made in 1952 through a nation-wide birthday campaign for Mrs. MacDowell. The NFMC birthday campaign raised over $40,000 and the sum was presented as a gift to Mrs. MacDowell on her ninety-fifth birthday in August 1952. At present, a significant number of the extant MacDowell clubs are affiliated with the NFMC and continue to further the Federation?s connection to the MacDowell Colony. Arts Clubs and the Culture of the United States Women?s art and music clubs were vital in furthering the artistic culture of the nation. John C. Freund, editor of the popular music magazine, Musical America, stated in 1915: From what I have seen and heard, especially in recent years, and from tens of thousands of miles that I have traveled, ?it is my deliberate opinion that the great active moving, vitalizing force in the musical world is the women. They are ones who are backing and helping all worthy musical enterprises. They constitute the bulk of the memberships of the great musical clubs in our 14 ?Annual Reports 1911-1935, 1936-1964,? Boxes 72 and 73, MacDowell Colony Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. 12 leading cities, and it is they who support the local artists as well as concerts given by traveling artists.15 Indeed, through the art and music clubs across the United States, international and local artists were booked to perform, lecture, or exhibit their art in local venues, which subsequently made the education of music more accessible to a greater number of people. Freund continued: ?they are the ones whose patronage is inducing cold, practical business men to invest capital in the building of auditoriums suitable for the production of opera, of large choral works, as well as of concerts. It is the idealism of the women which has brought us thus far, just as it is the idealism of the women that will carry us even further.16 Many club women brought that ?idealism? to their respective cities and towns, such as Ella May Smith (1860-1934), president of the Women?s Music Club of Columbus from 1903 to 1916. During Smith?s presidency, club membership increased from 850 to 3,500 members, making it the largest club of its kind in the United States. Owing to its increased size, the club could no longer hold meetings in Board of Trade Auditorium in Columbus; Smith convinced the county commissioners to expedite construction of a new performance venue, Memorial Hall. After construction was complete, the Women?s Music Club installed a $15,000 pipe-organ, and Smith established an annual series of club members? and visiting artists? concerts held in the 15 John C. Freund, ?The Musical Situation in the United States,? Musical America (October 16, 1915): 2. 16 Ibid. 13 Hall.17 In addition to the donation of the pipe-organ, the club organized a music library for the city and set up an endowment ensuring its perpetuation with the Columbus Public Library.18 Another prominent clubwoman, Adella Prentiss Hughes (1869-1950), president and founder of the Fortnightly Musical Club of Cleveland, was successful in forming the financial establishment, the Musical Arts Association composed of wealthy male capitalists in the area. The Association was instrumental in funding many musical projects in the city, including the formation of the Cleveland Orchestra in 1918 (of which Hughes was manager for fifteen years) and funding the construction of its first concert venue, Severance Hall. Smith, Hughes, and numerous other women stepped outside of their domestic roles to become active agents for the advancement of the arts. Through the outlet of the local women?s club, these women made great strides in the development of music in America. Many of the music clubs formed their own performing ensembles, such as the New York City and Milwaukee, Wisconsin MacDowell Club Orchestras, the Seattle, Washington Ladies Musical Club String Quartet, and Canton, Ohio19 and Mountain Lakes, New Jersey MacDowell Club Chorales, in order to give club members more opportunities to practice and display their talents. Women had few if any, chances to perform in the public sphere in the early twentieth century, so leading the life of a music teacher or performing chamber music in a private salon was entirely suitable 17 ?C.A.,? [author otherwise unidentified] ?Woman- the Potent Influence in Our Musical Life,? Musical America (October 8, 1910): 3. 18 Linda Whitesitt, ?Women Impresarios in American Concert Life,? American Music 7, No.2 (Summer 1989): 163. 19 The MacDowell Club of Canton, Ohio, founded in 1908, and federated in 1918, continues to have several performing ensembles ranging from chamber ensembles to larger groups. See Canton MacDowell Music Club Yearbook, 2007. 14 because these acts were considered duties of the domestic realm. Women who performed in public as concert artists, as members of a professional orchestra, or who composed so-called ?masculine? genres of music, such as the symphony and opera, were deemed inappropriate.20 One female musician observed in 1914 that men were acquiescent as long as women ?were gifted dilettantes whose art lent brilliance to their salon or their court,? but once women delved into ?competition in a field in which man had so far reigned supreme,? men exercised resistance.21 Through the formation of public women-only performance ensembles which were managed and booked by female impresarios, club members had the same opportunities as male artists. Some men acknowledged the prominent role women had risen to uphold in American culture, such as Musical America?s editor, John C. Freund, and writer, Earl Barnes, who stated in his 1912 book, Women in Modern Society: Who, fifty years ago, could have imagined that to-day women would be steadily monopolizing learning, teaching, literature, and the fine arts, music, the church and the theatre?... We [men] may scoff at the way women are doing the work and reject the product, but that does not alter the fact that step by step women are taking over the field of liberal culture.22 20Gavin James Campbell, ?Classical Music and the Politics of Gender in America, 1900-1925,? American Music 21 (2003): 452. 21 Musical America (July 18, 1914): 4. 22 Earl Barnes, Women and Modern Society (New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1912), 82. 15 Indeed, these views were exceptional in the early twentieth century; Walter Damrosch, conductor of the New York Symphony Society (today?s New York Philharmonic) said in 1923, ?I do not think there has ever been a country whose musical development has been fostered so exclusively by women as America.?23 Damrosch and other men were frustrated not only by the fact that women patrons and activists virtually ran the music scene in many regions of the United States, but also because these women were making the arts more accessible to other women. Damrosch felt they were doing so at the expense of men; this increased feminization of the musical world was the component that the majority of male artists found most distressing.24 Another outreach activity in which women?s arts clubs and umbrella organizations such as the NFMC were engaged was the awarding of artist scholarships to talented young women and men. For example, under the direction of Ella May Smith, the Women?s Music Club of Columbus awarded a $1000 scholarship to a deserving artist annually. Many music clubs, especially the MacDowell clubs, raised funds to send local composers, writers, and visual artists to creative artist colonies, such as the MacDowell Colony, and Yaddo, in upstate New York.25 The Oklahoma MacDowell clubs (primarily Oklahoma City) and the Cincinnati, Ohio, 23 Walter Damrosch, My Musical Life (New York: Scribner?s, 1923), 323 in Carol Oja, Making Music Modern (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 201. 24 Damrosch explained his feelings regarding women in the music world in his 1923 autobiography: ?Women?s musical clubs began to form in many a village, town, and city, and these clubs became the active and efficient nucleus of the entire musical life of the community, but alas, again principally the feminine community. It is to these women?s clubs that the managers turned for fat guarantees for appearances of their artists, it is before audiences of whom 75% are women that these artists disport themselves.? Damrosch, 323. 25Yaddo, an artist?s colony in Saratoga Springs, New York, was financed through wealthy philanthropists, and did not actually begin admitting artists until 1926. The MacDowell Colony?s founding precedes this date by nineteen years (1907). 16 MacDowell Society were responsible for sending several artists to the Colony during its formative years; the clubs frequently corresponded with Marian MacDowell regarding local artists, and once the artists were invited to stay at the Colony, the clubs paid the artists? travel expenses to Peterborough, New Hampshire and the modest living expenses of the artists for the duration of their visits.26 In addition to their inexorable support of the Colony, the MacDowell Clubs were unique in that their ideals of the allied arts set them apart from other music clubs in the early twentieth century. The MacDowell Clubs When the Edward and Marian MacDowell lived in Boston from 1888 to 1896, Edward MacDowell?s career skyrocketed in all directions. Margery Lowens states in her dissertation on Edward MacDowell?s New York years, ?as [a] composer, performer, or teacher, his name was continually included among the vanguard of American musicians.?27 In his role as a piano and composition teacher, he had inspired his students in Boston to such a degree that they founded the first ever MacDowell Club. Edith Noyes-Greene, a female composition student of MacDowell and an accomplished pianist,28 conceived of the idea in 1895, and owing to the 26 Marian MacDowell founded the MacDowell Colony with the idea that any artist could come and stay, and if they could spare a few dollars a day, it was welcomed but not required. Presently, there is no artist fee to stay at the colony, as the result of governments endowments, the financial situation of the Colony is no longer in dire straights. 27 Margery Morgan Lowens, ?The New York Years of Edward MacDowell? (Ph.D. Diss, University of Michigan, 1971), 122. Hereafter referred to as Lowens, ?New York Years.? 28 Edith Noyes-Greene (occasionally referred to in the Boston Globe as Edith Noyes Porter, possibly her married name) is mentioned in the Globe?s ?Table Gossip? on January 12, 1908 for performing selections of Woodland Sketches, Sea Pieces, and New England Idylls (?wearing a beautiful gown of red velvet and lace?) at a MacDowell Club Meeting held the previous week. See Globe (Boston), 12 January 1908. 17 enthusiastic level of interest in the club, the organization was thriving by the time MacDowell?s appointment at Columbia was announced in May, 1896.29 The Boston club, one of the few MacDowell clubs to maintain male and female membership, remained a vital part of Boston?s artistic culture through the first half of the twentieth century. In addition to individual members? performances and readings at the weekly meetings and sold-out concerts and exhibitions (the club embraced MacDowell?s philosophy of the allied arts), the club formed its own MacDowell Club Orchestra and MacDowell Club Chorus, which held regular concerts in the city?s Copley Hall. Edward and Marian MacDowell knew well the activities of the Boston MacDowell Club while they were in New York City; there are several accounts of Marian or Edward MacDowell visiting the club?s meetings or concerts. After the Boston Club, more clubs were formed during MacDowell?s lifetime:30 the New York City MacDowell Club (est.1905), Providence, Rhode Island MacDowell Club (est.1901), the Conneaut, Ohio MacDowell Club (est.1903), and the Canton, Ohio MacDowell Club (est.1908) were some of the earliest so formed. The increase in MacDowell clubs during this period was owing to Edward MacDowell?s reputation as America?s foremost composer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A talented musician and composer, his piano music and symphonic works were widely performed in concert halls across the United States and Europe. 29 Lowens, ?New York Years,? 121. 30 William S. Wabnitz, "Early Days of the Cincinnati MacDowell Society," Bulletin of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio 8 (October 1950): 267. Hereafter referred to as Wabnitz, ?Early Days.? 18 His solo piano music was exceedingly popular owing to its nationalistic components with programmatic titles, such as New England Idylls op.62 (1902), Woodland Sketches op.51 (1896), and Sea Pieces op.55 (1898), as well as his symphonic works such as his Second "Indian" Suite, op.48 (1897). Although many regarded his music to be nationalistic, MacDowell?s compositions were also deeply rooted in European themes as indicated by his symphonic poems op. 22 Hamlet and Ophelia (1885) and op. 25 Lancelot and Elaine (1888), and his piano works op. 31 Six Poems after Heine (1887,1901), and op. 28 Six Idyls after Goethe (1887). MacDowell was classically trained in Europe at the Paris Conservatoire; Europe was still regarded as the cultural center of the western world, and in the United States, increased value and significance was awarded to artists with European training. These combined factors contributed to MacDowell?s success as an American composer, and subsequently led to his 1896 appointment as Chair of the newly formed music department at Columbia University. Consequently, the MacDowell Clubs were the only arts clubs to be named for an American composer at the turn of the twentieth century; the only other club named for a composer born in the United States was Amy Marcy Cheney Beach, but the MacDowell Clubs predate the Amy Beach Clubs by a generation.31 31 Amy Beach was not as nationally known as Edward MacDowell until the death of her husband in 1910, at which time she toured the United States and Europe. She was able to popularize her own compositions, and as a result, a few Beach Clubs were formed, beginning in the 1920?s. In the 1950?s, one such club, the Amy Cheney Beach Club, existed in Wolfesboro, New Hampshire. 19 The Role of the MacDowell Clubs In the last decade of the nineteenth century, there was not yet a colony to fund; the sole purpose of the MacDowell clubs was to appreciate and support the creative arts in their respective communities. After MacDowell?s death in 1908, Marian began her lecture-recital tours,32 and a significant number of new MacDowell clubs subsequently appeared. The older clubs soon learned of Marian MacDowell?s work and joined the newer clubs in supporting the Colony in addition to the arts in their hometowns. The MacDowell Club of Boston and the MacDowell Club of New York City were founded on Edward MacDowell?s philosophy of the allied arts. Although many supported the Colony, only a portion embraced the philosophy of the allied arts. These MacDowell clubs, including the Cincinnati MacDowell Society and the Oklahoma City MacDowell Club of Allied Arts, both of which still exist today, as well as the New York and Boston MacDowell clubs, were some of the more successful and thriving of the MacDowell clubs. The MacDowell clubs have yet to be studied in the context of other arts clubs in the first half of the twentieth century, a dearth probably owing to the fact that a significant number had female and male members, and thus did not readily fit into other categories of women?s artistic clubs that existed at the time.33 Another explanation for the clubs? lack of previous scholarly research may be that they served 32 See Figure III. 33 The MacDowell Clubs are briefly mentioned in a few scholarly publications such as Ralphe Locke and Cyrilla Barr, Cultivating Music in America: Women Patrons and Activists since 1860 (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997), 38, 40, and Karen J. Blair, The Torchbearers: Women and their Amateur arts Associations in America, 1890-1930 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994) 58, but they have not previously been subject to in-depth research. 20 a dual purpose by actively supporting the arts in their hometowns, as did the majority of arts clubs in the first half of the twentieth century, and at the same time remained connected in ideals, aims, and financial support to the MacDowell Colony. Marian MacDowell was directly responsible for the clubs? connection and was able to sustain the Colony with their contributions. By the early 1930?s, Marian MacDowell recognized several different kinds of MacDowell clubs. In a 1929 letter to a club member, she specified three types; the first, a small club named for MacDowell ?as any other musician might be taken,?34 usually music clubs that rarely took active an interest in the Colony; the second, clubs originally named for the same reason, but in which interest in the Colony grew to large proportions and supported it; and third, clubs with a large membership that were always active in all of the arts, following through on MacDowell?s philosophy, and which contributed significantly to the Colony.35 34 Letter to Mrs. Melton, June 7, 1929, Box 51, Folder 7, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 35 Ibid. 21 Figure III. Program from a lecture-recital of Marian MacDowell, December 6, 1935, Ada, Oklahoma. ?Programs, Brochures,? Box 57, Folder 1, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 22 The MacDowell clubs? specific roles in supporting the Colony have varied. Marian had desired to unite the clubs in 1913 by setting a minimum donation and calling them ?Fellowship Members.? In 1921, she established a ?MacDowell Colony League? in which each club was to be a different Chapter in the League; one MacDowell club still uses that distinction: The MacDowell Ensemble Chapter of The MacDowell Colony League, in Ogden, Utah. The idea of a ?League,? however, had virtually disappeared by 1929, and, in annual reports, there were no further references to it. Mrs. MacDowell evidently never permitted certain titles of the clubs to stop her from visiting them on her tours. In many instances, she performed at other music and arts clubs in the nation as well. Marian MacDowell was responsible for the formation of many MacDowell clubs, although she modestly claimed later in life that she had no influence whatsoever in their formation.36 She and her husband were passionate about the idea of a place of refuge for to creative artists; once they had found the location in Peterborough, New Hampshire, Marian made it her life?s mission to support and sustain the Colony. She found that support in the MacDowell clubs and other arts clubs in the United States. 