(Boston Public Library has complete bound set of their programs through 1909 as well as scrapbooks for the same period- Orr and Hardin: Choral Music in Nineteenth-Century America).“Founded in 1871 and incorporated in 1873, its nucleus being the earlier Chickering Club. It has a singularly unbroken history along the lines originally planned. It aims to maintain a male chorus of superior singers for the study and performance of part-songs and concerted works for an audience limited to singers and subscribers.”(Pratt, pp. 115-116)
Syford writing in 1910 noted that the Chickering Club had twelve singers and had also used the format of giving concerts only to invited guests. (Syford, p. 159) The 25th. Anniversary Program book (May 6, 1896) added: “In the winter of 1870-71 the Mendelssohn Glee Club of New York, then four years old, came to Boston and gave a concert in Horticultural Hall. Previous to that time there had been little male-voice music in Boston among American singers…The Chickering Club, of twelve voices, was the principal male-voice organization in active service, and admission to its concerts was obtainable only by invitation from its singing members." This concert by the New York Mendelssohn Glee Club was held on April 25, 1871.
HMA Program Collection
The Chickering Club had been formed earlier as "a Vocal Club of twelve amateur singers gathered in 1866 by James Cutler Dunn Parker (1828-1916), organist of Trinity Church and later a member of the Boston University faculty. The members were:
(The empty stool at the right may be for the missing member)
First tenors: William I. Winch, Dr. Samuel W. Langmaid, and John H. Stickney
Second Tenors: William B. Merrill, Allen A. Brown, and David W. Loring
First basses: George H. Chickering, P. H. Powers, and Henry Payolt
Second basses: Charles J. Sprague, John F. Winch, and Myron W. Whitney.” (Baker, p. 3)
George H. Chickering was of the piano-manufacturing family. The Club eventually performed in his company's Chickering Hall (then at 246 Washington Street) and became known as the Chickering Club. Dwight reported in his May 22, 1869 issue that "Mr. Parker's Vocal Club of amateurs sang another exquisite programme on the evenings of May 1st. and 8th. The severe bereavement which had befallen Mr. Parker deprived them of his presence (a requiem for a child was part of the program) and Mr. Lang kindly took his place for the occasion." (Baker, p. 3) The dozen members of the Chickering Club were absorbed into the organization [Apollo Club] that resulted from an invitation written by John D. Danforth, John H. Stickney, and Charles James Sprague stating that "It has been suggested that a Club of Male Voices might be formed in Boston, similar in character to some of the New York Clubs. With a view to test the feasibility of the prospect, you are requested to meet, with some forty gentlemen, at the warerooms of Messrs. Russell Hallet & Co., 143 Tremont Street, on Wednesday Evening, June 21[1871] at 8 o'clock. Your presence is particularly requested, to ensure a balance of voices." This meeting was held and a committee elected to study and report on a plan for the projected club. On June 26th. a second meeting was held, the plan of the club decided, the Hon. John Phelps Putnam elected President and Mr. B. J. Lang musical director'" (Baker, p. 4) The first informal concert was held on Tuesday evening, September 5, 1871 by the fifty-two founding members. Lang was the elected conductor, but he had not yet returned from Europe, and so Charles James Sprague led this first event. Lang conducted the group until May 1, 1901 except for certain periods when the "breaking of an arm or a neck, or some other portion of his anatomy" prevented this; "but at such times it has been found that he could easily conduct the Club with A Foote." (BPL Lang Prog., 6618-A Sketch prepared for the 100th. concert of the Club, December 21, 1886). "During the first season, several informal concerts, or monthly rehearsals, as they were called, were given in small halls, and three concerts in Music Hall, two of which were with orchestra." (Ibid) Among the fifty-two Active Members were some of the most famous local singers of the day-Messrs. Aiken, Barnabee, Allen A. Brown, Cook, Fessenden, Fitz, Langmaid, Loring, Merrill, Powers, Ryder, Sprague, Stickney, Wetherbee, M. W. Whitney, John F. Winch, and William J. Winch were among the number.” (25th. Anniversary Concert program book) By November the five hundredth gentleman, Robert M. Morse, Jr. joined the Club as an Associate Member; twelve years later he would become the second President of the Club. For the first season the assessment upon Associate members was $10, but this was raised to $15 the second year, the justification being that the group needed to pay for Club-rooms and a small hall which was to be part of a building being erected at 151 to 153 Tremont Street. The group moved into these quarters in April 1873. (Ibid)
"The success of the Apollo, both musically and socially, was so great and so rapid that it soon had imitators all over the country, and there have been several Apollo Clubs in various parts of the United States, besides many clubs founded on the same plan, but not taking our name. In Boston, the Boylston Club started during our third year, but soon gave up rivalry as a male-voice club, deeming it better to marry a wife and settle down to a different sort of work. The Arlington Club also started, and lived for a few years, but we have practically had the field to ourselves for ten or twelve years, and today I believe i am safe in saying that our Associate Members exceed in number those of the other vocal clubs and some of the orchestral clubs, combined." (Ibid)
The general taste of the time was represented by the light part-songs of the lesser German Romantic composers, but B.J. favored larger works with orchestral accompaniment. However, as conductor of the Apollo Club, he was essentially a hired hand, and had nothing to do with the selection of the music. With nine out of ten of the singers against singing with orchestra, he had a great prejudice to overcome. The feeling was “After we have been working like oxen over our music, and have got it all down to a fine point, we don’t want to be drowned out by a band!” Lang's rehearsal methods also were not appreciated by some: Apthorp wrote-"Nothing like such drilling has ever been known before in Boston. The immediate results were not found to be satisfactory by a considerable proportion of the audiences, and it took no mean amount of pertinacity and backbone on the conductor's part to follow out the plan on which he started. His principle was that in chorus singing, as in every sort of musical performance, the indispensable basis is technique; without a solid technique nothing worthwhile can be done, and the technique can only be acquired through severe drilling. At first the singers were required to pay strict attention to just the sort of details that amateurs as a rule are most prone to overlook-giving every note its proper value, etc. But when it came to the concert, they had no attention left for anything else, the performances sounded rigidly correct, but rather dry and lifeless. After a while this exact attention to correctness of detail began to egg on his choral forces to vivacity of style, emotional vigor, and to thoroughly artistic performance. That arduous system of drilling to which Gericke subjected the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and which was so much commented on at the time, both favorably and adversely, as something utterly unprecedented by its severity, was really first applied to the Apollo Club and Cecilia by Lang." (Fox, Lang Papers, p. 7)
