Good Music for a Free People: The Germania Musical Society in Nineteenth-Century America (review)

This well-researched book provides a detailed account of the Germania Musical Society and their activities in the United States during the years 1848-54. Although the Germania is well known in American music circles, little research has previously been done on the ensemble, and Nancy Newman has done an excellent job of gathering pertinent and intriguing information regarding the Society, as well as on the overall context of the utopian ideas that inspired its members. The strong historical and political background gives this book interest not only to the musicologist, but also to the history enthusiast.

The book is organized into five chapters with three appendices, including a chronology of the Society's performances from 1848 to 1854. In addition to providing the date and venue for each performance, Newman lists partial programs for each concert, making special note of performances of complete symphonies. This appendix is helpful to the reader, for it provides in a more condensed form some of the information woven throughout the text itself.

From the beginning, Newman makes the context of the Germania's travels evident. The first chapter, "Musical Forty-Eighters," introduces the transatlantic migration of Europeans that took place during the mid-nineteenth century, and describes the general view of America as a fertile land for social and utopian experimentation. Many of these immigrants were German, spurred to leave their home country by the generally oppressive political climate. Newman also introduces the ideas of Etienne Cabet, a Frenchman who established a utopian colony in Illinois, thus laying the foundation for more detailed descriptions of this movement in later chapters. While her research here is impeccable, the detail and political references can become tedious to the uninitiated reader, and frequent references to important literary works and political movements of the time can be somewhat confusing.

After setting the background for the Germania's travels, Newman begins to chronicle their American tours. She divides the years into two periods, those under the direction of Carl Lenschow (1848-50), and those under Carl Bergmann (1850-54). Of great interest in this section is her translation of Henry Albrecht's Skizzen aus dem Leben der Musik-Gesellschaft Germania (Philadelphia: King und Baird, 1869), a memoir the orchestra member wrote fifteen years after the members of the Germania had parted ways. Newman states her rationale for including the entire Skizzen (sixteen pages in its original version) as such: "I realized that Albrecht's tantalizingly brief text opened a portal into a world of music-making that was otherwise obscured" (p. 2). She also notes that other sources which discuss the Germania Musical Society depend heavily upon Albrecht's writing. Thus Newman builds her narrative on a strong historical foundation.

The translation itself is understandable and easy to read, and provides a basic outline of the Germania's travels. To this skeleton, Newman adds considerable commentary that expounds on the people and places mentioned by Albrecht. Her research here is based on a breadth of sources including journals, newspapers, and primary material ranging from the memoirs of Max Maretzeck (a contemporary of the Germania, and director of New York City's Italian Opera Company) to relatively recent musicological studies. She also provides a list of personnel in the orchestra (pp. 67-68), which is helpful as the reader imagines the visual and aural aspects of Germania concerts.

As Newman chronicles the travels of the Society, she considers the repertoire they performed in some detail, and thus provides a window into concert life of the nineteenth century. During the early years of their tour, under Lenschow, she notes the variety of their concerts and the presence of potpourris and dance pieces. For instance, on a program from 11 November 1848, the orchestra performed three dances (a galop, a waltz, and a quadrille) and a "Grand Potpourri, Republican...