Indianapolis May Festival
Classical music event held from 1889 to 1898
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The Indianapolis May Festival was a classical music festival held in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Ten annual festivals were held between the years 1889 and 1898.[1]
History
The Indianapolis May Festival (IMF) was established after a successful "Indiana Music Festival" was held at the grand opening of Tomlinson Hall (TH) in 1886.[1] The TH was inaugurated on June 2, 1886, as a part of the Grand Army of the Republic Music Festival that raised money for the construction of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument.[2] This event included a performance of Rossini's Stabat Mater with a 600 member chorus, an orchestra, and Lilli Lehmann as a guest soloist. As a result of the success of this event a May Music Festival Association was established to create a festival for Indianapolis that was modeled after the Cincinnati May Festival (CMF). The CMF was in turn based on the sängerfests in Germany.[1]
Carl Barus (1823–1908) served as the first music director of the IMF; leading both the 1889 and 1890 festivals.[1] The first festival opened on May 27, 1889, with the opening piece of the festival being the Leonore Overture from Beethoven's opera Fidelio.[3] Guest musicians on the first program included pianist Adele aus der Ohe, cellist and conductor Victor Herbert, tenor Jules Perotti, and soprano Emma Juch.[3] The 1890 IMF included a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem.[4] Singers who appeared as soloists at the festival that year included Clementine de Vere, Therese Förster Herbert, Perotti, Charles A. Knorr, Charles Holman-Black, Emil Fischer, and Zelda Seguin Wallace.[5]
When Theodore Thomas took over as director of the 1891 festival, Barus remained on an his assistant. Barus also serverd as conductor of the festival chorus in 1892.[1] The 1891 IMF included a performance of Gioachino Rossini's Stabat Mater,[6] and performances with concert violinist Franz Wilczek.[7] Vocal soloists new to the IMF in 1891 included soprano Mary Howe, tenor William Lavin, and contralto Clara Poole King.[6] Walter Damrosch brought the New York Symphony Orchestra to the 1892 IMF, which also featured performances by Thomas's orchestra.[8] Soloists new to the festival that year included sopranos Anna Burch, Emma Fursch-Madi, and Margaret Reid.[9][10] One of the concerts at the 1895 IMF included an all-Wagner program with tenor William H. Rieger and soprano Lillian Nordica.[11]
Other soloists participating in IMF concerts in the 1890s included Nellie Melba and Emma Eames.[1] Other orchestras which toured to take part in the IMF included the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.[1] The final IMF in 1898 featured performances by the Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe.[12] A deficit of $3,000 in 1898 convinced the city that the festivals had become too expensive to continue, and the Festival Association disbanded.[1]