Elson’s opinion was that “In 1871 the Apollo Club, formed largely of professionals, gave the best male chorus-singing of the country. Mr. B.J. Lang was the director of this club from its inception until 1901, when he voluntarily relinquished the baton to Mr. Emil Mollenhauer, who is still (in 1915) its director.” (Elson, p. 81-82)
In the fall of 1872 the officers for the coming year were listed as: "Pres. John P. Putnam; V. P. Chas. H. Allen; Sec. Arthur reed; Treas. Chas. T. Howard; Director, B. J. Lang." (Folio, November 1872, p. 139)
From the beginning great things were expected. "The Handel and Haydn Society of Boston is about played out. Its white headed members are beginning to grow famous by their squeaky, husky voices-and they ought to know it. They wouldn't think of retiring in the background, or of admitting young voices and fresh talent into their exclusive ranks. They have grown old-fogyish in their notions, and can't give a respectable concert without outside assistance. Their day is past; and our hopes now centre in the rising Apollo Club, from which the public is led to expect many wonderful successes." (Folio, February 1872)
In 1891 the group had 35 tenors and 36 basses including eight original members. (Scrapbooks Vol. 6: 1891-96) “At the time of the first informal concert, on September 5, 1871, there were fifty-two active members, and but one hundred and ninety-three on the associate list. This first concert was a great success, and the associate list soon numbered the restricted five hundred. These associates (non-singing) members have the privilege of purchasing tickets for the concerts of the club.” (Syford, p.160)
Syford goes on to say, “The first concerts of the organization were given in the old Music Hall. An account that refers to the first formal concert in 1871 says: “Music Hall was packed with an audience composed of the elite of Boston.” The report of the critic refers to the strong, resonant and fine quality of the voices, the light and shade, delicate pianissimo swelling into a storm of power with beautiful, smooth gradation; the clear, crisp enunciation of all the words as with one voice; the mingling and wielding of the transitional expression as though one mind directed it.” (Syford, pp. 161-162) The program was:
Spring Night Fischer
Cheerful Wanderer Mendelssohn
I Long For Thee Hartel (Hartell)
Praise of Song Maurer
Soldier’s Farewell Kinkel (Kindel)
Serenade Mendelssohn
____________________
Loyal Song Kucken (Kucher)
Lovely Night Chwatal (Churatal)
Miller’s Song Zoellner (Zollner)
The Voyage Mendelssohn
Serenade Eisenhofer)
Rhine Wine Song Mendelssohn
(Syford, p. 165)
Baker gives the date of this concert as November 7, 1871 noting that Horticultural Hall was on Tremont Street between Bromfield and Bosworth Streets; his composer spellings are given in parenthesis above. (Baker, p. 7)
Dwight's review of this concert stated: "The new 'Apollo Club of Boston' treated their associate members and a few invited guests to a taste of their part-singing quality at Horticultural Hall on the evening of November 7. There were about forty voices, the finest in their separate quality, and the most musical, sonorous, rich and full in their ensemble, that we remember hardly ever to have heard…Mr. Lang, with whom they had had as yet but few opportunities of practice, conducted, and their singing of each and every piece was a model of blended sweetness, refined purity of tone, good light and shade, well tempered power and right expression." Dwight then laments the limitedness of male part-singing, and asks for more weighty works such as Mendelssohn's Antigone choruses. His final suggestion is that the group considers adding female voices! (Dwight, Nov. 18, 1871, p. 135) For the early concerts in each season, which were called "Rehearsals," single cards with just the titles and composers were the programs, but for the later concerts, program books of eight pages which included the full texts and soloists names and occasional comments were produced.
Back page Front page
Program from Johnston Collection.
The program for the Wednesday, January 10 and Tuesday, January 16, 1872 concerts at the Music Hall contained: "the Beethoven Overture to Prometheus, partsongs by Gade and Mendelssohn, Beethoven's Chorus of Dervishes and 'Turkish March' from The Ruins of Athens, partsongs by Lachner, Kocken, Johann Kinkel and M. Anton Storch, interrupted by the Chopin Scherzo in B-flat minor played by Lang, and concluding with Mendelssohn's To the Sons of Art." (Osborne, p. 34) Baker refers to these two concerts as "given privately for associate members and guests only," and that the same program had been performed December 5, 1871 as "the first formal public rehearsal." (Baker, p. 8) "The Apollo Club has given two private concerts at Music Hall, which were decidedly the best vocal entertainments given in Boston within our remembrance. truly we have reason to be proud that the Hub possesses the very best male chorus in America." (Dexter Smith's, March 1872, p. 53) The Folio, early in 1872 had printed: "The Boston Apollo Club is the name of a Musical Association, whose modesty is only exceeded by its genuine worth and superiority. Many of our readers, we dare say, have never heard of the name before; and those who have heard of it, have so by mere accident. The 'Apollo Club' is a thoroughly American institution, and is composed of male singers wholly. Its membership includes the names of many of our most eminent musicians. The musical committee consists of Mr. Chas. J. Sprague, Mr. Allen A. Brown, and Mr. Henry M. Aiken. Mr. B. J. Lang has recently been elected Director of Music. Although the society has been in existence but a short time, it already bids fair to surpass, in singing, any similar organization in the country. In a word, it is a noble body." Then, in the Folio's February 1872 issue it presented an extensive review. "The Apollo Concert. Nothing but an occasion of uncommon interest could have so completely filled Music Hall, on the 10th inst.; and many months have elapsed since we looked upon so fair and intelligent audience...To say that the concert was a grand success, but feebly bespeaks our mind. Altogether it was one of the most enjoyable ones of the season." After several points of specific praise, Lang's piano solo was mentioned. "Mr. Lang's playing of Chopin's Scherzo in b flat minor, was in his usual style, and of course above criticism. In a word the concert was delightful in the extreme; and again we note the superiority of the Apollo Club." (Folio,, February 1872) Another reviewer wrote: "The Apollo Club has given two private concerts at Music Hall, which were decidedly the best vocal enetertainments given in Boston within our remembrance. Truly we have reason to be proud that the Hub possesses the very best male chorus in America." (Dexter Smith's, March 1872, p. 53) Not bad for a choir begun less than a year before to be able to present two concerts in the major concert hall of the city! Strangely no names are listed in the program-no conductor, no accompanist, no reference to who played the Chopin piano solo, no list of singers, no reference to who played the two overtures that opened each half, but the English words were printed for every choral selection.
