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College of Music of Cincinnati

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College of Music of Cincinnati
Other name
Cincinnati College of Music
MottoAbsque Labore Nihil
TypePrivate
ActiveOctober 14, 1878 (October 14, 1878)–July 31, 1955
FounderReuben R. Springer and George Ward Nichols
Address
1227-1235 Elm Street
,
Cincinnati
,
Ohio
,
United States
SuccessorCincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

The College of Music of Cincinnati, also known as the Cincinnati College of Music,[a] was an American music school in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was established in 1878 by George Ward Nichols with the financial help of Reuben R. Springer. It merged with the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in 1955, forming the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

History

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The College of Music of Cincinnati was created by a stock company and the managers of the Music Hall Association; the latter being connected a performance space that is home to the Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, May Festival Chorus, and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra.[1] It main sponsor was Reuben R. Springer who contributed $306,750 ($9,684,838 in 2022 money).[2] The College of Music opened on October 14, 1878.[2] The college's objective was to "cultivate a taste for music [and] to organize a school of instruction and practice".[2] Its motto was Absque Labore Nihil.[3]

George Ward Nichols, the college's primary founder, became its president.[4][5] Famed conductor and violinist Theodore Thomas was the college's first musical director.[4][6][7] He recruited the college's 31 faculty members.[4] One of his recruits was Otto Singer who was the assistant musical director and stayed with the college until he retired in 1892. Another was Arthur Batelle Whiting, head of the college's organ department. In the College of Music's first year, Thomas established and trained a student choir and an orchestra.[4] During the 1878 to 1879 school year, the college orchestra performed 24 concerts.[4]

Despite having a four-year contract, Thomas resigned after eighteen months and returned to New York City.[4] Apparently, Thomas did not like Cincinnati and had differences with Nichols, a businessman and journalist, whose primary focus was financial.[4] However, the college continued to thrive and grow.[4] In 1884, it became one of the first music colleges to have its own performance hall.[1]

By 1902, the college had 1,000 students.[2] On September 5, 1902, the day before the start of the school year, an electrical fire caused extensive damage and destroyed two buildings, including The Odeon, the college's main theater and concert hall.[1][4][8][9] 25 studios were destroyed including 25 pianos, three organs, a harp, and several cellos.[4] There was also damage to the adjacent Music Hall.[1] However, the college opened on September 8, using a floor of its dormitory for classrooms.[4] It used the Ohio Mechanics Institutes theater for its recitals.[4]

The college rebuilt Odeon Hall; it was completed in November 1903 but was half the size and fireproof.[1] In 1925, additional faculty were hired due to increases in enrollment.[4] The college maintained itself in the Great Depression by creating a radio broadcast program on WCKY and WLK from 1931 to 1934.[4] In 1936, it added a radio curriculum. Helene Wurlitzer funded the development of a radio and television department.[10] In 1950, television equipment was added, turning the radio program into a Radio and Television Arts Department that taught more than sixty courses.[4] In September 1951, the college admitted its first Black student, Herman Griffin, who enrolled in the radio and television program.[11] The public television station WCET started on the college campus in July 1954.[4]

By 1954, the cost of operating the college was exceeding its income.[4] This was caused, in part, by the college's commitment to providing a faculty of notable musicians and educators.[12] The college merged with the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in May 1955, forming the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.[1][13] The new college was on the Cincinnati Conservatory campus.[13][12] The College of Music's campus officially closed on July 31, 1955.[4] The Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music merged with the University of Cincinnati in 1962.[4][1]

Campus

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College of Music (far left), Music Hall (center and right), and Washington Park (foreground).
Memorial Hall (left), College of Music (center), and Music Hall (right)

The College of Music was located in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, across from Washington Park. Initially, classes were held in Dexter Hall on the top floor of Music Hall.[14][12] By 1881, the college had constructed its own building next door to Music Hall.[1] A covered bridge connected Music Hall to the college buildings.[1]

The four-story tall Odeon Hall was added in 1884 and included classrooms, practice rooms, and the college's main theater concert hall with an organ and seated 1,500 people.[2][4][1] The college purchased the adjacent property in 1889 and built Lyceum Hall which faced Grant Street and included lecture halls and a 400-seat auditorium for chamber concerts.[2][4][1] In May 1900, John G. Schmidlapp donated $50,000 ($1,831,200 in 2022 money) for the construction of the four-story dormitory; the Emile B. Schmidlapp Dormitory faced Elm Street and was completed in 1902.[1][15]

In 1902, the college's buildings, with forty classrooms, were valued at $200,000.[2] Odeon and Lyceum were destroyed in the September 1902 fire.[4][8]

The rebuilt Odeon Hall was finished in November 1903. Its auditorium only seated 700 but featured fireproof construction, including the largest pored concrete balcony at the time.[1] Mrs. Frederick Alms funded a second dormitory in 1921. In addition, an administrative building was added in 1927, facing Central Parkway. Other buildings included Dexter Hall, which housed the television and radio department and a public television station.[4]

The College of Music's only surviving building is its former administration building at 1228 Central Parkway. It is now owned by the Pipe Fitters Union Local #392.

