John Joseph Braham
(1847 ? October 28, 1919) was an English-born American musical theater conductor and composer who introduced the works of
Gilbert and Sullivan
to the United States and composed some of the earliest original orchestral scores for
silent film
.
Braham emigrated from England to America as a child. As a teenager, he toured as a violinist. After this he became a conductor and music director at New York and
Boston
theatres. In 1879, he conducted the first American production of a
Savoy opera
,
H.M.S. Pinafore
and became associated with Gilbert and Sullivan works for the next decade. He also conducted a number of other musical theatre works and at
music halls
. In 1913 and 1914, he composed musical scores for silent films, including
In the Land of the Head Hunters
.
Biography
[
edit
]
Early years and Gilbert and Sullivan
[
edit
]
Braham was born in 1847 in England to musician Joseph Braham (1827?1877). The Brahams emigrated from England in the 1850s.
[1]
His brothers were William, Albert and Harry, and his uncle (not his brother) was
David Braham
, composer for
Harrigan &
Hart
.
[2]
[3]
In 1862, at the age of 14, Braham began earning his living as a violinist in New York
vaudeville
and
music hall
houses and theaters.
[4]
[5]
His father served as the music director for
Tony Pastor
's Opera House on the Bowery, where Braham may have played in the orchestra.
[
citation needed
]
After touring for a few years as a violin virtuoso, Braham accepted the post of musical director of
Pike's Opera House
and subsequently at other New York theatres.
[4]
During the 1870s he worked as a musical director and conductor in
Boston
, Massachusetts (Adelphi Theatre,
Howard Athenaeum
, Boston Museum Orchestra), as well as at surrounding summer resorts.
[
citation needed
]
He composed popular songs in many genres, the earliest known copyright in 1871.
[6]
[7]
In the 1870s, he also began to compose scores for the musical stage. For example, in 1876,
The Era
reported that his
comic opera
Evangeline
pleased Boston audiences with its catchy melodies.
[8]
Braham introduced America to the works of
Gilbert and Sullivan
. He conducted the first performances of
H.M.S. Pinafore
in America, opening on November 26, 1879, at the
Boston Museum
, a production that was not authorized by Gilbert and Sullivan.
[9]
From 1882 to 1883, he directed an authorized production of
Iolanthe
at the newly opened
Bijou Theatre
in Boston with a cast that featured principals from the
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
. Other Gilbert and Sullivan productions included D'Oyly Carte tours in New England of
The Mikado
and
Ruddigore
in 1885?86 and 1887. He also conducted a revival of
Patience
in Boston, again with several members of the D'Oyly Carte company in the principal cast and the first Boston productions of
The Yeomen of the Guard
(in 1889) and
The Gondoliers
(in 1890). In 1894, he directed D'Oyly Carte's original American productions of
Utopia, Limited
in New York and then Boston. For his American productions of the
Savoy operas
, Braham made "judicious changes" in the scores.
[4]
New York and later years
[
edit
]
By the 1880s, Braham began dividing his time between Boston and New York City, first at
Wallack's Theatre
and, in the middle of the decade, became music director of the
Casino Theatre
at Broadway and 39th Street. He married Sophia Broschart in Boston in 1891, and the couple's children were John J. Braham Jr. and Marjorie Sophia Braham.
[2]
He is listed in 1899 in
The New York Times
as director at Koster and Bial's Music Hall but was also engaged on occasion at the Casino Theatre's roof top garden. He worked on the following shows, among others:
[4]
[10]
[11]
In 1913, Braham composed music for the
silent film
of a pageant by F. E. Moore called
Hiawatha: the Indian Passion Play
, based on
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
's poem
The Song of Hiawatha
.
[15]
Around the same time,
Edward S. Curtis
commissioned Braham to compose a score for
In the Land of the Head Hunters
. This 1914 film fictionalized the world of the
Kwakwaka'wakw
(
Kwakiutl
) peoples of the
Queen Charlotte Strait
region of the Central Coast of
British Columbia
, Canada, and was written and directed by Curtis and acted entirely by Kwakwaka'wakw natives.
[16]
Braham's score was performed with full orchestra, at the premiere of
In the Land of the Head Hunters
, at the Casino Theatre in New York,
[16]
probably its only live performance.
[
citation needed
]
Braham died in
Brooklyn
, New York, on October 28, 1919 at the age of 72.
[17]
[18]
Legacy
[
edit
]
Curtis's film and Braham's score were restored and shown at the
Getty Center
in
Los Angeles
, California on June 5, 2008.
[16]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Various sources give dates between 1849 and 1859.
- ^
a
b
"John J. Braham Dies; Composer of Music"
,
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
, October 28, 1919
- ^
Franceschina, John.
Dave Braham: the American Offenbach
, Routledge, 2003.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Stone, David (August 27, 2001).
"John Joseph Braham, Sr"
. Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
. Retrieved
March 16,
2014
.
- ^
In the 1860 Federal Census of New York he is listed as a musician, 14 years of age.
- ^
"Music for the Nation ? American Sheet Music, Library of Congress"
. Retrieved
2008-11-04
.
- ^
"Historic American Sheet Music, 1850?1920; Library of Congress"
. Retrieved
2008-11-05
.
- ^
"The Drama in Boston",
The Era
, July 30, 1876, p. 11
- ^
Kanthor, Harold. "H.M.S. Pinafore and the Theater Season in Boston, 1878?1879",
Journal of Popular Culture
, 24 (Spring 1991): 119?127
- ^
Bloom, Ken
.
American Song: the Complete Musical Theatre Companion
, 2nd ed., Schirmer Books, 1996.
- ^
Brown, Thomas Alston.
A History of the New York Stage
, 3 Vols., Dodd, Mead, 1903.
- ^
Franceschina, John (2018).
Incidental and Dance Music in the American Theatre from 1786 to 1923, Volume 1
. BearManor Media.
- ^
"Chicago's New Spectacle.
Bluebeard, Jr.
as presented by manager Henderson"
.
The New York Times
. June 13, 1889. p. 5.
- ^
Ganzl, Kurt (1994).
The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre, Volume 2
.
Schirmer Books
. p. 76.
ISBN
9780028714455
.
- ^
Braham, John J.
Hiawatha: the Indian Passion Play
, 1913 (score in the
Library of Congress
Music Division)
- ^
a
b
c
"Web site for
In the Land of the Head Hunters
re-release, a joint project of U'mista and Rutgers University"
. Archived from
the original
on 2008-09-24
. Retrieved
2008-11-04
.
- ^
"John Joseph Braham, Composer, Dies at 72. Director of First Performance of
Pinafore
in America Was Brother of Dave Braham"
.
The New York Times
. October 29, 1919
. Retrieved
2010-12-24
.
- ^
"John J. Braham, Composer Dies".
Chicago Tribune
. October 29, 1919.
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