Benjamin Johnson Lang
Encyclopedia
Benjamin Johnson Lang was an American conductor, pianist, organist, teacher and composer. He introduced a large amount of music to American ears, including the world premiere of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
’s Piano Concerto No. 1
, which he conducted in Boston in 1875.
, the son of a piano maker, music teacher and organist. By the age of 12 he was showing sufficient promise as a pianist to play Chopin
's Ballade No. 3 in A flat. He began organ lessons at 12, and by 18 he was the organist of the largest instrument in Boston, the First Baptist Church on Somerset Street. He excelled in improvisation. In 1852, he took over his father’s organ teaching business. In 1855 he went to Europe to study in Berlin and elsewhere. He studied mainly under Alfred Jaëll
, but also had some instruction from Franz Liszt
. He had a lasting friendship with both Liszt and his daughter Cosima
. He made his first public appearance as a pianist 1858, in Boston, where he spent the remainder of his life. That year he played the piano in the first Boston performance of Beethoven
's Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3, with the Mendelssohn Quintette Club
. From 1860 to 1870, Lang built a piano and organ teaching career of great success; he was considered a very thorough teacher and his pupils included Arthur Foote
, Ethelbert Nevin, William F. Apthorp
, and own children, Margaret
and Malcolm. His debut as a conductor was on May 3, 1862, when he gave Boston's first performance with orchestra of Mendelssohn
's Die erste Walpurgisnacht, which he presented twice in the same concert.
Louis Moreau Gottschalk
was so impressed with Lang's piano playing that he hired him as a collaborator for a series of twenty concerts in which compositions for two pianos were featured.
On January 1, 1863, along with Carl Zerrahn
, he conducted the jubilee concert in honour of Abraham Lincoln
's Emancipation Proclamation
. The concert was attended by Ralph Waldo Emerson
, who read one of his poems. From then on he appeared in public more often as a conductor than as a pianist. He was the founding conductor the Apollo Club, a men's singing society, from 1871 to 1901. He was also the conductor of Caecilia, a mixed voice choir, and of the Handel and Haydn Society 1895-97.
Lang visited Richard Wagner
(who was now married to Liszt's daughter Cosima) at Tribschen
and Bayreuth in 1871 and offered his assistance in publicizing the Bayreuth Festival
in America. In 1876 he and his wife were honored guests at the first performance of the Ring Cycle
in Bayreuth. He later introduced many of Wagner’s works to America.
He is perhaps best remembered now for being the conductor of the world premiere of the original version of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
's Piano Concerto No. 1
, with Hans von Bülow
(Cosima's former husband) as soloist, on October 25, 1875. Bülow had initially engaged a different conductor, but quarrelled with him, and Lang was brought in at short notice. George Whitefield Chadwick
, who attended the performance, recalled in a memoir years later: "They had not rehearsed much and the trombones got in wrong in the ‘tutti’ in the middle of the first movement, whereupon Bülow sang out in a perfectly audible voice, The brass may go to hell". Lang himself appeared as soloist in a performance of the concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on February 20, 1885.
Other first performances he conducted were:
With his experience and credentials, it surprised many that Lang was not named conductor of the newly formed Boston Symphony Orchestra
(BSO). However, Lang appeared as a pianist in twelve concerts during the first years of the orchestra. On December 9, 1876 he was the soloist in the first U.S. performance of Saint-Saëns
' Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor
with Leopold Damrosch
conducting. With the Harvard Musical Association, he played "all the great concertos, many of them for the first time in Boston".
In 1888 Lang became organist of King's Chapel, and remained there until his death in 1909. It was Lang who in 1888 encouraged Edward MacDowell
to resettle in Boston, then the centre of concert life in America. The Lang home entertained prominent guests such as Antonín Dvořák
and Ignacy Jan Paderewski
.
In 1891, at great personal expense he brought the entire New York Metropolitan Opera
House Orchestra to Boston to present the first performance in Boston of Wagner's Parsifal
, conducted by Anton Seidl
, who had assisted Wagner in the first complete performance of the Ring in 1876 and who in 1889 he led the first complete Ring in America.
His compositions included symphonies, overtures, an oratorio David, chamber pieces, piano pieces and songs. Most of these were performed, however the only published work was by Chadwick who used a "melodic motive" of Lang's in the first of his "Drei Walzer fur das Pianoforte." He destroyed all his other manuscripts. In 1903, Yale University conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts.
