the boston cecilia history walk
Saturday, June 1, 2024
Mt. auburn cemetery, cambridge, Ma
tours at 10:00am and 2:00pm
Take a walk in the beautiful Mt. Auburn Cemetery through Boston’s music history starting in the late 19th century. Hear stories about The Boston Cecilia's first 50 years - a time when Cecilia played an important role in Boston's emergence as an American center for classical music - singing many American premieres and for the opening of Symphony Hall in 1900.
With guided narration, the 90-minute walk visits the gravesite of B.J. Lang, Cecilia’s first music director, along with other historic figures with ties to Cecilia, like Henry Lee Higginson, founder of the BSO. Past lakes and along paths, the tour includes two of the “Boston Six,” the Second N.E. School of American composers - Arthur Foote, also an accompanist for Cecilia’s concerts and George W. Chadwick, a professor at the newly established New England Conservatory. We will also visit the gravestones of two women composers: Margret Ruthven Lang, whose work was performed by Cecilia as well as the BSO -the first American woman to have a piece performed by a major orchestra. Mabel Wheeler Daniel sang with The Boston Cecilia early on, then went on to have a successful career as a conductor, composer, and educator.
Marylène Altieri, Boston Cecilia alto, will be your tour guide. She is a 45-year veteran chorus member and the group's volunteer archivist. She recently retired from the Harvard libraries where she was a special collections librarian and curator for 42 years and where she gave many lectures/presentations.
