Woman's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago

The Woman’s Symphony Orchestra of Chicago was a leading American orchestra that flourished in concert halls and summer stages, in Chicago and on tour, as well as on regular radio broadcasts from 1925 to about 1948 (or 1952).

History

The orchestra was founded in 1925 by flutist Adeline Schmidt, cellist Lois Bichl, and clarinetist Lillian Poenisch.[1] Like most industries of the era, women were barred from participating in most professional orchestras throughout the mid-20th century. Nonetheless, in 1924, a year before the Woman's Symphony Orchestra of this article was founded, another one with nearly the same name was founded by Elena Moneak,[Notes 1][2] which lasted until 1928.[1] (see Disambiguation section, below)

Schmidt, Bichl, and Poenisch felt that Moneak's orchestra lacked professionalism from vocational, performance quality, and business management perspectives and aspired to create one. Initially, their overarching organizational objective was to offer professional performing experiences for women artists, which soon included women composers and conductors. The orchestra premiered notable works of women composers and showcased the artistry of several acclaimed women conductors. Among other things, the orchestra launched a scholarship program aimed at developing more opportunities for female professional orchestral brass and woodwind musicians.

Demise of the orchestra

There is some debate about the end of the orchestra. Some music historians have noted the end of the orchestra as dating to its bankruptcy in 1948. However a photo of the orchestra exists dated 1952.[3][4] The bankruptcy of the Woman's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago is generally known to have been the result of systemic changes following the World War II rather than a simple lack of demand for all-female orchestras. As men in the U.S. were drafted in great numbers, often not returning, this resulted in a great demand in previously all-male professional orchestras to recruit female musicians from all female orchestras.[5]

Timeline

Selected personnel

Founding musicians
  • Lillian Poenisch (née Lillian Juanita Poenisch; 1897–1981), clarinetist, also founded the Chicago Women's Concert Band[7]
  • Adeline Schmidt (née Adeline Elizabeth Moore; 1879–1936), flutist, who, on December 27, 1910, in Milwaukee, married Christian Carl Martin Schmidt (born 1883).
  • Lois Bichl (née Lois Colburn; 1898–1975), cellist, who had studied in New York with (i) Carl A. Brüchkner (1868–1951), a cellist with the Chicago Symphony for 41 years, and (ii) Bruno Steindel (1866–1949) and in Chicago with (iii) Alfred Wallenstein (1898–1983). She was married twice, both to musicians, first, on March 11, 1920, to Frederick Thomas Langan (1877–1940), xylophonist and second, on August 21, 1925, to Edgar Anthony Bichl (1885–1968). Lois Bichl, under the name Lois Colburn, was a cellist with the Houston and San Antonio Symphonies, and also was an influential music educator.

Founding non-musicians (patrons)
  • Kathryn Funk (née Kathryn Frances Meeker; 1869–1941). Since 1895, she had been married to Clarence Sydney Funk (1866–1930). She was a vocalist. Kathryn had a degree from the Chicago Musical College.[8]

Conductors
1924–1927: Richard Czerwonky (né Richard Rudolph Czerwonky; 1886–1949)[9]
1927–1929: Ethel Leginska (1886–1970)
1929–1939: Ebba Sundstrom Nylander (née Ebba Irene Violet Sundstrom; 1896–1963), violinist, who, in 1920, married Victor Theodore Nylander (1887–1962)[5][9]
1938–1940: Gladys Welge (née Gladys Louise Welge; 1902–1976)[9] Welge, a violinist, founded, in 1931, the Symphony of Oak Park & River Forest. Welge was the Woman's Symphony's last woman conductor. Welge was assistant conductor of the orchestra for nine years and conductor for two.
1940–1944: Izler Solomon (1910–1987)[10] Notably, Solomon conducted the orchestra for 26 weekly broadcasts for Libby Owen
1942: Nikolai Malko (1883–1961)
1944–1945: Jerzy Bojanowski (1893–1983)

Guest conductors

Guest soloists

Notable performances
Program:
  1. Fingal's Cave, Mendelssohn
  2. Siegfried Idyll, by Wagner
  3. Violin Concerto No. 1, by Bruch
  4. Scènes Alsaciennes, by Massenet
  5. Two Elegiac Melodies, by Grieg
  6. Danse Bacchanale, by Saint-Saëns (from Samson and Delilah)
  1. Piano Concerto in D minor, by Price (1887-1953); Bonds, soloist[5]

