Standing tall at the southeast corner of Seventh Avenue and West 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan, Carnegie Hall is the legendary NYC music mecca built by Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-born industrialist who became one of America’s wealthiest steel magnates.
After amassing his fortune early, Carnegie devoted much of his energies later in his life to libraries, universities, cultural institutions and other public causes. Carnegie's vision of a grand music hall was that it would become a permanent home for serious music in New York and a place where public figures could be seen and heard.
It was Carnegie’s friendship with conductor Walter Damrosch, the director of the Symphony Society of New York, that got the ball rolling. Carnegie and his wife, Louise, ran into Damrosch during their 1887 honeymoon sea voyage to Scotland, and the gentlemen discussed New York’s need for a first-rate concert hall.
When he got back stateside, Carnegie got to work by creating the Music Hall Company of New York, purchasing the land in the relatively quiet neighborhood on Seventh Avenue and bankrolling much of the project.
The final tab was approximately $1.1 million, or about $38.6 million in today's money.
Carnegie, who was 52 years old at the time, hired William Burnet Tuthill, a New York architect, amateur cellist and secretary of the Oratorio Society, to design the place.
It would be Tuthill's first concert hall, but he had studied prominent European auditoriums focusing on sound above all else. He created an Italian Renaissance-style building made primarily of masonry rather than a heavy steel frame. Its curved walls, ornate balconies and relatively simple interior helped produce the warm acoustics that helped the hall stand out.
Louise Carnegie placed the cornerstone on May 13, 1890, and the main auditorium officially opened a year later on May 5, 1891 with a five-day festival. The guest of honor: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Yes, that Tchaikovsky, who made his first trip to the US to conduct a handful of his own original works that opening week.
In his diary a week before the opening, the maestro praised the New Yorkers while dissing the French.
“Amazing people, these Americans! Compared with Paris, where, at every approach, in every stranger’s kindness one feels an attempt at exploitation, the frankness, sincerity, and generosity of this city, its hospitality without hidden motives and its eagerness to oblige and win approval are simply astonishing and, at the same time, touching.”
A few days later in a letter he wrote, “All in all, New York, American customs, American hospitality, the very sights of the city, and the unusual comforts of the surroundings—all this is quite to my liking, and if I were younger, I would probably derive great pleasure from staying in this interesting, youthful country.” Sadly the musical genius died just two years later at just 53 years old.
At first the enormous building that could seat 2,760 patrons was simply deemed the Music Hall, but after just a few years it was renamed Carnegie Hall in 1894. What followed was a parade of legendary performers who would fill the hall throughout the years.
Here are a few you may have heard of with their live debut at the venue:
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1891), Sergei Rachmaninoff (1909), Paul Robeson (1929), Louis Armstrong (1939), Count Basie (1938), Benny Goodman (1938), Duke Ellington (1943), Isaac Stern (1943), Nat King Cole (1946), Dizzy Gillespie (1946), Billie Holiday (1946),
Ella Fitzgerald (1947), Leonard Bernstein (1943), Miles Davis (1961), John Coltrane (1957), Thelonious Monk (1957), Muddy Waters (1959), Tony Bennett (1961), Bob Dylan (1961), Nina Simone (1961),
Frank Sinatra (1943), Barbra Streisand (1963), The Beatles (1964), Marvin Gaye (1964), The Rolling Stones (1964), Ray Charles (1966), Eric Clapton (1968), Stevie Wonder (1968), Janis Joplin (1969), Led Zeppelin (1969), Joni Mitchell (1969), Elton John (1970), Van Morrison (1970), James Taylor (1970), Neil Young (1970), Carole King (1971), Carlos Santana (1971), Pink Floyd (1972),
Bonnie Raitt (1972), David Bowie (1973), Luciano Pavarotti (1973), Lou Reed (1973), Billy Joel (1977), Liza Minnelli (1979), Whitney Houston (1986), Willie Nelson (1987) Bruce Springsteen (1987),
Sting (1991), Mariah Carey (1994), David Byrne (1995), Gloria Estefan (1997), Audra McDonald (1998), Lang Lang (2001), Hugh Jackman (2002), Reba McEntire (2005), Jay-Z (2006), Kanye West (2010), Lady Gaga (2010), Alicia Keys (2011), Regina Spektor (2012), Jon Batiste (2022) and Laufey (2023).
