Chapter 11 - First Years in Rochester

Summary

The move to Rochester, New York, was a major step for the entire family. Af¬ter we got settled a bit in our new house, baby and all, I wanted to get better acquainted with the school I was to serve and was told that the person who was most knowledgeable was the head librarian Ruth Watanabe. She had been at the Eastman School since earning her PhD in 1952 and was a close friend and advisor of Howard Hanson ever since she graduated as the first Asian-Ameri¬can woman to receive a degree. Later she was to write a biography of Hanson and help in preparing a history of the School. Ruth was very gracious to the newcomer and relished the fact that she could introduce me into the history of what was to be my academic home for a long time—in fact, nearly thirty years. She told me two fascinating stories that I have never seen in print anywhere and that I found most interesting and unusual. The first was about what gave George Eastman the idea for a major music school in Rochester.

Early in the twentieth century, the New York Philharmonic used to tour New York State every year during the winter months since there were no major local orchestras at the time. The tour would make stops in Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo, and sometimes also in Ithaca. In 1909 Gustav Mahler became the music director of the orchestra. In the winter of what must have been 1910 the ensemble came to Rochester, played a concert in the old Naval Conservatory (today's Geva Theatre) and was scheduled to leave immediately after the performance to travel by train to Buffalo for their next engagement. As so often happens in that part of our country in the winter, a serious snow¬storm developed while the Rochester concert was being performed, and the trains were cancelled because of the heavy snow accumulation especially half way to Buffalo in Batavia. The men of the orchestra were put up right away in a downtown hotel while George Eastman invited Maestro Mahler to overnight at his spacious mansion. Mahler accepted with pleasure, especially since Mr. Eastman had been partially educated in Germany and spoke the language, and so Mahler felt comfortable conversing with him. When they arrived at the East¬man House they had a nightcap before retiring.