36 ?Honestly, there is not one single MacDowell Club in the country that was founded by me.? Letter from Marian MacDowell to Mr. Kendall, February 23, 1955, MacDowell Club Files, MacDowell Colony Headquarters, New York City. 23 Chapter 2: Genesis of an Ideal Hillcrest The MacDowell Colony was founded seventeen years after the MacDowells began their summer retreats to Peterborough, New Hampshire. While living in Boston, Marian MacDowell had discovered Peterborough in 1889 or 1890 through a friend, a Miss Mary Morison, who had spent her summers there in her vacation home for several years.37 Mrs. MacDowell visited the town soon thereafter and began paying rent on a small, two-story farmhouse at the sum of fifty dollars covering both July and August, 1890. Those two months proved to be productive for Edward, during which time he composed his Six Love Songs op.40, for voice and accompaniment and Cradle Song and Dance of Gnomes op.41, for male chorus.38 The couple spent the summers of 1892 and 1893 in Peterborough as well, and Edward continued his compositional productivity with Sonata Tragica op.45 and Indian Suite op. 48 (1892), and Etudes op.46 and Eight Songs op. 47 (1893).39 It became clear to the couple that Edward was exceedingly productive in his compositional output while in Peterborough, more so than in Boston or at any other time of the year. In addition, the summer retreats were relaxing and enjoyable for both Marian and Edward. Although they had few financial resources to spare, the couple desired a permanent residence there, a reasonably-priced farmhouse, instead of renting a dwelling each year. In the summer of 1894, the MacDowells heard of a 37 Lowens, ?New York Years,? 231. 38 Edward MacDowell, Six Love Songs, op.40, text by W.H. Gardener, Boston: Schmidt, 1890. Cradle Song and Dance of Gnomes [two songs for male chorus] op.41, Boston: Schmidt, 1890. 39 Lowens, 247. Edward MacDowell Sonata Tragica, op.45, Boston: Schmidt, 1894. Edward MacDowell, Zweite (indianische) Suite f?r grosses Orchester, Boston: Schmidt, 1897. Edward MacDowell, Zw?lf Virtuosen-Et?den, op.46, Boston: Schmidt, 1894. Edward MacDowell, Eight Songs, op.47, Boston: Schmidt, 1893. 24 deserted farm situated a mile away that was selling for $1,500. Edward was saddened that there were no extra funds for the purchase, but Marian, who was considerably more impulsive, bought the place in her name and surprised Edward with the purchase a few days afterwards. They moved in and kept the former owner?s name for the house, Hillcrest.40 Hillcrest became MacDowell?s catalyst for artistic creativity. Much construction was needed on the property; the MacDowells added a large two-story wing to the house using wood from the adjacent forest, and Edward did most of the work designing and building his music room.41 A Steinway piano was given to him for use in the room, courtesy of Steinway & Sons, and the room was also home to MacDowell?s library of books on a variety of subjects, which were collected during the years he spent in Europe.42 Even though the music room was designed and built to Edward?s liking, he still felt the need for a separate space away from the farmhouse in which to compose.43 This idea was rooted in the trips he, Marian, and his student, George Templeton Strong, took to Vevey, Switzerland, where in the forest of Hauteville there was a thatched cottage, ?an eighteenth-century chaumi?re,?44 separate and relatively isolated from the world. In secret, Marian began construction of a log cabin on the property in 1898, related in idea and design to the cottage in Vevey. Similar to the 40 See Figure IV. 41 See Figure V. 42 The music room at Hillcrest has been preserved in the state Edward MacDowell left it in 1908; the professional women?s music fraternity, Sigma Alpha Iota, through SAI Philanthropies, Inc., has undertaken the task of restoring the music room, which began in 2006. 43 Marian MacDowell stated in her memoirs that Edward complained of being frequently interrupted by her as well as workers on the farm and visitors. ?The Colony: The Early Years,? Box 40, Folder 4, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 44 Lowens, ?New York Years,? 236. 25 circumstances of the purchase of the farmhouse, Marian once again used up all her remaining funds constructing the cabin in order to serve her husband?s compositional needs. Once the cabin was completed in 1899, MacDowell spent a considerable amount of time composing and writing poetry there, often losing track of time and skipping lunch at Hillcrest.45 During the summers at Peterborough, MacDowell composed the majority of his works in the cabin; notable pieces composed there were Woodland Sketches op.51, and [Three choruses for male voices] op.52 in 1896, Keltic Sonata op.59 in 1900 and many other works.46 45 See Figure VI. 46 Edward MacDowell, Woodland Sketches, op.51, Boston: Schmidt, 1896. Edward MacDowell, [Three choruses for male voices], Boston: Schmidt, 1897. Edward MacDowell, Sonata no.4, Keltic, op.59 Boston: Schmidt, 1900. For a complete listing of MacDowell?s compositional output from 1894 to his death in 1908, see Lowens, ?New York Years,? 247. 26 Figure IV. Hillcrest House, MacDowell Colony, 2006. Photo by the author. 27 Figure V. Hillcrest Music Room, MacDowell Colony, 2006. Photo by the author. 28 Figure VI. Log Cabin, MacDowell Colony, 2006. Photo by the author. 29 Columbia College It is generally maintained by scholars that MacDowell?s tenure at Columbia College (now Columbia University) was the beginning of the end for MacDowell with regard to his production of musical compositions, his mental health, and eventually his life. Prior to his years there, he had reached an international level of fame for his compositions and musical performances. MacDowell was offered the post at Columbia in May, 1896, owing to his reputation as the foremost composer in the United States. MacDowell was offered the Chair of the newly-formed Music Department after the President of Columbia, Seth Low, attended a concert held in New York City of MacDowell?s Indian Suite, performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in January, 1896.47 Low and others held MacDowell highest on their list, but rumors abounded in reference to other important men in American music who were supposedly also in consideration for the post. Walter Damrosch, conductor and music director of the New York Philharmonic, was one, as was Henry Krehbiel, music critic for the New York Tribune, who actively campaigned for the position in his newspaper writings. Ultimately, the position was offered to MacDowell, and he readily accepted. The Department?s goal was not to become a conservatory ?with the object of turning out composers and players?; rather, it was to produce ?good listeners,? and MacDowell was certain to accomplish this goal.48 47 Rausch, ?A Partnership in Art: The MacDowells and Their Legacy,? in Carter Wiseman, ed., A Place for the Arts: The MacDowell Colony, 1907-2007 (Lebanon, New Hampshire: University of New England Press, 2007), 54. Hereafter referred to as ?MacDowells.? 48 ?Editorial,? Columbia Literary Monthly, IV (May 1896), 342, in Lowens, ?New York Years,? 126. 30 MacDowell had specific ideals for the Music Department. Owing to his strong belief in the philosophy of the allied arts, he accepted the Columbia position, not only to advance the skills of musicians and composers, but also to promote the arts as legitimate disciplines within academe.49 These ideals were never fully materialized because Seth Low stepped down as president and Nicholas Murray Butler succeeded him. Butler proved to be not as supportive as Low with regard to MacDowell?s philosophy of the allied arts. MacDowell?s teaching schedule increased to six courses a semester once Butler took over, this in addition to his other responsibilities to organize the music library and various ensembles. With the belief he had Butler?s approval, MacDowell began work organizing a school of fine arts, which would truly embrace his ideals of the allied arts. Exhausted by his teaching requirements and other responsibilities and Marian?s illness in the summer of 1901, he took a sabbatical during the 1902-1903 academic year. During his sabbatical, MacDowell toured the United States performing concerts of his music, but he became depressed when finding his sheet music sales had not increased as a result of this publicity.50 Contrary to the sheet- music sales, these concerts did have lasting effects on his popularity in other forms. MacDowell gave a 1903 concert in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where his former student, Elizabeth McMillan Bettis, currently resided, and also owing to Marian MacDowell?s visit in 1916, Bettis founded the MacDowell Club of Chattanooga, a 49 Ibid., 56. 50 Lowens, ?New York Years, ?290. 31 community-based organization for the advancement of the arts, which is still active today.51 When MacDowell returned to Columbia in the Fall of 1903, he discovered that Butler had made the decision while MacDowell was on tour to group the music department in with the Teacher?s College, instead of working to develop a school of fine arts. MacDowell was thoroughly disturbed and depressed with Butler?s decision and his teaching load at Columbia, and, with Marian?s encouragement, he decided to resign from his position. The couple spent the 1903-1904 holidays in Peterborough. When news of his resignation was leaked to the press, many issues surrounding the affair were blown out of proportion, which greatly angered MacDowell. In an attempt to set the facts straight, Butler sent letters describing the ordeal to the editor of the New York Times, who subsequently printed them in his newspaper. MacDowell was further outraged by Butler?s letters, and he retaliated by sending a letter to be printed publicly as well. His resignation was put into effect in June 1904. MacDowell began to deteriorate mentally and physically afterwards, passing away in January, 1908.52 51 ?A Brief History of the MacDowell Club,? 2006-2007 MacDowell Club Yearbook, MacDowell Club of Chattanooga, Tennessee, 28. 52 Shortly after MacDowell?s resignation from Columbia, he was injured in a traffic accident. According to Robin Rausch, MacDowell was thrown from a streetcar and run over by a hansom cab, and the wheel of the carriage rolled over his spine. Rausch, ?MacDowells,? 58. Other scholars believe MacDowell contracted syphilis and the disease caused his death. Margery Lowens discovered his death certificate which states the cause of death was ?paresis.? See Lowens, ?New York Years,? 363. Arnold Schwab published a recent article stating he is convinced MacDowell died of syphilis. See Arnold Schwab, ?Edward MacDowell?s Mysterious Malady,? Musical Quarterly 89 (July 2007): 136- 151. 32 The New York City MacDowell Club As a result of MacDowell?s extremely public resignation from Columbia, a group of MacDowell?s friends, colleagues, and students expressed the desire to form a society based on his ideals that were never put into place at Columbia.53 Evidently, the group did not look to the interdisciplinary Boston MacDowell Club, founded ten years prior, as their model; rather, they focused on the composer?s philosophy of the allied arts in the parameters laid forth by his ideas for the School of Fine Arts. On May 31, 1905, a letter was written to certain invitees of the club stating that ?A ?MacDowell? Club has been organized in this city with the object of bringing together Mr. MacDowell?s pupils and those influenced by his aims and writings.?54 Twenty- nine of those invitees, including Marian MacDowell, attended the first business meeting on October 29.55 At this private meeting, a president was elected, a Mr. Heffley,56 a concert pianist and teacher, and close friend of Edward MacDowell?s, and a speech was given by Mrs. MacDowell about the future of her and MacDowell?s estate.57 53 MacDowell?s public resignation from Columbia together with his death shortly thereafter, inspired the formation of several MacDowell clubs in 1908; the MacDowell Music Club of Canton , Ohio, and the MacDowell Club of Milwaukee, both still active today, were founded in 1908. 54 ?New York City MacDowell Club Minutes,? Box 65, Folder 2, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 55 The complete list of attendees at the October 29, 1905 business meeting is as follows: Miss Diller, Mrs. Donaldson, Miss Dyas, Mrs. Thelka Goldsmark and Mr. Goldmark, Miss Gottschalk, Eugene Heffley, Mrs. MacDowell, Mrs. Haggin, Helen C. Mansfield, Lawrence Gilman, Miss Ingalls, Miss Mills, Miss Moss, Mrs Franks, Mrs. Hill, Mrs. Finck, Hamlin Garland, Samuel Swift, Caroline Dow, Gustav Hinrichs, Miss Schwab, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Bates, Mr. Albert Groll, Mrs. Buell, Mr. O. Ruland, Mrs. Peck, and Mrs. Chase. Ibid. 56 Eugene Heffley, a piano teacher with a studio at Carnegie Hall, took over MacDowell?s piano students when he became too ill to teach. A newspaper article on October 29, 1905, states Heffley was ?an intimate friend? of MacDowell?s and ?MacDowell?s music is always represented at the piano recitals which Heffley gives time to time.? Times (New York), 29 October, 1905. 57 ?President?s Annual Report, 1911,? MacDowell Club of New York Files, Box 65, Folder 1, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 33 At this time in 1905, MacDowell had ceased teaching altogether, and his initial back pain quickly turned into temporary paralysis and mental breakdown. Newspapers in New York City attributed his illness to the stress of his tenure at Columbia, although the main source was his traffic accident earlier that year. Although then already mentally unstable, MacDowell was acutely aware of the serious state of his illness and desired to assure the future of the Peterborough property. Marian, in so many words, promised him it would be used as a retreat for other creative artists. For some time prior to this conversation with Edward, Marian had been planning to turn Hillcrest into an artist colony. Marian had seen firsthand how productive in composition her husband had become in his log cabin, and she began to envision an environment which other creative artists could visit and where they might have similarly productive results. At the October business meeting of the MacDowell Club of New York (City), Marian expressed the desire to entrust Hillcrest and the remaining Peterborough property to the club after both she and MacDowell died, in the hope that they would turn it into a little Academy of Rome, founded in 1896 by a friend of MacDowell?s, the architect, Charles McKim. The Academy was also inspired by and founded on the philosophy of the allied arts. The members of the club voiced no objections to Marian MacDowell?s plans at this time; it is evident the club as a whole wished to do everything in their power to aid Mrs. MacDowell, for it was common knowledge Edward MacDowell?s condition was not improving. Consequently, Marian?s speech implies that she herself would also perish soon after her husband?s death, but fortunately for the creative arts in the United States, Marian had just begun her life?s 34 work in founding the MacDowell Colony, and would live another fifty years and ensure its success.58 The MacDowell Club of New York grew quickly in membership; the first public meeting held in December, 1905 at Carnegie Hall included a lecture on the evolution of the arts, beginning with architecture, moving to sculpture, then, literature, painting, and finally music. Selections of MacDowell?s compositions were also performed, and a portrait of MacDowell was on display. The second public meeting, held on January 7, 1906, was also a significant event for the club; Seth Low, former president of Columbia College, presented a lecture on his relationship with MacDowell, and the details surrounding MacDowell?s appointment as chair. Low stated that although he admired MacDowell, he had only heard his shorter character pieces, and only one of MacDowell?s four sonatas. As a result, the club members concluded the meeting with performances of MacDowell?s piano sonatas. The March 1906 club meeting was also an important event in that the club was incorporated on this date,59 the board of directors was organized and club bylaws were put into effect.60 The bylaws stated that there would be an annual meeting held every second Monday in April, with monthly meetings for the directors in addition to other gatherings for ?entertainments.?61 Over the years, the other ?entertainments? came to represent concerts, pageants, balls, and other similar events.62 Marian 58 During the Victorian era, it was a common belief that wives had ?nothing left to live for? and would (or should?) die shortly after their husbands; Marian MacDowell was a product of this age. 59 See Appendix C, c. 60 ?MacDowell Club of New York City Certificate of Incorporation,? Box 65, Folder 1, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 61 ?MacDowell Club of New York City By-laws,? Box 65, Folder 1, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Library of Congress. 