Benny Goodman, January 16, 1938
"Putting the most popular bandleader in the world into the bastion of highbrow culture was a bold move," musician Stan Ayeroff wrote in an essay now in the Library of Congress.
"The concert helped jazz evolve from being strictly dance music to music worthy of a discerning listening audience. It was the start of jazz being recognized as an art form on a par with classical music.
"The idea that jazz was a worthy listening experience for a concert audience was new. 'The King of Swing' played music for dancing, though some of his fans had begun crowding the stage to check out their favorite musicians. Handsome and charismatic drummer Gene Krupa, and tall and lean trumpeter Harry James, both had their own devoted fans. Soon after the Carnegie Hall concert both Krupa and James would leave to form their own big bands," he explained.
"The Benny Goodman Trio and Quartet with Krupa, pianist Teddy Wilson and vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, were among the first integrated groups of Black and white musicians to perform in concert. Benny also invited members of Duke Ellington’s and Count Basie’s bands to perform in a 'History of Jazz' segment, and take part in a 'Jam Session' during the concert. This was nine years before Jackie Robinson broke the color line in major league baseball in 1947."
The entire essay is a fascinating read.
Judy Garland, April 23, 1961
Lorna Luft was at Carnegie Hall the night her mother Judy Garland put on a show that went down in history. Unfortunately she was a child and doesn't recall a lot of it.
"On April 23, 1961, a concert was held at New York’s legendary Carnegie Hall. The sold-out audience of 3,165 people was filled with everyone from the guy next door to Broadway stars and Hollywood legends who had flown in just for the concert. The singer was my mother, Judy Garland, and the evening was subsequently called 'the greatest night in showbiz history,'" she wrote.
"Everyone who was anyone in New York and on Broadway was there that night and many other celebrities had flown in from Los Angeles. They tell me that the Hall seats sold out as soon as tickets went on sale, as did a return engagement on May 21...
"But when I tell people I don’t remember, they seem disappointed—or they don’t believe me," she continued.
"'Surely,' they say, 'you must remember seeing legendary stars like Lauren Bacall and Debbie Reynolds, Spencer Tracy and Henry Fonda, Carol Channing and Ethel Merman, Benny Goodman and Harold Arlen, Tony Perkins and Roddy McDowall, Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse, and Richard Burton. How could you forget seeing Burton?'
"Well, because I was eight..."
Led Zeppelin, October 17, 1969
After the Beatles and then the Stones rocked Carnegie Hall in 1964, there was a rock ban at the venue that lasted five years. Breaking the seal was Led Zeppelin who were just about to drop their second album. They played two shows on the October night in 1969.
"There were actually some screams from the girls," one of the reviews reported regarding Robert Plant's sex appeal.
Sadly Led Zep never returned to the famed hall.
Robert is on tour with Saving Grace right now and it stretches through the fall. Get tix on his website.
Tickets for Carnegie Hall shows are available on the Carnegie Hall website.
Other Venue Spotlights: The Apollo Theater, Aragon Ballroom, The Bluebird Cafe, Carnegie Hall, Chain Reaction, Commodore Ballroom, First Avenue, The Fillmore, The Gorge, The Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood Palladium, KIA Forum, Madison Square Garden, Massey Hall, The Metro, Nippon Budokan, O2 Arena, O2 Academy Brixton, Pappy & Harriet's Palace, Radio City Music Hall, Red Rocks, Royal Albert Hall, The Ryman Auditorium, Slane Castle, The Sphere, Staples Center, Stubb's Bar-B-Q, Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena, The Viper Room, The Whisky, 9:30 Club
