Orchestra for All: Community, Race, and Storytelling at the Twentieth-Century American Symphony

Abstract

In this dissertation, I trace the changes and continuities in the relationship between orchestras and their local communities through the lens of three organizations: the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO, founded 1916), Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO, founded 1895), and Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO, founded 1914). These ensembles possess rich histories and current agendas of community service, but they have rarely placed that past and present in dialogue. Through synthesizing materials from their archives, I argue that the lens of community brings the distinctiveness of an orchestra’s story into focus and that institutional storytelling which emphasizes historical community engagement can strengthen present-day community engagement. In the opening chapter, I examine the motivations and impact of American performers, patrons, and advocates of European-derived classical music in rallying their cities around a symphony orchestra, tracing the concept of community through existing scholarly accounts of American orchestral history. Each of the following chapters covers a particular theme related to the community relationships of the BSO, CSO, and DSO, moving fluidly across the twentieth century. In Chapter Two, I show how the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s messaging, educational programs, and alternative concert formats in the 1920s and 1930s reflected an “Orchestra for All” ethos that intersected with local identity, alternately lifting up the community as deserving of art and disparaging many in the community for a lack of culture. Chapter Three steps outside the archives to center the history of Black and integrated orchestras in the U.S. in the context of community, with a focus on ensembles dedicated to European symphonic repertoire. Chapters Four through Six deal with orchestras’ embrace of outreach to their local Black communities over the course of the twentieth century, particularly following the civil rights movement. In Chapter Four, I examine how the CSO and DSO incorporated this agenda into their institutional structure and how it was received by the community, revealing how orchestras tended to underestimate the severe damage done by previous exclusionary policies and rhetoric. In Chapter Five, I explore orchestra outreach initiatives involving the elevation of Black culture and artistry through special concerts (entangled with the legacy of orchestral “pops”) and symposia, as the CSO and DSO worked to find the balance of celebrating or marginalizing Black contributions to orchestral music and other local music traditions. In Chapter Six, I trace the BSO’s relationship with Black Baltimoreans across the entire twentieth century, modeling the sort of community-centric storytelling which I call on American orchestras to practice. In Chapter Seven, I consider how orchestras tell their own stories (or local or national stories) at anniversary moments or, in rare cases, through the employment of archivists, highlighting the competing internal priorities for articulating an institutional narrative; and finally provide an overview of new developments and debates surrounding orchestra-community work in the twenty-first century. I present the intersection of history and community as a rich and promising area for orchestras to embrace as they seek to build trust and mutual respect with local residents and organizations.