The Euterpean Club is the oldest women's music club in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

, and one of the oldest in the state. Established in 1896, the club was formed to provide women with the mission of "unsparing labor and devotion to the cause of Good Music." The club was admitted into the

Texas Federation of Women's Clubs The Texas Federation of Women's Clubs (TFWC) is a non-profit women's organization in Texas which was founded in 1897. The purpose of the group is to create a central organization for women's clubs and their members in Texas relating to education, ...

in 1901 and became a charter member of the Woman's Club of Fort Worth in 1923.

History

The Derthick Club

The Euterpean Club was the creation of Wilber M. Derthick, a Chicago music critic, scholar, and author. In the 1880s and 1890s, Wilbur Derthick and his wife, May sent out "agents" to organize local music clubs. These Derthick Music-Literary Clubs had a

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

developed by the Derthicks, using a

flashcard A flashcard or flash card (also known as an index card) is a card bearing information on both sides, which is intended to be used as an aid in memorization. Each flashcard bears a question on one side and an answer on the other. Flashcards are ...

-based game to teach music history, theory, and biography. By 1895, Derthick claimed to have founded over 200 such clubs. The Fort Worth club was one of many in Texas, which had over 400 active music clubs, the most of any US state. The Derthick Club of Fort Worth had its first meeting in the home of Ida Jane (Mrs. Bacon) Saunders in 1896, with subsequent meetings at various members' homes.

Euterpean Club

The club declared its independence from the Derthick system in 1898, renaming itself the Euterpean Club after

Euterpe Euterpe (; el, Εὐτέρπη, lit=rejoicing well' or 'delight , from grc, εὖ, eû, well + el, τέρπειν, térpein, to please) was one of the Muses in Greek mythology, presiding over music. In late Classical times, she was named muse ...

, the Greek

muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

of music and lyric poetry. It abandoned the Derthick curriculum, but maintained the same membership roster. Biweekly meetings were held in members' homes, the Academy of Music, St. Paul's Methodist Church, and the Metropolitan Hotel. In 1900, the Euterpean Club joined Fort Worth's City Federation; the following year it became a delegate to the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs. In 1910, the

co-ed Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

Juvenile Euterpean Club was established, the first music club for children in Texas. The Euterpean Club's long-running contest for original

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

s resulted in a 1912 book called ''Texas Composers.'' During World War I, the club's Camp Bowie War Service Committee served lunches at the army camp on Fort Worth's west side, organized weekly concerts at the local

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

, and performed weekly

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

concerts for soldiers at the

First Christian Church Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish d ...

. In 1922, the club began a series of nationally broadcast performances on local radio station, WBAP, and started the Junior Euterpean Club, a coed group for children ages 8–14. In 1923, the club helped found the Woman's Club of Fort Worth, celebrated a silver anniversary with a performance that drew an audience of over 1200, and formed a

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

society. Directed by Brooks Morris, the chamber group became the foundation of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. In 1926 the club put on two concerts with multiple pianos playing the same classical pieces in unison. The concerts, with respectively 12 or 20 pianos, were directed by

Carl Venth Carl Venth (February 16, 1860 – January 29, 1938) was a German-American composer, violinist, conductor, music educator, and scholar. He was a leading classical music figure in Texas in the first half of the twentieth century and was one ...

, dean of Texas Woman's College (now known as

Texas Wesleyan University Texas Wesleyan University is a private Methodist university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was founded in 1890 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The main campus is located in the Polytechnic Heights neighborhood of Fort Worth. Its mascot is th ...

). Venth was also the Euterpean Club's choral director in 1930 and 1931. The club organized programs for the state centennial celebration, featuring Texas composers

Radie Britain Radie Britain (17 March 189923 May 1994) was a Texas-born pianist, writer, music educator and composer of symphonic music. Life Radie Britain was born near Silverton, Texas, the daughter of Edgar Charles and Katie (Ford) Britain. She studied a ...

David Guion David Guion (born 30 September 1967) is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is the manager of Ligue 2 club Bordeaux. Early life Guion was born in Le Mans, Sarthe. Club career Guion began his ...

, William J. Marsh, Oscar J. Fox, and Carl Venth. In 1939, it held a special memorial program with musicians from

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

for the late Anna Shelton, founder and longtime president of the Woman's Club of Fort Worth, and also hosted the statewide convention of the Texas Federation of Music Clubs. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the club programs featured performers from the

Fort Worth Army Airfield A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

Camp Wolters Fort Wolters was a United States military installation four miles northeast of Mineral Wells, Texas. Originally named Camp Wolters, it was an Army camp from 1925 to 1946. During World War II, it was for a time the largest infantry replacement trai ...

