George Careless, Pioneer Musician

Utah Historical Quarterly

Vol. 53, 1985, No. 2

George Careless, Pioneer Musician

BY BRUCE DAVID MAXWELL

EARLY IN 1865, ACCORDING TO George Pyper, Brigham Young called a young English immigrant into his office. "Brother George," he said, "I have a mission for you. I want you to be the Chief Musician of the Church. I want you to take the Tabernacle Choir and the Theatre Orchestra and lay a foundation for good music." However apocryphal Pyper's anecdote may be, that young Englishman, George Edward Percy Careless, did indeed help lay the foundations of Utah musical culture. During his thirty-year career he fostered Salt Lake's nascent taste for classical music through his pioneer efforts as a conductor, editor, and teacher. And, at the same time, he inspired other musicians to follow his example, making Salt Lake an early center of cultural activity in the West.

Little is known of Careless's early life. He was born into a lower middle class family in London, England, on September 24, 1839. His conversion to Mormonism in 1850 seems to have had little immediate impact on his family. But two years later he left his family home.

Young Careless was interested in music from an early age. Luckily, he was apprenticed to a shoe manufacturer who encouraged his interests. George taught himself violin and in 1859 entered the Royal Academy of Music. By 1862 he had begun a professional career in music.

In addition to his professional acitivites he conducted choirs for the LDS church. Public performances with the London Conference Choir in 1863 and 1864 brought him to the attention of the LDS press. Soon after, Elder William Staines convinced George to immigrate to Utah.

Leaving England on June 3, 1864, he continued his choral activities on board the immigrant ship Hudson. But the journey between New York and Utah was plagued by delays and hardship. When the Warren Snow company reached Salt Lake on November 3, 1864, the musician was ill from fever and malnutrition.

Careless arrived in Salt Lake when Utah's musical culture was still in its infancy. A number of amateur choirs and bands had been active since the 1850s, but professional musicians were rare indeed. Nevertheless, he had already decided on a musical career and within a few months began attracting students.

Significantly, by April 1865 Careless had joined the Salt Lake Theatre Orchestra. The orchestra boasted the best musical talent in Salt Lake, although few of the musicians had professional experience before coming to Utah. Their conductor, Charles John Thomas (who also conducted the Tabernacle Choir), had molded them into a fine ensemble. By 1865 orchestral music had become a regular intermission feature of theater performances. 4 In the fall of 1865 Brigham Young sent Thomas to St. George to promote musical culture there, and Careless was appointed conductor of the theater orchestra in his place.

He soon found, however, that the orchestra did not play to his satisfaction. While Thomas, a consummate showman, had favored waltzes, schottisches, and polkas, Careless preferred the more exacting standards of classical music. The orchestra was soon cut to seven musicians who were guaranteed a nightly wage.

During Thomas's tenure all musicians and actors in the local stock company were expected to donate their time and abilities to the theater. But dissastisfaction festered in the ranks. Still, whether the musicians' wage resulted from Careless's activities or from a threatened actors' strike remains unclear.

Under Careless's direction vocal soloists and ensembles performed frequently at the theater. In addition, by 1868 visiting stars began presenting operatic scenes, using the orchestra for musical accompaniment. It was under these circumstances that Careless conducted the first full-length light opera in Utah. In 1869, shortly after the completion of the transcontinental railroad, the Howson Opera Troupe presented Offenbach's The Grand Duchess.

By the 1869-70 season the members of the orchestra had decided to form a union with Careless as president. But the conductor held strong anti-union sentiments and resigned at the end of the season in protest.

Careless's early connection with the Tabernacle Choir is obscure. A story, apparently confirmed by the Englishman himself, tells how he demanded — and got — improvements in the heating and lighting of the Old Tabernacle to aid the choir. But on November 19, 1865, it was Robert Sands, not Careless, who replaced Charles Thomas as director of the choir. Unfortunately, contemporary sources are often sketchy and contradictory and shed little light on Careless's involvement with the choir. However, he was definitely conducting the choir by 1869. Although no individual events stand out over the next eleven years of his tenure, there is no doubt that he raised the choir's standard of singing. A typical reaction to the choir was published in 1870:

The singing during Conference has elicited general and well-merited praise and commendation; and never before, we think, has the Tabernacle Choir been in such a state of efficiency, and the highest credit is due to Professor Careless, the conductor, and to the brethren and sisters of the choir for their excellent rendering of the various compositions sung.

