GAINESVILLE 2011

Franz Liszt never gave regular piano lessons to anyone, but he did oversee B.J’s piano studies for some time.” (Ryan) The 1897 entry in The NATIONAL CYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY states that Lang “was so fortunate to have the personal direction of Liszt while studying piano.” (430) The meeting of Liszt and Lang may have occurred over a card game when “One evening, at the whist table, he [Lang] had held all the trumps, and when suspected of being a card sharp found a supporter in Liszt. This was remembered in 1968 by his daughter Margaret. (Boston Globe 100th year article)

She also revalled that “Liszt took father to many concerts.”(Miller-Globe article) “During these years [1855-1858] he [Lang] began a lasting friendship with Franz Liszt and Liszt’s daughter, Cosima. In later years this friendship with Cosima would provide him with an entrée into the circle of luminaries surrounding Richard Wagner.” (Cline, 9) Cosima might also be the link with Hans von Bulow (whom she married in 1857- in 1870 she married Wagner) who hired B. J. as his conductor for concerts in 1875 that included the world premier of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1.

When Lang returned to Boston after his three years of European study, he “made his first public appearance in Boston as a pianist in 1858 at a concert of the Mendelssohn Quintet Club, taking part in Beethoven’s C Minor Trio, Opus 1, No. 3. (its first performance in the city) Thus at his first appearance before a Boston audience, he already gave evidence of a tendency that has since become characteristic of him-a constant desire to introduce new works to the public.” (Apthorp Article in Music, August 1893) John Dwight”s review in his weekly Journal of Music said: “The piano part was played by Mr. B. J. Lang, with a precision, cleanness, and expression that would have done honor to far more experienced artists. We do not remember a more promising debut in this kind.” (Dwight, February 6, 1858, p. 359)

In addition to concert appearances, one of Lang”s main sources of income was piano teaching.”A teacher of incredible activity (when I knew him he was giving regularly lessons from 8.30 to 6).” (Foote, Auto., p. 45) Another source noted that he taught as many as fourteen lessons daily and claimed to have instructed over two hundred concert pianists.” His obituary mentioned that he: “Had Taught 5,000 Pupils.” (Globe, Apr. 5, 1909, p. 1) The building at 6 Newbury St. where he had his studio, is entirely peopled with his former students.” (Ibid) The singer Clara Kathleen Rogers (Clara Doria) wrote that Lang “had an unusually large following of devoted disciples… [His] pupils, one and all, adored him, and only awaited a sign from him to render willing service.” (Rogers, TWO LIVES, p. 146 and 147) As a piano teacher Lang was very well regarded. “His class of private pupils upon the pianoforte belongs to the very elite of Boston.” (Mathews p. 429)

Another important part of Lang’s career was founding and conducting two choral groups which still exist in Boston today. The older of the two, the Apollo Club, a male voice choir, was begun in 1871 with Lang as its first conductor, a post that he held for thirty years, until 1901. “The success of the Apollo, both musically and socially, was so great and so rapid that it soon had imitators all over the country. The general taste of the time was represented by the light part-songs of the lesser German Romantic composers, but B.J. favored larger works with orchestral accompaniment.Lang”s rehearsal methods also were not appreciated by some: Apthorp wrote-“Nothing like such drilling has ever been known before in Boston.His principle was that in chorus singing, as in every sort of musical performance, the indispensable basis is technique; without a solid technique nothing worthwhile can be done, and the technique can only be acquired through severe drilling.That arduous system of drilling to which Gericke subjected the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and which was so much commented on at the time, both favorably and adversely, as something utterly unprecedented by its severity, was really first applied to the Apollo Club and Cecilia by Lang.” (Fox, Lang Papers, p. 7)

In the spring of 1901 an insert in the May 1, 1901 concert program of the Apollo Club (their 171st. concert) noted that Mr. Lang “positively declines a renomination” as conductor. This final program appropriately opened with Sullivan”s The Long Day Closes followed by two choral pieces by Margaret Ruthven Lang, Alastair MacAllistair (Old Scotch Song) and Here”s a Health to One I lo”e Dear (Old Scotch Song) while in the second half, two of Lang”s own solo songs, The Lass of Carlisle and The Chase were sung by Mr. Clarence E. Hay. (BPL Lang Prog., Vol. 7) Just a short word about Lang as a composer-he regularly preformed his piano pieces in his concerts including concerts in Germany-he also programmed his solo songs and choral pieces with the groups that he conducted. But, except for one short piece, he never allowed his works to be published. In fact, in his will, he instucted his son to destroy all his manuscripts!