62 Almost every event the MacDowell Club organized was announced or later described in the New York Times. 35 MacDowell was also in attendance on this occasion, and the meeting was followed by a dinner held at the Westminster Hotel where she was residing. The Formation of the MacDowell Colony In the Spring of 1906, Marian MacDowell once again addressed the future of the MacDowells? estate in a letter to the MacDowell Club of New York. Her letter, although lost, is described in the minutes as outlining how the Peterborough property should be converted into a creative artist colony. In the letter, Marian asked the New York MacDowell Club to accept this gift of the property, and together with the Mendelssohn Glee Club, a chorus that MacDowell had previously directed, these organizations worked to form the Edward MacDowell Memorial Association.63 The Association, officially established in March, 1907, raised over $30,000 to help cover MacDowell?s medical bills and bought the deed to the Peterborough property in order to establish the MacDowell Colony.64 While these funds were gathered, Marian invited two artists to Hillcrest to stay for the summer with her and Edward, the sculptress Helen Farnsworth Mears, and her sister Mary, a writer, both active members of the MacDowell Club of New York. Edward MacDowell died shortly thereafter, on January 23, 1908; perhaps he knew that the plans for the Colony were going to be carried out and it gave him some level of reassurance. 63 The Edward MacDowell Memorial Association and the New York City MacDowell Club were used interchangeably until a motion was passed in 1908 stating they were two separate organizations. See New York MacDowell Club Minutes, Box 65, Folder 1, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 64 Marian MacDowell, ?How the Colony was Financed,? Box 40, Folder6, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library Congress. 36 The MacDowell Colony exists today as an important artistic institution where composers, painters, sculptors, photographers, writers, architects, filmmakers, and interdisciplinary artists spend from two weeks up to two months at a time working on their respective crafts with complete and uninterrupted attention. Since its founding, over 6,000 colonists, now referred to as Colony Fellows, have resided at the Colony. The extensive list of Colony Fellows includes such well-known composers as Amy Beach, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Ruth Crawford (Seeger), Roy Harris, Norman Dello Joio, Louise Talma, and Virgil Thomson.65 After the initial financial support from the Association diminished, Marian MacDowell realized that she needed to publicize the Colony in order to raise more support for its upkeep and expansion. Mrs. MacDowell, an accomplished pianist, began giving concerts of her husband?s piano music, and she took the opportunity at these events to lecture about the ideals of the Colony and its future goals. These concerts were successful in several ways: first, the concerts helped raise much-needed support for the Colony; second, the concerts publicized the Colony, so that creative artists all over the country became interested in residing there, and third, Marian?s concert tours were responsible, in part, for the formation of many more MacDowell clubs across the nation. 65 A complete list of past colonists is listed on the MacDowell Colony website: http://www.macdowellcolony.org/. 37 Chapter 3: Mrs. MacDowell, the Clubs, and the Colony The MacDowell clubs played a vital role in the welfare of the MacDowell Colony from its inception to Marian MacDowell?s death in 1956. As discussed, Marian MacDowell was left without any significant financial assets after the death of her husband in 1908. The Mendelssohn Glee Club of New York and the MacDowell Club of New York, as part of the newly formed Edward MacDowell Memorial Association, raised sufficient funds to pay MacDowell?s medical expenses and begin Mrs. MacDowell?s plans for an artist?s retreat at Peterborough.66 It became apparent that additional financial support would be required to keep the Colony afloat. At the age of fifty, she took up playing the piano again in the hopes that concert proceeds of her performances of MacDowell?s compositions would raise the much-needed financial support to sustain the Colony.67 Once she had married Edward MacDowell, Mrs. MacDowell gave up her original career of becoming a concert pianist and had no intention of playing the piano again. She had chosen instead to become a housewife and care for Edward while he composed. She began performing again after giving a lecture on 66 At this time, Marian MacDowell also turned over the deed of the Peterborough property to the Edward MacDowell Memorial Association as well. See ?Financial/Legal,? Box 69, Folder 6, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 67 Marian MacDowell was an accomplished pianist in her youth. She showed much promise and went to Germany in 1880 in hopes of studying with Clara Schumann, but because Schumann could not speak English (Marian?s German needed improvement) and because Schumann was on tour when Marian arrived, Joachim Raff, head of the Frankfort Conservatory of Music, suggested that Marian study with a local American piano teacher, Edward MacDowell. Although both Marian and Edward were reluctant about the situation, Marian remained Edward?s student for a few years, and when she informed him she was going to return to the United States, MacDowell declared his feelings of love for her. The couple went back to the U. S. together and they were married in July, 1884. Robin Rausch, ?The House that Marian Built: The MacDowell Colony of Peterborough, New Hampshire,? in Evelyn Sinclair and Sara Day, ed., American Women: A Library of Congress Guide for the Study of Women's History and Culture in the United States (Library of Congress, 2001), 271-272. Hereafter referred to as Rausch, ?House.? 38 ?Peterborough Project?68 (the MacDowell Colony) for a music club. In her memoirs, Marian MacDowell recounts the event: After I had finished talking and really interested the people, somebody in the audience said, ?Won't you play for us?? I laughed and I said I had not played piano for twenty-two years. But she said we don't care how you play but it will be interesting to hear how you play the MacDowell compositions. To my utter amazement they seemed very pleased.69 Her concerts were immediate successes, and she began to tour more widely across the United States. In the remaining forty-eight years of her life, she gave over 600 concerts of MacDowell?s music in almost every state in the Union.70 For a brief period between 1910 and1920, she hired an agent to organize and book her concert tours.71 68 See Marian MacDowell, ?MacDowell?s ?Peterborough Idea,? Musical Quarterly 18, No.1 (January 1932): 33-38. 69 ?Writings: Autobiographical,? page I-122, box 39, folder 6, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress, discussed in Rausch, ?House,? 273. The music club Marian MacDowell described is unknown. 70 ?In the past fifteen years I?ve given over six hundred concerts and talks in more than 600 cities and towns in every state of the Union, except Idaho, Nevada, and Wyoming, and I have engagements in two of these states next year. My audiences have totaled more than 100,000 persons in all. I have traveled between 150,000 and 200,000 miles altogether?and have made several continuous trips from coast to coast. The total earning from my recitals has been between seventy-five and a hundred thousand dollars. It has all gone into the Peterborough idea, and I myself haven?t once been out of debt during these fifteen years. ?I?ve Done the Best I Could, and That?s Victory,? American Magazine clipping (ca1940), 228, Box 68, Folder 3, in the Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 71 See Figure VII. ?Programs, Brochures,? Box 57, Folder 1, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. It is unknown the exact years Marian MacDowell hired an agent. 39 Figure VII. Brochure advertising Marian MacDowell as a concert pianist. ?Programs, Brochures,? Box 57, Folder 1, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 40 Marian MacDowell, Concert Pianist In the minutes of a November 13, 1919 Concert and Meeting of the Austin, Illinois MacDowell Club, Mary Prentiss, the secretary, glowingly described Marian MacDowell?s visit and subsequent lecture and performance. Mrs. MacDowell, fortunately for us, was also able to be here, and gave us another of her most entertaining and enlightening talks, following it, by request, with a few selections from her husband?s works, played as only she is capable.72 In her memoirs, Marian MacDowell described the same concert routine that had made so deep an impression on the Austin MacDowell Club.73 Mrs. MacDowell lectured on the philosophy of the allied arts that inspired the formation of the MacDowell Colony, and she ended her talk by discussing the work of the most recent artists who resided at the Colony. Following her lecture, she played both the simpler works by her husband, such as Woodland Sketches or Sea Pieces, and the more challenging compositions, such as his piano sonatas. Marian would book her tours during the winter months when the Colony was not housing artists.74 Her repertoire list included almost all of MacDowell?s extensive output of solo piano music. MacDowell?s music was considerably more popular than it is today, and audiences typically requested favorites at the end of every performance. After the recital, individuals, sometimes 72 Austin [Illinois] Chapter of the Edward MacDowell Memorial Association, Chicago, IL,? Box 70, Folder 1, MacDowell Colony Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. 73 ?The Early Years of the Colony,? Box 40, Folder 6, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 74 The colony did not establish a winter term for artists until 1955, once all the studios were equipped with electricity. Rausch, ?MacDowells,? 100. 41 the entire club or organization, wrote checks to Mrs. MacDowell or to the MacDowell Memorial Association, all for the Colony. In a 1949 Atlantic Monthly article, Rollo Walter Brown discussed Marian MacDowell?s demeanor at her recitals: ?She was a smallish woman, and often gave a first impression of being matter-of-fact. As she walked modestly to the piano she somehow suggested that she was of course only of secondary importance on this interesting occasion.?75 According to contemporary accounts, Mrs. MacDowell had complete command of herself, and when she lifted her hands to the piano, a ?youthful brightness?76 shone upon her listeners. Even at eighty, Marian had this effect; in a flash, she ?brushed from sight twenty or thirty years of her age.?77 Brown?s description of Mrs. MacDowell?s playing in part demonstrates the gender constraints of the time: she is observed in this case for her physical appearance at performances rather than for her musical ability. This approach varies substantially from reviews of male pianists of the time, in which discussion of age or appearance was hardly ever the focus. An important point Brown did not highlight, however, is the fact that Mrs. MacDowell went on these tours and performed with significant physical ailments; she suffered from increasing loss of sight (owing to cataracts), and a childhood back injury sometimes forced her to use crutches (her ?sticks?). Although Marian accepted her disabilities and was able to play despite increasing blindness and back pain, it is apparent that audience members had trouble refusing an aging disabled woman playing the piano in support of a cause. In this manner, Mrs. 75 Rollo Walter Brown, ?Mrs. MacDowell and Her Colony,? The Atlantic Monthly (July, 1949): 2. 76 Ibid. 77 Ibid. 42 MacDowell used her physical difficulties to her advantage to encourage greater donations in support of the MacDowell Colony. Mrs. MacDowell?s goals were not always completely understood by the public. Noted pianist and pedagogue Ernest Hutcheson paired Marian MacDowell with Amy Beach, stating that they ?were remarkably good concert pianists who had succumbed to the tragic mistake of playing mainly to second-string audiences instead of aiming only for the more discriminating concert and recital audiences.?78 Hutcheson apparently ignored the fact that her goal was to promote her husband?s music and to use the proceeds for funding the Colony rather than to present herself as a concert pianist. The reference here to ?second-string audiences? concerned the music clubs that organized Mrs. MacDowell?s and Amy Beach?s concerts,79 in which most of the concert attendees were women. To declare these types of audiences as non-discriminating and ?second-string? implies that the clubwomen were not sufficiently educated in music to understand and properly critique the music performed at Mrs. MacDowell?s and Beach?s concerts; to the contrary, the clubwomen were significantly educated in music, more so, at times, than the more evenly proportioned male and female ?discriminating? audiences to which Hutcheson referred. For the most part, the clubwomen were highly skilled musicians, and on occasion, also composers, well-versed in the Western musical canon. Through the music club, women gathered with other like-minded women and had the opportunity to display their talents. Some of Mrs. MacDowell?s and Beach?s concerts were held in smaller venues, such as a clubwoman?s salon or a local church, but both performers 78 Lowens, ?New York Years,? 278. 79 See Adrian Fried Block, Amy Beach, Passionate Victorian: The Life and Work of an American Composer, 1867-1944, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. 43 did hold concerts in much larger, more esteemed venues, such as Carnegie Hall, which would also be equal in number to Hutcheson?s more discriminating concert and recital audiences. Marian MacDowell?s main goal in life was the welfare of the Colony. In the first thirty years of its existence, she did most of the work as manager. A 1912 newspaper article on the MacDowell Colony?s progress stated that Mrs. MacDowell was the best interpreter of her husband?s music, ?but also has become business woman, surveyor, architect and builder, manager, landscape gardener, public lecturer, expert farmer and dairy-woman, and many other things.?80 In a magazine article, Marian MacDowell stated that she was able to practice only two hours a day, owing to all of her other commitments managing and maintaining the Colony.81 This is significantly less time per day than most concert pianists spent (and spend) practicing in the first half of the twentieth century, including Amy Beach, but it should be noted that, in general, Marian practiced the same music throughout her career.82 Marian MacDowell had a particularly significant role in maintaining the popularity of her husband?s music. She quickly became the foremost interpreter of his works, holding interpretation masterclasses of MacDowell?s compositions across the nation, in addition to advising many conductors and concert pianists, including Lillian Steuber and John Kirkpatrick.83 The latter, in a 1953 letter of appreciation to 80 Christian Science Monitor (New York City), 24 June 1912. 81 ?I?ve Done the Best I Could,? American Magazine: 228. 82 After 1910, Amy Beach toured Europe, mostly performing her own compositions, but she also performed works by other composers, such as Chopin, Beethoven, and other composers of the Romantic Period. 