The choir also began to present public concerts during this period.

While conductor of the Tabernacle Choir, Careless was also involved with other projects. In 1871 he conducted the short-lived Deseret Philharmonic Society, dedicated to "the systematic study and practice of vocal and instrumental music." Later, in 1873, he conducted the interdenominational Salt Lake Choral Society, which lasted through the middle of 1874. Then, in January 1875, he formed a new organization to produce Handel's Messiah.

As with the Choral Society, the Messiah membership was open to both Mormon and Gentile, with rehearsals held at St. Mark's School. Interest in the project soon flagged, and finally, in March, the organizing committee published a "Preamble and Resolution" in the Salt Lake Herald, reminding absentees that they were

. . . under moral and indeed pecuniary obligations to themselves, to the society, and in a sense to the public, to stand by and see it through; that in view of these considerations, and also in the name of a common love of the divine art, we now earnestly and respectfully appeal to the habitual absentees to return forthwith to their places in the ranks; to the occasional absentees to be more punctual in their attendance, not only that enthusiasm may be returned . . . but that [the Messiah] may not have to be abandoned. . . .

The appeal worked. Amid a flourish of publicity the Salt Lake Handel and Haydn Society performed the Messiah on June 3, 1875. But for a performance in San Francisco the previous November, this would have been the first Messiah west of Chicago. And, indeed, the Salt Lake press did not hesitate to vaunt the home production to San Francisco's loss. In San Francisco, the Herald wrote:

. . . the trumpet obligato was played so badly as to nearly compel Madame Anna Bishop to stop singing. Compare with this the excellence of the cornet obligato ... by Mr. Croxall, and here is a proof of it."

After a warmly praised repeat performance in December, the Handel and Haydn Society evolved into the Philharmonic Society, which devoted itself to vocal study and gave several public recitals.

During this period of Careless's life he was not exclusively involved in performances. Sometime before September 1872 he was hired to supervise the music department of Calder and Sears. David O. Calder had been selling music supplies since 1861, although his business had undergone several changes of partnership. And, indeed, Calder and Sears did not outlast 1872. On November 16 Sears withdrew and a new partnership was formed: Calder and Careless.

The most significant activity of the Calder and Careless dealership was the publication of the Utah Musical Times. Strictly speaking, the Times was not the first musical publication in Utah. In November 1875 William Grant, a music dealer in American Fork, began a four-page quarterly, the Musical Advertiser. That paper may have inspired Calder and Careless to publish their more ambitious monthly, which first appeared in March 1876.

The Utah Musical Times featured general articles on music as well as notices and reviews of musical activity in Salt Lake and elsewhere. In addition, each issue published hymns by home composers — most of which were by Careless himself. These hymns developed out of the style of the oblong tune books of Lowell Mason and Isaac Woodbury and contrasted with the Sunday School style of hymn favored bythe Juvenile Instructor during the same period. The hymns in the Times would later influence the course of LDS hymnody.

In March 1877 Calder and Careless's competitor, Daynes and Son, began publication of the Utah Musical Bouquet, a monthly of popular sheet music. In response, Calder and Careless began publication of their quarterly, the Utah Musical Hours. But both periodicals quickly folded, and by February 1878 the Utah Musical Times had also ceased publication. Soon after, Careless left the partnership to open his own music store. Although he remained one of Calder's competitors until 1886, he never published a successor to the Times.

In September 1878 Careless announced plans to found a concert orchestra. That organization, the first of its kind in Utah, gave its initial performance on March 24, 1879. The program, a varied selection of instrumental and vocal music, was well received and established a pattern continued in the orchestra's concert series of 1880, 1881, and 1882.

