Endowments; Oratorios; Music--Societies, etc.; New York (N.Y.); Oratorio Society of New York; Comstock, Frederick H. (Frederick Harmon) 1853-
Format
correspondence
Genre
Business correspondence
Origin Information
1914-02-10
Physical Description
microfilm, 16 mm, b&w
digitized microfilm
Note (Reel no.)
Reel 84
Note
PDF may contain multiple grant documents.
Fred H. Comstock, treasurer
The Oratorio Society of New York is a not-for-profit membership organization that performs choral music in the oratorio style. The Society was founded in 1873 by conductor Leopold Damrosch and is the third oldest musical organization in New York City. The Society had a prominent role in the building of Carnegie Hall. Throughout its long history, it has premiered many new choral works... From its earliest days, the Society played an integral role in the musical life of the city, presenting its own concerts and performing at musically and historically significant events. In 1884 Andrew Carnegie joined the Society's board of directors, serving as its president from 1888 to 1919. Three years after joining the board (perhaps at the suggestion of his wife, Louise Whitfield Carnegie), a subscriber and supporter of the Society, or perhaps at the suggestion of Walter Damrosch who had taken over as conductor of the Society after his father's death in 1885, Carnegie decided to add his support to a fund the Society had begun several years earlier, the goal of which was to build a hall suitable for the performance of choral music. He engaged a fellow board member, the architect William Tuthill, to design the "Music Hall," now known as Carnegie Hall. During the five-day festival in May 1891 that inaugurated the new hall, the Society performed under the batons of Walter Damrosch and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in the first of more than a century of performances in its artistic home..." [SOURCE: "Oratorio Society of New York." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oratorio_Society_of_New_York. Accessed 9 Oct. 2018.] "COMSTOCK FREDERICK H. -- Lawyer, 36 Wall street, New York City; residence 119 West 86th street. Born in New York City, Sept 10, 1853. Educated at the College of the City of New York and Columbia College Law School. (Married.) Member of the firm of Adams & Comstock. Treasurer Oratorio Society of New York. Member New York Mineralogical, Lawyers' and University Clubs, American Geographical and New York Historical Societies, American Museum of Natural History, and Association of the Bar of the City of New York." [SOURCE: Biographical Directory Company, Inc. Biographical Directory of the State of New York, 1900. New York, 1900, pp. 82. Google Books, https://books.google.com/books?id=Hns_AAAAYAAJ. Accessed 9 Oct. 2018.]
Language
English
Library Location
Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University