The Boston Symphony Orchestra

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The Boston Symphony Orchestra

At the beginning of the 1880s, America had no symphony orchestra to equal the great European ensembles. Major Henry Lee Higginson would permanently change that situation by creating the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), which not only set musical standards and became a model for other American orchestras but demonstrated that large audiences could be attracted to what was considered "elitist" culture.

The New York Philharmonic, the nation's oldest orchestra in 1880, had been organized some 40 years earlier. It offered only six concerts and six public rehearsals a season. Players elected conductors and sent last minute substitutes for concerts if more lucrative engagements became available. In fairness to the players, membership dues and fines levied on absentees at concerts served as the orchestra's financial mainstays. Earnings from ticket sales were appallingly low. In 1878, each musician earned only $17.50; in 1886, a relatively good year, each earned just $225.

Audiences responded to the haphazard nature of the enterprise by becoming boisterous, especially if players were openly contemptuous of the conductor. Newspaper accounts discouragingly noted an "ebulliency of animal spirits [that] sometimes overcame … [any] sense of decorum."

Except possibly for the behavior of audiences, symphony orchestras fared no better in Boston. Which was why a March 1881 notice in local newspapers, placed by Higginson, generated immediate interest. He called for: "The Boston Symphony Orchestra in the Interest of Good Music." Higginson emphasized that "Notwith-standing the development of musical taste in Boston, we have never yet possessed a full and permanent orchestra, offering the best music at low prices, such as may be found in all the large European cities, or even in the smaller musical centres of Germany."

The real problem was how to finance such an ensemble. Higginson advised that during the course of a season he would present "sixty selected musicians" in 20 concerts and sell subscriptions for "either $10 or $5, according to position," and single tickets at 75¢ or 25¢ each. In addition, tickets would be available for a public rehearsal during "one afternoon of every week."

Higginson understood that ticket sales alone could not finance the orchestra. He was personally worth $750,000 and forthrightly declared that he would provide up to $50,000 of an estimated annual $100,000 budget. The rest of the operational budget would come from ticket sales and from selling the orchestra's services to opera companies—in the summer of 1885, Higginson announced a series of concerts of "lighter music," which became famous as the Boston Pops. Economically inclined, he decided against a pension plan for musicians and would not even entertain the idea of a musicians' union.

As for repertory, Higginson thought "anything worthy could be put on programs, which were to be relatively brief, an hour and three quarters being the upper limit." He defined "unworthy" as the "trash … heard in the theatres, sentimental or sensational nonsense." Wagner could be performed, but the composer was not among the Major's favorites. Late Beethoven, possibly "the work of a lunatic," could also be played, since as a fair-minded person, the Major could not see barring "serious music."

Higginson's first choice for conductor turned out to be a mistake. Georg Henschel, a young local musician, allowed regional loyalties to figure in his recruitment of players, so it was an easygoing band of Bostonians who performed in the city's Music Hall on Saturday nights for the relatively high fees of $6 per concert and $3 per rehearsal. Henschel departed Boston in 1884. Higginson's later choices won the approval of critics but were not without controversy. Thus, Arthur Nikisch was described in the local press as having an "undue passion in comparatively passionless melody."

What could not be questioned was that the quality Higginson demanded of his musicians had an enormous impact on audiences. From the very first concert, BSO subscribers clamored for tickets. More than 83,000 people attended the first season, and as early as 1886, the orchestra earned $100,000 in five days of advance sales for 24 concerts and 24 public rehearsals of the "severest classical music."

By October 1900, just 19 years after its founding, the orchestra had inspired such confidence in its stability that donors gladly made possible a permanent home after Higginson threatened that if a hall was not built, he would disband the ensemble. In 1903, a pension fund was established by and for the musicians, for the benefit of which Higginson permitted a special concert annually.

By the time the BSO was 25 years old, in 1906, it had served as a model for orchestras in Chicago, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh. Higginson was constantly sought out for advice and solicited for donations to various enterprises. As he lengthened the BSO season, he tried to keep ticket prices as low as possible to attract audiences of all classes. As late as the 1907-08 season, subscriptions were still only $18 and $10.

Higginson himself paid the highest price of all for attendance; up to June 1893, he is known to have contributed $250,000. His players appreciated his generosity. The orchestra's fourth conductor, Emil Paur, declared, "The reason why the Boston Orchestra plays better than all other existing orchestras is—besides the excellent quality of the men—the comfortable living the men are able to enjoy."

After Higginson's retirement at the age of 82, the only major change in the BSO's operations occurred in the early 1940s, when the American Federation of Musicians threatened to boycott the orchestra's broadcasts and recordings, prevent guest conductors and soloists from appearing with it, and blacklist concert halls in which it appeared while on tour, unless it unionized. This time forces arrayed against management were too strong. In 1942, the BSO, the only non-unionized ensemble in the nation, came to terms with the union and joined.

—Milton Goldin