Disambiguation
  • Elena Moneak[Notes 1] founded, in 1924, the Women's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago. That orchestra debuted at the Woman's World's Fair in Chicago in 1924 – Elena Moneak, conducting – and performed its final concert at the Woman's World Fair in 1928.[1][Notes 1][2]
  • Bohumir Kryl (1875–1961), a conductor, led a Women's Symphony named, in 1948, Kryl's Women's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago. This was not the same organization of this article.[12]

Notes and references

Notes
  1. Elena Moneak (maiden; 1890–1968) was one of a small body of artists – the others included Lucie Bigelow Rosen (1890–1968) and Clara Rockmore (1911–1998) – who extended the frontier of theremin music. Elena married twice, first on March 14, 1917, in Chicago to Henry Howind (né Heinrich Friedrich Ernst Howind; 1879–1957), with whom she had two daughters. Her second marriage was on April 30, 1939, to Frankie Snite (né Frank Joseph Snite; 1877–1962).
  2. Amy Neill Amy Neill (née Amy Emerson Weldon Neill; 1896–1983) owned, from 1921 to 1930, a violin made by Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri, del Gesù, made in Cremona in 1736, nicknamed the "Count Cessol" violin: (Cozio online catalog No. 40422); the violin had formerly been owned by Virginia Ferni Teja (née Virginia Ferni; 1837–1926), sister of violinist Carolina Ferni (1846–1926). Neill, on September 24, 1924, married Avern B. Scolnik (1895–1974), a lawyer and amateur albeit accomplished violinist and violin collector. They divorced sometime before 1952.

References
  1. Dempf, Linda Terese (June 2006). "The Woman's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago". Notes (2nd series) Music Library Association. 62 (4): 857–903. doi:10.1353/not.2006.0048. OCLC 196817685, 703515466, 5183768649. JSTOR 4487666.
  2. Moog, Robert (June 1956). "Music From Electrons". Audiocraft Magazine 16–19 & 33
  3. "Women's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago, 1952" (photo). Encyclopedia of Chicago. James R. Grossman, Ann Durkin Keating, Janice L. Reiff (eds.). (developed by the Newberry Library in cooperation with the Chicago Historical Society) (2004); OCLC 60342627, 439613551. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  4. "Woman's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago records, 1929-1948". Chicago History Museum. OCLC 709937788.
  5. Brown, Rae Linda (1993). "The Woman's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago and Florence B. Price's Piano Concerto in One Movement". American Music. 11 (2): 185–205. doi:10.2307/3052554. JSTOR 3052554.
  6. "A Prairie Girl Hitches Wagon to Music Star – Orchestra Owes Rise to Ebba Sundstrom," by Irene A. Steyskal (1904–1987; married in 1946 to Eugene Francis "Red" Powers; 1910–1980). Photo: Moffett Studio, Chicago. Chicago Tribune. July 19, 1936. Part 3, pps. 1 & 3. (accessible via Newspapers.com at Part 3, p. 1 and Part 3, p. 3, subscription required)
  7. Loungsangroong, Manchusa (2017). "First-Wave Women Clarinetists Retrospective: A Guide to Women Clarinetists Born Before 1930" (DMA document). Ohio State University. OCLC 1000312661. OhioLINK (OhioLINK)
  8. "Woman's Symphony Orchestra Opens Season Wednesday". Chicago Tribune. October 19, 1941, Part 6, p. 3 Newspapers.com, subscription required)
  9. Jagow, Shelly M (1998). "Women Orchestral Conductors in America: The Struggle for Acceptance—An Historical View from the Nineteenth Century to the Present". College Music Symposium. The College Music Society. 38: 126–145. JSTOR 40374324. OCLC 6033020105. ISSN 0069-5696)
  10. "Feminine Musicians Approved." Columbus Dispatch, August 3, 1941, p. 56 (accessible via GenealogyBank.com, subscription required)
  11. The Violin-makers of the Guarneri Family, 1626–1762, By William Henry Hill (1857–1927), Arthur Frederick Hill, Alfred Ebsworth Hillp. 101 (also on p. 88); OCLC 750470444
  12. "Kryl: Women's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago: 44th Annual Tour". Iowa Digital Library. University of Iowa. 1948. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
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