His last appearance as a conductor was on February 12, 1909, when he conducted the BSO and a chorus for a commemoration of the centenary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. He presented Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2 Hymn of Praise
, which he had also conducted at the Emancipation Jubilee concert in 1862. He died only a few weeks later, on April 3. His estate was valued at over $600,000, an enormous amount for that time. His bequests included a silver box containing Liszt's hair, which he left to his daughter Margaret.
(1867–1972), a composer; Rosamond (1878–1971), a pianist; and Malcolm (1881–1972), a pianist and organist.
Many of Margaret's works were presented at concerts under her father's baton. Her Dramatic Overture, Op. 12, was the first work by a woman played by a major American symphony orchestra (BSO, 1893, Arthur Nikisch
).
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
’s Piano Concerto No. 1
Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)
The Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky between November 1874 and February 1875. It was revised in the summer of 1879 and again in December 1888. The first version received heavy criticism from Nikolai Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky's desired pianist....
, which he conducted in Boston in 1875.
Biography
Benjamin Johnson Lang was born in Salem, MassachusettsSalem, Massachusetts
Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
, the son of a piano maker, music teacher and organist. By the age of 12 he was showing sufficient promise as a pianist to play Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
's Ballade No. 3 in A flat. He began organ lessons at 12, and by 18 he was the organist of the largest instrument in Boston, the First Baptist Church on Somerset Street. He excelled in improvisation. In 1852, he took over his father’s organ teaching business. In 1855 he went to Europe to study in Berlin and elsewhere. He studied mainly under Alfred Jaëll
Alfred Jaëll
Alfred Jaëll was an austrian-ungarick pianist.He was born in Trieste. He studied under Carl Czernyand began his public career at the age of 11, appearing at the Teatro San Benedetto, Venice, in 1843. The following year he studied with Ignaz Moscheles in Vienna. In 1845 and 1846 he lived in...
, but also had some instruction from Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
. He had a lasting friendship with both Liszt and his daughter Cosima
Cosima Wagner
Cosima Francesca Gaetana Wagner, née de Flavigny, from 1844 known as Cosima Liszt; was the daughter of Hungarian composer Franz Liszt...
. He made his first public appearance as a pianist 1858, in Boston, where he spent the remainder of his life. That year he played the piano in the first Boston performance of Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3, with the Mendelssohn Quintette Club
Mendelssohn Quintette Club
The Mendelssohn Quintette Club based in Boston, Massachusetts, was one of "the most active and most widely known chamber ensemble[s] in America" in the latter half of the 19th-century...
. From 1860 to 1870, Lang built a piano and organ teaching career of great success; he was considered a very thorough teacher and his pupils included Arthur Foote
Arthur Foote
Arthur William Foote was an American classical composer, and a member of the "Boston Six." The other five were George Whitefield Chadwick, Amy Beach, Edward MacDowell, John Knowles Paine, and Horatio Parker.The modern tendency is to view Foote’s music as “Romantic” and “European” in light of the...
, Ethelbert Nevin, William F. Apthorp
William F. Apthorp
William Foster Apthorp was a musician.He was born in 1848 and graduated from Harvard College, where he studied piano, harmony, and counterpoint with the institution’s first professor of music, the composer John Knowles Paine...
, and own children, Margaret
Margaret Ruthven Lang
Margaret Ruthven Lang was an American composer, affiliated with the Second New England School. Lang was also the first woman composer to have a composition performed by a major American symphony orchestra.-Life:...
and Malcolm. His debut as a conductor was on May 3, 1862, when he gave Boston's first performance with orchestra of Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
's Die erste Walpurgisnacht, which he presented twice in the same concert.
Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Louis Moreau Gottschalk was an American composer and pianist, best known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works...
was so impressed with Lang's piano playing that he hired him as a collaborator for a series of twenty concerts in which compositions for two pianos were featured.
On January 1, 1863, along with Carl Zerrahn
Carl Zerrahn
Carl Zerrahn was a German-born American flautist and conductor. His widespread activity in the region made him an influential figure in New England and Boston classical music, especially choral music, in the latter half of the 19th century...
, he conducted the jubilee concert in honour of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
's Emancipation Proclamation
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation is an executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War using his war powers. It proclaimed the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million slaves, and immediately freed 50,000 of them, with nearly...
. The concert was attended by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
, who read one of his poems. From then on he appeared in public more often as a conductor than as a pianist. He was the founding conductor the Apollo Club, a men's singing society, from 1871 to 1901. He was also the conductor of Caecilia, a mixed voice choir, and of the Handel and Haydn Society 1895-97.
