Harvard Triumphant

At any other college it would be called a Symphony Orchestra. At Harvard it is called the Pierian Sodality. It is not only the oldest college orchestra in the U.S., it is by far the oldest orchestra in the U.S. It is one of the oldest orchestras in the world. Last week the Pierian (pronounced pie-earian)* Sodality celebrated its 135th anniversary. Its 29 musical Harvardmen went to Maine's Bowdoin College where with 73 Radcliffe girls they performed Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem.

Pot v. Piccolo. The Sodality was founded in 1808 by eight undergraduates "for mutual improvement in music." It owes its hoary record not to the enthusiasm of its audiences but to an institutional tenacity for which Harvardmen are famed. In the 19th Century the Pierians were noted for their prowess with the pot rather than the piccolo. Minutes of many meetings read: "The Sodality met, practised, liquored and adjourned."

The Sodality regarded the serenading of Boston belles as one of its handsomest traditions. Lantern-lit expeditions started from Porter's Tavern in North Cambridge, ended in musical vigils in Brattle Street, Brookline, Jamaica Plain and Beacon Hill. Legend says one session ended in a musical salute to a Harvard president's daughter while she was in labor pains.

But the Sodality can also claim more orderly achievements. Its prolonged agitation for a chair of music at Harvard was instrumental in founding the University's music department. The Sodality begot the Harvard Glee Club. In 1837 a group of its graduate members formed the Harvard Musical Association, which gave Boston its first regular symphony concerts, and gave Major Henry Lee Higginson the idea of founding the Boston Symphony.

Flautist's Kampf. Among many prominent Pierians was first violin Nicholas Longworth (also member of the Porcellian Club), later Speaker of the House of Representatives. At the same time (1890) Liberal Journalist Oswald Garrison Villard (also member of the Deutscher Verein) played second fiddle.

But the Sodality is proudest of the memory of one Pierian but for whom its 135 year tradition would not exist. He was an individualist named Henry Gassett of the class of 1834, and he played the flute. When, in 1832, complaints about the Sodality's night music led to an official request for its disbandment, Henry Gassett refused to resign. He held meetings with himself in the chair, paid himself dues regularly, played his flute in solitude. Finally he persuaded another flautist to join in duets. Gradually they elected other members. The Sodality played on.

*Named for Pieria, in Thessaly, ancient Greek home of the Muses.

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