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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
I PATRICK SARSFIELD GILMORE. I
JpjATRICK SARSFIELD GILMORE, the
• ^ r world-renowned bandmaster and musical
leader, died at St. Louis, Mo., Saturday, Sep-
tember 24, of heart failure due to a sudden and
acute bilious attack. For about two weeks pre-
vious to his death he had not been in his usual
health, but his condition was attributed to over-
work, and no serious results were apprehended.
Gilmore's Band was filling its usual fall engage-
ment at the St. Louis Exposition, at the con-
clusion of which the great leader intended tak-
ing a much-needed rest. He has gone to his
long, last rest, however, and his death is mourn-
ed and his memory is revered throughout Ame-
rica and Europe, for the able and warm-hearted
master musician was beloved by the people of
both continents.
Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore was born December
25, 1830, in the County Gal way, Ireland. Being
an uncommonly bright boy his parents at first
intended him for the priesthood, but decided to
give him a business education, and placed him
in a large mercantile house in Athlone. He had
from childhood, however, displayed a great
fondness for music, and giving up his business
situation, he became a pupil of a retired band-
master and noted musician named Keating, who
instructed him in harmony and instrumentation.
Young Gilmore did his instructor great credit,
and not only became an excellent cornet player
but also composed music for the Athlone amateur
band, of which he was a prominent member.
At the age of nineteen Mr. Gilmore came to
America, and accepted a situation in the music
store of the Messrs. Ordway, Boston. He was
in great demand as a cornet player, and soon
obtained an engagement as leader of a band.
He led successively the Suffolk and Boston
brigade bands, and having received a liberal
offer he went to Salem and successfully led the
band there for four years, thereby greatly adding
to his reputation. Returning to Boston he or-
ganized Gilmore's Band, and soon made it
famous throughout the country. At the begin-
ning of the war he and his band went to the
front with the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts
Volunteers, and in 1864 he was at New Orleans
in charge of all the bands of the military depart-
ment. Here he organized a grand national con-
cert, in which five hundred musicians and ten
thousand school children participated, and the
effect of which was heightened by infantry and
artillery accompaniments. The loyal element
of New Orleans loaded him down with gifts after
this great fete, one of the gifts being a silver
goblet filled with gold, presented him at a com-
plimentary dinner given by one hundred gentle-
men previous to his return to Boston.
At the close of the war, Mr. Gilmore returned
to Boston, and resumed his musical vocation
there. He organized the mammoth peace jubi-
lees of 1869 and 1872, in which over twenty
thousand people and two thousand musicians,
together with the best bands of Europe, partici-
pated. To accommodate these stupendous fes-
tivals, buildings holding 30,000 and 50,000
people, respectively, were erected at an expense
of nearly $1,000,000. Mr. Gilmore's services
were rewarded by the committee and citizens of
Boston, with presents amounting to over $50,000.
In 1873 Mr. Gilmore came to New York, and
became bandmaster of the Twenty-second Regi-
ment. During the succeeding three years he
gave over six hundred concerts in Gilmore's
(now the Madison Square) Garden. In 1876 Mr.
Gilmore and his band were one of the attrac-
tions in the Centennial Exhibition in Philadel-
phia. He played daily in the main building.
During the next two years he gave hundreds of
concerts in cities all the way from Bangor to
San Francisco. In 1878 he took his band to
Europe, gave concerts in the principal cities,
and won a medal from the World's Exposition
in Paris.
For fourteen consecutive seasons Gilmore's
Band played to huge audiences at Manhattan
Beach, and, during the winters for the past
eight years, has had marvellous success in en-
gagements at the Louisville, Ky., and Kansas
City, Mo., expositions, as well as at St. Louis,
Mo., where he died.
The reputation of Gilmore's Band was na-
tional and international. Its wonderful state of
efficiency demonstrated his masterly abilities as
a conductor, and enabled him to give the works
of the greatest composers a thorough interpreta-
tion. As a player, a conductor, and a composer,
he won well deserved renown, and, by not only
successfully catering to the musical taste of the
people, but by delightfully developing it, he ren-
dered effective aid to the cause of musical progress.
Mr. Gilmore was buried last Wednesday in
Calvary Cemetery. The funeral procession was
grand. It was headed by a platoon of police,
which was followed by a volunteer band of more
than two hundred musicians. After the band
came the superb floral tributes, arranged on
floats and in open carriages. Then came the
hearse, followed by the military escort, consist-
ing of Sergeant Mara and sixteen files of the
Twenty-second Regiment, which was to fire the
salute at the cemetery.
