Dvořák’s Violin Concerto and Max Bendix

On October 30, 1891, founder and first music director Theodore Thomas led the Chicago Orchestra in the U.S. premiere — the new ensemble’s first — of Dvořák’s Violin Concerto at the Auditorium Theatre. Concertmaster Max Bendix was the soloist. It was the second of the composer’s works to be performed by the Orchestra; two weeks earlier, Thomas had led Dvořák’s Husitská Overture to close the inaugural concerts on October 16 and 17.

The program book for the third week of subscription concerts listed the concerto as “new” and “the program annotator [Adolph W. Dohn], like anyone writing about contemporary music, hedged his bets on Dvořák’s future reputation,” according to the Orchestra’s current program annotator Phillip Huscher. “Of the Bohemian composer’s recent decision to relocate to the United States, a new world he would later famously depict in a symphony, [Dohn] said only, ‘It remains to be seen to what extent the influences of another civilization may affect his musical expression.’ ”

“The solo part is, as has been said, one of great difficulty, that of the last movement being especially trying. Mr. Max Bendix met these difficulties and overcame them in most instances with ease,” wrote the reviewer in the Chicago Tribune. “His phrasing is truly exceptional in its artistic beauty and purity. Rarely has a violinist been heard in Chicago who has equaled Mr. Bendix in this respect.”

Max Bendix (1866–1945) enjoyed a remarkable career as a violinist and conductor. He was born on March 28, 1866, in Detroit, Michigan, and his first teacher was his father William, an orchestra leader at the Academy of Music in New York. He first performed as a soloist when he was eight years old and later studied with Richard Arnold, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic. Bendix attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music as a student of Simon E. Jacobsohn, who likely introduced him to Theodore Thomas. He first performed with Thomas and the Theodore Thomas Orchestra at the Cincinnati May Festival in 1878, became a first violinist in that ensemble the following year and graduated with a gold medal from the conservatory at the age of 14 in 1880.

Before the age of 20, Bendix served as concertmaster with the Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company, McCaull Opera Company, Germania Symphony Orchestra, German Opera Orchestra under Anton Seidl and the Van der Stucken Orchestra. In the spring of 1886, Theodore Thomas hired him as concertmaster of his eponymous orchestra, and in 1891, he became the first concertmaster of the Chicago Orchestra.

After serving for the ensemble’s first five seasons, Bendix returned to New York to perform and further his aspirations to be a conductor. He worked briefly as concertmaster at the Metropolitan Opera, conductor at the Saint Louis and San Francisco expositions as well as with the Saint Louis Municipal Orchestra, and was musical director for several Broadway shows. Back in Chicago, he later led the National Symphony Orchestra of Chicago at Midway Gardens and was the first conductor of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. He died in Chicago on December 6, 1945, at the age of 79.

This article also appears here and portions previously appeared here.