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