The second choral group that Lang founded was a mixed chorus called the Cecilia Society. This was begun in 1874, first as a part of the Harvard Musical Association Orchestral Concerts, but it soon became independent. The music critic Louis Elson wrote “The Cecilia has given more first performances of great works in its own city than any other Boston musical society, and these have extended all the way from Bach’s B minor Mass, to Massenet’s Fall of Jericho and Wagner’s Parsifal”. (Elson: History American Music, p. 82) The group’s internet site states: “It all began when B. J. Lang founded the Cecilia Society. A man of great force of personality, Lang’s boldness set the tone for what Cecilia was to become. He had a passion for ‘firsts,’ and presented the Boston premieres of 105 works that have now become standard choral repertoire, including perennial favorites like Brahms’ Ein deutches Requiem.” (www.bostoncecilia.org/about/about-us.html) This represents a massive amount of work: first, getting to know the new works; then deciding when and where they should be programmed; ordering the vocal scores, and then renting the orchestral parts from the individual publishers which would have been spread all over Europe!

Lang also performed as a solo pianist with the Harvard Musical Association and the first seasons of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In fact “It was he (Lang) who first suggested the great series of Harvard Symphony Concerts; it was he who more than any other held the programmes up to their first high level. It was his influence which brought out in Boston for the first time the pianoforte concertos of Bach, and most of those of Schumann, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven, as well as the works of the newer school of Rubinstein, St. Saens, Bronsart, etc.” (Mus. Ob., 1884)

Another area in which Lang supported these concerts was through pre-concert lectures. Dwight praised him for “assembling a hundred or two of his pupils and their friends on the Thursday preceding that of each concert, and, with the aid of a brother pianist (Mr. Perabo), playing over the entire programme to them with historical and analytic explanations.” December 1868 was the third winter that he had been doing this. (Dwight, December 12, 1868, p. 367)

One of the most notable points in Lang”s career occured when he was asked to conduct the WORLD premier of Tchaikovsky”s First Piano Concerto. The pianist was Hans von Bulow whom Lang had probably met when strudying with Liszt, von Bulow had married Liszts” daughter Cosima (who, incidentally later left him to marry Richard Wagner). The well known New York conductor, Carl Bergmann had been hired to conduct-Dwight had called him the best conductor in America! But von Bulow recorded that “Bergmann had not taken as much interest in the concerts as he had in drinking beer, he had missed two meetings to discuss the concerts which forced Bulow to make suggestions to the orchestra himself, and then, while Bulow was beginning his solo pieces in one of the concerts, Bergmann audibly invited the musicians to ”go get some refreshments,” and brought six of them back half tipsy.” (Lott, p. 251) The Tchaikovsky premier was in the fifth of von Bulow”s series of Boston concerts. Von Bulow”s gratefulness to Lang extended to having him also conduct the sixth concert, and he also asked Lang to conduct the same work in Philadelphia. The recent critic Michael Steinberg mused: “I do wonder, though, what it all sounded like with B. J. Lang”s little orchestra with [just] its four first violins (Steinberg, p. 477)

At his death his estate was worth $600,000. What would that be today?

There are many connections between B. J. Lang in his era and Leonard Bernstein in a more recent era. Both were fine pianists; both were composers; both were educators; both were conductors; and both had a major impact on the musical life of their respective times.

Next we consider B. J.”s most famous child, MARGARET RUTHVEN LANG.

