THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC
Between
1837 and 1852, there were five attempts to raise the funds needed
to build an Opera House within the city limits of Philadelphia.
After Commissioners were appointed by an act of the General Assembly
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Charles Henry Fisher began
to sell stock in the Academy of Music on May 24, 1852. On October
13, 1854, the land on the southwest corner of Broad and Locust
Streets was purchased. At that time, the area was undeveloped.
The old State House, now known as Independence Hall, was the heart
of the community. (Philadelphia was the capital of Pennsylvania
until 1812.) The social, economic and political factors that facilitated
the development of the Academy can be summarized in the following
quotation:
"Philadelphia as a meeting place between North and South
was one of the most important commercial cities on the seaboard.
The eastern cities are naturally regarded by the citizens of
the rest of our country as the seats of superior refinement
and enjoyment, and the merchant always contemplates pleasure
as well as business in his semi-annual trips to those cities."
John Francis Marion - Within These Walls, page 27.
The Commissioners held a competition to select the design of
the Academy. Fifteen architects submitted designs between October
3rd and December 15th of 1854. The winners were announced on
February 12, 1855. Gustav Rungé and Napoleon Le Brun
won the $400 prize. It was their idea to dedicate the Academy
to Mozart's memory. Within four months the ground-breaking took
place. This project was so important that President Franklin
Pierce, along with Governor James Pollock and Mayor Robert T.
Conrad, laid the cornerstone on July 26, 1855.
On January 26, 1857, the Academy held the Grand Ball and Promenade
Concert of its opening. As the guests entered the theater, there
above the proscenium arch, over the Academy stage, a bas-relief
of Mozart looked down upon the finely dressed Philadelphians.
News of the opera house's opening was of national significance.
Many newspapers carried the story with extensive illustrations.
The Academy became the city's center for the performing arts
from that day. Now, after 145 years, the Academy is still the
hub of the city's social life. This has kept the Academy of
Music one of Philadelphia's most treasured buildings. Numerous
presidents have visited the Academy, including Ulysses S. Grant,
Rutherford B. Hayes, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Theodore
Roosevelt, William Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert
Hoover, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Richard Nixon. The Academy
has had many world-famous performers on its stage: Edwin Booth,
Peter Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Lily Pons, Richard Strauss,
Igor Stravinsky, Gustav Mahler, Enrico Caruso, Adelina Patti,
Jascha Heifetz, Anna Pavlova, George Gershwin, Arturo Toscanini,
Marian Anderson, and thousands more.
On May 14, 1897, John Philip Sousa's composition "The
Stars and Stripes Forever" was premiered on the Academy
stage. On March 29 and April 5, 1900, Fritz Scheel conducted
two serious concerts of professional musicians. These two concerts
are considered the genesis of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Today
the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Opera Company of Philadelphia
and the Pennsylvania Ballet call the Academy home. It is your
home of the living arts also!
The Academy was made a Registered National Historic Landmark
in 1963. With Mozart's image looking down on the Academy's audiences
from his position above the stage for over one hundred years,
let the joy of opera, orchestra, and dance continue forever.
Academy of Music, Broad and Locust Sts.