, and other Texas military installations. Members volunteered as

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

workers and WAC recruiters, worked at hospitals, sold

war bond War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are ...

s, and donated a piano to the Fort Worth Army Airfield. In 1959, a scholarship fund was established. Since that time, a scholarship has been awarded annually to a local college or university student. The Euterpean Club remains an active club under the auspices of The Woman's Club of Fort Worth. They plan programs that include performance and study in various areas such as strings, dance, opera, jazz, American Music, sacred music and more. They continue to award an annual club scholarship to a local college music major. They have preserved many of their club historical artifacts, books, articles, yearbooks, club records and documents and share them with displays at special events such as their recent Founder's Day Program on January 19, 2022 at which they were presented a City of Fort Worth Mayoral Proclamation recognizing their 125th Anniversary. In honor of their anniversary and preservation of their history and artifacts, club Historian Nancy Dobbs was presented the NSDAR Excellence in Historic Preservation Award on March 2, 2022 by the Mary Isham Keith Chapter NSDAR.

Notable members

* Actress and dancer Ginger Rogers was a member of the Juvenile Euterpean Club. * Hallie Samuel (Mrs. M.P.) Bewley, the "mother of art" in the Texas women's club movement * Ida Jane (Mrs. Bacon) Saunders, prominent local woman's club leader * Honorary members opera singer Helen Fouts Cahoon, composer Carl Venth, local women's club figures Anna Shelton and Etta Newby, and ''

Star-Telegram The ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' is an American daily newspaper serving Fort Worth and Tarrant County, the western half of the North Texas area known as the Metroplex. It is owned by The McClatchy Company. History In May 1905, Amon G. Carter acc ...

'' music critic E. Clyde Whitlock

Notable performers

* Merle Alcock *

Olive Kline Olive Kline (sometimes given as Olive Kline Hulihan or the pseudonym Alice Green) (July 7, 1887 – July 29, 1976) was an American soprano who is chiefly remembered for her recordings for Victor Records from 1912 to 1935. She recorded a wide rang ...

* Samuel S. Losh * Flonzaley Quartet * Florence Macbeth *

José Mojica Fray José de Guadalupe Mojica (14 September 1895 – 20 September 1974) was a Mexican Franciscan friar and former tenor and film actor. He was known in the music and film fields as José Mojica. (Spanish) Mojica joined the world of the Americ ...

Lambert Murphy Harry Lambert Murphy (1 April 15, 1885 – July 25, 1954) was an American operatic tenor. Biography He was born as Harry Lambert Murphy in Springfield, Massachusetts on 15 April 1885. While pursuing an academic course at Harvard University, h ...

Elly Ney Elly Ney (27 September 1882 – 31 March 1968) was a German romantic pianist who specialized in Beethoven, and was especially popular in Germany. Career She was born in Düsseldorf, where her mother was a music instructor and her father was a r ...

E. Robert Schmitz E. Robert (Elie Robert) Schmitz was a Franco-American pianist, teacher, writer, editor, and organizer. Biography Schmitz (born February 8, 1889, in Paris) studied with Louis-Joseph Diémer at the Conservatoire de Paris where he won first prize in ...

Oscar Seagle Oscar Seagle (October 31, 1877 – December 19, 1945) was a prominent musician and music teacher active in the early 20th century. He founded the Seagle Music Colony in Schroon Lake, New York. Early life He was born on October 31, 1877 on Oolt ...

* * Stuart Walker Portmanteau Theatre *

Reinald Werrenrath Reinald Werrenrath (August 7, 1883 – September 12, 1953) was an American baritone opera singer, who also recorded popular songs and appeared regularly on radio in the early decades of the twentieth century. Werrenrath commonly used the ps ...

Premieres

Several notable musical works were premiered at Euterpean Club events: * ''The White Enchantment'' by

Charles Wakefield Cadman Charles Wakefield Cadman (December 24, 1881 – December 30, 1946) was an American composer. For 40 years he worked closely with Nelle Richmond Eberhart, who wrote most of the texts to his songs, including ''Four American Indian Songs''. She also ...

* ''The Black Knight'' by

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

* ''Hora Novissima'' by

Horatio Parker Horatio William Parker (September 15, 1863 – December 18, 1919) was an American composer, organist and teacher. He was a central figure in musical life in New Haven, Connecticut in the late 19th century, and is best remembered as the undergradu ...

* ''The King's Henchman'' by Deems Taylor with

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. She wrote much of he ...

* The first full performance of

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (15 August 18751 September 1912) was a British composer and conductor. Of mixed-race birth, Coleridge-Taylor achieved such success that he was referred to by white New York musicians as the "African Mahler" when ...

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

series, ''

The Song of Hiawatha ''The Song of Hiawatha'' is an 1855 epic poem in trochaic tetrameter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which features Native American characters. The epic relates the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of his l ...

Additional resources

* Euterpean Club yearbooks (1928-2020) in th
Fort Worth Public Library Archives
* ''Texas Composers'' book in th
Fort Worth Public Library Digital Archives

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Euterpean Club, The 1896 establishments in Texas Women's clubs in the United States Music organizations based in the United States Organizations based in Fort Worth, Texas Arts organizations established in 1896 History of women in Texas