By the following spring Dwight reported: "On Friday Evening, May 31 (1872), the great Music Hall was crowed once more by invited friends of male part-singing, interested in the success, already very marked, of the 'Apollo Club,' which hardly has been organized a twelvemonth. The club is in a flourishing condition, having several hundred 'passive' or subscribing members, including many gentlemen of high social character and culture, besides the actual singing nucleus, which is composed of over fifty singers, -the pick of the best tenors and basses in our city. In power and quality of voices never has so good an ensemble been brought together here before…They have an artistic leader and instructor. Mr. B. J. Lang has proved himself one of the best of choral drill masters…There was no full orchestra, and no overtures, as in the two great concerts given in the winter'." However woodwinds were used to accompany some items and were featured alone in Hummel's "Andante With Variations" from his Septet in D Minor. The second half opened with Mendelssohn’s Fest-Gesang-to the Artists. Lighter pieces completed the program. Another paper commented: "The closing concert of the season of the Apollo Club was a spendid success. This is certainly the best male singing society in America." (Dexter Smith's, July 1872)
Just over a year later Dwight reports on concerts given on Jan. 3 and 6, 1873 at the Music Hall: "Never in this city have we heard so capital a chorus of male singers; the voices being of the choicest quality in all the four parts, -particularly the smooth, sweet, clearly soaring upper tenors and the rich, mellow, manly basses, -and their ensemble very perfect under the careful training and the sure and nice conductorship of Mr. B. J. Lang. They numbered nearly a dozen voices of each part…and their whole performance was obviously a marked improvement upon that of a year ago, good as that seemed to most of us." The programme was the same of both nights, but at the second concert an orchestra was used for certain accompaniments and two overtures. Dwight called attention to how much more effective the orchestraly accompanied pieces were at the second concert. The "Bacchus' Chorus” from Mendelssohn's Antigone was sung with full orchestra which leads Dwight to ask for the complete work. (Dwight, January 25, 1873, p. 374) Another reviewer stated: "The private concerts given by the Apollo Club, at Music Hall, Jan. 3d and 6th, were glorious feasts to the musical audiences who crowded the vast hall to overflowing on both occasions. The program comprised gems from the best composers, which were most artistically rendered by the Club. We noticed a great improvement over their efforts of last season, even, especially in delicacy of shading, the pianissimos being remarkably well sung. Boston has reason to be proud of the Apollo Club." (Dexter Smith's, February 1873, p. 33) To have two full houses was quite a feat considering that "with nearly two thousand cases of small-pox, and sixty deaths a week, the Board of Health have (sic) provided a hospital for one hundred patients, and talk of 'complete isolation.'" (Ibid)
"The Apollo Club procured club rooms at 151-153 Tremont Street in a new building. A collation was served in April, 1873 to mark the opening." The Club had been incorporated by a special act of the Legislature in March. (Baker, p. 9)
In addition to active and subscribing members, the Society also elected honorary members, “composed of persons distinguished for their interest in the purposes of the club, or who have rendered it valuable service. This membership numbers four; Allen A. Brown, Arthur Reed, B. J. Lang and Mr. Chickering.” (Syford, p. 160) Allen A. Brown provided access to his “unequalled musical library (which now occupies a spacious room in the Boston Public Library)” (Syford. p. 165) and he also served many years on the music committee; Arthur Reed was the first Secretary and held the office for twenty-five years. The artistic position of the club is reflected in the fact that.
The May 26, 1873 concert at “the crowded Music Hall” used an orchestra to accompany three of the double choruses from Mendelssohn’s Antigone. “These had evidently been carefully rehearsed by the singers, but not so thoroughly by the players; so that the best intensions of Mr. Lang and his attentive followers were in some degree baulked.” The orchestra also played Mendelssohn’s Overture to Heimkehr and Bennett’s Overture to Naiads which “agreeably varied” the program. Some items were thought “trivial for solid men with grey bears (some of them) to be so absorbed in,” and “The ‘Pilgrim Chorus’ from Tannhauser was not entirely happy in the introductory recitative. But these drawbacks were accidents, and it was clear enough to all that still the motto of the ‘Apollo’ is Excelsior!” (Dwight, June 28, 1873, p. 47)
The December 30, 1873 Music Hall concert (repeated a week later) was sung to a full crowd, and "was the best public manifestation which this strong and select choir of admirable voices has yet given of its quality. The singing of the larger pieces, -this time without orchestra, - was much better than upon the last occasion. There were sixty voices, finely balanced, sweet, rich, musical, trained to a nicety in all points of expression and effect. The only accompaniment was that of their able conductor, Mr. B. J. Lang, at the piano. The programme, too, contained a greater proportion than ever before of compositions of decided and enduring value." Two choruses from Mendelssohn's Antigone, including the "Bacchus" chorus were sung "most admirably." The second half included "lighter, sentimental pieces" including solos by William and John Winch, and the finale was the "Pilgrim Chorus" from Tannhauser. (Dwight, Jan. 10, 1874. p. 159)
In addition to their own concerts at the Music Hall, the choir was called upon to contribute to a number of civic occasions. "A large number of the members of the club also, by invitation of the city of Boston, assisted at the memorial services in honor of Charles Sumner, on April 29, 1874. After Lang's organ prelude of the "Final Chorus" from the Passion by Bach [St. Matthew?], they sang a Prayer by Storch. The, after a prayer by Rev. Phillips Brooks, they sang a Holland National Air arranged by Lang. (BPL Lang Prog., Vol. 2 ) Nearly all the members also, by invitation of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, assisted at the services on the occasion of the First Centennial Anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1875. They sang the hymn God Save the Queen with words by Charles James Sprague and Loyal Song with music by Kuchen and words by Sprague. The final hymn had words by "G. W. W." and music by Abt. The Benediction was given by Rev. Phillips Brooks. "G. W. W." was George Washington Warren who was President of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, and he had given the address. Lang thought enough of the event that he saved his "City of Boston Pass" which allowed him "through all the lines, military and police." (BPL Lang Prog., Vol. 2)
Good notices continued with a June 1874 review that reported "The Apollo Club, its active force now raised to sixty singers, gave about the best feast of male part-singing, in the Music Hall, June 1, that we have yet had…They quite surpassed their previous efforts, greatly as those were admired.” Again Lang was the accompanist, the brothers Winch soloed [in Lang’s The Sea King], and "The whole concert did great honor to the Club and to their excellent conductor." (Dwight, June 13, 1874, p. 247)
Dwight reviewed the concerts of late 1874 as being "Singularly perfect and delightful specimens" of male part-singing. "The Apollo Club (64 good singers, with fine voices, and well balanced), have given two concerts, with essentially the same programme, to their crowds of friends; and never has their singing seemed so perfect in the finish and refinement, as well as the rich volume and grand power of tone, and the harmonious blending of tone colors" (Dwight, Jan 9. 1875, p. 367) Dwight continues by decrying that the group should spend so much time on trivial material, but concludes, "on the other hand, there was the grandly satisfying double chorus from Oedipus of Mendelssohn, which closed the concert, and was sung magnificently, to the effective piano accompaniment of their accomplished conductor, Mr. B. J. Lang." (Dwight, Jan. 9, 1875, p. 367)
In 1875 Dwight continued his good reviews. Mentioning a June concert, he said: "The singing of the former (Apollo Club), -a well selected, solid, and well balanced body of 67 voices, -even surpassed their own high standard of past years. The sweet, pure, rich ensemble of tone, its vital resonance, was most remarkable; and the execution, in all points of precision, light and shade, etc., was singularly perfect. Vocal solos and a Rondo for two pianos by Chopin were also included. (Dwight, June 26, 1875, p. 47)
Seven months later Dwight's review said that the club "sang more admirably than ever." The Mendelssohn "Bacchus" chorus again closed the concert, and the guest soloist was a soprano from Brooklyn. But, "Part-songs, sentimental or playful, filled the intervening space, all sung with that exquisite finish, which becomes cloying after a certain time. One critic described the effect with more truth than he intended when he called the execution 'dead perfect.' It is not that anything can be sung too well; the secret of the fatigue lies, we think, in our feeling of the disproportion between comparatively little consequence of the music itself and the great amount of time and pains which it must cost to render it so perfectly." (Dwight, Jan 22, 1876, p. 167) In a review following of the Boylston Club, mention is made of the Apollo Club's having "many ripe, smooth, well matched high tenors."
