Art in Utah in Pioneer Days
By Alice Louise Reynolds
(Professor of English Literature, Brigham Young University)
Art culture in Utah had its foundation in early days. In the heart of a desert one does not expect to find interest in drama; yet five years after the pioneers entered Utah in 1847, they were building a "little theatre," thereafter to be known as the Social Hall. At the front entrance of the building was a bust of Shakespeare. Dedicated January 1, 1853, for nearly ten years, high class drama was presented in this building. Later it was supplanted by the Salt Lake Theatre, which was first opened to the public on March 6, 1862. In the early years of the Salt Lake Theatre, Thomas A. Lyne, George Pauncefort and Julia Dean Hayne appeared in leading roles, often of Shakespeare. They were assisted by local talent formed into stock companies. It was during this early period that Maude Adams was taken from her cradle and carried on to the stage.
The great organ built by Mr. Joseph H. Ridges in the early sixties made possible a culture in music that could not have existed without it. The auditorium of the Salt Lake Tabernacle, with its wonderful acoustic properties, magnifying, as it does, the tones of the organ, has much to do with the effectiveness of the instrument. Adelina Patti is quoted as saying: "Never have I encountered such perfect resonance as here in the Tabernacle. Why, my voice is twice as large here. It carried further and with ever so much more tone than any other hall I have ever sung in."
One of the leaders of the Tabernacle choir of the sixties, was Professor George Careless, a man who had played first violin in Sir Michael Costa's orchestra in London. He was himself a composer and knew good music. It was while Professor Careless was in charge of the Tabernacle choir, in the late sixties and seventies, that the Deseret News noted the following compositions sung at a church conference, "Sanctus," "The Earth is the Lord's," "How Beautiful Upon the Mountains," "Jerusalem, My Glorious Home." Professor Careless was leader of the theatre orchestra for twelve years at two periods of six years each. He produced the first oratorio in 1875 and for fourteen years, was leader of the Tabernacle choir.
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