New York Pro Musica was a vocal and instrumental ensemble based 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 ...

, which specialized in

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

. It was co-founded in 1952, under the name Pro Musica Antiqua, by

Noah Greenberg Noah Greenberg (April 9, 1919 – January 9, 1966) was an American choral conductor. Greenberg was born in the Bronx. In 1937, aged 18, he joined the Socialist Workers Party of Max Shachtman, and worked as a lathe operator and party activist. He ...

, a choral director, and

Bernard Krainis Bernard Krainis (1924-2000) was an American musician and co-founder of New York Pro Musica. He played recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts ...

, a

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

player who studied with

Erich Katz Erich Katz (July 31, 1900 – July 30, 1973) was a German-born musicologist, composer, music critic, musician and professor. He fled the Nazis in 1939, arriving first in England, emigrating to the United States in 1943, where he became a citizen. He ...

. Other prominent musicians who joined included

Russell Oberlin Russell Keys Oberlin (October 11, 1928 – November 25, 2016)Millington, Barry "Russell Oberlin obituary" ''The Guardian'', December 5, 2016; retrieved December 15, 2016. was an American singer and founding member of the New York New York Pro Musi ...

(the first American

countertenor A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a s ...

) and Martha Blackman (the first American

gambist The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitch ...

) and Frederick Renz, who founded Early Music Foundation after Pro Musica disbanded. The ensemble is perhaps best known for reviving the medieval ''

Play of Daniel The ''Play of Daniel'', or ''Ludus Danielis'', is either of two medieval Latin liturgical dramas based on the biblical Book of Daniel, one of which is accompanied by monophonic music. The play itself dates from c. 1140. Two medieval plays of Dani ...

'' in the 1950s, which has since become a popular

liturgical drama Liturgical drama refers to medieval forms of dramatic performance that use stories from the Bible or Christian hagiography. The term was widely disseminated by well-known theater historians like Heinrich Alt (''Theater und Kirche'', 1846), E.K. C ...

among early music groups. The group gave its first concert at the

New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSSR ...

in New York City on April 26, 1953. The ensemble performed in 1960 for the

Peabody Mason Concert Benefactor The name Peabody Mason comes from Miss Fanny Peabody Mason, who until her death in 1948 was an active patron of music both in the United States and abroad. Her musical interests were piano, singing and chamber music. Concert series ...

series in Boston.''Boston Globe'', 17-Oct-1960, Cyrus Durgin, "New York Pro Musica heard in Mason series" The group continued after Greenberg's death in 1966 and disbanded in 1974. Greenberg's successor, musicologist John Reeves White, took over the direction of the ensemble in 1966; the last director was George Houle, who tried to bring the group more in line with trends in Europe at a time when the United States was not ready for such changes. Houle went on to teach musicology at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Select discography

*''New York Pro Musica: An Anthology of Their Greatest Works'', Noah Greenberg, conductor. 7 record set.

Everest Records Everest Records was a record label based in Bayside, Long Island, started by Harry D. Belock and Bert Whyte in May 1958. It was devoted mainly to classical music. History The idea for starting a label was related by electronics inventor Harr ...

(1966, Everest 3145/7)

References

External links

The New York Pro Musica archives
in th
Music Division
o
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
{{Authority control Early music groups Musical groups established in 1952 1952 establishments in New York (state) Musical groups disestablished in 1974 1974 disestablishments in New York (state) Musical groups from New York City