Seattle Civic Symphony Orchestra

Seattle Civic Symphony Orchestra was an amateur and, for one season, a professional orchestra which held its first concert on April 24, 1921, and held its last concert on May 4, 1924. It was founded and directed by Mary Davenport Engberg.
Mary Davenport Engberg intended the orchestra to be a vehicle for "the schooling of instrumentalists in orchestral routine" for "developing orchestra players for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra from the ranks of local students" and modeled on the relationship of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a training orchestra for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.Everhardt Armstrong, "Music and Musicians," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 24 April 1921Seattle Musicians Association, Local 76 American Federation of Musicians, Minutes, Meeting of the Board of Directors, 23 March 1921.Esther Campbell, Bagpipes in the Woodwind Section: A History of the Seattle Symphony and its Women's Association, (Seattle: Seattle Symphony Women's Association, 1978), p. 14. The Seattle Civic Symphony Orchestra made its debut two months after the professional Seattle Symphony Orchestra's final concert of the 1920-21 season on February 15, 1921.Everhardt Armstrong, "Orchestra Ends 1920-21 Season," Seattle Post Intelligencer, 16 February 1921. The Seattle Symphony Orchestra subsequently suffered financial problems and its 1921-2 season was cancelled."No Symphony This Season," Seattle Times, 9 October 1921, p. 21. The Seattle Civic Symphony Orchestra continued as a separate artistic venue, and its personnel contained no players belonging to the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Program, 15 February 1921. Seattle Civic Symphony Orchestra, Program, 24 April 1921. Unlike the professional Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the personnel of the Seattle Civic Symphony Orchestra received no compensation.Seattle Musicians Association, Minutes, Meeting of the Board of Directors, 5 April 1921. 
After three successful seasons, Mary Davenport Engberg announced her intention to transform the Seattle Civic Symphony Orchestra into a union orchestra in which the players were compensated.Seattle Musicians Association, Minutes, Meeting of the Board of Directors, 21 August 1923. Compensation was apparently $8.00 per session.Seattle Musicians Association, Minutes, Meeting of the Board of Directors, 13 May 1924. The orchestra thereafter boasted "21 musicians who played formerly in the Seattle Symphony Orchestra during its existence" out of a total of 62.Seattle Civic Symphony Orchestra, Program, 16 March 1924. Despite such a large representation of players, this statement implies that the Seattle Symphony Orchestra was still defunct. The Seattle Civic Symphony Orchestra was nevertheless able to attract violinist Efrem Zimbalist, Sr. to solo with the orchestra for its concert on November 25, 1923, and pianist Ossip Gabrilowitsch for its concert on May 4, 1924, both at the Metropolitan Theater.Seattle Civic Symphony Orchestra, Program, 25 November 1923, 4 May 1924. Despite these artistic successes, the May 4, 1924 concert marked the final appearance of the Seattle Civic Symphony Orchestra, apparently due to financial problems.Seattle Musicians Association, Minutes, Meeting of the Board of Directors, 1 April 1924, 23 April 1924, 6 May 1924. The Seattle Symphony Orchestra was revived in 1926 under the direction of Karl Krueger after a five-year hiatus."The Musician and the Playgoer," Town Crier, 13 November 1926, p. 11. 
Despite subsequent embellishments that Mary Davenport Engberg was the Seattle Symphony Orchestra's first female conductor,
 she in fact was never the director of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.
Category:American orchestras
Category:Musical groups established in 1921
Category:Non-profit organizations based in Seattle, Washington
Category:Musical groups from Seattle, Washington