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Writer and editor Home > Blogs > Brain Droppings > Archives > 2008 > June > 07 > Entry
Dammit, we need an orchestra
I don’t recall hearing Neal Gittleman swear before, and certainly not from the stage — though there was one concert a few seasons ago when I thought he might throw his baton at somebody in the audience whose cell phone rang. Either way, the mild oath he uttered last Sunday, June 1, seemed perfectly appropriate and to the point.
Gittleman was conducting the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra as it celebrated its 75th birthday with a few hundred of its closest friends, and he was making a point about the its founder, Paul Katz. “He didn’t let the fact that we were in the middle of the Depression,” Gittleman said, “stop him from deciding, ‘Damn it, his city needed an orchestra!’”
Hold that thought for a moment, while we contemplate 75 years worth of music. When Katz made that decision, Copland, Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff and Britten, whose work feels long-ago and canonical to us today, were still busily writing. FDR was president, Clark Gable was just becoming a star and James Joyce was still controversial.
Katz was a 25-year-old violinist who had been to the big city to play with the Cleveland Orchestra but came back with an itch to create something in his hometown. He rehearsed 26 local musicians he knew, and on June 1, 1933, Dayton’s new “Chamber Orchestra Society” premiered at the DAI for 500 listeners who paid 25 cents a head.
The DPO, officially incorporated two years later, celebrated Sunday by recreating Katz’s first concert. The scaled-down orchestra packed the small stage at the NCR Renaissance Auditorium. It played a brisk one-hour set that Katz had loaded for his first audience with popular favorites: Johann Strauss’ waltzing “Tales from the Vienna Woods,” Beethoven’s lively “Edgmont” Overture, Edvard Grieg’s delightful “Peer Gynt” Suite, and others.
It was a good show preceded by a champagne reception and pre-concert parties. Hearing the orchestra in the intimate confines of the DAI’s auditorium gave one an appreciation for how far the DPO has come, and how important it has been to the cultural life of the community. In 75 years, it has had four musical directors — Katz, Charles Wendelken-Wilson, Isaiah Jackson and Gittleman — and provided the raison d’etre for building the grand Schuster Performing Arts Center. The show also gave one the chance to imagine the orchestra’s future. Will it be around in another 75 years?
One would hope, though these are tough financial times for classical music, non-profits and fine-arts groups. As Columbus recently learned when its symphony imploded, you can’t take anything for granted. Survival takes hard work.
At its annual meeting this week, the DPO announced it balanced its $5-million budget by dipping into its endowment for $250,000. No organization can afford too many rainy days like that, and the next few years will unfold under new leadership, as executive director Curt Long departs soon for the Alabama Symphony after 14 strong years here. Beefing up ticket sales and donor gifts will be first on the new chief’s agenda.
Interestingly, the program from Sunday night’s concert noted that the orchestra also ran into a financial bind its very first year — it was short $90, which it covered with a paper drive. Times have changed.
If Katz were alive today, he would doubtless be a bit overwhelmed by the long success of the thing he created. One assumes, too, that he would not have been daunted by the challenges it faces going forward. Because damn it, this city needs an orchestra. Let’s not forget it.
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