The Frick Collection Concert Records

Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919) bequeathed his art collection and his beaux-art mansion located at One East 70th Street in New York City as a public art museum, which opened in 1935. The formation and organization of The Frick Collection was overseen by a Board of Trustees named in Mr. Frick’s will, which also designated the institution as permanent in character with the purpose of “encouraging and developing the study of fine arts, and of advancing the general knowledge of kindred subjects...” Among the principal additions during the transformation of the home into a museum were new galleries, an interior Garden Court, and a Lecture Room (now known as the Music Room). The Lecture Room, with a seating capacity of less than 200, included a projection booth and small stage.

The Garden Court, equipped with a newly installed sound transmission system, was used as a listening room throughout 1936. During that year, Frick Collection Director Frederick Mortimer Clapp had been selecting rolls to be played three times a day on the 1914 Aeolian organ, located in the stairwell of the former mansion. The organ music was transmitted into the Garden Court, where visitors to The Collection were invited to listen to the program. The first live concerts at The Frick Collection were held in December 1936, a series of Sunday afternoon organ recitals, with seating set up in the Garden Court. Assistant Director H.G. Dwight was involved in most of the initial planning for the organ recitals, negotiating contracts with the artists and managing other details in planning these events.

On the recommendation of Trustee John D. Rockefeller, Jr., the planning for the chamber music concert series was put off until 1938, due to additional work to the Lecture Room and extended leaves of absence by Director Frederick Mortimer Clapp in 1936 and 1937. In April 1938, Assistant Director H.G. Dwight contacted Grace Dunham Guest of the Freer Gallery and Carl Engel of the Schirmer Company to ask for advice on planning the concert series.

The official concert series, entitled “Sunday Chamber Music Concerts,” was instituted in 1938, with the premier performance by The Roth Quartet on November 6th in the Lecture Room. Concerned with the quality of the performances, Mr. Clapp took a personal interest in working out details with the artists and seeking outside opinions. Mr. Clapp discouraged the repetition of previously performed works, and sometimes offered his opinion as to which pieces he preferred. Once the series was initiated, artists and their management regularly sent letters of introduction and press materials to the Frick in the hope of obtaining an invitation to perform in the series. Distinguished artists in their field were selected, many making their American debuts. The concerts were presented on Sunday afternoons, originally alternating with the guest lecture series. Because of the great popularity of the concerts, lectures were changed to Saturday afternoons to provide more availability for booking concerts.

Tickets were issued gratis in order of application until exhausted. However, the demand for seats often extended beyond the capacity of the Lecture Room, and seating overflowed into the Garden Court.

In November, 1938, M.S. Novik of WNYC Radio first contacted The Frick Collection and proposed airing live broadcasts of the Frick concerts. The first concert broadcast, a performance by the Stradivarius Quartet, was aired from 3:00-4:00 p.m. on January 15, 1939. WNYC Radio has continued to broadcast the Frick concert series to the present day. During the intermission, staff members presented a short lecture on a chosen subject, artist or work of art, often with a connection to The Frick Collection. As Mr. Clapp wrote in 1948, “the purpose of the concerts is two-fold: not only to offer the finest music played by outstanding artists, but to attract to the Collection increasing numbers of people who have not become acquainted with the works of the art it contains.”

The regular concert series ran from fall to spring. A summer concert series was held in 1943, but was suspended due to low attendance. Summer concerts were held again from 1979 to 1985. A special program, the Art and Music Series, which combined concerts and lectures, was held twice during the 1943-1944 season. In addition to the regular series of concerts, a Founder’s Centennial concert was held in 1949, as well as memorial concerts for Frick Collection Directors Frederick Mortimer Clapp in 1970 and Harry D.M. Grier in 1972.

For the 1957-1958 season, the title of the concert series changed slightly, with the designation of “chamber music” removed from the printed program.