(by Emily Collins with assistance by Peggy Gignilliat)

Spartanburg's rich musical heritage has been documented as far back as the middle of the 19th century when there were professional teachers and music clubs which produced cantatas and operas of high caliber. Records indicate that the very first ancestor of the Music Foundation was a music club formed in 1885, known as the "Spartanburg Music Association."

Dr. R. H. Peters, a highly professional musician from England, became director of the music department of Converse College in 1893, and it is he who started the music festivals that made Spartanburg famous. His visions of Spartanburg as an important musical center were met with great enthusiasm by the musically educated citizens who were eager to support his plans.

The first May Festival was performed in 1895 by the 125-member Converse College Choral Society, largely a merger of the Spartanburg Music Association and a student chorus (known as the Mozart Club), assisted by three visiting artists from Cincinnati and Baltimore. The concerts were held in the Converse Chapel in the main building.

Following two similar May Festivals, 1898 brought on a new era with the larger "South Atlantic States Music Festival." Four concerts were presented, featuring the Boston Festival Orchestra, eight vocalists, flutist, pianist and a violoncello in addition to the choral society. A ticket for the series of four concerts was priced at $3.00!

1899's Festival was held in the brand new auditorium (in 1941 named for A. H. Twichell, prominent local citizen who was president of the Festival for its first twenty years). The Festival had already become a social as well as a cultural highlight, with the ladies wearing their fine new evening dresses and the gentlemen in tuxedos or tails. It was customary for a young gentleman to present his girl with a dozen American Beauty roses with stems at least thirty inches long which she carried gracefully in her arms. These couples sat on the first row of the balcony and leaned the roses against the rail. From the floor below, the balcony seemed a bower of American Beauty roses.

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.

"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 tie next ten years.

The Converse College Choral Society was the backbone of the Festival throughout its history. Its conductor was director of tie 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:

1. 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.

2. To dedicate the Association primarily to the purpose of offering opportunity to the youth in musical education and entertainment.

3. 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 to be 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.

Pedro San Juan retired as conductor of the orchestra in 1952 and was succeeded by Henry Janiec. At the same time opera specialist John Richards McCrae came to Converse, and this remarkable duo has provided superb direction throughout tie ensuing years. Also in 1952 the orchestra became a member of the American Symphony Orchestra League.

Following the death of former Foundation president Robert M. Carlisle in 1953, the seven pre-college scholarships were named in his memory. By now the Music Foundation provided eleven scholarships to the School of Music.

In this same year, it was decided to organize a concert series to include the symphony performances and the Spring Festival. Board members gave talks tv music clubs and civic clubs to promote sale of tickets and to acquaint the community with our program.

The Spartanburg County Foundation gave $2,000 for purchase of instruments for the orchestra in 1953, and the children's chorus performance was moved from the Festival to a concert earlier in the season. In order to provide an outlet for more wind players in the area, the Civic Band was formed, under the direction of Gilbert Carp.

1957 saw another milestone with the formation of Spartanburg Concert Series, which combined forces of our own local series and the declining Civic Music Association. The general structure would cover presentation of three outstanding outside artists along with our five locally-produced performances. The opening concert in October coincided with the reopening of the extensively remodeled Twichell Auditorium. At this time the secretary's position began to carry a small salary.

The by-laws were rewritten in 1958 and provided for five standing committees under which tile Foundation has continued to operate: Promotion and Ticket Sales, Special Gifts, Scholarships, Program, and Finance.

In 1959 Eugene Crabb became Program Director upon the departure of Edwin Gerschefski. The first Concerto Concert, featuring student winners of the competition to perform with the symphony, was held in February 1963. The annual Youth Soloist also has performed on the Concerto Concert in more recent years. A new type of Pops concert was added to the series in the fall of 1963. "An Evening with Rodgers & Hammerstein," featuring the symphony orchestra, twelve soloists and the popular Spartanburg High School Chorus, directed by John Mabry, played to a sold-out house.

For many years afterward a similar Pops had to be scheduled for two performances in order to meet the demand for tickets. The 1964-65 concert series was dedicated to Converse College's 75th anniversary. The Civic Band was changed to Converse-Wofford Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Gilbert Carp and John Coker. Early in 1967 the symphony played a special concert for visiting Princess Irene of Greece. In honor of this event, all ladies in the orchestra wore their new long black dresses, provided by the Music Foundation when necessary. In May, Peggy Gignilliat was honored for her twenty years as concertmaster.

Henry Janiec became Program Director as well as Dean of tile School of Music when Eugene Crabb accepted a post in Florida. The symphony played two youth concerts in Clinton for students in Laurens County in 1969 and these two back-to-back concerts were popular events. Also in this year, Robert Barr became director of the newly named Spartanburg Wind Ensemble. The 1969-70 concert series was the first complete sellout in history, attributed largely to the scheduling of Van Cliburn. At the symphony's Spring concert in 1971, Paul Thomas was honored for his sixty years of association with the orchestra, both as player and as Foundation board member and former president. Following his death in 1972,his name was given to the six undergraduate scholarships provided by the Foundation. The 1973 Spring concert was also dedicated to his memory.

Conductor Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony came to Spartanburg in April 1973 for a four-day residency with our orchestra. The occasion culminated in a huge "Gala Concert" with both orchestras and the symphony chorus performing to a packed house. This year also saw a restructuring of the board and new by-laws written. The 1973-74 season showed a second sellout. The symphony was honored in January when it was chosen to play at the Inaugural Ball of Governor James B. Edwards in Columbia.

The first concert of the 1974-75 season was held in conjunction with the opening of Converse College's Alumnae House and its Designer Showhouse. A cocktail buffet was held at the house prior to our opening concert. During this year, the Music Foundation gave a backdrop for the stage in Twichell Auditorium. The Spring Festival in 1975 featured two well-known former Spartans who returned for the occasion: soprano Gianna Rolandi, who joined her mother, Jane Rolandi, in "The Impresario," and pianist Carlos Moseley, president of the New York Philharmonic, who played with the symphony on Artist Night.

A "Young Artist" award was established at the County Foundation, the first award being given to assist Gianna Rolandi in New York. A Special Projects Committee was established upon receipt of a generous gift earmarked for presentation of a major symphony within the next few years. In 1976 Jon Boggs became director of the Wind Ensemble. In 1977, the graduate fellowship was named in memory of Ben Johnson. The high spot of 1978 was celebration of Spartanburg Symphony Orchestra's 50th anniversary. A "Gala Concert," complete with firecrackers and gold cake, featured Gianna Rolandi, now of the New York City Opera, with the Governor's award presented by Mrs. James B. Edwards, and recognition given to several persons who had made significant contributions to the orchestra and Music Foundation.

At the completion of sixty years by the Music Foundation, it is worthy of note that, with the great strides accomplished, the general plan followed today bears a remarkable resemblance to the original Festival structure of 1894.

--------------------

Our thanks go to Miss Emily Collins and her assistant, Mrs. Charles Gignilliat, for writing this history. We are grateful for use of material extracted from Dr. Lillian Kibler's "History of Converse College."