The New York Symphony Orchestra was founded as the New York Symphony Society 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 ...

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 ...

in 1878. For many years it was a rival to the older Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York. It was supported by

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

, who built

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

(opened in 1891) expressly for the orchestra. The Symphony was known for performing more colorful French and

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works than the Philharmonic, which excelled in German repertoire. Upon his death in 1885, Leopold Damrosch was succeeded as musical director by his son

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 Ge ...

. In 1903, during a reorganization, it was renamed the New York Symphony Orchestra, and its first recordings were made that year as the "Damrosch Orchestra" for

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(of which only one was commercially issued, the prelude to

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', whi ...

's ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

''). In 1920 it became the first American orchestra to tour Europe, and radio broadcasts of its concerts began in 1923. In 1928, the orchestra merged with the Philharmonic Society of New York to form the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, later the New York Philharmonic.

External links

"Music: Philharmonic-Symphony"
''

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'' article on the merger, April 2, 1928] {{Authority control Disbanded American orchestras Symphony orchestras Musical groups established in 1878 Musical groups disestablished in 1928 1878 establishments in New York (state) 1928 disestablishments in New York (state)