Lang visited Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
(who was now married to Liszt's daughter Cosima) at Tribschen
Tribschen
Tribschen is a suburb of Lucerne, in the Canton of Lucerne in central Switzerland.Tribschen is best known today as the home of the German composer Richard Wagner from 30 March 1866 to 22 April 1872. When Wagner was obliged to leave Munich in March 1866, he moved to a spacious villa in Tribschen on...
and Bayreuth in 1871 and offered his assistance in publicizing the Bayreuth Festival
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
in America. In 1876 he and his wife were honored guests at the first performance of the Ring Cycle
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
in Bayreuth. He later introduced many of Wagner’s works to America.
He is perhaps best remembered now for being the conductor of the world premiere of the original version of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
's Piano Concerto No. 1
Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)
The Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky between November 1874 and February 1875. It was revised in the summer of 1879 and again in December 1888. The first version received heavy criticism from Nikolai Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky's desired pianist....
, with Hans von Bülow
Hans von Bülow
Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard...
(Cosima's former husband) as soloist, on October 25, 1875. Bülow had initially engaged a different conductor, but quarrelled with him, and Lang was brought in at short notice. George Whitefield Chadwick
George Whitefield Chadwick
George Whitefield Chadwick was an American composer. Along with Horatio Parker, Amy Beach, Arthur Foote, and Edward MacDowell, he was a representative composer of what can be called the New England School of American composers of the late 19th century—the generation before Charles Ives...
, who attended the performance, recalled in a memoir years later: "They had not rehearsed much and the trombones got in wrong in the ‘tutti’ in the middle of the first movement, whereupon Bülow sang out in a perfectly audible voice, The brass may go to hell". Lang himself appeared as soloist in a performance of the concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on February 20, 1885.
Other first performances he conducted were:
- On the William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
tercentennial, April 23, 1864, Lang conducted the first Boston performance of Mendelssohn's complete music to A Midsummer Night's Dream, and, soon after, the first complete Boston performance of HaydnJoseph HaydnFranz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
's The SeasonsThe Seasons (Haydn)The Seasons is an oratorio by Joseph Haydn .-Composition, premiere, and reception:Haydn was led to write The Seasons by the great success of his previous oratorio The Creation , which had become very popular and was in the course of being performed all over Europe...
. - The first U.S. performance of Brahms's German Requiem, with the Caecilia Society (December 3, 1888
- The first U.S. performance of Samuel Coleridge-TaylorSamuel Coleridge-TaylorSamuel Coleridge-Taylor was an English composer who achieved such success that he was once called the "African Mahler".-Early life and education:...
's Hiawatha's Wedding FeastThe Song of Hiawatha (Coleridge-Taylor)The Song of Hiawatha, Op. 30, is a trilogy of cantatas by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, produced between 1898 and 1900. The first part, Hiawatha's Wedding Feast, was particularly famous for many years and it made the composer's name known throughout the world.-Background:In 1898, Coleridge-Taylor was...
(1900) - With the Apollo Club he gave the first Boston performances of (among others) Brahms' Rinaldo, GriegEdvard GriegEdvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
's Discovery, Mendelssohn's Sons of Art, Antigone, and Oedipus, and several premieres by the Boston composers ChadwickGeorge Whitefield ChadwickGeorge Whitefield Chadwick was an American composer. Along with Horatio Parker, Amy Beach, Arthur Foote, and Edward MacDowell, he was a representative composer of what can be called the New England School of American composers of the late 19th century—the generation before Charles Ives...
, FooteArthur FooteArthur William Foote was an American classical composer, and a member of the "Boston Six." The other five were George Whitefield Chadwick, Amy Beach, Edward MacDowell, John Knowles Paine, and Horatio Parker.The modern tendency is to view Foote’s music as “Romantic” and “European” in light of the...
(Farewell of Hiawatha), Thayer, and Whiting (March of the Monks of Bangor, Free Lances, and Henry of Navarre) - the first Boston performance of Niels Gade's Crusaders (January 11, 1877).
