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For #AskAnArchivist Day, we sat down with Frank Villella — director of the Rosenthal Archives of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association — for the answers to a few frequently asked questions.
What is the oldest artifact in the Rosenthal Archives?
Well, we don’t actually know, but I have couple of guesses. Our founder and first music director Theodore Thomas began conducting in 1860, so some of the scores and parts in his collection are certainly among the oldest materials we have. We also have a bronze life mask of Ludwig van Beethoven — a copy made from the original mold from 1812 — which may very well be our oldest artifact. (It is certainly one of my favorites!)
What was the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s first recording?
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra made their first commercial recording under second music director Frederick Stock on May 1, 1916. At an undocumented location in Chicago, they recorded Mendelssohn’s Wedding March from A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre; and Grieg’s Two Elegiac Melodies, Heart Wounds and The Last Spring.
How many Grammy awards has the CSO won?
Believe it or not, it’s not a simple answer. To be 100% accurate, we say recordings by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus have earned 65 Grammy awards from the Recording Academy. We have several statuettes in our collection, including the nine awards won by Margaret Hills during her tenure as the first director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. However, Leontyne Price’s 1964 Grammy for Best Vocal Soloist Performance for her recording with the CSO of Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été and Falla’s El amor brujo is sitting on her shelf, not ours!
Who was the first woman to join the Chicago Symphony Orchestra?
Well, the answer is kind of in two parts. The first woman listed on the roster was Mrs. Lawrence (Anna) Winch, second harp for the 1892–93 season; however, she only performed on an as-needed basis, and the position was not contracted as full-time until the late 1950s. In 1941, Stock appointed Helen Kotas to the position of principal horn, making her the first woman to hold a rostered position in the Orchestra.
How many soundtracks has the Orchestra recorded?
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus have performed for the soundtracks for two major motion pictures: Fantasia 2000 and Lincoln. Between 1993 and 1996, James Levine conducted recording sessions at Medinah Temple for Fantasia 2000, the long-awaited sequel to Disney’s classic Fantasia from 1940. And in 2012, John Williams was on the podium to lead sessions for his soundtrack to Lincoln.
In addition to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, who else has appeared on Orchestra Hall’s stage?
The list is almost endless. With the CSO, there has been a parade of guest composers as conductors and soloists, including Béla Bartók, Aaron Copland, Sir Edward Elgar, Paul Hindemith, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninov, Maurice Ravel, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Igor Stravinsky, among others. Other guests with the Orchestra include Marian Anderson, Leonard Bernstein, Van Cliburn, Herbie Hancock, Myra Hess, Carlos Kleiber, Birgit Nilsson, Maud Powell, Mstislav Rostropovich, Artur Schnabel, Isaac Stern, Leopold Stokowski, and Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler, to name just a few. There have also been countless appearances by notable folks (without the Orchestra), including Isadora Duncan; Amelia Earhart; Judy Garland; Harry Houdini; Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan; Mario Lanza; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Eleanor Roosevelt; Ravi Shankar; and Mel Tormé, among hundreds of others.
Have more questions? Send them to us — including the hashtag #AskAnArchivist — via Facebook (@chicagosymphony), Instagram (@chicagosymphony) or X (@csoarchives)!