This previous review provoked "S. L. B" (presumably a member of the Apollo Club) to write to Dwight-this letter Dwight published in two full columns of his February 5, 1876 edition. The gist of the letter was that the Apollo committee had spent much time and effort in researching the best male repertoire, and that many of the great composers of the time had set short poems: If triviality is inherent in brevity, then all of these worthies must bear the charge, for they have not sought to elevate the character of Liederkranz and Mannerchor by offering important works…The mind is not always attuned to grandeur and profundity…The four-part songs of the great composers include some of their sweetest musical thoughts." Dwight is forced to admit "That we cannot, any more than the Apollo Committee, draw up a list of noble pieces to be added to the Antigone choruses, etc., which they have already sung." Dwight's solution is to have the club become a mixed voice choir, a solution that they have not followed up to the current day.
Dwight review of the May 3 and 26, 1876 concerts began: "May and early June being to the song birds, with and without wings. Our vocal Clubs, -it is theirs by right to sing out the long concert season, and usher in the summer." Dr. Langmaid (tenor), Mr. J. F. Winch (barytone), and Mr. W. J. Winch (tenor) were the featured soloists. The accompaniments were done on the piano, and five of the choral pieces had been translated "for the club by Mr. Charles J. Sprague sung on this occasion for the first time in this country." It would seem that having the audience understand the texts was important to B. J. "We may truly say that we have never enjoyed an Apollo Concert quite so well as this one. It has long seemed as if they had about reached the last limit of attainable perfection in the balance and well blended beauty of their voices, and the nice, effective and expressive execution of whatever music that are wont to undertake. But this time they really pushed the limit farther back; the rich, full manly, sweet ensemble of tone, the precision, force and delicacy of execution, the truth to every shade and contrast of sentiment, too, though still kept within the rather exhausted and monotonous sphere of male part-songs, had uncommon freshness…Mr. Sprague has been happy in his exploration after fresh material, as well as in his singable translations." Dwight ended with a paragraph from another paper, the Advertiser: "Upon the stage of the Music hall, during the concert of the Apollo club last evening, was to be seen a very beautiful bronze statuette of the Apollo Belvidere. This work-a Barbedienne and an exquisite specimen of its kind-was obtained through Messrs. Bigelow, Kennard & Co., expressly for the active members of the Apollo club, who last night presented it to their conductor, Mr. Lang. The gift was certainly an appropriate expression of the feeling of admiration and regard cherished by the corps for the accomplished artist under whose guidance they have won so many artistic triumphs." (Dwight, June 10, 1876, pp. 246 and 247) Other reviewers were enthusiastic; the "Traveler" critic ended: "WE cannot find words to say what is due to Mr. Lang. He gave his whole souls to the performance, and inspired the singers throughout. A justifiable pride should be his in the success of the concert." (Scrapbook) The "Advertiser" reviewer held the same opinion: "The last concert of the club marks the highest point which it has yet attained, and seems to leave little more to be accomplished." (Scrapbook)
Dwight's review of January 20, 1877 said: "The first concert (sixth season) given by the Apollo to its friends, Tuesday evening, Jan. 2, placed this well selected and well trained body of now nearly one hundred singers in a brighter light than ever as an instance of what perfection may be reached, alike of technique and expression, in the execution of part-songs and choruses for mere male voices. For the most part, this time, it was the manner of presentation, more than the matter, that claimed attention." The concert was mainly short works, and Dwight felt that fine performances did not make provide as much pleasure as the repertoire of a mixed chorus such as the newly formed Cecilia whose concerts supplied "sweets more inexhaustible." (Dwight, Jan. 20, 1877, p. 375)
In May of the same year Dwight writes: "The Apollo Club gave an admirable example in their last week's concerts of what pitch of perfection part-singing can be brought to. Yet it is difficult not to bring in the ungracious 'but' very soon in speaking of these concerts." His "but" concerned the low level of the selections presented. After allowing that as the group was giving private concerts to friends, and thus could program whatever the group wanted, Dwight called the choir to a higher level as "They have the most transcendent means of performing or doing their part towards performing all that is greatest, highest and also most difficult in choral music…they should direct their efforts to producing really worthy works." (Dwight, May 12, 1877, p. 24)
A month later (June 7, 1877 at Tremont Temple) Dwight hails the choir for "a task worthy of its unsurpassed vocal material and trained perfection, in Mendelssohn's Antigone, which was given entire at the last concert, with the connecting text of Sophocles read (in English), it is said, very finely, by Prof. Churchill, of Andover. All who were present speak of the performance altogether as the finest achievement of the Apollo, giving unqualified delight." Dwight then finishes with another suggestion, saying that the work had been done well, "so far as possible without orchestra." (Dwight, June 23, 1877, p. 47) The soloists were Messrs. Dr. Bullard, Powers, Wilkie, Lincoln, Babcock, Allen A. Brown, and Aiken, with Arthur Foote at the piano. (Johnson, p. 253)
"By request of the Governor of Massachusetts, the club gave a concert on June 23, 1877, to honor the President of the United States, [President Hayes] then on a visit to Boston." (Elson, Musical Boston, p. 3)(Coburn, p. 584) Presented at the Music Hall, the program began with two organ pieces played by Mr. S. B. Whitney, and then the Club sang Mendelssohn's To the Sons of Art. Mr. Eugene Thayer played Handel's Organ Concerto No. 12 followed by other choral pieces, two more organ pieces by Whitney, and the concert finished with the "Double Chorus" from Antigone by Mendelssohn that they had just performed earlier in the month. (BPL Lang Prog.)
Seven months later Dwight reviews concerts given on January 9 and 15, 1878 "before immense and most enthusiastic audiences. We know not when we ever listened to those seventy voices musical and manly voices with so much pleasure. The singing, the execution and expression of the music, was beyond praise. And there were more things of a substantial, noble character than has been usual in programmes mostly made up of part-songs." Such things as William Winch's "admirable singing of Schubert's 'Erl-King," and the "Andante and Variations, and the Presto, from Beethoven's 'Kreutzer' …The other was a pleasing Romance in B flat, Op. 27 by Saint-Saens for violin, pianoforte and organ." These programming changes earned the comment: "We said we never listened to the Apollo with more pleasure. We did not hear them sing the Antigone music last year, which must have been a greater treat. Will they not give it again?" (Dwight, Jan. 19, 1878)
Early in his conductorship Lang effected some changes that would later be adopted by other groups: “He was also an innovator in other aspects of concert presentation: for example, he experimented with the use of heavy paper for programs so they would not rustle in the hands of the audience, and had the texts of vocal compositions printed in the program in such a way as to avoid page turns at particularly quiet passages.” (Ledbetter, p. 10)
Dwight again makes his suggestion that orchestral accompaniment would enhance the Apollo's performances when he refers in an April 27, 1878 review to a cantata which "doubtless the orchestral accompaniments, which were merely sketched on the piano, well as that was played by Mr. PETERSILIA, would have placed the whole work in a stronger light." One wonders if Lang had spoken to Dwight about his desire to have orchestral accompaniments?