We will begin by hearing her most popular song, Irish Love Song for which she probably also wrote the text. This song uses a simple strophic construction well suited to it”s folk style. The text is addressed to ‘Mavoureen,’ which could be the woman being sung about-the word itself is an Irish Gaelic word meaning ‘my darling’. The popularity if this song is reflected in the number of copies sold. The total U. S. press run for was 120,835 copies, almost 20,000 copies more than for Edward MacDowell”s best-loved song, The Beaming Eyes.”(Cipolla, p. 91)

PERFORM IRISH LOVE SONG (No. 4 on George recording)

Margaret Ruthven Lang, eldest of three surviving children, was born in Boston on November 27, 1867. Her first musical instruction was piano lessons with a student of her father. He, himself later took over her instruction. (Downes, “Boston Post,” August 25, 1907) Her non-musical education was at private schools (Saerchinger, p. 356). “Her environment has been most helpful to artistic growth, for the Lang home is the rendezvous for gifted people and the informal ‘at homes’ very stimulating to higher thought and purpose. When a child of twelve, [1880] Miss Lang used to play ensemble with two friends. It occurred to her to write something for this group, so she launched forth her craft. She humorously relates how her father helped her to ‘paw out’ the consecutive fifths and other startling intruders in well-ordered composition. But he wisely saw that her thought was of more value than its expression.”

In a letter dated May 22, 1893 she wrote: “I first studied harmony in Boston with my father, and the pianoforte and violin under various teachers…During a two years sojurn in Munich, I studied counterpoint and fugue and the violin under two different teachers. On returning to America I studied, in Boston, orchestration with Mr. Chadwick and the pianoforte with my father. During these years I wrote many songs, and after my return from Munich I published the first group of six songs at the advice and under the supervision of Mr. MacDowell.”(Scrapbook 1887-1904)

“Margaret Lang held great respect for her father’s teaching and continued to seek his advice after her career was well-established.”(Cline, p. 11) “Margaret Lang was raised in a cosmopolitan household. Visitors from overseas were welcome and frequently present in the Lang home. In addition, Margaret was accustomed to traveling abroad with her parents, making her first trip to Europe at the age of two. She was present, as a child, in the home of Richard Wagner, and knew the Wagner children as playmates. As she grew older and more aware of her musical surroundings she undoubtedly listened with interest to the music performed at the evening gatherings at Wagner’s home. These soirees, involving musicians of the magnitude of Liszt, Wagner, Von Bulow, Dvorak and Paderewski, certainly contributed to Margaret Lang’s sense of sophistication regarding the work of composition.” (Cline, p. 11)

The first public performances of Margaret’s pieces were given at the second of “Two Song-Recitals” sung by William J. Winch in Boston’s Chickering Hall on December 14, 1887. The reviews were consistently positive. The “Advertiser” singled out Ghosts,” …Mr. Winch has never sung better than in these fairy-like bits of melody which Miss Lang has made so signal.” The spring of 1889 saw the first of her songs published. A newspaper review of May 4, 1889 had particular praise for Ghosts. “Despite its simple character and musical structure, Ghosts was a song that helped establish Lang’s reputation as a composer. It was well received critically and was popular among Boston audiences, being performed many times from 1887 to 1896. Certainly, the song’s simplicity appealed to both the concert-going audience and the music-buying public. The critical response, however, was guided by gendered views. Reviewers notes its ‘sentiments soft, delicate and sweet.’ Rupert Hughes in AMERICAN COMPOSERS describes it as ‘elfin and dainty as snowflakes.’ In fact, he reprinted Ghosts as the only musical example of Lang’s work as a composer, while describing her music as ‘supremely womanly.’ Ghosts was perhaps the perfect example of what critics believed was an outlet for female composers, and hence they praised the work for its simplicity and unpretentiousness at the same time recognizing it as a legitimate art song.” (Blunsom, p. 218)

To show the growth of Lang as a composer, we will now hear a late song which also is concerned with SNOW. You will hear a much more sophisticated accompaniment and harmonic pallette.