Typical of the type of program presented was the concert of January 5, 1880. The orchestra played overtures by Mozart, Riviere, and Rossini and accompanied violinist Willard Weihe in a concerto by Vieuxtemps. Vocal ensembles and soloists performed popular material by Balfe and Cowan, and the concert concluded with an appearance by the popular Croxall Brass Band. Although a twentieth-century ear might classify such repertoire as "pops" or "light classical," concerts such as this helped educate a musical public that had no other contact with classical music. Unfortunately, in 1880 the Careless Orchestra also became the "theater orchestra" of the Home Dramatic Club. It ended its independent career as a concert orchestra by merging with the club in October 1882.

Shortly after the Careless Orchestra debut in 1879 it was involved in the most significant event of its short career. On April 17 the orchestra combined with the Philharmonic Society to present a fully staged production of Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore. The comic opera, the first produced in Utah by home talent, opened to rave reviews from as far away as Ogden. Indeed, the Ogden Junction mirrored the Salt Lake press when it wrote: "The performance of this opera can be considered as a landmark in Utah's musical development, all the actors being amateurs who have coped victoriously with this difficult undertaking."

The original run of three performances was doubled and the company then took its production to Ogden for one performance. By the following month photographs of the Pinafore company were being sold in Salt Lake and Ogden. A. C. Smyth organized a juvenile Pinafore company and the Deseret News complained:

'Pinafore' seems to have attacked us in a variety of shapes. We'll next have summer hats branded 'Pinafore,' 'Pinafore' syrup at the soda fountains, but if Ogden don't start a newspaper with that title, we'll bear the others in silent misery.

Out of deference to the juvenile Pinafore company Careless refrained from further performances of the opera until December. In the meantime the company performed Trial by Jury and Flotow's Martha in Salt Lake and Ogden with Amy Sherwin, a traveling "star." Although no other operas were produced by this company, Careless's success inspired others, such as Smyth and C. J. Thomas, to continue producing comic opera with home companies throughout the 1880s.

The 1880s saw a reduction in Careless's activity. By August 1880 illness had caused him to retire from the Philharmonic Society and the Tabernacle Choir. 23 Only the Careless Orchestra and the music store occupied his time until November 1883 when he organized the Choral Society.

The Choral Society was short lived, however. On June 2, 1884, they performed a varied program that included John Stainer's cantata The Daughter ofJ aims. But despite kudos from the press, the society did not outlive the concert. Equally ephemeral was a "mammoth" orchestra that Careless conducted on March 25, 1885. 24 Not until after the death of his first wife, Lavinia, in July 1885, 25 did he undertake another project of major proportions.

On November 2, 1885, the Careless Amateur Opera Company gave the Salt Lake premiere of Gilbert and Sullivan's new opera The Mikado. Uncharacteristically, the performance was given mixed reviews. Early rehearsals had been delayed by Lavinia Careless's death, leaving the company under-rehearsed by opening night. But later performances were well recieved.

Ironically, by the end of the year two professional touring companies brought The Mikado to the Salt Lake Theatre. Comparisons with the home company were inevitable.

The performance ... by the Thompson Opera Company is not different in most material respects from that of the amateur company who lately presented [The Mikado] here; there was, however, a precision of business, a completeness of detail and a "rush" of things generally such as usually constitute the difference between professionals and tyros.

Reading between the lines strongly suggests that the performance standards of the Careless Opera Company were high, considering the talent available in Salt Lake. Such standards, however, had come to be considered the norm for Careless's projects.

In February of the following year the opera company again produced a Gilbert and Sullivan work, The Pirates of Penzance, but a revival of Pinafore in September was severely criticized for lack of vitality and insufficient rehearsal. Although advertised as the "grand opening" of the company's season, it proved their final performance.

