Information on this page is arranged in ascending year order for this decade. It includes Manhattan School of Music historical facts and images from the School's archives, as well as items and quotes submitted by alumni. Each section also includes some Other Highlights of New York City's music history.
The School is established by Janet Daniels Schenck (pictured) at the Union Settlement on East 104th Street, later moving to a rental brownstone on East 105th Street. She is director from 1918–1956. READ MORE
There are 120 students, representing 10 nationalities, and a faculty of 23. The fee charged is 50 cents a lesson or 25 cents with two in a class. A budget of $3,000 for 1918–1919 is approved.
In March, Harold Bauer and Pablo Casals become the founding members of the artist auxiliary board.
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The first District Music Service begins, currently known as community outreach, with concerts given at various divisions of Ellis Island, including the tuberculosis and psychopathic wards. Surgical and shell-shock hospitals are visited weekly.
The School’s first charter is issued. The School is incorporated as the Neighborhood Music School under the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York.
The School has 200 students.
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May — The first commencement is held and the first diploma awarded.
Hugo Kortschak joins the conducting and string faculties, where he remains for 30 years.
October — The School is moved to facilities at 238 East 105th Street.
The first concert in a public hall is performed in the Heckscher Theatre in May.
The first Town Hall recital is given in January.
There are 246 students representing 14 nationalities, with 244 on the waiting list, 28 teachers, and a budget of $19,854.37.
Pianist Harold Bauer gives his first master class in the fall.
The School’s first auditorium is constructed seating over two hundred people.
In November, the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York grants the School’s permanent charter.
Dora Zaslavsky, one of the first graduates of the School, joins the piano faculty, where she teaches for over 60 years. Estelle Parnas Oringer (Diploma ’42 / BM ’45) remembers: "When I was studying with Dora (Zaslavsky), I used to come early in the morning and be there all day. My mother would get worried about where I was..."
A benefit concert for the School is given by the Philharmonic Society of New York (now the New York Philharmonic) at the Metropolitan Opera House conducted by Arturo Toscanini.
The School moves into a new four-story building, built on the same site as the old.
There are 28 theory classes; 20 scholarship students; Senior Orchestra numbers 28.
New library and elevator for the library are added; a beautiful reading room is constructed in place of the entrance court.
Hugh Ross, conductor of New York’s Schola Cantorum, joins the faculty, where he remains for over 50 years.
At the invitation of Director Janet Schenck, Josephine Culver Whitford joins the staff as assistant registrar, and thus begins an over 50-year association with the School.
Estelle Parnas Oringer (Diploma ’42 / BM ’45), pictured, writes: “This photo was taken during my studies at Manhattan School of Music. That year, I graduated from Hunter College, where I was also a student, and the youngest to graduate — at age 19! At MSM, I studied with some of the finest teachers: Mildred Dassett, Dora Zaslavsky, Frances Hall, and Harold Bauer…”
The School has 320 students representing 18 nationalities; there are 44 teachers on faculty.
There are 403 students representing 25 nationalities.
Weekly concerts at the Museum of the City of New York are started. From February 27 to June 5 the School gives 88 programs of music in 29 different centers: 37 programs in educational organizations, 31 in social centers, 15 in health centers, and 5 in churches.
“District Music Service” (community outreach) includes 32 concerts at 15 different agencies; 23 additional agencies are reached regularly through concerts, designed especially for the community, and given at the School. This program grew out of the first music programs given in the hospitals immediately after the last war.
Amendment to charter of the Neighborhood Music School renames the institution Manhattan School of Music.
The School has 482 students, 55 scholarship students, 46 theory classes; Senior Orchestra numbers 70.
A December performance by the Metropolitan Opera benefited Manhattan School of Music. The production was Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, with Eric Leinsdorf conducting a cast that included Lauritz Melchior and Kirsten Flagstad.
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