With his experience and credentials, it surprised many that Lang was not named conductor of the newly formed Boston Symphony Orchestra
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
(BSO). However, Lang appeared as a pianist in twelve concerts during the first years of the orchestra. On December 9, 1876 he was the soloist in the first U.S. performance of Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
' Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor
Piano Concerto No. 2 (Saint-Saëns)
The Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22 by Camille Saint-Saëns, was composed in 1868 and is probably Saint-Saëns' most popular piano concerto. It was dedicated to Madame A. de Villers née de Haber. At the première, the composer was the soloist and Anton Rubinstein conducted the orchestra...
with Leopold Damrosch
Leopold Damrosch
Leopold Damrosch was a German American orchestral conductor.- Biography :Damrosch was born in Posen , Kingdom of Prussia, and began his musical education at the age of nine, learning the violin against the wishes of his parents, who wanted him to become a doctor...
conducting. With the Harvard Musical Association, he played "all the great concertos, many of them for the first time in Boston".
In 1888 Lang became organist of King's Chapel, and remained there until his death in 1909. It was Lang who in 1888 encouraged Edward MacDowell
Edward MacDowell
Edward Alexander MacDowell was an American composer and pianist of the Romantic period. He was best known for his second piano concerto and his piano suites "Woodland Sketches", "Sea Pieces", and "New England Idylls". "Woodland Sketches" includes his most popular short piece, "To a Wild Rose"...
to resettle in Boston, then the centre of concert life in America. The Lang home entertained prominent guests such as Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
and Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Ignacy Jan Paderewski GBE was a Polish pianist, composer, diplomat, politician, and the second Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland.-Biography:...
.
In 1891, at great personal expense he brought the entire New York Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
House Orchestra to Boston to present the first performance in Boston of Wagner's Parsifal
Parsifal
Parsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.Wagner first conceived the work...
, conducted by Anton Seidl
Anton Seidl
Anton Seidl was a Hungarian conductor.-Biography:He was born at Pest, Hungary. He began the study of music at a very early age, and when only seven years old could pick out at the piano melodies which he had heard at the theatre...
, who had assisted Wagner in the first complete performance of the Ring in 1876 and who in 1889 he led the first complete Ring in America.
His compositions included symphonies, overtures, an oratorio David, chamber pieces, piano pieces and songs. Most of these were performed, however the only published work was by Chadwick who used a "melodic motive" of Lang's in the first of his "Drei Walzer fur das Pianoforte." He destroyed all his other manuscripts. In 1903, Yale University conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts.
His last appearance as a conductor was on February 12, 1909, when he conducted the BSO and a chorus for a commemoration of the centenary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. He presented Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2 Hymn of Praise
Symphony No. 2 (Mendelssohn)
The Symphony No. 2 in B flat major, op. 52, called the "Lobgesang" Symphony, was composed by Felix Mendelssohn. It was written in 1840 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the invention of printing, along with the less-known Festgesang "Gutenberg Cantata".The composer's description of the work...
, which he had also conducted at the Emancipation Jubilee concert in 1862. He died only a few weeks later, on April 3. His estate was valued at over $600,000, an enormous amount for that time. His bequests included a silver box containing Liszt's hair, which he left to his daughter Margaret.
Family life
In 1861 he married Frances Morse Burrage (1839–1934). Although she never became a professional, she was well regarded as a singer. Their three children inherited their musical aptitudes: Margaret Ruthven LangMargaret Ruthven Lang
Margaret Ruthven Lang was an American composer, affiliated with the Second New England School. Lang was also the first woman composer to have a composition performed by a major American symphony orchestra.-Life:...
(1867–1972), a composer; Rosamond (1878–1971), a pianist; and Malcolm (1881–1972), a pianist and organist.
Many of Margaret's works were presented at concerts under her father's baton. Her Dramatic Overture, Op. 12, was the first work by a woman played by a major American symphony orchestra (BSO, 1893, Arthur Nikisch
Arthur Nikisch
Arthur Nikisch ; 12 October 185523 January 1922) was a Hungarian conductor who performed internationally, holding posts in Boston, London and - most importantly - Berlin. He was considered an outstanding interpreter of the music of Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Liszt...
).
Sources
- Louis Charles Elson, The History of American Music
- Richard AldrichRichard AldrichRichard Aldrich was an American music critic. From 1902–23, he was music critic for The New York Times.Aldrich was born in Providence, Rhode Island and graduated A.B. in 1885 from Harvard College, where he had studied music. He began his journalistic career on the Providence Journal...
, Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed,. 1954 (Eric BlomEric BlomEric Walter Blom CBE was a Swiss-born British-naturalised music lexicographer, musicologist, music critic, music biographer and translator. He is best known as the editor of the 5th edition of Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians .-Biography:Blom was born in Berne, Switzerland...
, ed.)