Otto F. Andrle - Table of Contents
Anderle Links Buffalo's Early Harmony with New
Transcribed by Chris Andrle
Son of Academy of Music Conductor Attends All Concerts of Buffalo Symphony Orchestra
C. 1929-1932
At every concert of the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra, a slender man with a musician's voice and an artist's fingers is somewhere in the audience.
His name is Otto Francis Anderle. A designer and craftsman in stained glass by profession, he has studios at 84 West Huron street and 232 Wellington road. The Anderle family has added its musical talent to melodies floating through Buffalo these many years.
Conducted Orchestra Once
Anderle, himself, conducted an orchestra once. He was eight years old. The oldest members of his orchestra had attained the ripe years of 12 or 14. They were sons of former pupils of Anderle's father, another Francis.
The elder Anderle studied music at the University of Prague, Austria, and many were the Buffalo musicians who learned to play under his guidance --Joseph Kuhn, Emil Wahle, and Carl Mischka, among them.
He was a member of the old Union Cornet band of Buffalo which played at the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876, and gave evening concerts on Wednesdays and Sundays. Grand concerts, those, out Main street in the Cold Spring district. Whole families gathered about, glasses of bubbling beer on the tables in the beer gardens, while the brasses thrilled, and moaned, and hummed music of the masters and music of the day.
The Clements were there, and the Carys, and the Drullards, the Blochers, and the Schoellkopfs and Phillip Becker, Conrad Diehl, and Augustus Scheu. It was a bit of the old world and the new -- that beer garden. And it was a forerunner more than half a century ago, of this month's symphony concerts where again Buffalo gathers together in the companionship of a love for music.
Led Academy Orchestra
The elder Anderle was the leader of the orchestra of the old Academy of Music for many years. The orchestra played for stock companies. Opera companies brought along their singers and a few members for the orchestra, strengthening their number with the theater orchestra to 24 or 26 men. The National Opera company brought such stars as Materna, Scaria, Winkelman, Clementine DeVere to Buffalo, and seats sold at $6 each.
Jennie Lind came too, and Lillian Lehman, Clara Morris, Emma Thursby, and later Emma Snow, Agnes Huntington, Pauline Hall, Fritzey Schie, and Mary Stone, the whistler of classical music. Those were great nights in the memory of those who have followed the city's musical history.
Otto Francis Anderle remembers the singing festivals sponsored by the Buffalo Liedertafel, Saengerbund, and Orpheus when from 1200 to 1500 trained voices joined in one mighty chorus. He, himself, was a member of the Orpheus for 14 years.
Great Directors
"That gave me an opportunity to sing under the greatest of directors as Carl Adam, Johannes Gelbke, James Mischka, Arthur Nickish of the Boston symphony, Carl Ahrend, the elder Damrosch and his son, Walter," he says.
He sang in church choirs as well. Orchestras of 12 to 14 men besides the organ, accompanied large choirs of accomplished singers. The First Presbyterian church and St. Louis' church, he remembers in particular, were noted for their fine music. Fred Lautz, Judge Lewis, the Dozert and Mischka families were active in musical circles, and Anna Mischka later won fame as an operatic singer. "Such musical efforts as these prompted a group of philanthropists to endow a Buffalo Symphony orchestra," Anderle recalls. "Among them were Hobart Weed and Fred Lautz."
Of John Lund, as director, Anderle has the most cordial memories. "He was like a general of a great army. Lovers of music cannot forget him." At the time he was conductor of the orchestra, the programs contained an interpretation of the music being played. One might read while he listened.
As other Buffalo music lovers, Anderle rejoices in the constantly increasing attendance at the concerts in All-High stadium. He considers the present orchestra a worthy successor to the notable musical groups in the city's past, and hopes that it may develop into a permanent organization.
At every concert of the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra, a slender man with a musician's voice and an artist's fingers is somewhere in the audience.
His name is Otto Francis Anderle. A designer and craftsman in stained glass by profession, he has studios at 84 West Huron street and 232 Wellington road. The Anderle family has added its musical talent to melodies floating through Buffalo these many years.
Conducted Orchestra Once
Anderle, himself, conducted an orchestra once. He was eight years old. The oldest members of his orchestra had attained the ripe years of 12 or 14. They were sons of former pupils of Anderle's father, another Francis.
The elder Anderle studied music at the University of Prague, Austria, and many were the Buffalo musicians who learned to play under his guidance --Joseph Kuhn, Emil Wahle, and Carl Mischka, among them.
He was a member of the old Union Cornet band of Buffalo which played at the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876, and gave evening concerts on Wednesdays and Sundays. Grand concerts, those, out Main street in the Cold Spring district. Whole families gathered about, glasses of bubbling beer on the tables in the beer gardens, while the brasses thrilled, and moaned, and hummed music of the masters and music of the day.
The Clements were there, and the Carys, and the Drullards, the Blochers, and the Schoellkopfs and Phillip Becker, Conrad Diehl, and Augustus Scheu. It was a bit of the old world and the new -- that beer garden. And it was a forerunner more than half a century ago, of this month's symphony concerts where again Buffalo gathers together in the companionship of a love for music.
Led Academy Orchestra
The elder Anderle was the leader of the orchestra of the old Academy of Music for many years. The orchestra played for stock companies. Opera companies brought along their singers and a few members for the orchestra, strengthening their number with the theater orchestra to 24 or 26 men. The National Opera company brought such stars as Materna, Scaria, Winkelman, Clementine DeVere to Buffalo, and seats sold at $6 each.
Jennie Lind came too, and Lillian Lehman, Clara Morris, Emma Thursby, and later Emma Snow, Agnes Huntington, Pauline Hall, Fritzey Schie, and Mary Stone, the whistler of classical music. Those were great nights in the memory of those who have followed the city's musical history.
Otto Francis Anderle remembers the singing festivals sponsored by the Buffalo Liedertafel, Saengerbund, and Orpheus when from 1200 to 1500 trained voices joined in one mighty chorus. He, himself, was a member of the Orpheus for 14 years.
Great Directors
"That gave me an opportunity to sing under the greatest of directors as Carl Adam, Johannes Gelbke, James Mischka, Arthur Nickish of the Boston symphony, Carl Ahrend, the elder Damrosch and his son, Walter," he says.
He sang in church choirs as well. Orchestras of 12 to 14 men besides the organ, accompanied large choirs of accomplished singers. The First Presbyterian church and St. Louis' church, he remembers in particular, were noted for their fine music. Fred Lautz, Judge Lewis, the Dozert and Mischka families were active in musical circles, and Anna Mischka later won fame as an operatic singer. "Such musical efforts as these prompted a group of philanthropists to endow a Buffalo Symphony orchestra," Anderle recalls. "Among them were Hobart Weed and Fred Lautz."
Of John Lund, as director, Anderle has the most cordial memories. "He was like a general of a great army. Lovers of music cannot forget him." At the time he was conductor of the orchestra, the programs contained an interpretation of the music being played. One might read while he listened.
As other Buffalo music lovers, Anderle rejoices in the constantly increasing attendance at the concerts in All-High stadium. He considers the present orchestra a worthy successor to the notable musical groups in the city's past, and hopes that it may develop into a permanent organization.
Note difference in spelling in this newspaper article: Anderle VS. Andrle which is the spelling Otto F. Andrle hinself used.
Italics above added for clarity.
Italics above added for clarity.
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