Old Masonic Opera House
By the mid-1870s, New Brunswick boasted popular concerts by local artists-both professional and amateur-as well as the best shows on the road, all thanks to its new luxurious opera house. First known as Masonic Hall, and later as Allen’s Theatre, the Opera House was originally built by the Masonic lodges of the city. The “most imposing building” in the downtown, the Opera House was centrally located in such a way that it “gave the City the appearance of being a much larger place than it really was” at the time. A four-story building with offices and businesses housed on the ground floor, the Opera House had two entrances to its theater, one in the center of the building facing George Street, and one on the midway side of the building on Albany Street. Its auditorium was lit by a prismatic chandelier of 134 gas jets; its orchestra, balcony, gallery, and four boxes seated around 1,200 spectators. Until the Opera House burned down on the night of December 21, 1896, New Brunswick claimed the honor of having the best theater in the state.
Opera House in ruins, post-fire, circa 1896.
Opera House Interior. Stereoscope, undated.
Theodore Thomas' Only Grand Concert, April 6, 1874.
The Opera House enormously increased the availability of professional music in the small city on the Raritan. Only a year after the Opera House opened its doors, residents could quench their appetite for classical works by attending a concert by the renowned Theodore Thomas Orchestra, whose leader became the music director of the Chicago Symphony.
First Concert in New Brunswick of the Jubilee Singers, February 11, 1875.
The Fisk Jubilee Singers are credited with the popularization of the slave spiritual tradition among white and northern audiences. In the early 1870s, concerts of spirituals were held as fund-raising initiatives for several African-American colleges. The first among them, Fisk University, was able to raise a total of over $150,000 from seven years of touring around the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe.
Aunt Polly Basset's “Singin Skewl,” Opera House, 1878.
Aunt Polly Basset’s “Singing Skewl” harks back to the Old Folks concerts popular in the 1840s and 1850s. These performances were an exercise in nostalgia, with singers like Polly’s “Big Boy Jedediah” dressing in period costumes.
“Cantata of Laila” in Four Parts, 1880.
Old Opera House, circa 1890.