John J. Braham (England, about 1847 – New York, October 28, 1919). American musical theater conductor and composer who introduced Gilbert and Sullivan to the United States and composed one of the earliest original orchestral scores for a silent film.
He was a member of a very large family of vaudeville and musical theater musicians that emigrated from England in the 1850s. John J. Braham was the grandson of Joseph John Braham (England, June 24, 1801) – New York City after 1880) and the son of Joseph Braham (London, 1827 – New York, 1877). Joseph's brother (John J. Braham's uncle) was the well known musical theater composer David Braham. A relationship between this family and the English musician and singer John Braham (1771 – 1856) has not been established.[1]
John J. Braham emigrated from England in 1855 with his mother and sister and soon began earning his living as a violinist in New York vaudeville houses and theaters. He is listed with his family in the 1860 Federal Census of New York as a musician, 14 years of age. His father served as the music director for Tony Pastor where John J. may have been in the orchestra. During the 1870's John J. worked as a musical director and conductor in Boston (Adelphi Theatre, Boston Athenaeum Theatre, Bijou Theatre, Boston Museum Orchestra) as well as at surrounding summer resorts. He composed popular songs in many genres, the earliest copyright in 1871. [2], [3] In Boston Braham introduced America to the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He conducted the first performance of HMS Pinafore in America on November 26, 1879 at the Boston Museum.[4] A production of Iolanthe at the Bijou Theater (Boston) in 1882 ran for 150 performances.
Braham began dividing his time between Boston and New York City and in the middle of the decade became music director of the Casino Theatre (Broadway and 39th). He married Sophia Broschart in Boston in 1891. He is listed in 1899 in the New York Times as director at Koster and Bial's Music Hall but also engaged on occasion at the Casino Theatre's roof top garden. He also worked on the following shows (brief list)[5][6]:
- 1889. The Seven Ages (musical director)
- 1899. An Arabian Girl and 40 Thieves (director and contributing composer)
- 1899. Around New York in 80 Minutes (contributing composer, with Edward E. Rice)
- 1900. San Toy, or the Emperor's Own (musical director)
- 1906. Matilda (musical director).
In the early teens Edward S. Curtis (ethnographer, photographer, and soon to be film maker whose major subject was the North American Indian) commissioned Braham to compose a score for In the Land of the Head Hunters. (It is unknown how Curtis and Braham met.) This 1914 silent 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.[7] The year previous (1913), Braham had composed music for the film of a pageant by F.E. Moore based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem Song of Hiawatha. (Score in the Library of Congress, Music Division.) In the Land of the Head Hunters premiered in December 1914 at the Casino Theatre in New York and simultaneously at the Moore Theatre in Seattle.[7] Braham's score was performed at the New York premier, probably its only performance. In 2008, Curtis's film and Braham's score were restored and shown at the Getty Center in Los Angeles on June 5.[7]
An error laden obituary in the New York Times (October 29, p. 13) announced John J. Braham's death on October 28, 1919 at the age of 72.
Notes
edit- ^ John Franceschina. Dave Braham: the American Offenbach. Routledge, 2003.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "H.M.S. Pinafore and the Theater Season in Boston, 1878-1879", by Harold Kanthor. Journal of Popular Culture 24 (Spring 1991): 119-127
- ^ Ken Bloom. American Song: the Complete Musical Theatre Companion. 2nd Edition. Schirmer Books, 1996.
- ^ Thomas Alston Brown. A History of the New York Stage. 3 Vols. Dodd, Mead, 1903.
- ^ 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.
External Links
edit- Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company Braham's relationship to G&S; this site has a photo of John J. Braham.
- Victor Discography[permanent dead link] 78 Recordings of Arrangements by Braham.