A.H.
Twitchell
|
By
1907, Festival crowds outgrew the auditorium capacity and the
auditorium was enlarged. Visiting artists now
included Metropolitan Opera stars as well as Walter Damrosch
and the New York Symphony.
In 1904 Arthur L. Manchester had become director
of music at Converse College, and assumed the title of Dean
when the department became the School of Music in 1910. As director
of the South Atlantic States Music Festival he raised
the Festival to new height ts of artistic excellence.
Spartanburg Concert Orchestra was organized by Harry
A. Ross, violin teacher at Converse, in 1913. Composed
of faculty and students as well as musicians from the community,
it gave its first performance on February 9, 1914.
"South Atlantic States Music Festival" was
renamed "Spartanburg Music Festival Association" in
1915 and continued to produce the annual Festival until
1930, with the exception of 1918 and 1919 during World War I.
A children's chorus of 200 voices appeared on an afternoon concert
during tile 1913 Festival. By 1916 the chorus had swelled
to 500 (all from grammar schools in the city) and the
audience was thrilled to see the children filling tier after
tier of seats rising from the stage high above the orchestra.
Miss Carrie MacMakin founded this chorus, which
had several other directors before Mrs. B. L. Blackwell
assumed directorship in 1920 for the next ten years.
The Converse College Choral Society was the backbone
of the Festival throughout its history. Its conductor
was director of the Festival and its members sang with the famous
orchestras and soloists on oratorio and opera nights. Seldom
did the professional artists find in any community a chorus
so musically sensitive and so expertly trained.
Festivals were glamorous occasions with an overflow of visitors
from throughout the area. A roster of artists appearing included
Such names as Louise Homer, Mary Garden, Richard Crooks,
Giovanni Martinelli, Geraldine Farrar, Rosa Ponselle, Beniamino
Gigli and Lucrezia Bori.
In 1928, the new director of the Festival,
Wilson P. Price, formed the Spartanburg
Male Chorus which became an added attraction to the
Festival. The Converse College Choral Society was now composed
of 300 mixed voices.
In this same year, Guy Hutchins gathered together a
volunteer group of musicians to form an orchestra and it became
a permanent organization under his direction. He was
succeeded by Ernst Bacon in 1938. Bacon was
the new dean of the Music School at Converse and also director
of the Festival. By 1939 he had planned a new festival, using
only the musical and dramatic resources of Spartanburg, with
some assistance from nearby cities and colleges. He felt strongly
that a community would benefit more by undertaking such works
itself than by engaging existing organizations from metropolitan
centers with great outlay and probable financial loss.
Four years later, Spartanburg received national acclaim
with the Festival presentation of "A Tree on the Plains,"
a music-play commissioned by the League of Composers, with text
by Paul Horgan, poet-novelist, and music by
Ernst Bacon. Reviews in Musical America and the New
York Times praised the production itself as well as the significance
in musical history of this pioneer work.
By 1944 the Spartanburg Symphony Orchestra had 38 players,
19 strings and an equal number of winds and percussion. Soldiers
from Camp Croft participated. In order to strengthen the group,
Converse College offered free string classes to any student
who wished to study.
In 1946 the Festival Association achieved its goal of accumulating
a reserve fund of $1,000, which would enable it to establish
its first scholarship to Converse College School of Music.
In May of 1946, the Association adopted a threefold policy of
operation which has remained a guideline for the Music Foundation:
-
To conduct the Association so that it will consistently and
successfully promote the cultural advantages-principally musical-of
the community and all other sections of the Piedmont Carolinas.
- To
dedicate the Association primarily to the purpose of offering
opportunity to the youth in musical education and entertainment.
- To
stimulate and promote the School of Music at Converse College
and to offer very definite advantages to other colleges and
the public schools of this area.
On February 29, 1948, the Association voted to change
the name again-to "The Music Foundation of Spartanburg."
A charter was issued to the new corporation in January 1949.
Board members were: Mrs. Charles Gignilliat,
president, Robert M. Carlisle, Horace
Bomar, Miss Sara Phifer, L.
Perrin Smith, Paul C. Thomas, Mrs.
Faith Burwell, Mrs. John Ferguson,
Mrs. J. O. Erwin, Mrs. Victor Shaw
Evans, Miss Julia Brice and Mrs.
David W. Reid. Ex-officio members were: Dr.
E. M. Gwathmey, Dr. Pedro San Juan,
Edwin Gerschefski and David W. Reid.
Activities of the group now included sponsorship of the Spartanburg
Symphony Orchestra, May Festival and
an expanding scholarship program. Its first investment was the
purchase of lights for the stage in Twichell Auditorium. While
Converse College and the Civic Music Association were also asked
to assist in this purchase, the lights were considered property
of the college.
1948 also saw the beginning of youth concerts by the
symphony. These two concerts have continued to be annual
events, with a fall concert for 5th and 6th graders in the city
schools sponsored by Spartanburg Junior League, and a spring
concert for students in the county schools under the auspices
of the Philharmonic Music Club and the Music Foundation.
In 1949 the Music Foundation revived a feature of the festival's
program which had not been included since 1930: the 250-member
children's chorus from the city schools, under the direction
of Pauline B. Crews. This group continued to
perform annually for some years on Music Foundation-sponsored
programs.
Thanks to string classes being conducted in the city
schools, under the direction of Peggy Gignilliat, the
orchestra now had 40 string players in a total complement of
72.
Twitchell
Auditorium 1904
Pedro
