On this day in New York · December 7, 1842

The Philharmonic Plays Its First Note

A violinist who organized the whole thing himself raised his bow at the Apollo Rooms on Broadway and New York got its first orchestra, opening with Beethoven.

The facts

Date: December 7, 1842
Location: Apollo Rooms, lower Broadway, Manhattan
Opening work: Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, conducted by founder Ureli Corelli Hill
Audience: 600

On December 7, 1842, the Philharmonic Society of New York gave its first concert at the Apollo Rooms on lower Broadway, opening the program with Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. The society had organized that spring under violinist and conductor Ureli Corelli Hill, with help from the Irish composer William Vincent Wallace, and Hill led the opening symphony himself before an audience of 600. The outfit ran nothing like a modern orchestra: the musicians were partners, voting by majority on who could join, what got played, and who got to conduct, then splitting whatever money was left once the season closed. That cooperative, run out of a rented room on Broadway, is the direct ancestor of the orchestra still playing in New York today.

In their words

The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.

The first concert of the Philharmonic Society took place on December 7, 1842, in the Apollo Rooms on lower Broadway before an audience of 600.

Wikipedia, "New York Philharmonic"
Source: Wikipedia
The musicians operated as a cooperative society, deciding by a majority vote such issues as who would become a member, which music would be performed and who among them would conduct. At the end of the season, the players would divide any proceeds among themselves.

Wikipedia, "New York Philharmonic"
Source: Wikipedia

Why it still matters

That Broadway concert is the direct root of the orchestra still playing in New York today, now counted as the oldest of the country's 'Big Five' orchestras. Every Philharmonic season since has run back to musicians who owned the operation themselves and voted on their own conductor.

Sources

Get the day it happened, the day it happens.

Every morning brief ends with this day in New York history, and every day adds a page to this almanac. Free, in your inbox.

Free to start. The unsubscribe link actually works.