⇑
⇐
May 14th, 2023
⇏
Aunt Rena tipped me off about an exhibit at the City of Waterloo Museum all about the history of Waterloo's music scene.
Thanks to some intrepid local promoters in the 60's - 90's, many top rock bands came through the Waterloo region.
I managed to catch the tail end of the rock music scene when I was at university here, with big Canadian bands playing on campus, and even bigger international bands playing in downtown Kitchener.
While the exhibit was mostly about the rock scene, I was pleasantly surprised to find a large area devoted to the Waterloo Concert Band (formerly called the Waterloo Musical Society Band).
The band was famous for several things, including being the first band to be broadcast live across the country on CBC radio, and for hosting huge band music festivals in Waterloo Park.
The band's most famous director (from 1919 to 1951) was C.F. Thiele, who was responsible for the above things, and the founder of the Waterloo Music Company, so the exhibit included a lot of information about him as well.
At some point in the past I read a history of Waterloo, and here are some notes I made about Thiele:
- Thiele saw an advertisement for the directorship of the Waterloo Band in Billboard Magazine. He was one of 100 applicants, and was invited to conduct the band on a three day trial with approximately 8 other finalists. Thiele was the second choice to Mr. Curtis, who did not respond to the communication from the executive.
- After getting the job, he wrote to his wife down in the US: "Brush up the kid's French, because all those Canadians speak French!", and then after coming to Waterloo, he wrote again, saying: "Forget that French dictionary, believe it or not, they all speak German up there!"
- His salary was 1200 dollars/year. He lived at 22 Dupont Street, and sold instruments in the upstairs bedroom. This became the Waterloo Music Company. The company eventually moved to its long-time location on Regina. A second floor was added (made from steel girders from the collapsed Honeymoon Bridge at Niagara Falls), giving a large area for the Waterloo Band to rehearse. Unfortunately a few years ago Waterloo Music finally closed its doors permanently. The building is still there though.
- Waterloo Park bandshell was erected in 1920, and the band performed weekly summer concerts there. The Seagram family donated the bandshell, plus uniforms and instruments to the band periodically. Members of the family also served on the executive.
- The summer concert series concerts from the Bandshell were also broadcast by radio. On August 30th, 1931, the band had a concert in Waterloo Park where they played 16 different pieces, conducted by 16 different conductors. It was attended by 8000 people.
- Thiele introduced "Band Tax Law" in Ontario in 1937 which mandated municipalities to vote to provide grant money for local bands. In 1941 the city withdrew grant money claiming the financial records of the Waterloo Musical Society were not available. The band countered that the records were available but never requested. The argument continued into 1942. Thiele's salary was $1700, and the proposed band grant at the time was $3000. The referendum was passed on December 7, 1942. The public sided with Thiele, recognizing that the argument was mostly a clash of personalities between Thiele and councillor Raymond.
- In 1945 Waterloo was a "Mecca of Band Music" and the band performed Weber's "Oberon", Mendelssohn's "Fingal's Cave", and Thiele's band arrangement of "Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor".
- Thiele operated a summer music camp in Bamberg (which people started calling "Bandberg") from 1946ish to 1951".
Since I started university at the tail end of the rock music era, unfortunately they didn't have any memoribilia from the concerts that I attended, but it was still a fun exhibit to see.
Technical Details: These photos were taken with my Pixel 6.
POTW
-
Photo Map
-
Home
-
Feedback
Hosted by theorem.ca