The Oratorio Society was compelled to give its concerts in the showrooms of piano companies: Chickering, Steinway and Knabe, located on 14th Street. The Metropolitan Opera House was the best venue but it was controlled by the schedule of the resident opera company and the Philharmonic Society, considered New York’s primary orchestra at the time. The Symphony Society had a difficult time booking concerts into any of the available halls large enough to accommodate it. It is not difficult to imagine the feel of ground floor theaters packed with people, burning gas lamps and no air circulation in the years before deodorant.ĭamrosch inherited a vision for a grand concert hall for New York City from his father Leopold, who had founded the Oratorio Society in 1873 and the Symphony Society in 1878. Before air conditioning, New York summers were too hot for orchestral performances. He had just finished his second season and took a sabbatical to Europe for a summer of study with conductor Hans von Bülow.
The story of Carnegie Hall begins in the spring of 1887: A 25 year old Walter Damrosch (1862–1950) had attained the elevated position of conductor and musical director of the Symphony Society of New York and the Oratorio Society of New York.
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