CHAPTER XIV ART, LITERATURE, ETC. Throughout Alameda county, as elsewhere in the United States, music from the start was one of the sweetest and most agreeable pastimes. The mission of San Jose had its musical instruments and its congregational songs and chants by Indian voices. The first Spanish settlers and their vaqueros enjoyed the violin and the guitar. During the pioneer period of the Americans religious songs and national or sentimental airs softened the hardships of settlement and improvement. As the towns became cities and the cities became large, musical instructors appeared, glee clubs and choruses were formed and the art began to grow. This was demanded by the first settlers who came from the East and had there received the advantages of musical and other art instruction. The first notable musical development was in the churches, in the university and in the singing schools of nearly all the towns of the county. The picturesque scenery, delightful climate, choice flower gardens and fine trees were the sources of inspiration that early called into action and prominence the artists of the county. In the eighties paintings began to attract attention and ere long could be seen in Hopkins Art Institute, San Francisco. Raymond D. Yelland was one of the most distinguished of the early county artists. His work attracted attention in New York, London and Paris. His landscapes were particularly expressive and symbolic of the glories of the West. He was long an instructor in Hopkins Art Institute. C. C. Judson, one of his pupils, distinguished himself along the Yelland line of expression and color. Marius Dahlgreen painted many beautiful scenes. Other artistic work was by Miss Lou Wall, Miss Mollie Hutchinson and Wallace Von Helm. Douglas Tilden's sculptures attracted much attention. Joseph Cleany excelled in painting and modeling. The artistic work of Miss Alice McChesney found a home in New York and Paris. Miss Pearl Fine and Miss Sadie Whitney were promising students of Hopkins Institute. Miss A. F. Briggs was the author of excellent water color sketches of local natural attractions. Other artists of Alameda county in the nineties were Mr. Redmond, Arthur Lewis, Miss M. Parmenter, Miss McClelland and H. R. Gremke. Among the china painters, Miss Emma Roberts, Miss E. M. Porter, Miss Eunice Holmes and Miss Herrick. Westward the course of empire takes its way The first four acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day. Time's noblest offspring is the last. -BISHOP BERKELEY. A large number of oil paintings were exhibited at the Grand Central hotel in 1875, and were subsequently sold at auction to the highest bidders. The wealthiest residents of the city visited this exhibition and made purchases for their homes, offices and stores. The Oakland Musical Aid Society was organized in January, 1875, with the following officers: John G. Bruguiere, president; J. M. Bonham, vice-president; J. R. Cahill, secretary; John C. Roos, treasurer; K. Roos, musical director. The object was mutual improvement in music. The society asked that the council aid them to purchase a full set of brass instruments. The matter was referred to a committee. In June, 1875, the Alameda Harmonic Society was inaugurated, and the following officers were elected and empowered to make arrangements for the selection and purchase of suitable grounds on which to erect a music hall: Adolph Mayrisch, president; Dr. Eichler, vice-president; C. Volberg, secretary; Fritz Boehmer, treasurer; Mr. Kustel, Jr., librarian; Messrs. W. H. Wenck, Conrad Liese and William Holtz, building committee. In September, 1876, Virgil Williams lectured at the University on "Artists. Pictures and Critics." The Centennial Jubilee Concert presented at Dietz Opera House in July under the direction of John P. Morgan was a great success. Every seat in the house was occupied. The audience was critical, but was enthusiastic in its approval. Among the renditions were selections from Von Weber, Morley, Max Bruch, Haydn, Blumenthal, Meyerbeer, Bellini and others. Among the performers were Louis Schmidt, Charles Pflueger, Mrs. John Trehane, Miss Clara Beutler, Fred Borneman, Walter Campbell and Mr. and Mrs. Morgan. There was a general demand for a repetition of this delightful entertainment in the near future. Charles Frees of Washington Corners wrote good verse in 1876. A verse from his "Sea Watch" is as follows: He walks beside the moaning sea and gazes on the deep, And ever and anon he bows his hoary head to weep; The brow that once was young and fair and glowed with health and youth, For here beside the spreading sea where now you see him stray, The studio of L. O. Lussier at Ninth street contained excellent oils, water colors and etchings. He painted fine portraits of Prof. Joseph LeConte and Mr. Anthony Chabot. Andrew P. Hill was a student under his instruction at this time. A local newspaper said that there could be mentioned the names of at least fifty persons of this city whose scenic productions in painting would, if they were placed on the market, bring a handsome price. The natural beauties and fine climate developed the artistic taste and power of expression. Antone Miller was a Portuguese painter of San Leandro in 1883 and before; his specialty was landscapes and marine scenes. T. L. Bromley painted portraits in 1883. The song recital by Mrs. Henry Norton assisted by Mrs. C. Carr, given at Masonic hall in September, was attended by a large and critical audience. The Oakland Harmonic Society was prominent in musical circles. They gave a concert at the Independent church for the benefit of the Good Templars' home. Among the performers were Miss Brown, Miss Tippett, Mrs. Tippett, Messrs. Hughes, Beel, Reynolds, Lloyd, Waite, Button and Close. F. Seregui was a prominent art dealer here in the early '80s. He went to Italy and while there bought many interesting objects of art for wealthy Oaklanders, one of which, for Charles Main, was a magnificent mausoleum to be erected in Mountain View cemetery; it was after Seregui's designs, with a base of Carrara marble. He also brought back marble statuary for D. D. Colton's lot at the cemetery. A railroad magnate authorized him to spend $50,000 for art works. In 1884 an art loan exhibition under the auspices of the Lyon and Appomattox Posts, G. A. R., was held for the benefit of the Veterans' home. J. L. Bromley, a Mexican war veteran and a director of the Veterans' home, was on the local committee. A sub-committee was W. H. H. Hussey, W. R. Thomas and T. H. Thomas. Donations of all kinds were asked; all to be