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The National Music of America. 283
was also a consequence of the early establishment of choral and orchestral music in the eastern, and opera in the central, metropolis. We have outlined the native choral development ; let us now turn to a brief sketch of the rise of the orchestra in America.
In this field Boston was again the pioneer. Philadelphia, in the last century, was very musical, and as early as May 4, 1788, gave, at the Reformed German Church, in Race Street, a concert with a chorus of two hundred and thirty, and an orchestra of fifty members; the greatest musical event of the last century, in America. Yet even Philadelphia made no effort to establish an orchestra upon anything like a permanent basis.
In 1798 there came to Boston a man who may well be called the father of the American orchestra; his name was Gottlieb Graupner. He had been the oboist in a Hanoverian regiment in his youthful days, and after his discharge from service became |
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