Music at Columbia: The First 100 Years

Music Performance: The Early Years > Columbia College Musical Society

The Banjo Club, 1894-95

Photograph, from an undated Supplement to The Columbia Daily Spectator

Columbia University Archives, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

 

The Columbia College Musical Society, the University’s leading musical organization, had been active for several decades before it was incorporated in 1892. The Society brought together the Glee, Banjo, and Mandolin Clubs under its leadership, and the Society was also the sponsoring organization for Columbia’s widely celebrated theater productions. The Dramatic Society and the Clubs were also touring groups, whose performances were given in the outlying districts of the metropolitan area as well as in city theaters and halls. The proceeds often benefited charities or Columbia activities, and reviews in the New York press were not uncommon.

Columbia College Musical Society

Program, Joan of Arc, or, the Monarch, the Maid, the Minister, and the Magicians, April 2, 1894

Columbia University Archives, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

 

According to a lengthy unsigned review in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 17, 1894, the Columbia College Musical Society “covered itself with glory as with a garment at the Academy [of Music] last night by its brilliant performance of its ‘Joan of Arc’ burlesque, and the Home for Aged Men, for whose benefit the performance was given, reaped a handsome reward.

Columbia College Musical Society

Program, Joan of Arc, or, the Monarch, the Maid, the Minister, and the Magicians, April 2, 1894

Columbia University Archives, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Columbia College Musical Society

Program, February 20, 1896

Columbia University Archives, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

 

The program included works by Columbia College students and ballet music from Gounod's Faust, as performed by the Mandolin Club.

Columbia College Musical Society

Program, February 20, 1896

Columbia University Archives, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

 

Rare Book & Manuscript Library / Butler Library, 6th Fl. East / 535 West 114th St. / New York, NY 10027 / (212) 854-5153 / rbml@libraries.cul.columia.edu