Fadettes Of Boston

The Fadettes of Boston (1888-ca.1920) was an all-women orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, and directed by Caroline B. Nichols. "The original group of six expanded to twenty by 1898"Judith Tick. "Women as Professional Musicians in the United States, 1870-1900." Anuario Interamericano de Investigacion Musical, Vol. 9 (1973), pp. 95-133 with "a first violin and director, four additional first violins, four second violins, two violas, two violincellos, two contrabassos, kettle-drums and a bass, two flutes and piccolo, two clarinets, two cornets, two French horns, three trombones, snare-drum and 'traps,' and piano-forte." The group incorporated in 1895 as "the Fadettes of Boston."

In 1898 "vaudeville manager B.F. Keith booked them into his theatres all over the United States. According to Nichols, between 1890 and 1920 the Fadettes gave over 6,000 concerts, half of them as headliners in first-class vaudeville theatres." At a concert in Pittsburgh in 1902, for instance, the Fadettes played marches, waltzes, songs and arias by Frederic Field Bullard, Daniel Auber, Karl Michael Ziehrer, George M. Rosey, Victor G. Boehnlein and others."Fadettes win approbation: women's orchestra delights admirers of good music at exposition." The Pittsburgh Press - Sep 20, 1902 The group also performed at the Los Angeles Orpheum.

The performers "wore shimmery gowns." Among the musicians were Annie Andros Hawley, Mildred Rogers, and Lillian Thain (violin). Nichols "conducted the orchestra for thirty years and trained over six hundred women for professional careers as orchestral musicians."

Images

Image:Caroline B Nichols 1864 1939 USA.png, Portrait of Carrie Nichols, conductor, ca.1897
Image:Ethel Atwood b1870 USA.jpg, Portrait of Ethel Atwood, orchestra founder, business manager and musician, ca.1893
Image:1906 Keiths TremontSt Boston USA byDetroitPublishingCo LC.jpg, Entrance to Keith's Theatre, Boston, with poster for the Fadettes, 1906
Image:1909 Fadettes PittsburghPress January17.png, Newspaper spread about the Fadettes, '' Pittsburgh Press'', 1909
Image:1910 motto Fadette Orchestra of Boston brochure detail.png, Detail of promotional brochure, 1910

Variant names

* Boston Fadettes Ladies Brass Quartette
* Boston Fadette Lady Orchestra
* Boston Fadette Orchestra
* Boston Fadettes
* Fadette Ladies' Orchestra"Fadette Ladies' Orchestra ... Mrs. Carrie B. Nichols as leader and Miss Ethel Atwood business manager." cf. Public Opinion v.14, no.1, Oct. 8, 1892
* Fadette Orchestra
* Fadette Women's Orchestra
* The Fadettes
* The Fadettes Orchestra
* Fadettes Women's Orchestra

References

Further reading

* "Fadettes took name from a Sands novel." The Pittsburgh Press - Jun 16, 1907
* Blanche Naylor, The Anthology of the Fadettes. Boston, 1937.

External links

* Johns Hopkins University, Levy Sheet Music Collection. Marie Louka (composer)
The Fadettes; March & Two-Step
Philadelphia: World Publishing Co., 1904. "Dedicated to Mrs. Caroline B. Nichols, Director of the Fadettes of Boston, The Famous Ladies' Orchestra."
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Cultural history of Boston
Disbanded American orchestras
Musical groups established in 1888
Musical groups disestablished in the 1920s
Musical groups from Boston
Women's musical groups
1888 establishments in Massachusetts
1920s disestablishments in Massachusetts
Women in Boston
History of women in Massachusetts