Making Music in Los Angeles: Transforming the Popular (Roth Family Foundation Music in America

392 Pages·2007·1.31 MB·English

by  Catherine Parsons Smith

ROTH FAMILY FOUNDATION
Music in America Imprint
Michael P.Roth
and Sukey Garcetti
have endowed this
imprint to honor the
memory of their parents,
Julia and Harry Roth,
whose deep love of music
they wish to share
with others.
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous
contribution to this book provided by the Music in America
Endowment Fund of the University of California Press Foundation,
which is supported by a major gift from Sukey and Gil Garcetti,
Michael Roth,and the Roth Family Foundation.
Making Music in Los Angeles

Making Music in Los Angeles
Transforming the Popular
catherine parsons smith
University of California Press
berkeley los angeles london
University of California Press,one of the most distinguished university
presses in the United States,enriches lives around the world by advanc-
ing scholarship in the humanities,social sciences,and natural sciences.
Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philan-
thropic contributions from individuals and institutions.For more infor-
mation,visit www.ucpress.edu.
The following chapters were previously published in different form and
appear courtesy of their original publishers:a portion of chapter 3 as
“Making Music in Los Angeles:The E.C.Bagley Collection,”Coranto:
Journal of the Friends of the USC Libraries,no.26 (1992):56–70;chap-
ter 4 as “‘Popular Prices Will Prevail’:Setting the Social Role of
European-Based Concert Music,”Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology
10 (1994):206–21 (Los Angeles issue),used by permission of the De-
partment of Ethnomusicology Publications,University of California,
U.C.Regents;chapter 8 as “‘Something of Good for the Future’:The
People’s Orchestra of 1912–1913,”Nineteenth-Century Music16,no.2
(1992):147–61,copyright 1992–1993 by The Regents of the University
of California;and chapter 10 as “Founding the Hollywood Bowl,”Amer-
ican Music11 (1993):206–43,courtesy of University of Illinois Press.
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles,California
University of California Press,Ltd.
London,England
© 2007 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Smith,Catherine Parsons.
Making music in Los Angeles :transforming the popular / Catherine
Parsons Smith.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index.
isbn978-0-520-25139-7 (cloth :alk.paper)
1.Music—Social aspects—California—Los Angeles—History—20th
century. 2.Music—Social aspects—California—Los Angeles—
History—19th century. I.Title.
ML3917.U6S65 2007
780.9794'94—dc22 2006036207
Manufactured in the United States of America
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on New Leaf EcoBook 50,a 100% recycled fiber of
which 50% is de-inked post-consumer waste,processed chlorine-free.
EcoBook 50 is acid-free and meets the minimum requirements of
ansi/astm d5634-01 (Permanence of Paper).1
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
1. Music Making as Popular Practice 1
part i. music for the “people”
2. “The Largest and Most Enthusiastic Audience
That Ever Has Assembled in the City”:
The National Opera Company of 1887 15
3. “A Precarious Means of Living”:
Early Working Musicians and Their Jobs 26
4. “Popular Prices Will Prevail”:
Competing and Cooperating Impresarios 43
5. Amateurs,Professionals,and Symphonies:
Harley Hamilton and Edna Foy 56
6. “Our Awe Struck Vision”:
A Prominent Impresario Reconsidered 73
part ii. progressive-era musical idealism
7. The “True Temple of Art”:
Philharmonic Auditorium and Progressive Ideology 95
8. “Something of Good for the Future”:
The People’s Orchestra of 1912–1913 106
9. ProducingFairyland,1915 124
10. Founding the Hollywood Bowl 132
part iii. from progressive to ultramodern
11. Old Competitors,New Opera Companies in 1925 157
12. The New Negro Movement in Los Angeles 166
13. Welcoming the Ultramodern 187
14. Second Thoughts 202
15. Calling the Tune:The Los Angeles Federal Music Project 215
Appendix A. Los Angeles Population Growth,with Racial
and Ethnic Distribution 239
Appendix B. Musicians and Teachers of Music in the
United States and Los Angeles 245
Appendix C. A Music Chronology for Los Angeles,
1781–1941 251
Notes 255
Bibliography 325
Index 345
Illustrations
figures
1. Third Street,Los Angeles,1885 17
2. National Opera Company program book,1887 19
3. Hazard’s Pavilion 20
4. Hazard’s Pavilion interior,circa 1900 21
5. Douglas Military Band 27
6. Program for Faust,Fiesta Park,June 1897 35
7. Harry C.Wyatt 45
8. Frederick W.Blanchard 49
9. Harley Hamilton 57
10. Edna Foy 63
11. Los Angeles Women’s Orchestra 67
12. L.E.Behymer self-promotion 88
13. Program for American Syncopated Orchestra,Trinity
Auditorium,Los Angeles,1919 90
14. Philharmonic (formerly Temple) Auditorium 98
15. Charles Farwell Edson 108
16. Jennie Winston 115
17. Fairylandprogram,1915 129
18. First Annual Convention of the California Federation of
Music Clubs,May 1919 130
19. Artie Mason Carter 134
ix