PLAY SNOWFLAKES (No. 20 on George recording)

Soon after, she had first performances at the Manuscript Club which was “Formed in 1888, this club was founded to offer local composers the opportunity to hear their works performed before an intelligent audience. The date was January 19, 1888, and B. J. accompanied William J. Winch. The Manuscript Club performance was held at the home of Isabel Stuart Gardner at 150-152 Beacon Street.A year later, February 28, 1889, the Manuscript Club gave another performance at Mrs. Gardner’s home which included Ojala, sung by Mr. George F. Parker and accompanied by Margaret. It would seem that Mrs. Gardner became a good friend of the family as she gave to “the composer Margaret Ruthven Lang her much-prized harpsichord. The Guest Book of the Lang farm in New Boston, NH records visits from Mrs. Gardner in 1895, 1902, 1903 and 1907. Another indication of the Gardner-Lang friendship is reflected in the fact the Mrs. Gardner was in charge of arranging the floral offerings at B. J. Lang’s funeral in 1909. Locke also cites many letters from Margaret and B. J. to Mrs. Gardner, and suggests that she may have been “a regular sponsor of his several choral societies. (Locke, pp. 120 and 108)

Dear Miss Lang,

I showed your songs to van der Stucken who says he will put Ojala on his programme. I expect to accompany it myself and hope to bring down the house. Concert is day after tomorrow. All Well. Kind regards to all.

E. A. MacDowell (Scrapbook)

PERFORM OJALA (No. 2 George recording)

The “Musical Courier” of January 25, 1893 announced that Margaret Ruthven Lang “will visit New York next month as the guest of Mrs. Winslow Homer, the wife of the well-known painter.It will be remembered that several receptions were given here last year in Miss Lang”s honor, Notably one at Dr. and Mrs. Gerrit Smith”s, at which several of the lady”s works were performed to the delight of all who listened.Similar receptions are being planned for her this season, in order that Miss Lang may meet as many as possible of New York”s prominent musicians and in order that the latter may have an opportunity of becoming acquainted with this gifted and beautiful woman.” (Scrapbook)

Thus, Margaret was, in 1893, a composer well known in here native Boston, and performed regularly in other parts of America and also in Europe. What would be next? Now aged twenty-five, she had her first large orchestral work was premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra-the Dramatic Overture, Opus 12 conducted by Nikisch on April 7 and 8, 1893. This was the FIRST TIME THAT AN AMERICAN ORCHESTRA HAD PLAYED A PIECE BY AN FEMALE COMPOSER!! A description of the worked noted: “It has some strong contrasts, especially between the chief theme and the subordinate. The first is grim and medieval, the second tender and human. To place these two in juxtaposition in itself gives something of dramatic power, and the development of both is singularly unconventional.”(Elson:History American Music p. 306) Francis H. Jenks in his “Musical Herald” review described the work as “an ingeniously devised and constructed composition with evidences of thought at every turn.” Philip Hale reported that the overture was applauded, but the attempt to call the composer forward was in vain. Seventy-four years later Miss Lang remembered the incident well: “I crept up to the balcony and hid.” Hale’s specific comments were probably a trial for the young composer. He wrote: “Miss Lang’s overture is perhaps a creditable work for a young student. Whether it deserved a place in a Symphony concert is another question. Although Miss Lang in certain songs has shown in the past a pretty melody, the themes of the overture are not of marked originality or striking effect. There are ingenious passages in the detail, but there is a general lack of definite purpose in the conception and in the carrying out. As a result there is occasional piquancy, and there are pleasing measures, but this dramatic overture is a promise rather than a fulfillment.” (Scrapbook, Musical Courier, April 12, 1893)