83 Programs for Interpretation Classes by Marian MacDowell, Denver, Colorado and Los Angeles, California are found in ?Programs, Brochures,? Box 57, Folder 2, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 44 Mrs. MacDowell, describes an exhilarating coaching session Marian had given him at the age of ninety-five on MacDowell?s ?Keltic? Sonata: I still can?t get over your giving me so much time, and taking the pains to go into so many details with so much energy and care. I will always remember you leaning forward with your elbows on your knees, conducting me with hands and voice, and being a fountain of corrections?All the ideas you gave me have been absolutely invaluable in going ahead with the piece.84 For a musician as recognized as Kirkpatrick to seek advice from Mrs. MacDowell reflects the high esteem in which her interpretation of her husband?s work were held and, how she thereby kept his music thriving. It is most likely that without the work she did proselytizing for the recognition of her husband?s music in the first half of the twentieth century, similar in manner to Clara Schumann?s role in promoting Robert Schumann?s works, for example, Edward MacDowell?s popularity might not have flourished as long as it did in the United States. Marian MacDowell and the Clubs During Mrs. MacDowell?s concerts, she frequently took the opportunity to give lectures on the current state of the Colony, which included slides of studios, and discussion of future plans for the Colony?s expansion and the work and achievements 84 Correspondence to Marian MacDowell from John Kirkpatrick, August 11, 1953, Box 46, Folder 10, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 45 of the recent colonists who had visited the Colony the past summer. Not only were Marian MacDowell?s concerts well-attended and therefore financially rewarding from the ticket sales, but the events were also financially important because audience members would approach Mrs. MacDowell afterwards with substantial donations supporting the Colony. These concerts were frequently organized by a local music club, sometimes a MacDowell club, usually with one club member corresponding directly with Mrs. MacDowell, inviting her to perform and lecture in the town. In many instances, a MacDowell club had not yet been formed, and as a result of Mrs. MacDowell?s performance, a group of attracted people would gather following the concert, and a MacDowell club was established.85 Although Mrs. MacDowell later denied having specific connections to the founding of any MacDowell club, she was directly responsible for their formation, in these cases, owing to her work in popularizing MacDowell?s music and his philosophy of the allied arts, which inspired the MacDowell Colony. The funds that Marian MacDowell earned by her recital tours went directly towards the Edward MacDowell Memorial Association to support the Colony. Although none of the studios or other buildings on the Colony property were named after a particular MacDowell club,86 the much-needed financial support from the 85 MacDowell clubs that were formed following a concert by Marian MacDowell held in their town were the MacDowell clubs of Oklahoma City, Chattanooga, Austin, Il, Salt Lake City, Utah, and many others. 86 The studios, dormitories, and other buildings on the Colony property were named by the patrons who gave the initial funds for each building. For example, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge and seven other patrons donated funds for a studio and named it after their former piano teacher, Regina Watson (Watson Studio). Three buildings are named after the fraternities and sororities which donated funds for their construction; Pan?s Cottage (1919), a dormitory funded by Sigma Alpha Iota (See Appendix C, a); the Star Studio (1911-1912), funded by Alpha Chi Omega, and Omicron Studio (1927), funded by Delta Omicron. Two studios were funded by music clubs; the Monday Music Studio (1916), funded by the Monday Music Club of Orange, New Jersey, and the Sorosis Studio (1924-1926) funded 46 clubs was used to maintain these buildings (the plumbing, heating, electricity, general upkeep), the farm, which supplied the majority of the food for the colonists in the beginning years, the roads through the property, in addition to other miscellaneous expenses. Mrs. MacDowell stated in her memoirs, ?.with a few exceptions, every building on the place was erected with money given to the Association by groups or individuals in the different cities and towns where I had played.87 As the Colony grew to accommodate more artists (Marian MacDowell bought her neighbor?s land in 1912 which nearly doubled the Colony?s size), the MacDowell clubs? and other clubs? regular support was vital to the Colony?s stability.88 From 1911 to 1964, the Annual Reports of the Colony list the substantial amount of funds donated by the MacDowell clubs and other music clubs.89 During these years, the reports clearly show that the clubs brought in the greater part of the support for the Colony.90 by the New York Carol Club of Sorosis. For a complete listing of the thirty-two studios on the Colony?s property, see the MacDowell Colony?s website: http://www.macdowellcolony.org/. 87 ?How the Colony was Financed,? Box 40, Folder 13, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 88 See ?Summary of Land Transactions, 1896-1973,? The MacDowell Colony: A History of Its Architecture and Development (Peterborough, New Hampshire: The MacDowell Colony, Reprint Trade Paperback, 1988), 71. 89 Although the Colony was established in 1907, the Annual Reports were not issued until 1911. In 1911, Marian MacDowell was receiving more and more donations from individual donors and clubs that she felt it was time to hire and auditor and keep better track of the Colony?s finances. See Annual Reports of the MacDowell Colony, 1911-1935, 1936-1964,? Boxes 72 and 73, MacDowell Colony Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. 90 Beginning in 1911, the Annual Reports separately list donations from each club, as well as each individual donor. In 1915, for example, the 46 Fellowship Members, which consisted of the MacDowell clubs and other music clubs, donated $1,675.00, which is just over half of the total of member donations (fifty-three Sustaining Members, $540.00; and ninety-one Annual Members, $455.00) for that year. 47 The reports from 1911 to 1916 also indicate there was a significant deficit in the Colony?s finances (between $1,000 and $3,000 each year), for which funds earned by Marian MacDowell?s lecture recitals were used. For example, in the 1915 Annual Report, the expenditures of the Colony?i.e. Colony employee salaries, insurance and property taxes, housekeeping supplies, purchases of livestock, construction and maintenance of Colony buildings and land?totaled $30,581, but the donations received via mail from various clubs, societies, and individual donors only came to $28,251.44. The ?Contribution by Mrs. MacDowell from her Lecture Recitals- to meet deficit? ($2,329.56) balanced the budget that fiscal year, as was the case for the first nine years of the Colony?s existence. In the years 1911 through 1914, Mrs. MacDowell is listed twice in the Annual Reports; once with a sum of earnings from her performances, and again near the end of the financial statement with another contribution to cover the deficit.91 Marian MacDowell continued giving lecture- recitals in the winter months, up to her retirement in 1946, and even then, she continued performing on a less frequent basis, until her death in 1956. After 1916, only one year?1923?lists Mrs. MacDowell?s personal contributions from her lecture-recital tours, ($1,640.22), in the Annual Reports. The listing of these contributions in the report could possibly have been an error in judgment, not because Marian MacDowell did not contribute that sum to the Colony, but because she and other members of the Edward MacDowell Memorial Association in 1916 decided it was more profitable for the Colony not to list her contributions (or not list them in full) in the Annual Reports. Mrs. MacDowell states in her memoirs 91 Annual Reports of the MacDowell Colony, 1911-1935, 1936-1964,? Boxes 72 and 73, MacDowell Colony Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. 48 ?only a portion my contributions were included in the annual report?; if the other donors saw the total amount of contributions she earned, they might donate less towards the Colony, when there was always a need for financial support.92 Twenty years after the formation of the Colony, Marian MacDowell was earning more than twice her initial sums from her concerts. In 1928, the year she experienced significant leg and back injuries in a traffic accident, rendering it impossible for her to give concerts, in a letter to a club member, Mrs. MacDowell stated, the Association was ?missing the six or seven thousand dollars [she] was able to earn yearly for it.?93 There were many occasions in which a MacDowell or other music club could not donate a substantial amount of funds to the Colony, but it was more important to the club to donate any amount rather than not to donate at all. In a letter from Mrs. Marie Henley, president of the Fortnightly Music Club of Kirkwood, Missouri, to Mrs. MacDowell, Henley told of the presentation a club member, a Mrs. Priest, gave about the Colony when she visited there and the wonderful work Mrs. MacDowell was doing. She continued; At our last meeting, the club voted to send the enclosed contribution. It is very small indeed but we do so want to have the privilege of doing our bit?We would also like to know if there is anyone from or near St. Louis who recently did any work [at the Colony]. If 92 ?How the Colony was Financed,? Box 40, Folder 6, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 93 Letter from Marian MacDowell to Mrs. J.E. Ritchey, Box 51, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 49 there is we would feel a bit closer and probably could create more interest in [their] work.94 Mrs. MacDowell received many letters similar to Mrs. Henley?s, and it was also not uncommon for music clubs to inquire about local artists who might have stayed at the Colony. As Henley states, the club felt ?closer,? more personally connected to the work of the Colony, and were more apt to continue sending , albeit ?small,? financial support. The MacDowell clubs? specific roles in supporting the Colony have varied from ?Fellowship Members? (1913) to separate chapters in the ?MacDowell Colony League? (1921), all of which had been dissipated by 1929, according to the Annual Reports. As indicated in a paragraph dedicated specifically to ?Club Membership? in the 1913 Annual Report, the Association had outlined the requirements to be Fellowship Members. Each club was required to pay an annual contribution of ?not less than $25.00,? and, while this regulation applied particularly to the MacDowell Clubs, ?other clubs may avail themselves of the like privilege.? In the same paragraph, which is also exists in the 1911 minutes of the MacDowell Club of New York,95 it states that Fellowship Members would also be entitled to receive the monthly bulletins and Annual Reports of the Association as well, which further aids in establishing closer relations with the Colony. The club donations continued steadily up to 1945, at which time the reports list more individual donors than separate clubs. In 1938, a hurricane swept through 94 Letter from Marie A. Henley to Marian MacDowell (date unknown), Box 45, Folder 21, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 95 ?Minutes of the MacDowell Club of New York,? Box 62, Folder 2, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 50 New England, and the Colony property was littered with fallen trees that also damaged the buildings and knocked out the power lines. A Hurricane Reparations Fund was established, which further continued the donations from the MacDowell Clubs. By 1955, the Association had ceased including lists of sustaining, subscribing, and contributing members. After Mrs. MacDowell died in 1956, the financial situation of the Colony became worse than it had ever been; Mrs. MacDowell personally corresponded with many donors, and once she was gone, the Association struggled to regain those important contacts. Consequently, many MacDowell clubs and other clubs folded during this time, possibly owing to Mrs. MacDowell?s death, but also because of technological advances resulting in the television, films, and other forms of entertainment, which meant there was less of a need for club meetings and performances.96 It was not until 1962, when Aaron Copland, eight-time Colony Fellow, became president of the Association, that the Colony?s financial situation improved. More than half (58 percent) of the contributions to the Colony remained donations of the MacDowell clubs, other clubs, and the fraternities Sigma Alpha Iota, Alpha Chi Omega, Phi Beta, and Delta Omicron. Owing to Copland?s reputation, the needs of the Colony were communicated to a greater audience and significantly increased the incoming financial support from larger organizations. The Colony was awarded a 96 The folding of the Monday Music Club, in Orange New Jersey, is one example of this support tapering off. Although not a MacDowell club in name, the Monday Music Club was extremely active in supporting the Colony, donating funds for the construction and maintenance of the Monday Music Studio for composers. See Appendix C, b. The Club?s folding occurred in 1957, a year after Marian MacDowell passed away. ?Monday Music Club,? Box 70, Folder 4, MacDowell Colony Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. 51 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1970, followed by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation in the same year. From this point onwards, the Colony has been supported by these grants and other substantial donations from corporations; previously, the MacDowell clubs had been the source of faithful support for the Colony. The MacDowell clubs had further connections to the Colony beyond functioning as a source of monetary support. A significant number of the Cincinnati MacDowell Society?s (a MacDowell club) members, for example, intimately knew Mrs. MacDowell. Before their society was founded, many members assisted in the formation of the Edward MacDowell Memorial Association in New York City and the MacDowell Club of Boston. In addition to these important organizations, several members had a hand in the formation of the MacDowell Colony. The Cincinnati MacDowell Society Established in 1913 by Clara Baur,97 the Cincinnati MacDowell Society quickly became one of the more prominent and elite cultural outlets in the city, while also maintaining its ties to Marian MacDowell and the Colony.98 Miss Baur was influenced by an article on the MacDowell Colony in Harper?s Weekly which highlighted MacDowell?s philosophy of the allied arts, but her primary motivation to organize a MacDowell club came from the ?moving? letters from her nieces, Bertha 97 Clara Baur (1835-1912) was also founder and director of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music from 1867 to 1912. 98 The 2006-2007 Yearbook of the Cincinnati MacDowell Society, credits the formation of the Society to Clara Baur, Bertha Baur, and Mary Emery, because each were close friends with Marian MacDowell. ?History,? The Cincinnati MacDowell Society Annual Yearbook, 2006-2007, author?s personal collection, 2006. 52 and Wanda Baur, who had attended meetings of the Boston MacDowell Club, referred to as the Boston meeting of the Edward MacDowell Memorial Association, and were present for the 1910 pageant held on the Colony property at Peterborough. She was also subsequently influenced by letters from a former Cincinnati Conservatory student, Chalmers Clifton. A gifted composer who was continuing his studies at Harvard, Clifton had arranged MacDowell?s compositions and conducted the music for the same pageant.99 The attendees of the Cincinnati MacDowell Society organizational meeting on November 12, 1912, consisted of two people who had ties to Mrs. MacDowell and the Colony; the philanthropist, Mary M. Emery (1844-1927), widow of industrialist and real estate developer Thomas Emery (1830-1906), who had recently visited with Marian MacDowell, Clifton, and his professor, George Pierce Baker, at Emery?s Providence, Rhode Island summer home,100 and Josephine P. Simrall, a visual artist who had just spent the previous summer at the Colony. At the following MacDowell Club Tea on December 12, 1912, Simrall and Marian MacDowell, who was in town again, told members about the Colony, and Simrall was able to give a first-hand account of her positive experience there as a colonist. Clara Baur unexpectedly died on December 18, 1912, following a day of illness, and as a result, the official formation of the MacDowell Society did not occur until April 30, 1913. One-hundred people attended the meeting, including the original fifty-seven charter members. On the organization board was the composer 99 Wabnitz, ?Early Years,? 274, 276. 100 Mary Emery had invited Chalmers Clifton and his Harvard professor, the composer George Pierce Baker, and Marian MacDowell to her summer home in Middletown, Rhode Island to further discuss the Colony and the philosophy of the allied arts earlier that year in 1912. This event also aided in the formation of the Cincinnati MacDowell Society. See Wabnitz, ?Early Years,? 276. 53 Edgar Stillman Kelley (1857-1944), a friend of Marian MacDowell and past colonist, and his wife, Jesse Stillman Kelley. As president of the National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC), Mrs. Kelley, was not only instrumental in organizing the Children?s ?Penny? Crusade for junior music clubs to support the Colony, but she also helped raise a separate sum of $10,000 through the senior clubs towards an endowment fund for the Colony. This donation was presented to Mrs. MacDowell in Chicago at the 1927 Biennial Convention. Another relationship to the Colony and the Society existed with Belle Ritchey, a Cincinnati native, who, through her friendship with Mrs. MacDowell, was the summer manager at the Colony in 1912.101 At an informal gathering of members in October, 1913, in which Mrs. MacDowell was present, Ritchey gave an account of her time spent at the Colony. The Cincinnati MacDowell Society was unique in that the organization had significant ties to the MacDowell Colony in the early years of its formation. The first season of the Society proved a success; a glamorous ?Latin Quarter? Ball was organized for the Society members, an annual tradition that was upheld for several years thereafter.102 As revealed, the Society sent many creative artists to reside at the Colony during its formative years, which aided in the Colony?s success and strengthened its ties between the two organizations. 