American city, capital of Indiana. It was founded in 1821.
The city’s early musical life was characterized by church choir performances, notably by the 50-voice ensemble at the Second Presbyterian Church, where Henry Ward Beecher was pastor from 1839 to 1847. Stimulated by German immigration during the 1830s and 1840s, singing societies flourished in the mid-19th century. In 1854 the Indianapolis Männerchor was founded and has remained active, having sponsored visits from such international artists as Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Maggie Teyte, George Enescu, Myra Hess and Nathan Milstein. It was followed by a number of other male singing societies.
The May Music Festival, held in 1874–5 and from 1886 to 1898 (when it was also known as the Grand Festival), was modelled on that of Cincinnati. The festival of 1886 had a chorus of about 600 and an orchestra of 60. Visiting orchestras included the Theodore Thomas Orchestra and the Boston SO; among guest conductors were Walter Damrosch and Frederick Stock.
The Indianapolis Matinee Musicale (founded in 1877 as the Ladies Matinee Musical), a society for instrumentalists and singers, continues to play an active part in the city’s musical life. Membership by 1927 was no longer restricted to women. After its participation in the World’s Columbian Exposition (Chicago, 1893), it became affiliated with the National Federation of Music Clubs. Guest artists in the programmes sponsored by the society (usually about 30 a year) have included Alfredo Casella (1920), Wilhelm Backhaus (1925), and Eugene Istomin (1947). Other choral groups included the Mendelssohn Choir (founded 1916) and the Haydn Festival Choir (1932). Solo recitals flourished from 1900 to 1960; the series at the English Theater was particularly notable and included such performers as Rachmaninoff.
In 1896 Karl Schneider formed a 60-member orchestra, which survived until 1906 and was occasionally referred to as the Indianapolis SO. The most important other early attempts to form orchestras were the Indianapolis Orchestra and another short-lived Indianapolis SO, under Alexander Ernestinoff (1910–14). The latter rehearsed at the German House (Athenaeum), which has remained an important centre of musical activity.
The Indianapolis SO was formed in 1929, and first performed on 2 November 1930 under Ferdinand Schaeffer, a German violinist and conductor. The orchestra is supported by the Indiana State Symphony Society (founded 1931) and by its women’s committee (once numbering 5000). Until 1937 it was a cooperative, semi-professional orchestra. That year the society was reorganized under the leadership of the industrialist William H. Ball of Muncie, Fabien Sevitzky was appointed conductor and the orchestra became a fully professional ensemble. During the 1937–8 season, Lotte Lehmann, Albert Spaulding and Emanuel Feuermann appeared as guest soloists; the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir was formed as an affiliate of the orchestra; and ten concerts were broadcast by the Mutual Broadcasting Network (broadcasts continued to 1945). In 1943 the state passed legislation permitting the use of tax revenue for the orchestra; in 1951–2 it was the first significant orchestra to appear on commercial television and was considered one of the ten best orchestras in the USA. Sevitzky’s tenure was marked by his performances of contemporary American music, the engaging of young musicians, several recordings (from 1941) and the initiation of children’s and other community concert series. Dissatisfaction over his programming and other issues led to his dismissal in 1955, and Izler Solomon became director in 1956. In 1963 the orchestra moved to Clowes Memorial Hall (cap. 2182) on the Butler University campus. The hall is a centre of musical activity in Indianapolis, and has a flexible stage to accommodate solo recitals, ensembles, orchestras, opera and ballet. In 1984 the renovated Circle Theater (cap. 1847) became the orchestra’s home.
The orchestra achieved increased international recognition under Solomon, who resigned his post in 1976. Following two seasons of guest conductors, John Nelson became music director in 1976. Raymond Leppard succeeded him in 1987 and has brought the orchestra high acclaim. In 1982 the quadrennial International Violin Competition was initiated in Indianapolis.
Despite frequent appearances by world renowned groups, it was not until after World War II that local opera began to develop. An interest in light opera from the 1880s resulted in the founding, by Ora Pearson, of the Indianapolis Opera Company, which lasted about a decade. A professional company, the Indianapolis Opera, was founded in 1975 and gives about four productions a year at the Clowes Memorial Hall. The Indiana Opera Theater, a community-based opera company, was founded in 1983.
In 1907 the College of Musical Art was founded. It merged with the Indiana College of Music and Fine Arts in 1918 and by 1922 it had 1000 students and 30 instructors. The Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music was formed in 1928 through the merging of the Indiana College of Music and Fine Arts, the Metropolitan School of Music (founded 1895) and a number of smaller institutions. It was affiliated with Butler University (founded 1855) from 1928 to 1951. In 1968 the college began sponsoring the Romantic Music Festival, held each April until 1988. Succeeding annual festivals have presented the Soviet arts, contemporary American music and the works of Brahms and Schubert. In the mid-1990s 200 undergraduate and 70 graduate students were enrolled at Jordan, which has a faculty of 50 and offers BA, BM, BS and MM degrees in performance, theory, composition, education, history and arts administration. Degree programmes are also offered at the University of Indianapolis (founded as Indiana Central University in 1902) and the school of music at Indiana University in Bloomington, about 80 kilometres south of Indianapolis.
Although Indianapolis was not one of the points of origination for ragtime, it became an important centre for its publication. After a late start, the publication of ragtime in Indianapolis reached a peak in 1908 and remained high until 1916. Leading ragtime composers included May Aufderheide, Julia Niebergall, Paul Pratt, J. Russel Robinson and Russell Smith.
The early history of jazz in the city featured extended visits from the Wolverines with Bix Beiderbecke, Red Nichols (and his Syncopating Five) and Hoagy Carmichael; from the 1930s a more indigenous jazz evolved. Among those whose careers began in Indianapolis are the trumpeter Freddie Hubbard; the trombonists J.J. Johnson, Slide Hampton and David Baker; the alto saxophonist Jimmy Spaulding; the pianists Leroy Carr and Carl Perkins; the guitarist Wes Montgomery; the double bass players Monk Montgomery and Larry Ridley; and the drummers Earl ‘Fox’ Walker and Sonny Johnson. The most important groups included the Montgomery/Johnson Quintet, the Dave Baker Quartet and the Wes Montgomery Trio. David Baker of Indiana University at Bloomington has also achieved recognition as a jazz educator, author and arranger.
M.F. Bellinger: ‘Music in Indianapolis’, Indiana Magazine of History, xli (1945), 345–62; xlii (1946), 47–65
E. Draegert: Indianapolis: the Culture of an Inland City (diss., Indiana U., 1952)
S.W. Siurua: History of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (diss., Indiana U., 1961)
E. Leary: Indianapolis: the Story of a City (Indianapolis, 1971)
N.H. Long: ‘The Development of Musical Educational Organizations in Indiana’, Indiana Musicator, xxxii/3 (1976–7), 36
J. Hasse: The Creation and Dissemination of Indianapolis Ragtime, 1897–1930 (diss., Indiana U., 1981)
N. Comiskey: ‘Historic Indianapolis: the Two-step, Toe-tapping Tempo of Ragtime’, Indianapolis Monthly (1982), March, 54
DAVID E. FENSKE (with WILLIAM McCLELLAN (4))/JAMES R. BRISCOE