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401 5 Recovery of the Postwar Years 1865–1872 W hen the war ended on April 9, 1865, the city, which had suffered virtually no physical damage, was in financial ruin, and yet concert life was quick to recover. On Sunday, April 16, 1865, there was a grand sacred concert at the Opera House by Miss Eva Brent, a favorite New Orleans artist, to raise money for the poor families of the city. A complete orchestra was engaged.1 The next evening violinist Page gave an instrumental and vocal concert at the Saint Charles Theatre, with M Flandry and a group of amateur singers. Page performed his new, brilliant waltz, “Hommage aux Louisianais,” the music for which could be purchased at local venders and the proceeds from which were donated to the poor of the city.2 Increasingly, the exiled musicians returned. There was a bustling of musical activity in May that far surpassed that of the previous four years and that resembled that of any year in the 1840s or 1850s. What adds to the impression of sudden renewal is that May previously was the time when the season began to wind down because of the onset of extreme heat and humidity, yet here the season suddenly came alive. Leon Prévost, son of Eugène, announced on May 1 that he was back to conduct the orchestra of the French Opera House in a special farewell concert on Saturday, May 6, 1865, for Miss A. Fleury, the wellknown local singer who was going to Paris to study at the conservatory.3 They were assisted by artists of the city. Prévost conducted an orchestra in another grand concert on May 24, 1865, again with Miss Fleury as soloist.4 Meanwhile, on May 4, Fannie Melmer, joined by Luccia Bordesi and many amateurs under the direction of Harry Melmer, gave a grand vocal and instrumental concert at the Saint Charles Opera House;5 the pupils of Theodore von la Hache gave a grand concert at Saint Alphonse’s Hall on May 17 in a program that included Donizetti’s Les Martyrs and various German, French, and English romances;6 and on May 31 Leon Prévost conducted a grand charity concert offered by the 402 | Concert Life in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans women of New Orleans, including both amateurs and artists as soloists (Miss A. Fleury is the only one named), with a grand orchestra performing the overtures to Aimé Louis Maillart’s Les Dragons de Villars and Hérold’s Zampa.7 In a review of this last concert, the critic waxed sentimental on returning, at last, to the prewar glory of the French Opera House after four long years of suffering. One further concert during the month occurred on May 22, in commemoration of the second anniversary of the Deutsche Company, which gave a grand vocal and instrumental concert and dramatic entertainment at the Opera House for the benefit of Jewish widows and orphans.8 Other signs of rebirth were evident. Beginning on May 20 the intermèdes returned to the Opera House between dramas and vaudevilles.9 One of the city’s most important voice teachers, Mme Charles Boudousquié, having returned to New Orleans, announced on May 30 to her former students, and to those families she had impressed, that she was again teaching voice. Mme Boudousquié, now married to the former director of the opera, Charles Boudousquié, had starred at the opera as Julie Calvé.10 Band concerts began to increase in popularity. On June 4, Jaeger’s Wind Orchestra (the Jaeger Band) performed a grand sacred concert in the gardens of Cedre Magnolia, next to the Bayou Bridge, with illuminations.11 Throughout June, Joseph V. Gessner’s band performed musical soirees each Wednesday and Thursday.12 School concerts again became festive occasions. On June 8 there was the concert and prize distribution of the Saint Louis Institute under Madame C. Deron. The institute, at 275 Dauphine Street, between Ursulines and Hospital streets, was an old and well-approved school for young women.13 Not to be left behind, Mme Boyer’s École de Musique announced that there would be monthly exercises (recitals) where one could hear the children sing in choir and play the piano.14 Mme Magioni joined Boyer as an instructor. This sudden upsurge in musical activity was a good sign of recovery. Nonetheless , it would take a few years for the city to fully reach its prewar eminence as a...

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