In preparing to write her Dramatic Overture, Margaret was able to use her father’s standing in the Boston musical community and his connections for her own benefit. She recalled: “They told me…to take some Grieg to the orchestra (BSO) and hear how it sounded, so I could learn about orchestration. So I went to one of Nikisch’s rehearsals and they played for me. Things were so easy in those days.”(Miller-100^th birthday interview) The more relaxed standards of the time are reflected in a story recorded by Leichtentritt. “A scene I witnessed at a rehearsal of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra years later [after his Boston years] showed Nikisch’s habitual practice. A complicated new work by Max Reger was to be rehearsed for the first time. Nikisch stepped to the conductor’s desk with his customary aplomb. When he opened the printed score before him, it turned out to have uncut leaves, a sure proof that he had never looked at it before. He became acquainted with a new work only as he rehearsed it, relying on his amazing musical instinct and his vast experience as a conductor. Studying scores at home as a preparation for the performance did not appeal to him.” (Leichtentritt, p. 368)

As Margaret destroyed all her instrumental works and all her unpublished works, we only have brief descriptions to help us imagine what the piece sounded like. The critic, William Foster Apthorp, who was also writing the Program Notes for the Boston Symphony, sent a letter to Margaret concerning his study of the score in preparation for writing the note. “Where did you get the idea of reinforcing the effect of those jumps from C major to E minor, and E major to A minor, by that Scharfrichter’s rhythm? I don’t know when I have heard that ‘Meyerbeer’ snap of the two short notes and a long one sound so new, and so little as if Meyerbeer had written it. I have also great hopes for the place where the third horn comes in against the twiddle-twiddle in the violins. And how stunning of you to have kept your trombones and trumpets for the preaching, and made your big crashes without them! I hope Nikisch will follow his native bent, and give the final ‘pa-pa-pum——-PUM!’ as it looks in the score. Ever so many thanks, yrs., &c., &c., &c.” (Scrapbook)

Critical judgement of the piece was generally negative. The Courier review of April 9, 1893 said: “The overture while evidently the work of a skillful and refined musician is nevertheless a very characteristic sample of ‘kapelmeistermusik.’” (Unsigned) Another review devoted 75 per cent of its content to the new piece: “Of the composition itself there is not much to be said that is pleasant in the saying. It is creditable as the result of a laudable ambition to essay an important work, and it may be pronounced a promising first attempt; but it is scarcely of a worth to warrant its performance, unless, indeed, to afford the composer an opportunity to hear it, and to profit by the experience.” (Unsigned) But not all reviews were negative. However, another review devoted one-half of its space to Margaret”s work, all of which was complimentary. “Miss Margaret Ruthven Lang”s new dramatic overture was given for the first time at the Symphony last week, the composition by our talented townswoman proving to be of great merit. In the beginning two themes are developed, one sombre and of an antique character,the other passionate and modern treatment, each played against the other and producing a dramatic effect original but melodic. The work received a most flattering reception, and Mr. Nikisch”s orchestra gave a delightful interpretation of the number.” (Courtesy of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Archive)

There is no record of the work ever being performed again by the BSO or any other orchestra. Still Margaret continued to compose large orchestral works. Her Opus 10, Witichis Overture was played at the Chicago Columbian World”s Fair in the summer of 1893, having been chosen by a noted group of musicians including St. Saens, oh, and yes, Margaret”s father was on the committee. She also wrote another overture, Totila, and an orchestra Ballade that was played in Baltimore in 1901. She composed three Concert Arias with orchestral accompaniment. Sappho’s Prayer to Aphrodite for alto was performed in New York on October 24, 1895. Soon after, on January 29, 1896, it was sung by Mrs. H. E. Sawyer at a concert at 265 Beacon Street where the accompanist was Arthur Foote, one of B. J.s star piano pupils. Another performer who quickly learned this aria was Lena Little who sang it at the “Concert in Aid of the Free Hospital for Women” on March 26th. of that year.

A second aria, Armida for soprano was performed by the BSO on January 13, 1896 with Gertrude Franklin as the soloist and Emil Paur conducting. The critic Louis Elson, who was usually very supportive, wrote: “The setting is by no means as dramatic as its poetic subject, and the composer seems to have missed the majestic power of the great death-scene.” Margaret also wrote a third aria for baritone which was entitled Phoebus’ Denunciation of the Furies At His Delphian Shrine that probably was never performed.

