Chapter I: Front Matter

[Cover Illustration]

From a photograph by Pirie MacDonald

=MY MUSICAL LIFE=

=BY=
=WALTER DAMROSCH=

=NEW YORK=
=CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS=
=1926=

COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
COPYRIGHT, 1922, 1923, by CURTIS PUBLISHING CO.
Printed in the United States of America

_To dearest M_

_This book I dedicate to you because you have walked hand in
hand with me through most of the experiences related therein._

_Because of you my disappointments have been cut in half and my
happinesses made double, and if I have made known to you the
wondrous muse of music, you in turn have brought into our home
and given a permanent abiding place therein, the three gentle
sisters—Faith, Hope and Charity._

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. CHILDHOOD—1866-1875............................... 1
II. BAYREUTH IN 1876—MY DOLL’S THEATRE................ 13
III. FOUNDING OF THE SYMPHONY AND ORATORIO SOCIETIES OF
NEW YORK........................................ 22
IV. AUGUST WILHELMJ—TERESA CARRENO.................... 28
V. LISZT AND WAGNER.................................. 36
VI. THE FOUNDING OF GERMAN OPERA AT THE
METROPOLITAN—DEATH OF MY FATHER................. 51
VII. LILLI LEHMANN..................................... 63
VIII. HANS VON BÜLOW.................................... 74
IX. ANDREW CARNEGIE AND THE BLAINE FAMILY............. 90
X. THE DAMROSCH OPERA COMPANY, 1895-1899............. 104
XI. ARTISTS........................................... 134
XII. ROMANCE........................................... 164
XIII. THE ORATORIO SOCIETY OF NEW YORK.................. 169
XIV. THE NEW YORK SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA................... 186
XV. THE GREAT WAR..................................... 221
XVI. THE EUROPEAN TOUR................................. 272
XVII. WOMEN IN MUSICAL AFFAIRS.......................... 323
XVIII. BOSTON............................................ 333
XIX. MARGARET ANGLIN AND THE GREEK PLAYS............... 344
XX. DEAD COMPOSERS.................................... 351
XXI. POSTLUDE.......................................... 367

INDEX............................................. 369

ILLUSTRATIONS

Walter Damrosch in 1920
Afternoon coffee in the Damrosch Home, Breslau, 1867
Doctor Leopold Damrosch and his son Walter at eighteen years of
age
Lilli Lehmann as Isolde
Mathilde Marchesi
Nellie Melba
Camille Saint-Saëns and Walter Damrosch
Lieutenant Walker Blaine Beale
Fritz Kreisler, Harold Bauer, Pablo Casals, and Walter Damrosch

My Musical Life