WALTER DAMROSCH IN 1920

From a photograph by Pirie MacDonald

MY MUSICAL LIFE

BY

WALTER DAMROSCH

NEW YORK

CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS

1926

Copyright, 1923, by

CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS

Copyright, 1922, 1923, by CURTIS PUBLISHING CO.

Printed in the United States of America

To dearest M

This book I dedicate to you because you have walked hand in hand with me through most of the experiences related therein.

Because of you my disappointments have been cut in half and my happinesses made double, and if I have made known to you the wondrous muse of music, you in turn have brought into our home and given a permanent abiding place therein, the three gentle sisters—Faith, Hope and Charity.

CONTENTS
CHAPTERPAGE
I.Childhood—1866-1875[1]
II.Bayreuth in 1876—My Doll’s Theatre[13]
III.Founding of the Symphony and Oratorio Societies of New York[22]
IV.August Wilhelmj—Teresa Carreno[28]
V.Liszt and Wagner[36]
VI.The Founding of German Opera at the Metropolitan—Death of my Father[51]
VII.Lilli Lehmann[63]
VIII.Hans von Bülow[74]
IX.Andrew Carnegie and the Blaine Family[90]
X.The Damrosch Opera Company, 1895-1899[104]
XI.Artists[134]
XII.Romance[164]
XIII.The Oratorio Society of New York[169]
XIV.The New York Symphony Orchestra[186]
XV.The Great War[221]
XVI.The European Tour[272]
XVII.Women in Musical Affairs[323]
XVIII.Boston[333]
XIX.Margaret Anglin and the Greek Plays[344]
XX.Dead Composers[351]
XXI.Postlude[367]
Index[369]
ILLUSTRATIONS
[Walter Damrosch in 1920]
[Afternoon coffee in the Damrosch Home, Breslau, 1867]
[Doctor Leopold Damrosch and his son Walter at eighteen years of age]
[Lilli Lehmann as Isolde]
[Mathilde Marchesi]
[Nellie Melba]
[Camille Saint-Saëns and Walter Damrosch]
[Lieutenant Walker Blaine Beale]
[Fritz Kreisler, Harold Bauer, Pablo Casals, and Walter Damrosch]

My Musical Life