Dwight's wish to hear Antigone was granted within six months together with his suggestion of orchestral accompaniment. "The concert of May 7, in the Tremont Temple, was entirely devoted to the performance of a single work, -but that perhaps the noblest work existing for a chorus of male voices: Mendelssohn's music to Antigone of Sophocles…And it is the first of Mendelssohn's creations of this kind, and the freshest. It was conceived in a high moment of his genius, and executed while the mood possessed him…This time it was made complete by bringing in the full Orchestra, which added vastly to the inspiring grandeur of the work, and to the clear comprehension of it. The orchestra had been well drilled by Mr. Lang…The instrumentation throughout is singularly beautiful and chaste, and with the voices frequently sublime. The rich and manly voices of the Club, some seventy in number, perfectly well balanced, and trained to remarkable perfection, were admirably suited for such music, and the performance was almost without a flaw. It was the crowning achievement of the club. Would there were more such music for them!" (Dwight, June 8, 1878, p. 247)
Dwight reprinted an announcement of the forthcoming 1878-79 Season. “The Apollo Club, Mr. Lang, director, (as we learn by the Courier) will give the first concert of its eighth season in Tremont Temple, December 6. Subsequent concerts will be given in Music Hall, December 9, February 19 and 24, and two in May. The committee make[s] no announcements of the works to be presented. But the associate members may rest assured, had they any need of that assurance, that the programme will be made up with the care that has been expended on them, that the rehearsals will be through, and the performances quite up to the club’s high standard. The list of applicants for associate membership now numbers over three hundred names.” (Dwight, October 26, 1878, p. 327)
The third pair of concerts on May 15 and 20, 1879 ended the season. "For both there was the usual crowded and enthusiastic audience, and on both occasions the splendid body of finely trained male voices, full of esprit de corps, seemed, if that were possible, to surpass their best previous instances of well-nigh perfect execution." The first concert used mainly piano accompaniment with the addition of a string quartet for the Schumann Piano Quintet in E-flat and to accompany one extended choral piece. The second concert repeated three pieces from the first and added six new pieces that used orchestral accompaniment. B. J.'s song Ho, Pretty Page with words by Thackeray was sung by Mr. J. F. Winch, and Dwight's review said it "catches and reproduces the fine pathetic humor of the verses, and is a fresh, genial, fascinating bit of music. As sung by Mr. Winch it took the audience almost off their feet, and had to be repeated." (Dwight, May 24, 1879, p. 86) The "Daily Evening Traveler" of May 8, 1878 reported: "The club has not sung more artistically this season, the orchestra played with a finess and unison altogether uncommon, and seemed to have been much longer preparing its part than was the fact. A great share of this excellence is due to Mr. Lang, whose guiding hand and thorough care were once more appreciable in their highest value." (Scrapbook 1887-1906)
Mendelssohn's companion work to Antigone, Aedipus at Colonus was given in January of 1880 with orchestra accompaniment and “with the connecting readings being given by Mr. Howard M. Ticknor (instructor of elocution at Harvard College, and a bass in our club)”(Baker, p. 10). "It is good proof of the intrinsic power and charm of the music and the old Greek tragedy, and of the excellence of the interpretation, that the whole audience, crowding the Music Hall, listened with unflagging interest, and with frequent tokens of delight, to a work so far removed from all our modern tastes and ways of thinking, and so uniformly grave and tragical, in so monotonous a key of color and feeling…The Apollo Club never sang anything better, and that is high praise indeed." (Dwight, Feb. 14, 1880, p. 30)
The February 19 and 24 concerts were reviewed with an opening sentence that said the concerts were "one of the most interesting it has given. The singing was in all respects most admirable, -an improvement even on the best efforts of the past. The pure, sweet, manly quality of voices; the prompt and sure attack; the precision; the fine phrasing, delicate light and shade, distinct enunciation; and the pervading fire and spirit, seemed to leave nothing to be desired in respect to execution and interpretation. The selections, too, though mainly part-songs were uncommonly interesting." A string ensemble was used to accompany Schubert's Song of the Spirits Over the Waters. Also programmed were three movements from Hummel's Septet for strings and winds: "the performance gave great pleasure, and the Scherzo had to be repeated." The final accolade was the "Mr. Lang has certainly the choicest of materials for a male chorus under his control, and he has trained them to a rare perfection of ensemble. There is no need of saying that the Music Hall was crowded," (Dwight, March 15, 1879, p. 45)
The March 9 concert contained mainly short pieces, and the guest soloist was Miss Hubbell from Grace Church in New York City. "The programme was miscellaneous, containing things of a high artistic order, and nothing commonplace. The singing seemed to us extremely good, -almost too good, that is to say, too daintily refined for certain things, say 'drinking songs,' which owe much of their charm to a certain off-hand freedom." The next to the last piece was a duet by B. J. entitled The Sea King, and it was sung by Dr. Ballard and Mr. J. F. Winch. Dwight's review said the "duet is in the rollicking old English bravura style, with plenty of 'go' in it, and made a lively effect as sung by the two basses." (Dwight, April 10, 1880, p. 62) Also on the program was Dudley Buck's The Nun of Nidaros-this was the first work by an American included except for Lang's own works. This piece was repeated the same year at the late November concerts; G. Schirmer had published the work with a copyright date of 1879, and a "New and Revised Edition" was copyrighted in 1905. "During the 1880s Americans began to appear on Apollo Club programs with great regularity.