However, Margaret”s success in the solo song and choral material continued. Her father”s programming of her work with his groups the Cecilia Society, a mixed voice choir and the Apollo Club, a male voice choir, certainly helped introduce her works, but many were soon taken up by singers and choirs all over America and in Europe.

In 1905 Schmidt published a set of limericks by Edward Lear set to music by Margaret under the title Nonsense Rhymes and Pictures, Opus 42. Two years later a second set was published, Opus 43. The first set contained twelve songs, while the second had ten. As the texts are only four short lines, often Margaret began each setting with a longish piano introduction that sets the mood. In There was an old Man in a Tree the mood-setting introduction is done by the voice doing the sound of a bee buzzing.

PLAY OLD MAN TREE (No. 18 George recording) (1:46))

The success of these songs led Margaret to set a number of them for SATB, SSAA, or TTBB voices. In 1998 Walton Music republished three SSAA settings; earthsongs republished two for SSAA including Old Man in a Tree; Hildegarde Publishing (Theodore Presser) reprinted Opus 42 in 1997. The Library of Congress has slso free downloads of a number of these settings-they also reproduce Lang”s original manuscript of each piece. At the 2009 National ACDA Convention, the High School Honors Choir sang The Old Man With a Beard.

PLAY OLD MAN WITH A BEARD # 13 (1:18)

Margaret”s “Scrapbooks” in the Boston Public Library contain many programs were her works were heard. If these were Boston performances, she would try to attend as many as possible. her Christmas Cantata, The Night of the Star: Opus 52 was published in 1913. The following Boston area churches performed the work:

Miss Lang’s interest in music “as a thankful listener” continued unabated until her death on May 30, 1972 at the age of 104. Members of her family had occupied seat B-1 of the first balcony since Symphony Hall opened in 1900, and she continued to occupy it regularly attending by subway “until three years before her death.” (Fox, Sexual Aesthetics, p. 5) “The woman next to me wants my seat. We chaff about it. But I want to keep the name Lang on the subscriber’s list.”(Miller-Globe article) The Lang”s family friend, Isabella Stewart Gardner had also bought season tickets the first season near to where the Langs sat.

One celebration of her 100^th Birthday was on Friday, November 24, 1967 when Erich Leinsdorf conducted the BSO and dedicated some of the pieces to her. Henry B. Cabot, one of the Symphony Trustees, made a personal contribution of $2,500 to the Commemorative Fund so that seat B-1 could be named in her honor. Like a typical Bostonian, even at the age of 100, she used the subway to travel to Symphony Hall. She was described at this time as being “tiny and chipper as a semi-quaver…Dressed in black, with a knotted rope of pearls and rings her adornments.” (Miller-Globe article) The program book for this concert mentioned that “She has a vivacity and alertness that would put many people half her age to shame.” (BSO Program Book for November 24 and 25, p. 455) The Globe Society Editor, Marjorie Sherman wrote that “A brisk figure will emerge from the subway at Symphony Station today with ample time to take her place in a first balcony seat where she has been a familiar sight since the hall was opened in October, 1900…Miss Lang has listened to every conductor since George Henschel in 1881.” (Article courtesy Boston Symphony Orchestra Archives, Boston Globe, November 24, 1967) “At fourteen she attended the first season of the Boston Symphony, in 1881. She has been attending ever since, under all eleven conductors, first in the old Music Hall in downtown Boston, and then in Symphony Hall since 1900. During a recent discussion of future plans for Boston and Symphony Hall, Miss Lang remarked: ”Everything is so interesting. I”d like to live to be 125 so I can see how it all turns out.”” (Scrapbook) An article by John J. Mullins entitled “Composer Margaret Lang, 101, just ‘wants to live forever’ began with quote: “I’d love to see what’s coming. That’s why I want to live forever.” ” Another example of Margaret’s continued interest in the world around her is reflected in Amy DuBois’ remembering that during a visit in 1969, Margaret showed her that she was reading Aldridge Cleaver’s Soul On Ice. (Interview) Another example is that she “was known to correspond with over 60 individuals a month, writing letters in four languages.” (Cline, e-mail July 9, 2008)