Perhaps one of the reasons for the demise of the Careless Opera Company was the formation of Zion's Choral Union. As early as March 1879 Mormon church president John Taylor had promoted the formation of a church-sponsored musical society. 30 The resulting organization, Zion's Musical Society, had flourished and died by 1886. Nevertheless, the church hierarchy decided to renew the effort.

According to the Deseret News, the union was organized, ". . . to provide its members an opportunity to improve their musical talents, especially with a view to increase the efficiency of our Church choirs. For this purpose the higher classes of sacred music will be studied. . . ." Careless was appointed director and a cantata, Belshazzar, was selected as the group's first project. Its performance on June 7, 1887, was greeted warmly by the press. However, no further performances by the union followed, although Careless continued to rehearse the group until the following year. In May 1888 he retired from the Choral Union. Having already retired from business, he was now able to devote his full attention to his private students.

Careless's early experiences as an educator are difficult to trace. He never advertised for students in the press until after his retirement from business, although reference has already been made to his tutorial efforts upon reaching Salt Lake in 1864. From 1869 to 1871 he taught classes in vocal music at the University of Deseret. 33 Additionally, reference has been made to the tutorial purpose of the early Deseret Philharmonic Society. It is likely that Careless's non- LDS choral societies during the 1870s were founded for didactic purposes, with performance viewed as a reward for a job well done. Although various prominent musicians in early Utah, such as B. B. Young and Evan Stephens, have been cited as pupils of Careless, how or when they were taught has yet to be established.

In 1886 Careless began teaching in earnest. On March 8 the Deseret Evening News noted that he had "disposed of his music business . . . [and] opened a school of music . . . where private or class lessons will be given. . . ." But his tutorial efforts during this period were overshadowed by younger men such as Evan Stephens. In the final analysis, teaching merely served to provide an income on which Careless could retire from public life.

One more major accomplishment remained for Careless. In 1887 he was appointed to a committe charged with compiling a musical supplement to the LDS hymn book. Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs had been printed without music since its first edition in 1840. Although the Juvenile Instructor had been printing hymn settings since the 1870s, it had made no attempt to print settings of the hymns in Sacred Hymns. Rather, the Juvenile Instructor specialized in Sunday School hymns, which were being collected in separate Sunday School hymnals from 1884. Only the short-lived Utah Musical Times had made a concerted effort to supply original settings for the official LDS hymnody.

The assignment of Careless's committee was to provide each hymn in Sacred Hymns with a musical setting. Each member of the committee, which included Careless, Ebenezer Beesley, Joseph Daynes, Evan Stephens, and Thomas Griggs, was responsible for one-fifth of the musical settings. Although many traditional hymn settings were included in the final compilation, most of the settings were by Utah composers. Many of the settings from the Utah Musical Times were used in the new hymnal.

The new hymnal, The Latter-day Saints' Psalmody, was finally published in 1889. It was modeled after the conservative oblong tune books of Mason and Woodbury, even to the detail of placing the tenor staff above those for the other voices. But because it was designed only as a supplement to Sacred Hymns, it was dropped in 1927 when a new official hymnal was compiled. Nevertheless, many of the musical settings first published in the Psalmody are still in use.

In August 1890 the leader of the Salt Lake Theatre Orchestra, Willard Weihe, left to finish his musical education in Germany. Careless was called out of retirement to replace him. Although this second tenure with the theater orchestra lasted until November 1895, Careless was no longer at the hub of Salt Lake culture. A new generation of musicians under the charismatic

leadership of Evan Stephens dominated the local musical scene, building on Careless's achievements of the 1870s and 1880s.

As a person Careless was unassuming almost to the point of shyness. He preferred to let his public accomplishments speak for themselves, while shielding his private affairs from view. Nevertheless, the few anecdotes that have entered the public record indicate a forceful yet quiet personality.

But his accomplishments speak loudly indeed. He raised the performance standards of the musical organizations of a city hundreds of miles from the centers of American musical culture and educated the musical taste of a pioneer people. He laid the foundations of a musical culture that by the turn of the century was already burgeoning and by the time of his death on December 16, 1932, was coming into full bloom.

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