Buck-King Olaf's Christmas December 1881
Whiting-March of the Monks of Bangor April 1881
Chadwick-The Viking's Last Voyage April 26, 1881
Conducted by the composer
Paine-Excerpts from Scenes from Oedipus Tyrannus February 1882
Paine-Summons to Love, Opus 33 (Written for Apollo) 1882
Paine-Radway's Ready Relief April 1883
J. C. D. Parker-The Blind King April 1883
Whiting-Free Lances 1883
All but one of these pieces (Radway's Ready Relief) were of cantata-like proportions with instrumental support. Their predominance perhaps in part accounts for a newspaper clipping of early 1883 which announced that 'in compliance with the desire for more part songs and unaccompanied singing, the next concerts of The Apollo Club, February 14 and 19, will be without orchestra." (Osborne, p. 36)
However the advantage of instrumental accompaniment was also mentioned in a review of a May 20, 1880 concert that had the same program as an earlier concert, but which had "the great improvement of an orchestral accompaniment." It was a varied program as the orchestra was used by itself (Overture-Spring by Goetz), used to accompany choral and solo numbers, and the choir also performed a cappella. "Throughout the Apollo sang with life and refinement." (Dwight, June 10, 1889)
The November 26 and 29 concerts again contained primarily short works, but "We never heard those seventy men sing better; and we were struck by the remarkable preservation of their voices, many of them being original veterans in the service. Rich, sweet, manly quality of tone, large, generous volume, admirably blending of the voices in a grand organ-like ensemble, combined with rare unity, precision, light and shade in producing a fine impression." Instrumental works (including the Widor-Serenade for piano, violin, cello, flute, and harmonium), solos, and Dudley Buck's setting of Longfellow's poem, Nun of Nidaros. The review ended with the announcement of the Boston premier of Max Bruch's Frithjof for soprano and baritone solos, male choir, and orchestra to be given in its entirety on the following February 4 and 9, 1881. (Dwight, December 18, 1880, p. 207)
The Bruch was given as advertised, and was well received by Dwight with special mention for the soloists, Miss Simms and John F. Winch. "Though dark and tragical in its pervading tone, it is grand, poetic, deeply impressive, wildly romantic and imaginative music throughout; full of old Norse tenderness and passion, blended with heroic fire." (Dwight, February 26, 1881, p. 36) The second part of the concert was "an agreeable miscellany." Three part-songs, solo songs, the orchestra playing the third movement of Moskowski's Joan of Arc symphony, and "the concert ended with a remarkable arrangement, with expressive, ever-varying orchestral accompaniment, by Hector Berlioz, of the Marseilles Hymn, which was sung with great spirit and exciting effect. (Dwight, February 26, 1881, p. 36)
By the spring of 1881 the Apollo, "the oldest of the Associate-membership vocal clubs celebrated the tenth year of its prosperous existence, having given sixty-eight concerts, always under the musical directorship of Mr. B. J. Lang. On the occasion both the programme and the entire performance were exceptionally interesting." After opening works, the group sang a work by George E. Whiting written for this occasion called March of the Monks of Bangor with orchestral accompaniment. [Choral score at the Library of Congress download; vocal scores at BPL and Westminster Choir College; autograph full score at BPL] The choral score of this work was published by the Apollo Club dated 1881, and another edition, with piano reduction was published by John Church Co. of Cincinnati dated 1887. Then George W. Chadwick conducted his own The Viking's Last Voyage, the orchestra played two movements from Saint Saens's Suite Algerienne, "and the ever inspiring 'Bacchus' double chorus from Mendelssohn's Antigone, splendidly delivered, brought the memorable concert to a close." (Dwight, May 7, 1881)
"The Tenth Anniversary Dinner was held on Tuesday, May 24, 1881, at Young's Hotel on Washington Street at Court Square. It must have been a gay evening, the formally dressed members entering through the billiard room and bar on Court Street, then ascending the stairs to the second floor and the private dining room. A six-course dinner with wines, punctuated by speeches and toasts closed the tenth year of pleasant rehearsals and convivial meetings." (Baker, p. 10) In Dwight's issue of June 4, 1881 he reprinted an article from the May 25th. Issue of the "Advertiser" which furnished further details. "The tenth anniversary supper of the Apollo Club was held at Young's Hotel last evening. The company numbered eighty persons, and was composed of the active members, and the past active members, and the invited guests, who were the President and Director of the Harvard Musical Association, of the Boylston Club, the Cecilia Club, the Handel and Haydn Society, the Orpheus Club and the Arlington Club. Judge Putnam presided in his usual graceful and genial manner. Supper was served between half-past six and eight o'clock. Speeches and songs were then in order. The soloists were Mr. Pflueger, Mr. Osgood, William Winch, Clarence E. Hay, and there was a piano duet by Mr. Lang and Mr. Parker. The club opened the musical part of the entertainment by Mendelssohn's Sons of Art, and subsequently sang a number of part-songs interspersed between the speeches and solos. Speeches were made by John S. Dwight, Professor Paine, G. W. Chadwick, Charles Allen and Robert M. Morse, Jr. The tables were set in the form of a Greek cross, and were handsomely spread and ornamented. All the arrangements were made under the supervision of Mr. Arthur reed, the secretary of the club." (Dwight, June 4, 1881, p. 93)
On Wednesday afternoon November 7, 1883 at 3PM and in the evening at 8PM, the Apollo Club closed the concerts dedicating the new "Chickering Hall." They sang Mendelssohn's To the Sons of Art. Lang and Perabo also played in these concerts the Hommage a Handel by Moscheles. (BPL Lang Prog., Vol. 4)
Between 1884 and 1887 four pieces composed by B. J. were sung during Apollo Club concerts; two were repeated in later seasons.
Hi-fi-lin-ke-le February 20 and 26, 1884
Repeated May 12 and 17, 1886
The Lass of Carlisle: solo for baritone April 29 and May 4, 1885
Written for this occasion-sung by Mr. Hay
Nocturne: solo for tenor April 29 and May 4, 1885
Written for this occasion-sung by Mr. G. J. Parker
Repeated April 29 and May 2, 1887
My True Love Has My Heart May 12 and 17, 1886
Concerning Hi-fi-lin-ke-le the Advertiser wrote: "…a delicious little bit of writing by Mr. Lang, in the shape of a Swedish love ditty, set to a melody to be sung by the whole chorus in unison, except for the harmony of the close." It was encored. Another review suggested that shouting the final chords a little louder could make a better effect. The Journal said: "Another work of decidedly humorous character was Mr. Lang's song composed upon a Swedish poem reciting the fate of the maid 'who will not when she might,' and when she would, cannot. It is a light but thoroughly well arranged composition, and brings out the vocal resources of the club as few of the numbers in its repertory are able to do. It was much admired by the audience, who were urgent in their demands for a repetition. Mr. Lang, with marked modesty, declined for a time to accede to their calls, but at last, after a half-dozen times bowing a denial, he was forced to direct the last two stanzas over again." (Scrapbook) Concerning The Lass of Carlisle and Nocturne the Journal said: "Its melody [The Lass of Carlisle] is singularly quaint, and in the refrain it has just the queerness which fits the queer poem of Ettrick Shepherd. In Mr. Aldrich's 'Up to her chamber window,' - called on the bill a Nocturne - Mr. Lang found fancy and feeling happily combined in a poem, finely adapted to his delicate skill as a composer." The piece was encored. (Apollo Scrapbook, vol. 3)
However, in the June 1885 issue of The Courier the following appeared: "It is true that the Apollo Club is not quite up to its standard of a few years ago, but it is none the less above the standard attained by any other American male chorus." (Baker, p. 11)
March 21, 1885 heard the Boston premier of Bach’s Coffee Cantata with Louise Gage, William J. and John F. Winch as the soloists in a concert that was in commemoration of the birth of the composer (Johnson, p. 14).