sold at auction at the close of the exhibition. The university art gallery contained rare and valuable paintings. Reubens and Murillo were represented. Leize's "Washington at the Battle of Monmouth" occupied a place on the walls; it was a gift from Mrs. Mark Hopkins and was valued at $30,000. In 1884 Sigmund S. Beel left Oakland for Germany to perfect himself in the study of the violin. He studied and practiced for six years at Berlin and Munich and returned to Oakland in April, 1890, master of his instrument and his profession. Abroad at the same time was Miss Lulu Wall studying painting in Berlin and in New York were Miss Clara McChesney, Miss Lizzie Boyer and many others studying the various branches of art. Miss McChesney scored a great success at water color painting. Miss Ina D. Coolbrith, librarian of the Oakland Free Library was a poetical writer of considerable prominence in the '70s and '80s. A small volume of her poems was published about 1882; they were characterized by great delicacy and refinement of feeling and had the true inspiration. Upon the death of a Idear friend she wrote: How shall we speak most fittingly of her Through all her busy days, Unmindful of the world's applause and stir? A worker in God's harvesting; she leaves And when she passed away Into that Larger Day Which seemed as night to us, we could not say— Folding her hands to rest If joy or grief, if tears or smiles, were best! -INA D. COOLBRITH. J. H. Backhaus, a young artist of Alameda, died in 1886, in Munich, Germany, where he had gone to study. He was a remarkable cartoonist and died at the age of twenty-one years. He contributed to the illustrations of the Wasp. William Keith spoke on art before the Longfellow Association of Berkeley in March, 1888; his subject was "Landscape Painting." He said, "When I began to paint, I could not get mountains high enough, nor sunsets gorgeous enough, for my brush and colors. After a considerable number of years' experience I am contented with very slight material-a clump of trees, a hillside, a bit of sky. I find these hard enough and varied enough to express any feelings I may have about them." He said he saw two paintings side by side in a New York gallery. One seemed dauby and the other attractive. He stepped across the room and again looked. The dauby one seemed to expand and soar and you could almost feel its cool night air. The other was simply a mass of colors. The dauby one was by Corot and the other by a good artist of the East. He said that an artist should not adhere too closely to nature, but select from nature and combine what would best express what he desired; that an artist's experience consisted of three states: Childhood, youth and manhood. In the first he did not know how to express himself; in the second he received abundant experience vast accumulation of facts which crowded out his feelings and impulses; in the third he returned to the first state with the facts of the second state, and then become the real artist. Emma Nevada, the world famous singer, was educated at Mills College in the class of 1876. In her time she sang to all the crowned heads of Europe and to thousands of assemblages in all portions of the civilized world. She came back to California in 1900 and was welcomed everywhere as a native product— the highest representative of the singing art. Miss Carrie Northey, a young singer of East Oakland attracted much attention in 1888-89 by the sweetness and compass of her voice. Upon her return from the East where she received favorable notice she was given a musical reception at Oakland theatre on which occasion she sang with excellent effect before a large audience soprano solos from the Italian song poems of Rotoli, and the works of Strelizki and Helmund and a selection from the opera of Ernani by Verdi. In the East she was prima donna of the New England Conservatory Concert Company. Her singing of Marguerite from Faust was the perfection of musical expression. The eastern newspapers were filled with praise of her art and voice. In a short time she left for Paris to continue her studies. H. P. Passmore's class in music gave an interesting and highly cultured entertainment in Hamilton hall in January, 1889, to a large and select audience of music lovers. Selections from Bach, Schubert, Reinecke, Jensen, Rossini, Mendelssohn and other masters were rendered in splendid style. Mr. Passmore was the composer of two of the numbers rendered. The annual conference of the American Library Association was held in San Francisco and Oakland in October, 1891. They really met in the former, but all came over to the latter for a formal reception and for sight seeing on the east side. They first visited Berkeley then Oakland, then Piedmont and then were received formally at the Starr King Fraternity rooms. Joaquin Miller resided in the foothills just outside of Oakland. He owned there nearly one hundred acres. His home consisted of several separate cottages. His mother occupied one of the cottages; he lived all alone in another. Two Japanese servants took care of the houses. The view from his home was beautiful and a daily source of inspiration to this remarkable man. A portion of the poet's house occupied the exact spot where John C. Fremont camped when he first came to the coast. He had cattle and horses, but no dogs. He loved roses and had a rare collection of the latest and richest varieties. A portion of his place was wild, woody and very picturesque and here he mused by the hour and built his sublime creations. He shunned visitors, but was courteous, though eccentric when met. At an entertainment given by the Native Daughters of the Golden West in April, 1888, at Medical College hall, he recited his famous poem "The Fortunate Isles." He said: "Not long ago a worthy friend, a rich San Francisco preacher, came to see me where I was at work among my olive trees. 'Will olives pay here?' This was his first and last question. The clink of the golden chain that bound that man's neck to the golden calf with the cloven feet was heard to rattle on my stony steps as he spoke. 'Will olives pay here?' Pay? Pay? In every breath of the salt sea wind that lifts their silvery leaves in the sun I am paid-paid in imperishable silver every day. I see in every olive leaf the silver branch of the peace dove of old. If there is a poem, written or unwritten, a song sung or unsung, sweeter or more plaintive than that of the dove singing in the silver gray olive tree on the mountain steeps, singing in that sad far-off way, as if the waste of waters still encompassed her and she found |