Academics

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The College of Music of Cincinnati had both an academic department and a general school of music.[2] It taught beginners and experienced musicians.[16] The college offered a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music.[17] In 1925, some of its departments were boys choir, double base, dramatic art and expression, harmony and counterpoint, modern languages, opera, organ, pianoforte, voice, viola, violin, violincello, theory and composition, and public school music.[3] Later, it had a radio and television department.[10]

The college also included the Albino Gorno Memorial Library, dedicated on May 31, 1949.[18]

Student life

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The College of Music had several fraternities. The first was Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a social fraternity for men with a special interest in music, which opened a chapter in 1903.[19][3] A chapter of the music women's fraternity Sigma Alpha Iota was established there in 1915.[19][3] A chapter of Delta Omicron, a co-ed professional music honors fraternity, was chartered at the College of Music in 1918.[20][3] That was followed by a chapter of the music sorority Mu Phi Epsilon in 1923.[21][3] Phi Beta, a professional fraternity for the creative and performing arts, had a chapter starting in 1933.[22] There were also student groups like the Three Arts Club.[3]

Notable people

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Alumni

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Faculty and staff

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Although frequently referred to as the Cincinnati College of Music, it was officially the College of Music of Cincinnati or College of Music, for short. When the college was established in 1878, there was a pre-existing institution called the Cincinnati College of Music, located on Race Street and overseen by President Dora Nelson.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "The Odeon - Cincinnati College of Music". Digging Into Cincinnati History Historical Consultants. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Shotwell, John Brough (1902). A history of the schools of Cincinnati. Cincinnati, School Life Co. pp. 24–25 – via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g The College of Music of Cincinnati Yearbook 1925-1926. Cincinnati: The College of Music of Cincinnati. 1925.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w "The College of Music". Friends of Music Hall. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  5. ^ "Musical Matters. The College of Music--Report of President Nichols". The Cincinnati Enquirer. October 8, 1878. p. 8. Retrieved December 31, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Blow Ye the Trumpet. Cincinnati College of Music, and Theodore Thomas Its Director". The Cincinnati Enquirer. August 26, 1878. p. 8. Retrieved December 31, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b "The College of Music". The Cincinnati Enquirer. August 28, 1878. p. 8. Retrieved December 31, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ a b "Oedon Is In Ashes, Savage Fire Visits College of Music and the Lyceum". The Cincinnati Post. September 4, 1902. p. 1. Retrieved December 31, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Fire Damages Music Hall at Cincinnati; The Odeon was Completely Destroyed in an Hour". The Indianapolis News. September 4, 1902. p. 1. Retrieved December 31, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ a b Skolle, John (1959). The Lady of the Casa: the Biography of Helene V.B. Wurlitzer. Santa Fe: Rydal Press Santa Fe.
  11. ^ a b "ADMITS NEGRO AS STUDENT; Cincinnati College of Music Accepts First of His Race" (PDF). The New York Times. September 16, 1951. p. 42. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h Fink, Lauren (September 21, 2011). "College of Music Historical Collection in ARB". LiBlog. University of Cincinnati Libraries. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  13. ^ a b "Music Schools Merge; Cincinnati Institutions Form New College-Conservatory" (PDF). The New York Times. May 18, 1955. p. 35. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  14. ^ "The College of Music. The Doors of Music Hall Thrown Open to It". The Cincinnati Enquirer. October 5, 1878. p. 8. Retrieved December 31, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Gift to Cincinnati College of Music" (PDF). The New York Times. May 8, 1900. p. 2. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  16. ^ a b "College of Music in the Music Hall". The Cincinnati Daily Star. October 14, 1878. p. 4. Retrieved December 31, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Greenleaf, Walter J.; U.S Department of the Interior, Office of Education (1931). "Guidance for Careers: Music". Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. p. 13. Retrieved December 31, 2024 – via HathiTrust.
  18. ^ a b Doctor, Jenny (October 9, 2024). "A History of the albino Gorno Memorial Library / CCM LIbrary". Researching in the Performing Arts @ CCM. University of Cincinnati. Retrieved December 31, 2024.
  19. ^ a b Shepard, Francis W., ed. (1927). Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities (11th ed.). Menasha, Wisconsin: George Banta Publishing Company. p. 442-445. – via Google Books.
  20. ^ Robson, John, ed. (1963). Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities (17th ed.). Menasha, Wisconsin: The Collegiate Press, George Banta Company, Inc. p. 517.
  21. ^ Robson, John, ed. (1963). Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities (17th ed.). Menasha, Wisconsin: The Collegiate Press, George Banta Company, Inc. pp. 526.
  22. ^ Robson, John, ed. (1963). Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities (17th ed.). Menasha, Wisconsin: The Collegiate Press, George Banta Company, Inc. p. 528.
  23. ^ a b Ohlheiser, Joseph T (October 1908). "In Memory of Simon E. Jacobsohn". The Violinist, vol VI. The Violinist Co. pp. 9–10. Retrieved January 24, 2010. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  24. ^ "Happy Prosperous Denton: North Texas Normal College," Fort Worth Gazette, April 8, 1895, pg. 8, col. 2
  25. ^ "Henry F. Miller & Sons Piano Co". The Courier. 5 (24): 21. May 1892. hdl:2027/nyp.33433065957502. Retrieved December 30, 2024 – via Hathi Trust.
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