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The “Giving in America” display case that includes Thomas’s score for Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony (Hugh Talman/National Museum of American History via the Associated Press
As reported on this blog last week, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Rosenthal Archives has loaned a very special artifact from its collections to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.: the score of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony that Theodore Thomas—our founder and first music director—likely used for the Chicago Orchestra‘s inaugural concerts at the Auditorium Theatre on October 16 and 17, 1891.
As part of the Smithsonian’s long-term Philanthropy Initiative announced on #GivingTuesday, the new display—“Giving in America”—will be on exhibit at the National Museum of American History through November 2016.
Showcasing the role of philanthropy in shaping American civic culture—including museums, libraries, orchestras, universities, and hospitals—are several artifacts. These include a plaster bust of Andrew Carnegie along with a register book listing the 1,600 libraries he financed; a House of Worth gown designed by Charles Frederick Worth in 1881 for the philanthropist Mary Eno Pinchot; and a nurse’s cap worn by a Johns Hopkins School of Nursing student (circa 1945); along with the Beethoven score from the Theodore Thomas collection.
According to an article in Mashable, “A grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and a gift from David M. Rubenstein fund the Smithsonian’s Philanthropy Initiative, with an annual symposium, display space, and the endowment of a curatorial position . . . The museum, which is located in Washington, D.C., will open a long-term exhibition in late November 2016. In the meantime, ‘Giving in America’ will give a preview of ways giving has shaped civic culture both in the Gilded Age and the present day.”
The story was carred by numerous new outlets, including CBS News, ABC News, The Christian Science Monitor, and Liberty Voice, among several others.
Page 3 of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony; note “Property of Theo Thomas” stamps
On October 16 and 17, 1891, founder and first music director Theodore Thomas led the Chicago Orchestra’s inaugural concerts at the Auditorium Theatre. A group of more than fifty businessmen—including Chicago pioneers Armour, Fay, Field, Glessner, McCormick, Potter, Pullman, Ryerson, Sprague, and Wacker—had agreed to serve as guarantors, each pledging their continued financial support.
At the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., this giving spirit is the focus of a long-term Philanthropy Initiative announced on #GivingTuesday that includes a new display, “Giving in America” unveiled on December 1, 2015, and on view through November 2016. Included in this display is a very special artifact from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Rosenthal Archives: the oldest of Thomas’s scores for Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, a work prominently featured on those inaugural concerts.
CSO archivist Frank Villella and Newberry Library manuscripts and archives librarian Alison Hinderliter examine the score
In the Thomas collection, there are four copies of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony: three are held in the Rosenthal Archives and one at the Newberry Library. Several months ago, Newberry Library manuscripts and archives librarian Alison Hinderliter and I carefully evaluated all four copies. While it’s impossible to determine exactly which score was used for the October 1891 concerts, we decided the most likely candidate was the oldest of the four scores. That particular edition clearly bears Thomas’s markings—particularly bowings in the string parts—along with the conductor’s personal stamp on numerous pages. Several weeks ago, it was carefully packaged and shipped to Washington, D.C. for the exhibit.
Safely preparing the score for shipment from Chicago to Washington, D.C.
According to museum’s website, the preview cases for “Giving in America,” will “provide a look at how philanthropy has shaped American civic culture in two eras—the Gilded Age (1870s–1900) and the present day. The display showcases the role of philanthropy in creating some of the nation’s most enduring museums, libraries, orchestras, universities, and hospitals. It also examines the involvement of women in nineteenth-century philanthropy. Artifacts include a register book showing the 1,600 libraries financed by Andrew Carnegie, an 1881 gown designed by Charles Frederick Worth for philanthropist Mary Eno Pinchot . . . a nurse’s cap worn by a Johns Hopkins School of Nursing student (circa 1945), and current civic philanthropy stories.”
For more information, visit http://americanhistory.si.edu.
Page 35 of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony; note several markings in blue pencil, primarily indicating bowings in the string parts
from the archives 