The April 29, 1885 concert included the world premier of Arthur Foote's If Doughty Deeds My Lady Please which was then published by Schmidt as Oct. no. 34 (Apollo Club Collection no. 1). (Cipolla, p. 35)
The May 12, 1886 concert saw the premier of Arthur Foote's The Farewell of Hiawatha, Op. 11. "The earliest 'Indian' cantata was the product of Arthur Foote...Foote set the concluding portion of the final canto of Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha (1885) for his The Farewell of Hiawatha (1886). This lengthy poem is generally considered the initial major work in American literature to elevate and humanize the Indian. Of more importance to this study is the remarkable resemblance between Longfellow's Hiawatha and Jesus Christ. Each came to earth to help his people and returned to heaven when his mission was completed. Foote did not use aboriginal melodies in his cantata. Later composers did, however, as they were able to vbenefit from the work of ethnomusicologists, which began in earnest in the 1880s." (Stopp, p. 392) Six months later another Foote premier was conducted by Lang, but this time, with the Cecilia Society. The Club again performed this piece on May 10, 1938 under the direction of Thompson Stone. (Cipolla, p. 34)
On December 21, 1886, the Society gave its one-hundredth concert and featured the first American performance of Rinaldo by Brahms. The critic Ticknor in the Boston Herald of December 16th. felt-“If ever Brahms showed a cold, phlegmatic side to his nature he did it in the beginning of Rinaldo. The cantata would have been more warm-blooded had Max Bruch had a hand in its production.” (Johnson, p. 87) Arthur Reed, the founding secretary mentioned that “it was a rather odd coincidence that the club was formed in seventy-one; “that we now have seventy-one active members, and that every one of that number was present at the one hundredth concert given last evening.” (Syford, p. 165) Reed also thanked Lang who had conducted these one-hundred concerts, "barring accidents, such as the occasional breaking of an arm or a neck, or some other portion of his anatomy; but at such times it has been found he could easily conduct the Club with A Foote." (Osborne, p. 33) Mention was made that one of the founding members, and also a member of the original Chickering Club, had moved to San Francisco and there founded a singing group based on the Apollo Club. Reed also claimed that both the Boylston and Arlington Clubs of Boston had been founded in emulation of the Apollo model, and that Australian visitors from Melbourne modeled their choir on the Apollo and that a group in Sydney had in turn copied them!
Soloists had usually been selected from the choir, but at the 105th. concert given in 1887, the soloist was Adele aus der Ohe, pianist. The Traveler writer was amazed that "the Music Hall contained four thousand people and was full a half hour before the concert began. All seats are rush seats. Where else could there be such interest in music?" (Baker, p. 11)
Another world premier was the performance on February 23, 1887 of George Whitefiled Chadwick"s humorous song, Jabberwocky with a text by Lewis Carroll, and the dedication on the printed copy (1886) was "To Our Society.[Apollo Club of Boston]" The Club repeated this piece on December 10, 1887 and March 20, 1895. The review in the "Musical Herald" of April 1887 said: "The humor of Mr. Chadwick's Jabberwocky cannot be overstated. It is a fine instance of a classical composer at play, and belongs to the healthy English school." (Faucett, p. 161) The work was published in 1886 by Schmidt as part of the the "Apollo Club Collection of Music for Male Voices" which by that time, 1886, had 16 pieces listed including two by Arthur Foote, The Farewell of Hiawatha and If Doughty Deeds. A note at the bottom of the front page staed that "Pianoforte accompaniments furnished separately."
The Home Journal commented about the 109th. Concert given in 1888: "A partiality for German composers that does not seem wholly warranted, is often shown in the programmes for the Apollo Club concerts. This characteristic prevailed to a somewhat monotonous extent in the one-hundred-ninth. We see no reason why the Old English glees and madrigals should be so persistently neglected by the club. On the other hand, it is exceedingly liberal and appreciative on treatment of native composers." (Baker, p. 12) This last statement was reflected in the 111th. Concert on December 4, 1888 where the twenty-seven-year-old Edward A. MacDowell was the soloist-he had just returned to the United States, partly at the suggestion of B. J.
The 1889 season involved the Apollo Club in a rather unusual performance. The New York Times reported on April 27, 1889 of "BOSTON'S FANCY BALL. THE SOCIETY OF THE HUB ARRAYED IN BRILLIANT COSTUMES. Boston, April 26. -The Artists' Festival of the Art Students' Association, for which the social world here has been preparing for two months, took place at the Museum of Fine Arts, while outside the wind howled and the rain poured down as it has not done before since the big gale of last November." Among the patronesses were Mrs. J. L. Gardener and Mrs. B. J. Lang, all patronesses wearing Venetian costumes of the sixteenth century. " The Apollo Club, all dressed as pilgrims, sang, among their selections being the grand chorus from Tannhauser. B. J. Lang was listed among the members of the "Committee of Arrangements."
For the Apollo concert of December 6, 1889, Margaret Ruthven Lang did an orchestration of the male choral piece Estudiantina by P. Lacome "the accompaniment to which was arranged in a very dainty and charming manner for orchestra." It was given "most delightfully, and was redemanded." The Post review said that the orchestration 'was delicately done; so prettily that the absence of the castanets was but a pleasing relief from the usual methods". (Scrapbooks)
Around 1889 the group was described: “the Apollo Club still occupies an honorable position in Boston, the concerts being sold out at the beginning of the season, the audiences being distinguished for elegance and musical appreciation-a combination rare outside the limits of Boston. The standard of vocal work in this society has always been high, and it was one of the first to introduce many of the better class of compositions of this school.” (Howe-One Hundred Years, p. 428)“Among the names on the list of the original fifty-two members is that of Henry Clay Barnabee of “The Bostonians” fame; also Myron W. Whitney, the great bass.” (Syford, p. 165)
The May 1, 1889 review in "The Globe" said: "The new things were a quaint and ingenious part song in waltz form, written for the club by Miss Margaret Ruthven Lang, entitled The Maiden and the Butterfly… [this piece] is delicately wrought up from parts which have much independence and even some apparent contradictions, but which, when sung to the composer's injunctions, blend into a flowing and graceful tissue." However the "Advertiser" felt: "I did not like Miss Lang's The Maiden and the Butterfly as well as some other things she has written. It began well, but the short interjectional phrases seemed artificial, and gave only thinness to parts of the work without attaining the archness and coquetry of the poem. The end is especially weak in this respect. But the young composer has proved that she does not often lapse into an inconsequential vein." (Scrapbook 1887-1906)
The December 1890 concerts, which opened their twentieth season, included the premier of The Jumblies. The Transcript of December 8 noted that in spite of the stormy night, the audience at the Music Hall was full. “The programme was carried out in a manner that reflects great credit upon all concerned. The parts were well balanced and, and all the numbers were sung with precision and steadiness.” Margaret’s piece was “given with spirit,” by the reviewer didn’t find much humor in the piece, although he did admit that it was very difficult to create humor through “musical tones and harmonies.” Louis Elson in the Advertiser of December 4 also didn’t find much merriment in the work, and “felt sorry to find a brilliant young composer giving a set of merely correct harmonies to a succession of nonsense verses.” (Scrapbook 1887-1906)
