The Boston Music Hall was a

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage (theatre), stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention ...

located on Winter Street in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, with an additional entrance on Hamilton Place. One of the oldest continuously operating theaters in the United States, it was built in 1852 and was the original home of the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five (orchestras), Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in ...

. The hall closed in 1900 and was converted into a vaudeville theater named the Orpheum Theatre. The Orpheum, which still stands today, was substantially rebuilt in 1915 by architect Thomas W. Lamb as a movie theater. The hall has no connection with Boston's "Music Hall", a theater which is now known as the Wang Theatre.

History

The Boston Music Hall was built in 1852, thanks to a donation of $100,000, made by the Harvard Musical Association, for its construction. George Snell, assisted by Alpheus C. Morse, was the architect. The

Handel and Haydn Society The Handel and Haydn Society is an American chorus and period instrument orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. Known colloquially as 'H+H', the organization has been in continual performance since its founding in 1815, the longest serving suc ...

performed at the hall's inaugural concert. The world premiere of the Piano Concerto No. 1, by

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popula ...

took place here. The hall was the first home of the

, founded in 1881 and was also the birthplace of the

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...

. After being threatened by road building and subway construction, the Music Hall was replaced as the home of the Boston Symphony in 1900, by Symphony Hall. In addition to concerts, the hall presented important speakers of the time. Theodore Parker preached here, and his congregation, the Twenty-Eighth Congregational Society, worshiped here from 1852 to 1863. Methodist minister

Henry Morgan Sir Henry Morgan (; – 25 August 1688) was a Welsh privateer, plantation owner, and, later, the lieutenant governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he and those under his command raided settlements and shipping ports o ...

lectured in the hall . On December 31, 1862, the eve of the day the

Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Proclamation had the eff ...

took effect, Northern abolitionists gathered at the Music Hall to celebrate as the clock struck midnight.

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...

Wendell Phillips Wendell Phillips (November 29, 1811 – February 2, 1884) was an American abolitionist, labor reformer, temperance activist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, and attorney. According to George Lewis Ruffin, a black attorney, Phillip ...

Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (185 ...

William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was an Abolitionism in the United States, American abolitionist, journalist, and reformism (historical), social reformer. He is best known for his widely read anti-slavery newspaper ''The ...

, and

Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. After escaping slavery, Tubman made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends, us ...

attended.

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

lectured here in 1882.

Organ

The Boston Music Hall

Organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

, installed in 1862, was the first concert pipe organ installed in the United States. It was commissioned in 1857 and built in Germany by E.F. Walcker and Company of Ludwigsburg. It was the largest in the US at the time, containing 5,474 pipes and 84 registers. The organ was removed from the Music Hall in 1884 to provide more performing space for the Boston Symphony. Initially put into storage, the organ was rebuilt and installed by the Methuen Organ Company in the Serlo Organ Hall in

Methuen, Massachusetts Methuen () is a 23-square-mile (60 km2) city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 53,059 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Methuen lies along the northwestern edge of Essex County, just east of Midd ...

, which was built to house the organ. The organ was later rebuilt again and augmented by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company. Today Serlo Organ Hall is known as the

Methuen Memorial Music Hall Methuen Memorial Music Hall, initially named Serlo Organ Hall, is a music hall built by Edward Francis Searles to house "The Great Organ", a very large pipe organ originally built for the Boston Music Hall. The hall was completed in 1909, and ...

and concerts are regularly presented on the organ, still considered one of the leading instruments in the US.

Orpheum Theatre

When the Boston Symphony moved to Symphony Hall in 1900, the Boston Music Hall closed. It was converted for use as a vaudeville theater in 1900 and operated under a number of different names, including the Music Hall and the Empire Theatre. In 1906, it was renamed the Orpheum Theatre. In 1915, the theater was acquired by the Loew's Theatres chain and reopened again in 1916, rebuilt with a completely new interior, designed by architect Thomas W. Lamb.

References

External links

*Photos of the Boston Music Hall and Orpheum Theatre at The Boston Historical Societ

https://web.archive.org/web/20110718135000/http://rfi.bostonhistory.org/boston/full/002260.jp

https://web.archive.org/web/20110718135052/http://rfi.bostonhistory.org/boston/full/001795.jp

Image gallery

Image:1869 Kellogg Nov BostonMusicHall.png,

Clara Louise Kellogg Clara Louise Kellogg (July 9, 1842 – May 13, 1916) was an American operatic dramatic soprano with a range of two and one-half octaves. Her voice in youth was a high soprano with a range from C to E flat. With age it lost some of the highest n ...

concerts, 1869 Image:JohnRarey HorseTaming ca1865 BostonMusicHall.png, John S. Rarey's lectures and exhibitions of horse taming, Image:1861 PrinceNapoleon MusicHall Boston.png, Musical festival, to be given by the pupils of the Public Schools, in honor of H.I.H., the Prince Napoleon, and the Princess Clothilde, 1861 Image:1864 NationalSailorsFair BostonMusicHall.png, National Sailors Fair benefit, 1864 Image:1869 MusicHall Nanitz map Boston detail BPL10490.png, 1869 Image:1874 RedpathsLyceum emotion BostonMusicHall.png, Redpath's Lyceum. Boston Music Hall, Tuesday evening, Oct. 20, 1874. The mystery of emotion, an illustrated lecture by James Steele MacKaye. {{Boston theatres Commercial buildings completed in 1852 1852 establishments in Massachusetts 1900 disestablishments in Massachusetts Concert halls in Massachusetts Music venues in Boston Theatres in Boston 19th century in Boston Boston Symphony Orchestra