School of Music Dean Conducts Gilded Age Orchestra of Newport Honoring 100-Year Old Composer and Former U.S. Ambassador
Photo Credit: Anthony De Luca
During To Rhode Island, with Love, a recent performance by the Gilded Age Orchestra of Newport, Dr. Christopher Brellochs, Dean of the School of Music, was at the podium, conducting the orchestra. His expertise and passion for the music of the Gilded Age has brought him from serving as a consultant for and actor in HBO’s The Gilded Age to performing and conducting throughout the Northeast.
Dr. Brellochs with Composer/Ambassador J. William Middendorf II
Can you tell us about this most recent conducting experience at The Historic Park Theater in Cranston, Rhode Island, and its significance?
To Rhode Island, with Love was an evening of music composed by Ambassador J. William Middendorf II, in celebration of his 100th birthday. It featured the premier of his work The Ocean State Symphony and included the Holland Symphony, Violin Concerto in d minor, an aria from his opera, “The Lion and the Rose,” and marches. Although his compositions weren’t from the Gilded Age, they were significantly influenced by the time period.
The program also included the life story of this impressive man who served during World War II, as Secretary of the Navy, U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands and European Union, and advisor to a number of presidents.
How did your passion for the music of the Gilded Age begin?
After living in Manhattan and northern New Jersey for many years, I moved to the mid-Hudson Valley and started visiting the many historic mansions between Westchester and Albany. During the tours I was struck by the beautiful landscaping, architecture, and paintings. Each mansion had a music room and yet there was never any music for visitors to hear – the houses felt empty – so I decided to research the late 19th century and what music would have been heard in these grand estates, and then perform live music where it had been commonly heard 150 years ago.
Dr. Brellochs at Rosecliff in Newport Rhode Island. Photo credit: Mark Stickney
OK, we want to know more about your connection to HBO’s The Gilded Age.
In 2020, a casting agency announced they were looking for extras for an orchestra scene filming in Troy. I submitted my information and added that I had done extensive research into music from that period. I didn’t hear anything and the pandemic response drove their anticipated filming schedule to a halt. I reached out again in early 2021 to ask if they were going to reschedule; I heard back immediately and was asked if I could help them with the both the orchestra and the historic accuracy of the scene. We filmed in May 2021 and I portrayed real-life composer/conductor John Knowles Paine in Season 1, episode 4.
I was asked to help again for Season 3 which just wrapped filming this month. I had multiple meetings with a producer, director, and music supervisor and provided them options of historically accurate selections that would fit the emotional tone of a scene they filmed in Albany – they used one of the compositions I suggested.
How have you shared the music of the Gilded Age with students in our School of Music?
In Fall 2022, I gave a lecture in the Carl B. Taylor Auditorium about my research and the importance of late 19th century music and America. I have articles about my involvement in the HBO series in my office, and sometimes a prospective student or their parent notices and it sparks a nice conversation. Less directly, I think students in the School of Music hear about my research and performances and that lends validity to the conversations we have – the students see that I am still active in the field of music both inside and outside of academia, and therefore take what I say a little more seriously.
What’s next in terms of your performance and conducting schedule?
I’ll be conducting The Gilded Age Orchestra of Newport again on March 6 in Rhode Island at the opulent Rosecliff Mansion, featuring music by French and American composers.
I was the music consultant to Historic Cherry Hill in Albany, N.Y., for their upcoming May-September exhibition on The World of William James Knapp, who was the great-grandchild of Dinah Jackson, the last person enslaved at Cherry Hill. After his mother died in 1854, James became a ward in Richard Van Rensselaer’s household and worked as a butler for the family; he was also an amateur musician and avid sheet music collector.
"If Ever I Cease to Love," from the sheet music collection of William James Knapp at Historic Cherry Hill.
I have two exciting events in June at The Sembrich on Lake George; June 14 will be “Gilded Melodies,” a musical program of 19th-century opera arias and the fantasies they inspired for saxophone and piano. On June 19, I’ll give a talk on “William James Knapp: Music of The Black Experience During the Gilded Age.” Based on my research for Historic Cherry Hill this will feature recent School of Music graduate LayVon Scott singing pieces from Knapp’s personal sheet music collection acquired 1865 to 1885.