The honorary pall-bearers walked beside the
hearse. They were Alexander Bramer and
John Hunt, of the Musical Union ; Jacob Hem-
merschmidt and John Beck, of the G. A. R.; J.
D. Desmond and James P. Farrell, of the Catho-
lic Club; John A. Cockerill, Joseph Howard,
Jr., Congressman Cummings, T. H. Evans,
Frank Angovine, E. P. Weston, O. W. Price,
of the Press Club. The hearse was also followed
by P. J. Donohue, of the Clan-na-Gael; Chandos
Fulton, of the Lotos; Edward Schultz, of Gil-
more's Band; Col. John T. Camp, Lieut.-Col.
William V. King, and Major Franklin Bartlett,
of the Twenty-third Regiment; Edward O'Ma-
hony, the bass singer; Nahan Franko, the vio-
linist ; several hundred members of the Musi-
cal Union, Lotos Club, G. A. R., Irish National
League, Press Club, Catholic Club, and thirty-
two officers of the Twenty-second Regiment in
fatigue uniform, and a large body of members
of the regiment. A long line of carriages com-
pleted the cortege.
The services at the church of St. Francis Xa-
vier were deeply solemn and impressive. At
the conclusion thereof the march to the ceme-
terj' took place. There the honors of war were
paid the deceased by a triple volley by the firing
party, and the body was placed in a receiving
vault to await burial.
All that is mortal of the great bandmaster is
hid from sight forever, but so long as music is
heard on earth the memory of Gilmore will
survive.
MR. WILLIAM STEINWAY has sent to the Em-
press Frederick 10,000 marks for the memorial
church to Emperor Frederick, and 10,000 marks
for another church. The Dowager Empress re-
plied in an autograph letter of thanks.
CHAS. A. PIERCY has retired from the firm of
Piercy & Co., music dealers, Troy, N. Y. The
business will now be conducted under the name
of The Piercy Co., and will be managed by H.
G. Harris and Fred. Mercer.
A Chicago man has sued his doctor for $20,000
for breaking the drum of his ear. From the
general tenor of the man's allegation we should
say that he was at least entitled to a hearing.
175
U/itl? tl?e Travelers.
A meeting of traveling men was held in the
Sherman House, Jamestown, N. Y., September
27th, in the interest of the movement to secure
the location of the Commercial Travelers' Na-
tional Home in that city. A local post was or-
ganized, with nearly one hundred members.
When the annual meeting of the Commercial
Travelers' Association is held at Rochester, Octo-
ber 1 ith, a strong effort will be made to have the
committee to select the site come to Jamestown.
The proposed home will cost about $200,000.
The St. Louis Globe-Democrat tells the follow-
ing story about a model drummer, which must
be believed for several reasons :
" I write no letters to my wife, when I am
away, and I get none from her,'' said a commer-
cial traveler to a reporter. '' Correspondence by
mail is too slow, and telegraphing costs too
much money.
" We have hit upon a plan that saves stamps
and telegraph tolls, and is much more satisfac-
tory. No matter what part of the world I am
in, I go home at ten o'clock every night and re-
main half an hour, sometimes longer.
" How do I manage it? Easy enough. At
that hour my wife goes into the sitting-room,
closes the doors, places two easy chairs vis-a-vis,
sits down in one, closes her eyes, and concen-
trates her thoughts upon me. I go to my room
at the hotel, turn out the light, close my eyes,
concentrate my thoughts upon my home, and
especially upon my wife, and, presto ! I occupy
the easy chair in our little sitting-room, directly
in front of her.
" A perfectly intelligent conversation ensues
between us, although not a word is spoken.
She tells me how things are going on at home,
whether the children are well, about her own
health, which has been delicate for years, her
trials, hopes and fears.
1
' We have had this mental telegraph in suc-
cessful operation for two years past, and the
service is constantly growing better and more
satisfactory. We have verified its accuracy a
thousand times, and rely upon it as implicitly
as others do on the written page.
" Neither of us is a spiritualist, and we dis-
covered our ability to communicate in this man-
ner purely by accident.''
A SITE has been selected for the music hall to
be erected at Boston, Mass., and work will be
commenced as soon as the plans are completed.
MR. C. M. CONGER, of the Des Moines Piano
Co., Des Moines, la., will locate in Adel, la.,
and represent said company. He will carry a
large stock of musical instruments, among which
will be the Rice-Macy piano, the Farrand and
Votey organs and many other musical instru-
ments.