The Melodeon (1839 – 1870) was a concert hall and performance space in 19th-century
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, located on
Washington Street, near West Street. Musical concerts, lectures, sermons, conferences, visual displays, and popular entertainments occurred there.
History
The Melodeon occupied the building of the former Lion Theatre (1836–1839) and Mechanics Institute (1839).
[Justin Winsor]
The memorial history of Boston
v.4. J. R. Osgood and Co., 1881; p.371.
Proprietors of the Melodeon included the
Handel and Haydn Society
The Handel and Haydn Society is an American chorus and period instrument orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. Known colloquially as 'H+H', the organization has been in continual performance since its founding in 1815, the longest serving suc ...
(1839); Leander Rodney (1844); Boston Theatre Company (1852); E. Warden (1857; temporarily renamed The Melodeon Varieties);
Charles Francis Adams (1859).
[Eugene Tompkins, Quincy Kilby]
The history of the Boston Theatre, 1854-1901
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1908.
Performances & events
1830s-1840s
* 1839
** Handel and Haydn Society.
* 1840
** "Soiree musicale. The celebrated Rainer Family, or Tyrolese minstrels."
[American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1]
* 1842
** Amateur concert for the benefit of the Warren Street Chapel.
** Mr. Braham.
* 1843
** Vocal entertainment by H. Russell.
**
Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano p ...
's Stabat Mater, with Handel and Haydn Society.
** Dr. Lardner
* 1844
** Concert by
Ole Bull
Ole Bornemann Bull (; 5 February 181017 August 1880) was a Norwegian virtuoso violinist and composer. According to Robert Schumann, he was on a level with Niccolò Paganini for the speed and clarity of his playing.
Biography
Background
Bull was ...
, assisted by Miss Stone, Mr. Herwig, Mr. Hayter, and a full orchestra.
**
Henry Phillips, assisted by Miss Stone.
**
William Charles Macready
William Charles Macready (3 March 179327 April 1873) was an English stage actor. The son of Irish actor-manager William Macready the Elder he emerged as a leading West End theatre, West End performer during the Regency era.
Career
Macready wa ...
,
Charlotte Cushman.
* 1845
**
Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association 13th triennial festival, 1st semi-centennial celebration.
** Musical entertainment by Mr. Dempster.
* 1846
** Haydn's
The Creation, performed by the Handel and Haydn Society.
**
Hutchinson Family.
** Concert by C. Sivori.
* 1848
** Steyermarkische Musical Company.
* 1849
** Madame Biscaccianti and Strakosch.
** Services on the occasion of the decease of the late president,
James K. Polk
James Knox Polk (; November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. A protégé of Andrew Jackson and a member of the Democratic Party, he was an advocate of Jacksonian democracy and ...
.
** Sermon of the Spiritual Condition of Boston, preached by
Theodore Parker.
1850s
* 1850
** Annetta Stephani.
** Handel's
Jeptha, with Boston Musical Education Society.
** "Optical wonders. Whipple's grand exhibition of dissolving views! Magnifiying
daguerreotype
Daguerreotype was the first publicly available photography, photographic process, widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process.
Invented by Louis Daguerre and introduced worldwid ...
s, kaleidoscope pictures, & pyramic fires."
* 1852
** "Professor Anderson, the wizard of the North"
** Handel's
Samson
SAMSON (Software for Adaptive Modeling and Simulation Of Nanosystems) is a computer software platform for molecular design being developed bOneAngstromand previously by the NANO-D group at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science an ...
, with Handel and Haydn Society.
** Donetti's Comic Troupe of Acting Monkeys
**
Germania Musical Society
* 1854
** Magician Macallister.
** "Splendid mirror of North and South America"; presented by J. Perham.
** "Italia", panorama by Waugh.
* 1855
** J. H. Siddons.
** Josiah Perham's Ethiopian Troupe and Great Burlesque Company.
** New England Anti-Slavery Convention.
**
William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray ( ; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was an English novelist and illustrator. He is known for his Satire, satirical works, particularly his 1847–1848 novel ''Vanity Fair (novel), Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portra ...
* 1857
**
Lola Montez
Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld (17 February 1821 – 17 January 1861), better known by the stage name Lola Montez (), was an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a Spanish dancer, courtesan, and mistress of King Ludw ...
.
* 1858
** The Bunyan Tableaux.
** Orpheus Glee Club, Lucy A. Doane, Hugo Leonhard.
* 1859
** Melodeon Minstrels.
1860s
* 1860
** Parlor operas, with Mr. & Mrs. Henri Drayton.
* 1862
** French Zouaves.
**
Stereopticon
A stereopticon is a slide projector or relatively powerful "magic lantern", which has two lenses, usually one above the other, and has mainly been used to project photographic images. These devices date back to the mid 19th century, and were a pop ...
.
** M. Lizzie Bell, Agnes A. Kenney.
** "Master Rentz's second annual subscription concert," with the
Mendelssohn Quintette Club, Adeline S. Washburn.
**
Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (May 8, 1829 – December 18, 1869) was an American composer, pianist, and virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works. He spent most of his working career outside the United States.
Life and career
Gottschalk ...
playing works by Chopin and Henselt.
* 1864
** Arthur Cheney, H.C. Barnabee, John F. Pray.
** Morton's The angel of the attic.
* 1865
**
A. Bronson Alcott[Frederick Wagner. Eighty-Six Letters (1814-1882) of A. Bronson Alcott (Part Two). Studies in the American Renaissance, 1980; p.216-217]
References
External links
* Detail of 1861 map of Boston showin
location of Melodeon via Boston Public Library's Atlascope Boston tool.
{{coord, 42, 21, 15.52, N, 71, 3, 44.26, W, type:landmark_region:US-MA, display=title
Music venues in Boston
Former buildings and structures in Boston
Former theatres in Boston
Cultural history of Boston
19th century in Boston
Financial District, Boston
Boston Theater District
1839 establishments in Massachusetts