101 Bell Ritchey was summer manager at the Colony from 1912 to 1928. She was in line to run the Colony after Marian MacDowell?s death, but once Nina Maud Richardson became a companion of Mrs. MacDowell, Belle Ritchey no longer worked at the Colony. In a letter to a club member, Marian MacDowell stated, ?Mrs. Ritchey is no longer with me. Living in Cincinnati and only possible to be here four months made the situation too complicated. With an efficient accountant coming in regularly, and an equally efficient stenographer, things have gone much better.? Letter from Marian MacDowell to Mrs. Perkins, November 21, 1929, Box 52, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 102 See Figure VIII. Wabnitz, ?Early Years,? 267-271. 54 Figure VIII. Flyer for Cincinnati MacDowell Society Latin Quarter Ball, March 19, 1914. 55 The MacDowell Club of Mountain Lakes Another MacDowell Club with significant connections to the MacDowell Colony is the MacDowell Club of Mountain Lakes, New Jersey. Founded in 1916 by Lazelle Crooks Whitmore (1878-1960), the MacDowell Club of Mountain Lakes, at the time, was a women?s club strictly ?for the encouragement of musical study,?103 with the membership limited ?to those having the ability and willingness to perform musically.?104 Thus, the motto for the club became ?Willing and Able,? and has remained so to the present day. The first president of the Mountain Lakes MacDowell Club was the well- known opera contralto, Katherine Fleming Hinrichs (1870-1939), wife of Gustav Hinrichs (1850-1940), the conductor of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Before leaving New York City, the Hinrichs had become acquaintances with the MacDowells; Gustav and Edward were both professors in the music department at Columbia College. According to meeting attendance listed in the minutes, Gustav Hinrichs was also a member of the MacDowell Club of New York.105 The distressing public resignation of MacDowell and the negative press that followed outraged Hinrichs, and he resigned from the department as well.106 Mrs. Hinrichs had since retired from the stage to start a family, and with Hinrichs not in as much demand without the Columbia post, the family soon thereafter moved to Mountain Lakes in 103 ?September 25, 1916 Minutes of the MacDowell Club of Mountain Lakes,? reproduced in Marcella Vig Baldwin, Willing and Able: A History of the MacDowell Club of Mountain Lakes, N.J., 1916-1946 (Published Privately, 1987), 141. Baldwin (1921-2006) was a member of the MacDowell Club of Mountain Lakes and had access to the club?s archives and was able to interview the elder members of the club to formulate this history. 104 Ibid. 105 ?Minutes of the MacDowell Club of New York,? Box 62, Folder 2, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 106 Baldwin, 9. 56 1913. Although MacDowell?s resignation and death occurred several years prior to the founding of the Mountain Lakes MacDowell Club, it is probable Mrs. Hinrichs? close ties to the MacDowells influenced the music club?s decision to name the organization for Edward MacDowell. The Mountain Lakes club strengthened its ties to Mrs. MacDowell and the Colony through the following decades. In 1922, the composer and two-time Colony Fellow, Gena Branscombe (1881-1977), and her family moved from New York City to Mountain Lakes in hopes that the cleaner air would improve the health of her young daughter, who suffered from asthma.107 Branscombe was readily admitted for membership in the MacDowell Club, and she directed the club vocal ensemble, the MacDowell Club Choral (pronounced Chorale), an ensemble officially formed by the club in 1919. A successful composer of solo vocal and choral music, Branscombe used the ensemble to improve upon and premiere many of her choral works. Branscombe and her family moved to New York City in 1924, in which she became an active member of the MacDowell Club of New York, which might have been where she met Chalmers Clifton, with whom she began studying conducting.108 The conducting lessons were beneficial to Branscombe?s choral directing career; from 1933 to 1953, she organized and directed her own choral ensemble, the Branscombe Choral, in addition to several other choral groups in New York City.109 Although she never officially moved back to Mountain Lakes, she did resume directorship of the 107 Laurine Annette Elkins Marlow, ?Gena Branscombe (1881-1977): American Composer and Conductor,? Ph.D. Diss. (University of Texas at Austin, 1980), 53. 108 Ibid., 57. 109 Ibid, 66. Branscombe was also involved in the National League of American Pen Women (NLAPW) and the General Federation of Women?s Clubs (GFWC), conducting both organizations? choral ensembles. 57 Club Choral in 1931, commuting weekly to the town for twelve years.110 After Marian MacDowell began visiting the Mountain Lakes club beginning in July 1921, Branscombe learned of the MacDowell Colony and resided there twice during her life, in 1946, and again in 1956. During the years from1924 to 1931, under the direction of Emily Wood Bower, the MacDowell Club Choral continued performing Branscombe?s choral works receiving rave reviews. Bower led the Choral?s performance at the New Jersey Federation of Women?s Clubs? Choral Competition as well as other benefit concerts for the MacDowell Colony. Bower was also considered herself an amateur composer, writing the music for the MacDowell Club Blessing, which is traditionally sung every year at the annual February luncheon.111 110 Baldwin, 64. Marlow states Branscombe never officially ceased directorship of the MacDowell Club Choral between 1924 and 1931, but Baldwin states Emily Wood Bower took over the ensemble in Branscombe?s absence during those years. Marlow, 56-57. 111 See Figure IX. 58 Figure IX. ?MacDowell Club Blessing,? by Emily Wood Bower. Used with permission by the MacDowell Club of Morris County, New Jersey. 59 In 1920, the Mountain Lakes MacDowell Club heard of the MacDowell Colony and Mrs. MacDowell?s campaign to raise funds for it when the New Jersey State Federation of Women?s Clubs sent a letter asking the MacDowell Club to contribute funds toward the construction of the New Jersey Federation Studio at the Colony, ?so that creative artists of our state may join this summer colony and live quietly in this New England Arcadia which engaged in their work.?112 This statement implies the New Jersey Federation wanted to send and support only those artists who resided in their state. As a result of the Federation?s significant donation of funds to build this studio, it is unclear in this occasion and in others in which large gestures of financial support were given to Mrs. MacDowell, whether the Colony application process was a factor of admittance (to show talent) to reside at the Colony, or whether the New Jersey Federation selected their own artists and sent them.113 Oklahoma City?s MacDowell Club of Allied Arts also sent numerous artists to the Colony, and that organization donated significant funds to the Colony as well. Mrs. MacDowell frequently took pride in the fact that the Colony had served artists from all over the nation, making a point to mention this during her lecture-recitals, and also in the Annual Reports. It is likely, owing to their substantial donations, that she permitted these outside organizations such as the Oklahoma City MacDowell Club and the New Jersey Federation of Women?s Clubs to select their own artists, foregoing the Colony?s customary application process. 112 Letter to the MacDowell Club of Mountain Lakes, March 1920, in Baldwin, 33. 113 The New Jersey Studio was built completed in 1921 and there is no current restriction as to which artists can reside there at the Colony. The New Jersey Federation of Women?s Clubs still supports the maintenance of the New Jersey Studio today. 60 The Mountain Lakes MacDowell Club?s beginning donation for the New Jersey Studio was $25.00, and in the following year, Mrs. MacDowell visited and performed her Lecture-Recital, in which further proceeds for the studio were raised. Two-hundred people attended Mrs. MacDowell?s concert at seventy-five cents a ticket. During her lecture, Marian MacDowell spoke about the MacDowell Colony League, the newly formed network of MacDowell and other music clubs in which each member donated a dollar a year to the Colony. The idea of a MacDowell League was yet another of Mrs. MacDowell?s methods to unite the MacDowell Clubs; she stated at the concert that it was ?a way of involving the small subscriber who wishes to share in the work.?114 The women of the Mountain Lakes club were interested at once in the ?club within a club,? and by November 1921, the Mountain Lakes Chapter of the MacDowell Colony League was established.115 The club?s personal relationship with Mrs. MacDowell was sustained through much correspondence up through Marian?s retirement in 1946. Mrs. MacDowell returned to Mountain Lakes to give another concert in 1926 and again in 1930. During the aftermath of the New England hurricane in 1938, which destroyed the Colony property, Marian MacDowell contacted the club in search of support. Beginning the correspondence with ?You know how I hate to be a beggar?,?116 the group immediately sent fifty dollars (roughly $600.00 in today?s dollars) towards the restoration of the Colony. In her later correspondence with the club, she stated the 114 Baldwin, 34. 115 Ibid. The Mountain Lakes Chapter of the MacDowell Colony League is listed several times in the Annual Reports of the Colony during the 1920?s. 116 Ibid., 104. 61 Mountain Lakes Club had contributed more generously to the Colony than any other club she had visited.117 The MacDowell Club of Mountain Lakes financially supported New Jersey colonists throughout the twentieth century. In 1975, the club awarded a scholarship to a local artist, Tom Popp, towards his stay at the Colony. The composer, Eric Chasalow, the son of the current president of the club, Carol Chasalow, also recently stayed at the MacDowell Colony.118 Support from Other MacDowell Clubs Other prominent MacDowell clubs across the nation were responsible for choosing artists to send to the Colony, or financially sponsored their visits. Established in 1920 by Hyla Florence Long, the MacDowell Club of Allied Arts of Oklahoma City remained the largest MacDowell Club in existence, with over 600 members, for the greater part of the twentieth century.119 Various club members corresponded with Marian MacDowell during her lifetime, and through the MacDowell Fellowship, which still exists today, the club has sent twenty-seven Oklahoma artists to the Colony.120 117 Ibid. This is not a proven fact, and it is possible Mrs. MacDowell communicated this statement to several different music clubs in search of further support. 118 Email correspondence from Carol Chasalow to the author, April 2, 2007. The regular Colony application process was used for Popp and Chasalow, and all other artists who reside at the Colony today. 119 The Oklahoma MacDowell Club is currently ranked second in membership today with 250 members, and the Cincinnati MacDowell Society first, with 300 members. 120 Oklahoma artists awarded MacDowell Fellowships and sent to the Colony are Frederick Becker, painter; Earl Sparling, writer; C.B. Macklin, composer; Ann McClure, poet; Spencer Norton, composer; Lemuel Childers, composer; Dora Aydelotte, novelist; Joseph Taylor, sculptor; Jack Kilpatrick, composer; Darothea Stevenson Cassidy, painter; Victor Alessandro, composer; Jewel Wurtsbough, writer; Grace Chadwick, writer; Dr. Anna Lewis, writer; Muriel H. Wright, historical writer and editor; J. Thomas Matthews, composer; Ella Jack, painter; Dr. Winston Weathers, writer; Violet Archer, composer; Jack Vallee, painter; Dr. Ray Luke, composer; Bill Gammill, writer; Hollis 62 A club organized with significant assistance from Marian MacDowell was the MacDowell Club of Allied Arts of Los Angeles, California, established in 1918. Mrs. MacDowell had been periodically visiting Los Angeles during her concert tours, but she began to regularly spend her winters there in 1928 at her doctor?s orders, in hopes that the warm, balmy weather would improve her ill health. Several Los Angeles newspaper articles claim that she was the founder of the local MacDowell club, 121 but in actuality, Mrs. MacDowell ?assisted in establishing th[e] organization,? and the founder was Natalie Alden Putnam, a former pupil of Edward MacDowell.122 The club frequently held benefit events for the MacDowell Colony, and also invited artists who had recently returned from their stay at the Colony to speak at club meetings about their latest projects. The club also established a MacDowell Fellowship Fund to sponsor a local artist?s trip and sojourn at the Colony; the first artist awarded the fellowship was a women, Fannie Dillon, in 1921.123 Natalie Alden Putnam even stayed at the Colony in 1925 to work on her biographical pamphlet of Edward MacDowell.124 The club presented her with a $100 check to defray her travel costs to Peterborough. Marian MacDowell was able to sustain the MacDowell Colony with support from the Los Angeles MacDowell Club and other MacDowell clubs in the first half of the twentieth century. She single-handedly established relationships with these organizations, and in turn they sent the Colony monetary contributions and artists to Howard, painter; Michael Hennagin, composer; Dr. Jerry Neil Smith, composer. 2006-2007 Yearbook, The MacDowell Club of Allied Arts, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 121 ?MacDowell Club to Gather at Banquet,? Times (Los Angeles) 18 December 1932. 122 ?National in Art is Club Aim,? Times (Los Angeles) 18 September 1921. 123 Ibid. 124 ?What Women are Doing,? Times (Los Angeles) 5 July 1925. 63 reside there. The clubs also promoted the work of those artists and the allied arts philosophy of the Colony in their communities. Most of the MacDowell clubs and other music clubs were female-only organizations, and the level of support they achieved through benefit concerts and other public avenues is significant owing to the gender constraints of the early twentieth century, in which women seldom ventured outside of the domestic sphere. Marian MacDowell spent the last forty-eight years of her life in the public sphere, becoming the spokesperson for the MacDowell Colony, ensuring its success today. As a result of her public life, she inadvertently became a steadfast paradigm for the nation?s clubwomen, inspiring them to continue their work for the advancement of the arts in the United States. 64 Chapter 4: The MacDowell Clubs and their Communities During the first half of the twentieth century, the majority of the MacDowell clubs125 usually had two goals: the clubs supported the Colony with donations and in some cases, supplied creative artists, and they also supported their local communities. The clubs functioned as vehicles for the advancement of the arts in their towns in several ways: almost every club meeting involved some type of performance with members or guest artists; concerts of club members or guest artists, art exhibitions, and theater performances were held for the general public; club ensembles, such as orchestras, choruses, and smaller groups were organized to give members more opportunities to perform; outreach programs geared towards the advancement of music education were offered for all ages; American music, above all else, was promoted through commissioning, performing, educating members on, works by American composers; scholarships were awarded to talented young artists and Junior MacDowell clubs for students were founded and sponsored by the senior club; awards of distinction for the advancement of the arts were bestowed on prominent local citizens; and concert venues were constructed to further the performance of creative arts in the clubs? towns. 125 During the first half of the twentieth century, there were approximately 400 MacDowell clubs in the United States. Marian MacDowell wrote in a 1955 letter, ?I suppose in the last forty years there must have been nearly 400; probably there are 300 now.? Reproduction of letter to Mr. Kendall from Marian MacDowell, MacDowell Club Files, MacDowell Colony Headquarters, New York, New York. Original letter in Box 1, MacDowell Colony Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. 