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1924 - 1946
The first births: The Fort Wayne Philharmonic's family tree, as The History Center's charter record tells it, begins with the Verweire Symphony Orchestra, founded in January 1924 under conductor John L. Verweire. On 1 April 1933 the Civic Symphony Orchestra was officially chartered under Gaston Bailhe, becoming, in the charter record's words, the first permanent orchestra of its type in Fort Wayne. The orchestra's full musical record stands in MUSIC HISTORY. The cultural story is what happened next, because Fort Wayne did to its orchestra what it would soon do to all its arts: it argued, split, and then federated.
The merger: On 13 June 1944 a new orchestra, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, was incorporated, founded, in the Genealogy Center's account, by local citizens under Carl Light, the orchestra's first president, who wished to improve the standards of musical performance in the city. Under its first music director, the German-born Hans Schwieger, the Philharmonic gave its debut on 18 October 1944 at the Palace Theatre. For two years the Philharmonic and the Civic Symphony ran in competition. In 1946 they merged under the Fort Wayne Musical Society, emerging as the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra, which in its expanded 1945-46 season presented 14 programs with guests of the rank of William Kapell, Yehudi Menuhin and Mario Lanza. The Musical Society matters beyond music: it was one of the three founding members of the Fine Arts Foundation in 1955, the bridge from a single art form's federation to the federation of them all.
Sources:
- The History Center, Charter 2016.0.3 A (the Verweire Symphony Orchestra of January 1924; the Civic Symphony charter of 1 April 1933 under Gaston Bailhe; the Philharmonic's incorporation of 13 June 1944; the two years of competition; the 1946 merger under the Fort Wayne Musical Society).
- Allen County Genealogical Society, F Surnames of Allen County (the Fort Wayne Philharmonic collection at the Allen County Public Library: the debut of 18 October 1944 at the Palace Theatre under Hans Schwieger; Carl Light as first president; Igor Buketoff succeeding in the summer of 1948).
- Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra, reference accounts of the orchestra's history (the 1945-46 season's 14 programs and its guest artists).