Carnegie Hall was built with singers in mind, despite what some instrumentalists would like you to believe! Motivated by the fact that there were no major performing halls in New York, the Oratorio Society of New York took it upon themselves to build such a hall. The Oratorio Society is the second oldest chorus in the country. It was founded in 1873 and had a very wealthy membership. But even after they had decided to build the hall and pooled their resources, much more money was needed.
Louise Whitfield Carnegie, wife of Andrew Carnegie, was a member of the Oratorio Society. During a trip to Scotland with her husband, she took it upon herself to use the confined space of the ocean liner to her advantage in persuading her husband to make up the deficit and build Carnegie Hall. She had the help of the Oratorio Society’s conductor, Walter Damrosch, who incidentally was on the same ocean liner on his way to Europe to study conducting.
If instrumentalists start taking credit for hall’s construction, let them know that the earliest prospectus written describing the proposed hall begins the list of intended performers who would be using the hall with “choruses.” Also when the renovation plans were being considered, the planners had to come to the Oratorio Society to get the original blueprints.
If you’d like more proof that Carnegie Hall was built with singers in mind, consider that the architect of Carnegie Hall, William Tuthill, was also a chorister in the Oratorio Society and was building a hall for his own performing group.