The first home of the Club would seem to have been in the Odd Fellows Building. "The Apollo Club will have a new hall in [the] Odd fellows Building, at a rental of three-thousand dollars a year." (Folio, June 1872) Then, ten years later the June 2, 1882 issue of Music reported: "It [the Apollo Club] has for nearly ten years occupied very pleasant and convenient rooms, with a small hall for its rehearsals, all of which were specially built for the club at No. 151 Tremont Street overlooking the Common. In its hall the “Cecilia," a mixed-voice club, formed on the plan of the "Apollo holds its rehearsals, and many chamber concerts have also been given here." (Scrapbook) Madame Marie Bishop used the "Hall of the Apollo Club" for a Complimentary Concert on Monday evening, May 17, 1875 in which B. J. Lang was one of the assisting artists. In the first half he played the piano part in Rubinstein's Trio in B Flat major (first movement), and then accompanied Wulf Fries, cellist, in the Sarabande and Gavotte by Bach, while he opened the second half with two piano solos, the Bouree in G Major by Handel and a Diversion in C Major of his own composition. He also was the accompanist to August Fries, violoin, in the Cavatina by Raff and the Leid by David (HMA Program Collection). "The July 5, 1890 issue of the Traveller noted the change of the club's rooms to a location over Doll and Richards Print Shop. "The Apollo Club, after seventeen years' occupancy of Apollo Hall and the club-rooms which were arranged for their use when the building Nos. 151 to 153 Tremont Street was erected, have been obliged to move, as Harvey and Co., the present lessees of the building and successors of Chickering and Sons in their retail business, have decided to use Apollo Hall for a pianoforte wareroom. On the fourth the club took possession of their new rooms in Warren Building, No. 2 Park Street, formerly known as the Hawthorne Rooms, and the active members had a very jolly house-warming. The rooms, which are beautifully located, with five windows on Park Street and two in the rear are admirably arranged for the club use, both for rehearsals and social purposes." (Baker, p. 14)
On November 18, 1891 the choir sang at the funeral of John H. Stickney who was the only surviving member of J. C. D. Parker's original twelve singers of the Chickering Club. Such changes were reflected in Phillip Hale's review of an 1892 concert where he wrote, "the first tenors are not now as strong as of old. Death and resignation took away valuable old members" (Baker, p. 15) However H. M. Ticknor (bass in the choir and on the Harvard faculty) wrote in the Globe "of first tenors applying for membership, 31% are accepted. 26% of second tenors are accepted, and only one out of every five basses who apply are admitted to membership." However critics grew more negative as reflected by this 1894 comment from B. E. Woolf in the Gazette-"B. J. Lang's prevailing weakness as a conductor is evident…[he is] somewhat of an anachronism."(Baker, p. 15)
During the 1900-1901 season the club moved again, this time to the new Chickering Building at 239 Huntington Avenue, but in 1903 another move was made to 3 Joy Street. In June of 1901 B. J. retired. "Shortly after his retirement from the club he received honorary degrees from Harvard and Yale." (Baker, p. 18)
In the spring of 1901 an insert in the Wednesday evening May 1, 1901 concert program at Chickering Hall (their 171st. concert) noted that Mr. Lang "positively declines a renomination" as conductor. This final program appropriately opened with Sullivan's The Long Day Closes followed bu two choral pieces by Margaret Ruthven Lang, Alastair MacAllistair (Old Scotch Song) and Here's a Health to One I lo'e Dear (Old Scotch Song) while in the second half, two of Lang's own solo songs, The Lass of Carlisle and The Chase were sung by Mr. Clarence E. Hay. (BPL Lang Prog., Vol. 7)
“Four concerts are given annually…with eminent soloists, vocal and instrumental, and often a full orchestra as well…Many part-songs by American composers have been prominent on the programs…The Club Rooms are at 3 Joy Street.” (Pratt, p. 116) Syford gives more detail about the club’s rehearsal venues: “The homes of the club have been various, each, however, with the general character of having a music-room for rehearsals and a set of rooms for social enjoyment. For a time they met at the Hallett’s music-rooms on Tremont Street; then for a longer time they were in the Chickering building; also in the Chickering Hall building on Huntington Avenue, and at present (1910) at Three Joy Street.” (Syford, p. 164)
Slowly B.J. succeeded in changing this attitude against orchestral accompaniment, and the Apollo Club can be proud to list first Boston performances of (among others)
Brahms’ Rinaldo (Boston Music Hall, December 15, 1883, Charles R. Adams, soloist)
Grieg’s Discovery, Mendelssohn’s Sons of Art, Antigone of Sophocles for Men’s Voices and Orchestra, Opus 55 (Tremont Temple, June 7, 1877, with Messrs. Dr. Bullard, Powers, Wilkie, Lincoln, Babcock, Allen A. Brown, and Aiken as vocal soloists with Prof. Churchill as reader and piano accompaniment by Arthur Foote. (Four choruses had been sung under Lang on 25 January, 1866; Johnson, First Performances, p. 253)
Mendelssohn’s Oedipus in Colons by Sophocles for Male Voices and Orchestra, Opus 93 (Boston Music Hall on January 27, 1880 with Howard M. Ticknor as reader and an orchestra)(Johnson, First Performances, p. 256), and several premiers by the Boston composers Chadwick, Foote’s Farewell of Hiawatha, Thayer, and Whiting’s March of the Monks of Bangor, Free Lances, and Henry of Navarre.
An article in 1907 updating Apthorp’s article of 1893 included “A Partial List of the Important New Music First Performed in Boston Under Mr. Lang by the…Apollo Club” listed the following:
Berlioz: Arrangement of “La Marseillaise” for double chorus and orchestra.
Brahms: Rinaldo
Bruch: Frithjof: Roman Song of Triumph; Salamis
Chadwick: The Viking’s Last Voyage
Foote: The Farewell of Hiawatha
Goldmark: The Flower Net
Grieg: Discovery
Hiller: Easter Morning; Hope
Lachner: Evening; Warrior’s Prayer
Mendelssohn: Sons of Art; Antigone; Oedipus
J. C. D. Parker: The Blind King
Raff: Warder Song
Rubinstein: Morning
Schubert: The Almighty; Song of the Spirits Over the Water
Schumann: Forester’s Chorus
Templeton Strong: The Trumpeter; The Haunted Mill; The Knights and the Naiada
A. W. Thayer: Sea Greeting
G. E. Whiting: March of the Monks of Bangor; Free Lances; Henry of Navarre (Gould Collection)
Under Lang's successor, Emil Mollenhauer, the Club appeared in four different programs with the BSO during the '06, '10 and 15 seasons. (Howe, BSO, p. 245)
In 1909 Arthur Foote’s evaluation of Lang was that “As a conductor his influence was great in raising the standard of singing here. One of the first things he obtained with the Apollo Club was the clear enunciation which still distinguishes it; musically he believed (as Theodore Thomas did) that the way to educate the public was to coax and not to bully it; so that the Apollo Club pleased its audiences and was trained itself at first with German and other part songs, being thereby later able to give the great compositions for men’s voices and orchestra; in this, as often, his tact prevailed.” (Boston Transcript, May 1, 1909)
The Apollo Club continues even today under the leadership Florence Dunn who had become the accompanist in 1955 and then the conductor in 1969. Rehearsals are still (2006) held on Tuesday nights in the Harvard Musical Association building concert room, with a repertoire of show tunes and lighter material that is performed for various service groups in the Boston area. (Telephone call with Ms. Dunn, January 2006) The club has established a very interesting site at: http://apolloclub.org which also has aural and video examples of their work.
The Osborne article on the Apollo Club ends with "Perhaps the spirit of the whole enterprise can be grasped in this quatrain from Oliver Wendell Holmes that concluded the 1884-85 season:
So, with the merry tale and jovial song,
The jocund evening whirls itself along,
Till the last chorus shrieks its loud encore,
And the white neckcloths vanish through the door." (Osborne, p. 40)