65 Outside of the arts, the MacDowell clubs donated time and money to local causes in the community. Although there are only fifteen MacDowell clubs active today, each club remains a vital part of its community.126 Cultural Outlets Each club functioned as an outlet for culture in the community. At almost every club meeting there was some type of performance, lecture, reading, exhibition, or a combination of them by its members, and on many occasions, guest artists were brought in to perform. In the first two decades of the twentieth century, the elite, mixed-gender, allied arts MacDowell clubs of New York and Boston began this tradition by inviting multiple members and guest artists to perform or exhibit their work all in the course of one meeting. The first public meeting of the New York City MacDowell Club on December 5, 1905 presented an academic lecture on the evolution of the arts, performances of Edward MacDowell?s piano works, all while a new portrait of the composer was on display. As part of one of the most artistically thriving cities in the United States, the New York City MacDowell Club experienced little difficulty gaining membership in its initial years?the membership rose to over 500 in the first year?or procuring audiences for public concerts. Each season of the New York club became increasingly successful; for 1909-1910, for example, the Program Committee (with sub-committees for music, drama, sculpture, and painting) organized a total of twenty-six programs for members throughout the year, nine of 126 See Appendix B. 66 which were open to the public.127 Several of the programs received high praise from the press.128 The Boston MacDowell Club held receptions for their honored guests after their performances. Several well-known artists such as piano pedagogue Olga Samaroff-Stokowski (1880-1948),129 British opera soprano Dame Maggie Teyte (1888-1976),130 concert pianist and composer, Marguerite Melville-Liszniewska (1879-1935),131 and many others performed or gave lectures at these events.132 The individual talent of the club members themselves was often considerably high. Two clubs that were initially strictly musical, female-only clubs, the MacDowell Club of Mountain Lakes, New Jersey and the MacDowell Club of Milwaukee, Wisconsin were exclusive in their formative years, requiring auditions before admitting new members. In a small town with over ten different women?s clubs competing for members, the Mountain Lakes club initially required auditions and set the total membership at thirty-five to keep the organization more elite.133 127 ?Annual Report of the President MacDowell Club of New York City, 1909-1910? Box 68, Folder 1, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 128 ?The little exhibition is one that will prove well worth seeing,? ?At the MacDowell Club? Times (New York) 11 April 1909. ?They are gay and pleasing?three of them Mme. Homer was at once obliged to repeat,? ?Sidney Homer?s Songs in a recital for MacDowell Club,? Times (New York) 2 November 1909. 129 Donna Staley Kline, An American Virtuoso on the World Stage: Olga Samaroff Stokowski, College Station: Texas A&M Station, 1996. 130 Dame Maggie Teyte, Famous Voices of the Past, Rococo 5319, ca. 1970, Phonorecord. 131 George Kehler, The Piano in Concert (Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1982), 757. Liszniewska was a child prodigy who studied with Leschetizky and became a professor at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music for several years, until her death in 1935. 132 ?MacDowell Club Reception? Globe (Boston), 20 February 1913, ?Miss Teyte Their Guest? Globe (Boston) 20 November 1913, ?MacDowell Club? Globe (Boston) 11 February 15. 133 Baldwin, Willing and Able, 13. 67 Owing to the Club?s change from strictly music to an allied arts organization, these regulations were later abandoned in favor of larger, more diversified membership.134 The Milwaukee MacDowell Club, established in 1919, required each prospective member to prepare previously-determined musical selections on their instrument or voice for their entrance audition, all of which were listed in the club yearbooks.135 To emphasize the various musical distinctions, the yearbook rosters listed members not in the typical fashion, by alphabetical order, but grouped them by their respective instruments or voice parts. Today a mixed-gender club, the MacDowell Club of Milwaukee no longer requires auditions for prospective members.136 Another means by which the MacDowell clubs functioned as outlets for culture was through the formation of musical ensembles. Several formed orchestras for members, such as the New York, Boston, Milwaukee, and Los Angeles MacDowell clubs. Many employed well-known conductors to direct the orchestras; Frederick Mahn, then Georges Longy, and finally Arthur Fiedler conducted the MacDowell Club Orchestra of Boston,137 and David Mannes (1866-1959), concertmaster of the New York Symphony Orchestra, conducted the MacDowell Club Orchestra of New York.138 Owing to these conductors? reputations and the talent 134 The requirements for membership changed in the period between 1950 and 1990. The revised Constitution of the Mountain Lakes Club (now named the MacDowell Club of Morris County) in 1990 shows the requirements as open to anyone showing interest to the purpose of the club. 135 ?Requirements for Active Membership,?1941-42 Milwaukee MacDowell Club Yearbook, Eunice French Owen papers, French Family Collection, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Archives. Eunice Owen, a cellist, was a student member of the MacDowell Club of Milwaukee in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and for a certain period, she was the chair of the student members. 136 ?Eighty-fifth Anniversary Year,? flyer of the MacDowell Club of Milwaukee, ca 1994. The MacDowell Club of Milwaukee admitted male members beginning in 1985. 137 ?MacDowell Club Orchestra ,? Globe (Boston) 14 April 1932. 138 Ibid. 68 of the club members, these orchestras were held on the same level as the New York Philharmonic (then referred to as the Philharmonic Society of New York) and the Boston Symphony Orchestra by the press; the MacDowell club orchestras were indeed prominent ensembles in their respective cities, holding regular, well-attended concerts. The Boston MacDowell Club Orchestra was unique in that initially all but three of its members were women.139 According to a newspaper review, the ?remarkable ensemble? was composed of ?a large body of amateur and semiprofessional string players? who ?show a routine musicianship and style which belies the fact that they do not play together more constantly.?140 The orchestra, referred to by critics as ?a credit to its organization,?141 repeatedly showcased a diverse repertoire of classical music,142 from Ravel?s Ma M?re l?Oye,143 Rimsky- Korsakov?s piano concerto, op.30,144 to MacDowell?s two piano concertos.145 The group also premiered new works by local composers and club members. By the time Arthur Fiedler took over its directorship in the late 1930s (while simultaneously leading the Boston ?Pops? Orchestra), the ensemble had become less formal, attracting ?fun-loving musical participants from all walks of life.?146 The orchestra 139 ?MacDowell Club Program,? Globe (Boston) 5 January 1914. 140 ?New Orchestral Music at MacDowell Club,? Globe (Boston) 8 April 1917. According to this article, the orchestra only rehearsed once per week. 141 ?MacDowell Club,? Globe (Boston) 8 April 1915. 142 Ibid. 143 Maurice Ravel, Ma M?re l?Oye, Paris: Durand, 1912. 144 Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Concerto for Piano in C-sharp minor, op.30, Leipzig: M. P. Belaieff, 1886. 145 Edward MacDowell, Erstes Konzert in A moll, for piano and orchestra, Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1884. Edward MacDowell, Zweites Konzert in D moll, for piano and orchestra, Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1890. 146 ?Fun, Idealism, and Harmony Blend in MacDowell Group,? Globe (Boston) 21 March 1939. 69 offered an opportunity for club members, their students, and their family, to display their talents. The New York MacDowell Club orchestra was an equally successful ensemble in terms of the level of musicianship achieved and the large audience turn- out for concerts. The orchestra?s origins were considerably different from that of the Boston MacDowell Club Orchestra; the New York MacDowell Club, the Musicians? Emergency Aid, and Musician?s Union formed the ensemble in response to the 1929 Stock Market Crash in order to give ?destitute musicians?147 an opportunity to perform and receive a stipend.148 The group provided weekly employment to over seventy-five musicians during its existence. The first season?s concerts were initially held in high-school auditoriums, but during its 1930 season, concerts were held at Madison Square Garden and the Metropolitan Opera House, which proved beneficial in raising funds: these concert venues rendered wealthier patrons.149 The MacDowell Club also established the MacDowell Club Prize for composition in 1929, which awarded $1,000 to the winner, (a musician either born or residing in the United States) also to support and promote a deserving (presumably impoverished) composer.150 147 List of Activities of the MacDowell Club of New York City, 1930-31,? Box 68, Folder 3, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 148 In 1918, a MacDowell Symphony Club was established under the directorship of Max Jacobs. In a New York Times article announcing the beginning of rehearsals, the orchestra was said to be eligible to both men and women, professional and non-professional players, and over 100 members have gained experience in this way, and have been ?engaged to play with regular orchestras.? It is unclear, however, if this group was connected to the MacDowell Club of New York, and was possibly a precursor to the orchestra formed in 1929. ?MacDowell Symphony Club,? Times (New York) 26 January 1919. 149 ?List of Activities of the MacDowell Club of New York City,? Box 68, Folder 3, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 150 ?MacDowell Club Prize,? Times (New York) 16 June 1929. 70 The New York MacDowell Club Orchestra was more equally divided between men and women than the Boston group, but as it was uncommon for any woman to perform in professional orchestras alongside their male counterparts during the first half of the twentieth century, any ratio of mixed-gender musicians was significant. Female musicians were not admitted into major orchestras in the United States until the early 1940?s. 151 However, orchestral performance remained a male-dominated field in music until the 1980?s. The MacDowell clubs deviated from this norm early on, by allowing female musicians to perform with male musicians in the public sphere. In the MacDowell clubs, many nontraditional roles were taken by women, not only with regard to music, but also in the managerial structure of the club. Ralph Locke and Cyrilla Barr have acknowledged the MacDowell clubs in their 1997 book, Cultivating Music in America: Women Patrons and Activists since 1860, by listing the clubs alongside various Manuscript clubs in the category Kathleen McCarthy labels as ?assimilationalists,? clubs that included both male and female members, in which the male members sat on the board of trustees.152 Although many mixed- gender clubs were initially founded by a woman, or a group of women, not one of these women became president of their MacDowell club. The Atlanta, Georgia, 151 According to Carol Neuls-Bates, major symphony orchestras did not accept female musicians until the early 1940s, a time in which the United States military draft was put into place and many male musicians were forced to vacate their orchestra jobs for military service. Women musicians were used to fill in these vacancies. After World War II, women continued to be members of the nation?s nineteen leading orchestras, but their representative number was small?140 in 1943, 147 in 1947. Carol Neuls-Bates, ?Women?s Orchestras in the U.S., 1925-1945,? in Jane Bowers and Judith Tick, ed., Women Making Music: The Western Art Tradition, 1150-1950 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986), 363. 152 Ralph Locke and Cyrilla Barr, Cultivating Music in America: Women Patrons and Activists Since 1860 (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997), 38, 40. Also see Kathleen McCarthy, Women?s Culture: American Philanthropy and Art, 1830-1930, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. 71 MacDowell Club of Allied Arts was founded by Mrs. Armand Carroll, but she was elected vice-president by a mixed-gender nominating committee (which also included her husband), while the position of president was given to a man, Joseph McLean.153 Concerning the MacDowell Club of New York, excluding the role of president, women were granted the same leadership opportunities as men, including managerial and financial roles on the board of directors. The Boston MacDowell Club was founded by a woman (Edith Noyes-Greene), and many women also headed committees, yet that club also never instituted a female president. The Cincinnati, Ohio, MacDowell Society, founded by three prominent female arts advocates, did not induct their first female president until 1974.154 The Cincinnati club did, however, equally employ female and male members in heading performance and benefit committees.155 Although these clubs did not elect female presidents, on many occasions the women of the clubs held managerial positions as committee chairs, executive board members, and other similar roles, and by holding these positions, the balance of power was more equal between the sexes. Several MacDowell clubs had active choral groups. The New York MacDowell Club organized a women?s choral group, the MacDowell Chorus, in December 1909. The initial group numbered fifty members, only five of whom were official members of the club, and, in the next year, the number of singers more than doubled to 250.156 The ensemble, directed by the composer and conductor, Kurt Schindler (1882-1935), began giving regular concerts with the city?s leading 153 ?MacDowell Club is Organized; McLean is Elected President,? Constitution (Atlanta) 5 February 1916. 154 ?Past Presidents,? Cincinnati MacDowell Society 2006-2007 Yearbook, 52. 155 Wabnitz, ?Early Years,? 278. 156 ?Bigger MacDowell Chorus,? Times (New York) 10 May 1910. 72 symphony orchestra in 1910, the Philharmonic Society of New York. Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) directed the orchestra at the time, and he may have been responsible for the group?s growth and success; according to MacDowell Club president, John Alexander, in his Annual Report for 1910, Mahler was so pleased with the ensemble?s work, that he urged it be enlarged in order for the ensemble to appear regularly when any chorus work for the Philharmonic Society was demanded.157 There were no further references to the MacDowell Chorus during the years of World War I (1914-1918) or afterwards. It is presumed that the chorus disbanded in the wake of wartime since the rest of the club?s activities and events also decreased in frequency.158 Another prominent choral group, the Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, MacDowell Club Choral, directed by Gena Branscombe, performed regularly in New York City, Philadelphia, and throughout New Jersey between 1919 and 1943. Branscombe organized the ensemble?s radio debut on April 13, 1923 over Newark Station WJZ, and since then, the Choral performed concerts for the National Opera Club, other radio broadcast stations such as the Women?s Radio Review, a Peace Conference in Princeton in April 1937 at the onset of World War II, and for several other organizations.159 The Choral was popular in Mountain Lakes as well; each member of the MacDowell Club received tickets to the Choral concerts as one of the benefits of membership, and owing to total membership being capped at thirty-five, there were waiting lists for prospective members in order for them to join and receive 157 ?Annual Report of MacDowell Club of New York, 1910,? Box 65, Folder 1, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 158 The club also experienced a lack of finances probably owing to wartime restrictions, and there was also less interest in club events. 159 Marlow, 54. 73 tickets.160 The group became so active that the fifty-eight-member ensemble became a financial burden to its host club as a result of its increased travel expenses as well as uniform and sheet music costs. The Choral became an independent organization in November, 1940.161 There is evidence of other MacDowell choruses existing in the United States. In a letter to Marian MacDowell, Albert Glockzin, director of the MacDowell Chorus of the MacDowell Club of Pontiac, Michigan writes: I was glad for the suggestions of other MacDowell Choruses. We want at least three of his selections on our first program. Would you be kind enough to send us one copy of each of those checked for examination?162 According to this letter, Mrs. MacDowell knew of several MacDowell choruses and each group?s individual activities. The Pontiac, Michigan group, and presumably several others, felt it important to perform works by Edward MacDowell to perpetuate his musical legacy. The desire to perform his works also resulted from the increased interest in American music, further discussed below. The list of MacDowell?s compositions to which Glockzin referred was not included with his letter, nor was there a reply, but owing to Mrs. MacDowell?s unwavering efforts to remain in touch with the MacDowell clubs throughout her life, it can safely be 160 Baldwin, 91. 161 When the MacDowell Club Choral seceded from the club, they changed their name to North Jersey Choral, still with Gena Branscombe as director. In 1943, Branscombe resigned due to World War II restrictions, and she was replaced by Ruth Calley Clark. The Choral underwent a period of crisis at this time, until 1947, when club member Willana Miles took over and the name was changed back MacDowell Choral. Willana felt she was ?not capable of competing? with other forms of entertainment like the television and popularity of the radio that she also resigned. The Choral disbanded shortly afterwards. Baldwin, 119-120. 