David Mannes (16 February 186625 April 1959) was an American

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist, conductor, educator, and

community organizer Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community bui ...

Biography

David Mannes was born in New York in 1866. He studied the violin in Harlem with composer and violinist

John Thomas Douglass John Thomas Douglass (1847–1886) was an American composer, virtuoso violinist, conductor and teacher. He is best known for composing '' Virginia's Ball'' (1868), which is generally regarded as the first opera written by a Black American comp ...

, the son of a freed slave, and later in Berlin with

Karel Halíř Karel Halíř (1 February 1859 – 21 December 1909) was a Czech violinist who lived mainly in Germany. "Karel" is also given as Karol, Karl or Carl; "Halíř" is also given as Halir or Haliř. Life Karel Halíř was born in Hohenelbe, Bohem ...

. Mannes was a violinist in the New York Symphony Orchestra from 1891 and its concertmaster from 1898 to 1912. In 1912 he helped found the

Colored Music Settlement School The Music School Settlement for Colored People was a New York City school established and operated to provide music education for African-American children, who were generally excluded from other music schools. The school was founded in the memory ...

and in 1916, with his wife

Clara Mannes Clara Mannes (born Clara Damrosch; 12 December 1869, Breslau, Silesia – 16 March 1948, New York City) was a German-born American musician and music educator. She and her brother Frank Damrosch also taught at the Veltin School for Girls in Manha ...

(the daughter of

Leopold Damrosch Leopold Damrosch (October 22, 1832 – February 15, 1885) was a German American orchestral conductor and composer. Biography Damrosch was born in Posen (Poznań), Kingdom of Prussia, the son of Heinrich Damrosch. His father was Jewish and his m ...

and sister of

Walter Damrosch Walter Johannes Damrosch (January 30, 1862December 22, 1950) was a German-born American conductor and composer. He was the director of the New York Symphony Orchestra and conducted the world premiere performances of various works, including Geo ...

), the Mannes Music School, both in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. David Mannes was both a musician and an activist. He believed music to be a universal language, and that it could be used to bridge divides between races and social classes in America. From 1917 to 1941, Mannes conducted free public concerts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Great Hall. The series consisted of eight concerts per year, and was funded primarily by John D. Rockefeller. Records indicate that there were 781 in attendance for the very first concert and that by the sixth concert of 1919, attendance was over 7,000. Mannes recruited musicians for the series from the New York Symphony Orchestra, and later the New York Philharmonic when the New York Symphony merged with the Philharmonic Society of New York.http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/museum-departments/curatorial-departments/musical-instruments/of-note/2014/mannes-concerts ''Music Is My Faith'' is his autobiography. Mannes is also discussed in

Maurice Peress Maurice Peress (March 18, 1930 – December 31, 2017) was an American orchestra conductor, educator and author. After serving as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein beginning in 1961, Peress went on to stand ...

' "Dvorak to Duke Ellington: A Conductor Explores America's Music and Its African American Roots." He died in 1959, aged 93, and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, in the Damrosch Family Plot.

Legacy

His children were musician

Leopold Mannes Leopold Damrosch Mannes (December 26, 1899 – August 11, 1964) was an American musician, who, together with Leopold Godowsky Jr., created the first practical color transparency film, Kodachrome. Life and career Mannes was born in New York Cit ...

and writer

Marya Mannes Marya Mannes (November 14, 1904 – September 13, 1990) was a 20th-century American writer and critic, known for her caustic but insightful observations of American life. Mannes also wrote under the pen name of "Sec." Life and career Mannes lived m ...

. His friends were many, including

John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...

John Pierpont Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became kno ...

Ernest Bloch Ernest Bloch (July 24, 1880 – July 15, 1959) was a Swiss-born American composer. Bloch was a preeminent artist in his day, and left a lasting legacy. He is recognized as one of the greatest Swiss composers in history. As well as producing music ...

, and

James Reese Europe James Reese Europe (February 22, 1881 – May 9, 1919) was an American ragtime and early jazz bandleader, arranger, and composer. He was the leading figure on the African Americans music scene of New York City in the 1910s. Eubie Blake called hi ...

. Mannes was painted by friend and artist Thomas Hart Benton in ''Portrait of David Mannes'' and ''Evening Concert''.

References

External links

*David Mannes - "Music is my Faith, an Autobiography" free download: https://archive.org/details/musicismyfaithan008740mbp 1959 deaths 1866 births American conductors (music) American male conductors (music) American Jews American music educators American violinists American male violinists Concertmasters Jewish violinists Violin pedagogues Male classical violinists {{US-violinist-stub

Biography

Legacy

References

Further reading

External links