Front matter
Reading edition
WALTER DAMROSCH IN 1920
From a photograph by Pirie MacDonald
MY MUSICAL LIFE
BY
WALTER DAMROSCH
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1926
Copyright, 1923, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
Copyright, 1922, 1923, by CURTIS PUBLISHING CO.
Printed in the United States of America
To dearest M
This book I dedicate to you because you have walked hand in hand with me through most of the experiences related therein.
Because of you my disappointments have been cut in half and my happinesses made double, and if I have made known to you the wondrous muse of music, you in turn have brought into our home and given a permanent abiding place therein, the three gentle sisters—Faith, Hope and Charity.
CONTENTS
CHAPTERPAGE
I.Childhood—1866-18751
II.Bayreuth in 1876—My Doll’s Theatre13
III.Founding of the Symphony and Oratorio Societies of New York22
IV.August Wilhelmj—Teresa Carreno28
V.Liszt and Wagner36
VI.The Founding of German Opera at the Metropolitan—Death of my Father51
VII.Lilli Lehmann63
VIII.Hans von Bülow74
IX.Andrew Carnegie and the Blaine Family90
X.The Damrosch Opera Company, 1895-1899104
XI.Artists134
XII.Romance164
XIII.The Oratorio Society of New York169
XIV.The New York Symphony Orchestra186
XV.The Great War221
XVI.The European Tour272
XVII.Women in Musical Affairs323
XVIII.Boston333
XIX.Margaret Anglin and the Greek Plays344
XX.Dead Composers351
XXI.Postlude367
Index369
ILLUSTRATIONS
Walter Damrosch in 1920
Afternoon coffee in the Damrosch Home, Breslau, 1867
Doctor Leopold Damrosch and his son Walter at eighteen years of age
Lilli Lehmann as Isolde
Mathilde Marchesi
Nellie Melba
Camille Saint-Saëns and Walter Damrosch
Lieutenant Walker Blaine Beale
Fritz Kreisler, Harold Bauer, Pablo Casals, and Walter Damrosch
My Musical Life