162 ?Marian MacDowell Correspondence,? Box 44, Folder 50, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 74 assumed she sent the requested music to the Pontiac MacDowell Club. Marian MacDowell frequently responded to similar letters from club members planning ?MacDowell programs? who had asked her for advice on how to perform the music. In certain letters, she took the time write out very detailed instructions on the interpretations. The MacDowell clubs commonly sponsored activities that fostered musical education, such as outreach programs and ?interpretation? classes. The Canton, Ohio MacDowell Club, established in 1908, the oldest musical organization in Canton, has organized educational outreach programs for the surrounding community for several decades, and the club continues these programs today.163 During the period in which Marian MacDowell toured the nation performing concerts, several MacDowell clubs invited her, as the foremost interpreter of MacDowell?s music, to give interpretation classes for several weeks at a time for the general public. The Los Angeles and Denver MacDowell clubs, for example, invited her to give intense classes that were up to six weeks in length.164 By offering these masterclasses on her husband?s music, Mrs. MacDowell contributed to an increasingly popular trend for the advancement of American music in the United States. 163 Email correspondence from Lee Chovan, vice-president of the Canton Ohio MacDowell Music Club, to author, November 28, 2007. 164 See Figure X. ?Opens MacDowell Classes Tomorrow,? Times (Los Angeles) 11 January, 1925 and Neeta Marquis, ?Composer?s Wife in City for Season,? Times (Los Angeles) 26, January 1926. This 1926 article was written by Neeta Marquis, who was the current president of the MacDowell Club of Los Angeles at this time. 75 Figure X. Brochure for MacDowell Interpretation Class, Denver, Colorado. ?Programs, Brochures,? Box 57, Folder 1, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. MacDowell Clubs as Promoters of American Music As the only clubs in the first two decades of the twentieth century to bear the name of an American composer, the MacDowell clubs were unique for their education and support of American music and composers. Before World War I, the clubs focused on promoting the work of Edward MacDowell. At the onset of the war, the entire nation worked to promote things American, including music. American composers were gaining in popularity due to this surge of American nationalism, and although Edward MacDowell had died close to ten years earlier, his music achieved further 76 popularity.165 The Mountain Lakes MacDowell Club, in May, 1919, even declared German music forbidden at club meetings and events and American music to be placed more prominently: It was moved and seconded that the German language be omitted from our future programmes. The members decided also that in the future the works of American composers be given important places in our programmes to help in the movement of encouraging American music. All agreed with the composer whose name we bear, that music is international?166 In the next few months after this regulation was passed, the club performed and studied the music of American composers at each meeting. The ?composers of the day? at the meetings included Charles Wakefield Cadman (1881-1946), George Whitefield Chadwick (1854-1931), Henry Louis Reginald de Koven (1859-1920), Harry Rowe Shelley (1858-1947), Harry T. Burleigh (1886-1949), Harvey Worthington Loomis (1865-1930), Arthur Foote (1853-1937), Arthur Nevin (1871- 1943), and Arthur Voorhis (ca 1870-1921).167 In March of 1920, it was decided to expand study to more than just American composers, and the club studied works by non-German composers. The Mountain Lakes MacDowell Club continued to promote works by American composers through their fellow club member and composer, Gena Branscombe. Although Branscombe was of Canadian origin, she 165 See Richard Crawford, ?Edward MacDowell and Music Nationalism? in America?s Musical Life: A History (New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 2001), 372-386. 166 ?Minutes of the Mountain Lakes MacDowell Club, 1911-1920,? in Baldwin, 150. 167 All dates accessed through Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 30 November 2007), http://www.grovemusic.com. 77 and her music were included as American (North American) and her works, especially her choral music, were highly regarded in the United States. The clubs were significant organizations for the promotion of works by women composers like Branscombe, but also the works of Amy Beach and Louise Talma. In 1969, the MacDowell Club of Milwaukee commissioned Louise Talma, a forty-three-time Colony Fellow, to compose a work to commemorate the club?s sixtieth anniversary. The commission was outlined in a 1967 letter to Talma from club member Thallis Drake.168 The piece, ?The Tolling Bell,? for baritone soloist and orchestra, was premiered by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra on November 29.169 William Metcalf, of the New York Opera, was the soloist, and the work was later nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.170 Other MacDowell clubs educated their members about American music through lectures on the current state of music in the United States. In March, 1921, the MacDowell Club of Allied Arts of Los Angeles gave a program which included an informal talk ?paying tribute to MacDowell? on what the Los Angeles Times called ?A Plea for Americanism for Americans.?171 The speaker, Rupert Hughes, condemned the tendency of a certain class of Americans to welcome foreign nobility, also distinguished authors, composers, etc. from overseas, with a spoken or implied disparagement of American accomplishments in similar fields of endeavor. 168 Correspondence, Box 5, Folder 3, Louise Talma Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 169 ?The Music Scene,? Christian Science Monitor (New York City) 20 October 1969. 170 ?Eighty-fifth Anniversary Year,? flyer of the MacDowell Club of Milwaukee, ca1994. 171 ?Pleasing Program by MacDowell Club,? Times (Los Angeles) 21 March 1921. 78 The article further stated Mr. Hughes ?left no doubt as to his appreciation of genius and talent, wherever found.? The Los Angeles MacDowell Club quickly became known as the foremost group in Southern California for the advancement of American music. In 1934, the MacDowell Club sent invitations to other organizations in southern California with the hope of doing ?something definite? for American composers.172 According to a later Los Angeles Times article, the spark kindled by Edward MacDowell to aid creative artists in the United States ?shall not be completely quenched by the influx of European composers through the channels of New York preference and a propaganda for European music more or less subtly spread of the entire world.173 The MacDowell Club suggested lovers of American music aid American composers by urging that their works be heard ?everywhere, even in our major orchestral halls.? The Los Angeles club faithfully continued in this cause until it experienced a crisis in 1934; thirty members seceded from the club in October to form their own organization, the MacDowell Colony League of Southern California.174 The founder of the original club, Natalie Alden Putnam, led the secession with Marian MacDowell on her side. According to the press, the revolt was caused by the original club not sufficiently supporting the MacDowell Colony to the extent Putnam and Mrs. 172 ?Spark Kindled by MacDowell Now Being Fanned to Flame,? Times (Los Angeles) 28 January 1934. 173 Ibid. 174 See Figure XI. 79 MacDowell felt was required.175 In a newspaper column entitled ?Sugar and Spice,? the article began, Savage breasts are not responding to the soothing charms of music in the MacDowell Club fight. The thirty secessionists strongly disapprove of Mrs. Neeta Marquis, the president, and don?t mind saying so.176 Perhaps Putnam believed the MacDowell Club, by concentrating so extensively on the advancement of American music, moved too far away from the original goal to support the Colony. The Annual Reports of the Colony list the MacDowell Club of Allied Arts donating funds to the Colony twice; $51.00 in 1918 and $100 in 1919, and it is not until 1954 that the MacDowell Colony League of Los Angeles is listed in the Annual Report. The infrequent listings in the reports could have resulted from Marian MacDowell being in such close contact with the original club, and then the Los Angeles chapter, that the funds donated were given directly to her, and were included under another category of financial support. Regardless of the finances donated to the Colony, this split was most likely the result of a struggle for balance between supporting the arts in the surrounding community and supporting the MacDowell Colony. Both organizations prospered for several decades after they divided, even though the members of the groups did not coexist harmoniously. The separation and both clubs? meetings were heavily covered by the local press. In 1938, the clubs were still not coexisting amicably, but both 175 ?Thirty MacDowell Club Members Revolt and Quit,? Times (Los Angeles) 7 October 1934. 176 ?Sugar and Spice,? Times (Los Angeles) 11 October 1934. 80 organizations agreed that ?Mrs. MacDowell should be aided in every way possible.?177 177 Times (Los Angeles), 10 April 1938. 81 Figure XI. MacDowell Colony League of Southern California Program Booklet, 1935. ?Programs, Brochures,? Box 57, Folder 3, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 82 After 1954, there were no further references to the MacDowell Colony League in the Edward MacDowell Memorial Association?s Annual Reports or in the press. There are several references to the MacDowell Club of Allied Arts up to the 1960?s in the local newspapers, and this is the club that remains active today. Support to Students A significant number of MacDowell clubs supported students in the arts, and almost every MacDowell club that exists today continues this tradition. The most common form of support for students was through the establishment of student scholarships and young artist competitions. Clubs in New York City, Los Angeles, Austin, IL, Green Bay, Canton, Ohio, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Oklahoma City, Altus, Oklahoma, and many others, established scholarships for high school to college students for the advancement of their musical education. The Boston MacDowell Club established awards for budding composers in addition to young artists. In the first years of the New York MacDowell Club, a student fund for young playwrights was established at Harvard. Another common way the MacDowell clubs fostered students? interest in music was through the establishment of junior MacDowell clubs. A list from the National Federation of Music clubs (NFMC), ca 1920, reveals that there were more junior MacDowell clubs than senior MacDowell clubs in the United States.178 In general, one or two junior clubs were sponsored by a senior MacDowell club, and 178 NFMC Listing of MacDowell clubs, ca 1920, Box 71, Folder 7, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 83 both the junior and senior clubs were affiliated with the NFMC.179 This is no longer the case today; there are many other NFMC-affiliated junior music clubs in existence, but only a handful of junior MacDowell clubs exist. Only two senior MacDowell clubs currently sponsor a junior club; the MacDowell Club of Crystal Springs, Missouri sponsors the junior music club, the Noteables,180 and the MacDowell Music Club of Chickasha, Oklahoma sponsors the local Junior Music Club.181 The junior MacDowell clubs usually had significant help from the local senior MacDowell club in organizing its regular activities, which usually involved community service, guest artist performances, and student performances. In the 1951 Junior Magazine of the National Federation of Music Clubs, it was announced that the Cincinnati MacDowell Society had arranged for a MacDowell colonist, Dr. Felix Labunski, to speak and show slides of the Colony at a meeting of the local Hyde Park Junior Music Club. According to the account, the members of the club must have performed Edward MacDowell?s music owing to the closing statement, ?Members of the club illustrated in music MacDowell?s delightful portrayal of nature.?182 Through the NFMC, the National Junior Division donated funds to the MacDowell Colony through the ?Penny Crusade,? and the organization celebrated MacDowell month 179 The NFMC established a Junior Division in 1919. Parish, A Musical Legacy, 76. The Milwaukee MacDowell Club was not affiliated with the NFMC, but they had a ?student section? connected to the club, which functioned similarly to the NFMC junior clubs. 180 Program of The Noteables Junior Music Club Concert, February 11, 2006, author?s personal collection. 181 Louise McDougal, ?History of Chickasha MacDowell Music Club,? 1. 182 ?Unusual MacDowell Observance,? The Junior Magazine of the National Federation of Music Clubs, 1951, in Box 71, Folder 7, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 84 every December in an annual tribute to Edward and Marian MacDowell.183 Several senior MacDowell clubs are still affiliated with the NFMC, such as the MacDowell Club of Flint, Michigan, the MacDowell Club of Chickasha, Oklahoma, the MacDowell Club of Altus, Oklahoma, the MacDowell Club of Crystal Springs, Missouri, and the MacDowell Club of Green Bay. These clubs usually sing the ?Hymn of the Month? at each meeting, as instructed by the NFMC, as well as participate in National Music Month and other activities through this umbrella organization. Marian MacDowell also believed the younger generation was the key to the advancement of American music. In a1953 Etude interview, the NFMC Junior Division?s magazine, she addressed the nation?s young musicians, stating, America is coming alive musically, and it is because music matters, because music is important, because music is vital to the lives of our people?We need young people to carry on music in every hamlet, village, or city in this Union. To do this is a noble profession, no less noble than to thrill by presenting to the world the great music like that of [Edward] MacDowell. It is high honor to work in one?s own vineyard!184 183 ?Tennessee Juniors Celebrate MacDowell Month,? clipping of The Junior Magazine of the National Federation of Music Clubs, 1951, in Box 71, Folder 7, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 184 LeRoy V. Brant, ?America is Coming Alive Musically,? Etude (January 1953):49. 85 Other Support Some MacDowell clubs contribute to the community by honoring a distinguished artist or arts advocate with an award. The Cincinnati MacDowell Society began awarding the MacDowell Medal in 1916. The medal itself was designed by a club member and past president, the sculptor Ernest Bruce Haswell.185 The medal is awarded to an individual whose cultural contributions to the arts (music, dance, letters, visual art) in Cincinnati were deemed most significant.186 The MacDowell Club of Mountain Lakes, now called the MacDowell Club of Morris County, established the ?Woman of the Year? award to recognize the significant work in the arts of a woman in the state of New Jersey.187 Past recipients include Karen Pinoci, cofounder and director of the New Philharmonic of New Jersey, Carolyn Newman, founder and director of ShowKids Invitational Theatre (SKIT), a local non-profit community theatre group, and Carol Chasalow, arts activist and current president of the club.188 In addition to awards of distinction, a select few MacDowell clubs were responsible for the construction of concert venues and owned property that was used as a club meeting house. The Canton, Ohio, MacDowell Music Club donated funds for the construction of the Gail Watson Cable Recital Hall in downtown Canton. This hall is used not only for events of the MacDowell club, but also for the community 185 ?History,? Cincinnati MacDowell Society 2006-2007 Yearbook, 51. 186 The Cincinnati MacDowell Society?s Medal medal is similar in design to the MacDowell Colony?s MacDowell Medal. The Colony did not award its first recipient until 1960. Accessed 30 November, 2007. 187 The year the MacDowell Club of Morris County established the ?Woman of the Year? award is unknown. Correspondence with club president, Carol Chasalow, November 28, 2007. 188 Brendan Tapley, ed., ?Band of Sisters,? MacDowell Colony Newsletter (New York City: Sim?s Press, 2002), 3-4, and email correspondence with club president, Carol Chasalow, November 28, 2007. 86 including children?s chorus concerts and chamber-group performances of the Canton Symphony Orchestra. The Club?s hall can be rented out through the arts council of the County (Stark). The MacDowell Club of New York changed its club meeting rooms several times in its existence, from 1905 to 1940. The club was consistently growing in membership and was always in need of more space for club meetings, art exhibitions, and concerts. Before the club had secured a permanent place for meetings, many events were held in Carnegie Hall in order to accommodate the large number of its members. The Boston MacDowell Club held concerts in the Jordan Hall and Copley Hall during its existence, from 1895 to about 1940,189 but it is unclear as to whether the club ever owned or rented property for meetings or other events. The 800- member strong Los Angeles MacDowell Club of Allied Arts moved their headquarters to a floor of the Tajo Building in downtown Los Angeles in 1921. According to a Los Angeles Times article, this building was equipped with a 600-seat auditorium for the club?s use, as well as business offices, and ?attractive? studio rooms all with excellent acoustic properties.190 For reasons unknown, the club headquarters moved again two years later, to the left wing of another building in 1923.191 Before the Los Angeles MacDowell Club separated into two organizations, the members began raising funds for another artist?s retreat in southern California, an exact replica of the Peterborough, MacDowell Colony.192 This project was never realized, however. Many of the MacDowell clubs were women-only organizations, 189 The exact year the MacDowell Club of Boston dissolved is unknown, but there are no further references to it in the Library of Congress MacDowell Collections or the press after 1940. 