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FormatBook Chapter
Author, AnalyticKoegel, John and Jonas Westover
Title, AnalyticBeethoven and Beer: Orchestral Music in German Beer Gardens in Nineteenth-Century New York City
Author, MonographicSpitzer, John, editor
Title, MonographicAmerican Orchestras in the Nineteenth Century
Place of PublicationChicago
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
Date of Publication2012
Location in Work130-155, illustrations
View OnlinePDF
AbstractSome of the roots of the contemporary American orchestra were found in the nineteenth-century German American beer halls on the Bowery Theater. The majority of New York City's instrumentalists were German immigrants, and the musicians who played in the beer garden orchestras were overwhelmingly German. The highest level of beer garden was Broadway Garten. Carl Bergmann's “sacred concert” did not include a single piece of religious music. The sacred concerts were vital to the social and musical life of Klein Deutschland. Terrace Garden, which was regarded as the periphery of the main part of the city, presented musical and dramatic performances as well as dancing year round. Symphonic music by Beethoven and other classical composers as well as popular dance-inspired music by composers of light orchestral music were always accompanied in the German beer gardens by “fluent and luminous lager bier.”
Call NumberDigital file (PDF)
MKI TermsMusic/ Societies, etc./ German Americans/ Cultural contributions/ Cultural influence