190 ?National in Art in Club?s Aim,? Times (Los Angeles) 18 September 1921. 191 ?MacDowell Club Building,? Times (Los Angeles) 1 June 1923. 192 ?Club Planning Artists? Home,? Times (Los Angeles) 30 March 1924. 87 including the Los Angeles club, and it can be posited that these clubs had difficulty owning property at a time when only men enjoyed that privilege. The MacDowell clubs supported the community in non-artistic avenues as well. During both World Wars, many clubs bought war bonds and donated funds to local charities. The strictly musical, female-only MacDowell Club of Green Bay, Wisconsin, put together scrapbooks to send to ?homesick servicemen? and held fundraisers for local hospitals during World War II.193 The Club also held Mother- daughter banquets and sold cookie recipe booklets for the benefit of the local community as well.194 The now defunct MacDowell Club of Austin, Illinois held benefit concerts for local ?health services? in the 1920?s.195 Of the extant MacDowell clubs, many support other organizations in the surrounding community. Although still related to the arts, the MacDowell Club of Green Bay donates their assistance on a regular basis to other arts organizations in the area, such as the Green Bay Symphony and the Pamino Opera Company, by ushering at concerts or helping with administrative tasks. 193 ?Band of Sisters,? 4. The MacDowell Club of Green Bay also donated faithfully to the MacDowell Colony. Marian MacDowell, in a letter to another club member, writes, ?The Green Bay club is smaller [than the Oklahoma MacDowell club], but it too is an important Club and has been devoted to the MacDowell Colony. I know the president [Cecilia Rosman] very well. Marian MacDowell Correspondence Box 51, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Disivion, Library of Congress. 194 See Appendix C, e. 195 Cora Gary-Illidge, ?Music and Drama,? Defender (Chicago) 21 May 1927. 88 The Decline of the Club Movement The MacDowell clubs and other arts clubs experienced an immediate decline followed World War II. The Annual Reports of the Colony show a drastic decrease in the amount of clubs who donated to the Colony following WWII and then Marian MacDowell?s death in 1956. Mrs. MacDowell personally corresponded with a significant amount of club members all over the nation and without her maintaining the connection, the Colony ceased receiving the club?s donations. The club donations also stopped coming because many of the clubs became defunct at this time in favor of other, more accessible forms of artistic entertainment, such as radio, television, and films. There were also more artistic organizations giving performances or touring in each town, such as symphony orchestras and ballet, opera, and theater companies. Advances in technology made it possible to travel greater distances to attend these performances as well. The Colony did not, however, experience any lull of donations from the fraternities and sororities who donated towards the construction of studios in the early years. Although the organizations were no longer corresponding with Mrs. MacDowell, Sigma Alpha Iota, Phi Beta, Alpha Chi Omega, and Delta Omicron continued their support to the Colony today. The majority of the MacDowell clubs that are currently active have older, more senior members, but many are working to appeal to younger generations. The Cincinnati MacDowell Society has begun enlisting younger members because they believe there is a direct correlation between the involvement of the younger 89 generation and the arts? ability to remain culturally relevant.196 The MacDowell Music Club of Janesville, Wisconsin is also working tirelessly to entice younger members to join.197 The Morris County and Chickasha MacDowell clubs, as well as the Cincinnati Club all emphasize that, notwithstanding the ?flagging interest?198 in other avenues of artistic entertainment, their societies remain a strong force in their towns? cultural lives. Both the MacDowell Music Club of Canton, Ohio, and the MacDowell Club of Milwaukee celebrate their centennial in 2008, and both organizations have organized concerts and other events to commemorate their 2007-2008 season. Other clubs have more difficulty remaining active. In the past ten years, two MacDowell clubs have recently folded; the North Shore MacDowell Society of Evanston, Illinois in 1997 and the MacDowell Club of Norman, Oklahoma in 2001. The former president, in her last letter to the MacDowell Colony Headquarters, expressed grief over her club?s demise, stating, ?I feel that an era is ending!?199 The current president of the MacDowell Club of Providence, Rhode Island, founded in 1901, explained how difficult it has become to organize events for the twelve members of her club, mostly older ladies, because several members no longer are able (or willing) to perform during the meeting.200 The club used to hold elaborate concerts at the Music Mansion in Providence in its formative years, and the club ?held its own? amidst several other music clubs in the area. The MacDowell Club of 196 ?Band of Sisters,? 4. 197 Email correspondence from Sue Renkas, member of the MacDowell Music Club of Janesville, Wisconsin, to author, April 2, 2007. 198 ?Cincinnati MacDowell Society History,? Cincinnati MacDowell Society 1991Yearbook, 26. 199 Letter from Camilla Secrest, February 25, 2001, MacDowell Club Files, MacDowell Colony Headquarters, New York City. 200 Phone interview with Marjorie Davis, president of the MacDowell Club of Providence, Rhode Island, April 1, 2007. 90 Flint, Michigan, established in 1931, is more informal about who may join the thirteen-member club so that any one interested in music may become a member, a significantly relaxed regulation from the club?s initial declaration to limit membership to thirty-five, outlined in the Club?s original Constitution.201 The MacDowell clubs contributed to the arts in the United States and worked to advance the status of American music at a time when European-based art music reigned. Many of the MacDowell clubs continue to promote Edward MacDowell?s philosophy of the allied arts, an ideal that will never perish. The MacDowell Colony, a realization of Edward and Marian MacDowell?s ideal, is a monument to the club?s work, and their legacy lives on in their support of the arts in their respective towns. If this study of the MacDowell clubs contributes in some small way to their legacy, then I will consider it a success. 201 Constitution and By-laws of the Flint MacDowell Club, 1931. 91 Appendix A. MacDowell Clubs 1895-2007 *The majority of MacDowell clubs listed here come from a roster the NFMC compiled in 1938. All the clubs, unless otherwise indicated, were established by this date and were dissolved ca 1960. This list is by no means complete; Marian MacDowell estimated there were approximately 400 clubs named for Edward MacDowell by 1945. Name Founding Year Termination Year Alabama MacDowell Juvenile Club of Birmingham Arkansas Senior Clubs MacDowell Club of Brinkley Junior Clubs MacDowell Junior Club of Fort Smith MacDowell Junior Club of Russellville MacDowell Music Club of Lake Village MacDowell Junior Club of Hope Arizona MacDowell Club of Phoenix California MacDowell Club of Allied Arts of Los Angeles 1918 active MacDowell Colony League of Southern California (Los Angeles) 1934 ca 1950 MacDowell Club of San Bernardino MacDowell Club of Clairmont Junior Clubs Junior MacDowell Club of Los Angeles ca 1930 Colorado Senior Clubs MacDowell Music Club of Canon City MacDowell Music Club of Pueblo MacDowell Club of Denver Junior Clubs MacDowell Music Club of Florence MacDowell Music Club of Ordway Connecticut MacDowell Club of Stamford 92 Delaware Edward MacDowell Society Florida MacDowell Junior Club of Gainesville MacDowell Juvenile Club of Orlando MacDowell Club of Sarasota MacDowell Club of Daytona Beach Georgia Senior Clubs MacDowell Club of Atlanta 1921 MacDowell Club of Sparta 1922 Junior Clubs MacDowell Club of Butler MacDowell Club of Athens MacDowell Club of Jackson Illinois MacDowell Club of Chicago North Shore MacDowell Society of Allied Arts- was Austin MacDowell Club 1935, then Austin Chapter of the Edward MacDowell Memorial Association 1914 1997 Iowa MacDowell Club of Fort Dodge Kansas Senior Clubs MacDowell Club of Kansas City Junior Clubs MacDowell Junior Music Club of Fort Scott Student MacDowell Music Study Club of Kansas City MacDowell Junior Music Club of Kansas City MacDowell Music Makers of Neodesha MacDowell Junior Music Club of Parsons MacDowell Music Club of Wichita Kentucky Senior Clubs MacDowell Club of Lexington MacDowell Study Club of Louisville Junior Clubs MacDowell Juvenile Club of Benton MacDowell Junior Music Club of Danville MacDowell Club of Glasgow 93 Juvenile MacDowell Club of Lexington Louisiana Junior Clubs Junior MacDowell Music Club of Vivian MacDowell Junior Club of Haynesville Petite MacDowell Club of New Orleans Maine Senior Clubs MacDowell Club of Portland Massachusetts The MacDowell Club of Boston 1895 ca 1940 Michigan MacDowell Club of Flint 1931 active MacDowell Club of Pontiac MacDowell Junior Club of Marquette Mississippi Senior Clubs MacDowell Music Club of New Albany MacDowell Club of Kosciusko MacDowell Music Club of Jackson MacDowell Music Club of Crystal Springs 1935 active Junior Clubs MacDowell Club of Boonville MacDowell Club of Charleston MacDowell Club of Durant MacDowell Club of Ellisville MacDowell Club of Jonestown MacDowell Club of New Albany MacDowell Club of Philadelphia MacDowell Club of Webb Missouri Senior Clubs MacDowell Music Club of Boonville MacDowell Music Club of Poplar Bluff Junior Clubs Juvenile MacDowell Club of Boonville MacDowell Junior Club of Dexter MacDowell Junior Music Club of Doe Run Junior MacDowell Club of Jefferson City MacDowell Juvenile Club of Monett MacDowell Junior Club of Sedalia 94 Nebraska MacDowell Club of Omaha New Hampshire MacDowell Club of Keene New Jersey Senior Clubs MacDowell Crusaders of Jersey City MacDowell Music Club of Roselle MacDowell Club of Morris County (was MacDowell Club of Mountain Lakes) 1916 active MacDowell Club of Maplewood Junior Clubs Junior MacDowell Club of New York City New York MacDowell Club of New York City 1905 1940 MacDowell Club of Scarsdale MacDowell Club of Binghamton North Carolina MacDowell Music Club of Statesville ca 2000 MacDowell Club of Greensboro MacDowell Club of Gastonia MacDowell Club of Meredith College MacDowell Club of Conway North Dakota Senior Clubs MacDowell Club of Miriot Junior Clubs Junior MacDowell Club of Stanley Junior MacDowell Club of Ray Junior MacDowell Club of Miriot Ohio Cincinnati MacDowell Society 1913 active MacDowell Music Club of Canton 1908 active MacDowell Club of Conneaut 1903 MacDowell Club of Wooster ca 1958 active MacDowell Club of Chillecothe MacDowell Club of Marietta MacDowell Club of New Philadelphia MacDowell Club of Carrollton Oklahoma MacDowell Music Club of Erie MacDowell Colony Club of Poteau 95 MacDowell Club of Allied Arts of Oklahoma City 1918 active MacDowell Club of Allied Arts of Altus 1922 active MacDowell Club of Chickasha 1911 active MacDowell Music Club of Granite MacDowell Club of Allied Arts Hobart MacDowell Club of Allied Arts of Ada ca 1935 MacDowell Club of Norman 2000 Oregon MacDowell Sextette of Portland MacDowell Club of Baker MacDowell Club of Salem MacDowell Club of Redmond Pennsylvania MacDowell Club of Chicora Rhode Island MacDowell Club of Providence 1901 active South Carolina MacDowell Club of Spartanburg Tennessee Senior Clubs MacDowell Music Club of Chattanooga 1917 active MacDowell Music Club of Dickson MacDowell Music Club of Jackson MacDowell Club of Memphis Junior Clubs MacDowell Music Club of Cleveland MacDowell Music Club of Dickson MacDowell Music Club of Jackson MacDowell Music Club of Nashville MacDowell Music Club of Ripley MacDowell Music Club of Sevierville MacDowell Music Club of Springfield MacDowell Music Club of Watertown MacDowell Music Club of Athens MacDowell Music Club of Bradford MacDowell Music Club of Greenville MacDowell Music Club of Humboldt MacDowell Music Club of Jonesboro Texas MacDowell Boys Club of Amarillo MacDowell Club of Houston MacDowell Club of El Paso 96 Utah MacDowell Ensemble Chapter of MacDowell Colony League of Ogden possibly active Marian MacDowell Chapter of the MacDowell Colony League of Salt Lake City Virginia MacDowell Music Club of Rural Retreat possibly active Wisconsin Senior Clubs MacDowell Male Chorus MacDowell Club of Milwaukee 1908 active MacDowell Club of Janesville (originally the Schumann Club, renamed MacDowell in 1912) 1903 active MacDowell Club of Green Bay 1931 active MacDowell Club of Fond du Lac MacDowell Club in Menomonie MacDowell Club of Racine MacDowell Club of Two Rivers 97 Appendix B. Active MacDowell Clubs Name* City, State Founding Year Membership Number The Cincinnati MacDowell Society Cincinnati, Ohio 1913 250 The MacDowell Club of Allied Arts of Altus Altus, Oklahoma 1922 40 The MacDowell Club of Allied Arts of Los Angeles Los Angeles, California 1918 20 The MacDowell Club of Allied Arts of Oklahoma City Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 1918 170 The MacDowell Club of Wooster Wooster, Ohio ca 1958 (unknown) The MacDowell Club of Chattanooga Chattanooga, Tennessee 1916 25 The MacDowell Club of Crystal Springs Crystal Springs, Mississippi 1936 26 The MacDowell Club of Flint Flint, Michigan 1931 13 The MacDowell Club of Green Bay Green Bay, Wisconsin 1934 40 The MacDowell Club of Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1908 200 The MacDowell Club of Morris County Morris County, New Jersey 1916 100 The MacDowell Club of Providence Providence, Rhode Island 1901 13 The MacDowell Music Club of Canton Canton, Ohio 1908 125 The MacDowell Music Club of Chickasha Chickasha, Oklahoma 1911 30 The MacDowell Music Club of Janesville Janesville, Wisconsin 1903 98 *This list of active MacDowell Clubs is the first to be compiled. The list was compiled from several sources, including NFMC online listings, correspondence with the clubs, and the MacDowell Club Files at the MacDowell Colony Headquarters in New York City. 98 Appendix C. Facsimiles, Figures a. Pan?s Cottage, a dormitory for artists. Constructed in 1919 with funds donated by Sigma Alpha Iota, International Women?s Music Fraternity. MacDowell Colony, 2006. Photo by the author. 99 b. Monday Music Studio, MacDowell Colony, 2006. Built with funds donated by the Monday Music Club of Orange, New Jersey. Photo by the author. 100 c. Certificate of Incorporation of the MacDowell Club of New York City, Box 65, Folder 1, Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. 101 d. Canton, Ohio MacDowell Club Photo, Federation Year, October, 1918. Used with permission from MacDowell Music Club of Canton, Ohio. 102 e. Mother-Daughter Banquet Program, MacDowell Club of Green Bay, Wisconsin, April 22, 1968. Used with permission by the MacDowell Club of Green Bay. 103 f. Cookie Recipe Booklet, MacDowell Club of Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Date unknown.) Used with permission by the MacDowell Club of Green Bay. 104 g. Seventieth Anniversary Birthday Party Program of the MacDowell Club of Morris County, New Jersey. Used with permission by the MacDowell Club of Morris County. 105 h. Luncheon Program of MacDowell Club of Allied Arts of Oklahoma City, October 4, 2006. Used with permission by the MacDowell Club of Allied Arts. 106 i. To Clarissa at her Clubs. Go where the glory waits you, dear Clarissa. Scale the shining heights of power and fame. Only in your triumph, please remember, We shall always love you just the same. Just the same your plate is on the table, Never mind how far away your roam. Just the same the light is in the window, Welcoming our wandering loved one home Often in the evening, round the fireside, We shall speak a name with tender care; Often we shall gaze with tearful vision At a vacant wicker sewing-chair, Proudly we shall say: ?She may be speaking Down in Philadelphia to-night.? Anxiously we will scan the morning paper, Seeing if Clarissa did all right. Sad our lonely hearts will be, Clarissa, When the sun is sinking in the west, Sad to miss your presence in the family; Still we?ll try to think it for the best. When from daily school and toil we gather, This our first and fervent cry shall be; ?Who has had a message from Clarissa? Is our darling coming home to tea?? Go where glory waits you, then, Clarissa, Only bear this little thought in mind: When the politicians, male or female, Do you in the manner of their kind; When the fickle, heartless world forgets, When the public turns as cold as Nome, Then Clarissa, darling, just remember, We shall always welcome you at home. ?contributed by the husband of a ?prominent New Jersey clubwoman? to The Newark Evening News and reprinted in The New Jersey Bulletin, the clubwoman?s magazine. Evening News (Newark) 1916. 107 Bibliography Primary Sources Arnold T. Schwab Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. Eunice French Owen papers, French Family Collection, University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee Archives. MacDowell Club Files, MacDowell Colony Headquarters, New York City. MacDowell Colony Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. 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