Did you know that there have been other Aeolian Hall’s around the world? Located in Manhattan, the New York Symphony Society performed at Aeolian Hall on West 42nd Street from 1912 to 1924. The building, now a Dental School, was built in 1912 by architects Whitney Warren and Charles Wetmore (famous not only for being related to the illustrious Vanderbilts, but for their design of New York’s Grand Central Station and Winnipeg’s Union Station).
The Hall closed to public performances in 1926 with a performance by violinist, Leon Goldman. With performances by renowned musicians and composers such as Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev, the Manhattan Aeolian Hall may be most famous for a world premier by a young composer and pianist – George Gershwin and his penultimate Rhapsody in Blue.
Roar back to the twenties with us while you listen to the original recording of Rhapsody in Blue from Aeolian Hall here:
Pictures and floor plans of our New York relative and the doodles of Gershwin himself can be seen in this video, featuring a later performance of Rhapsody in Blue with additional photos in the gallery below.
Next time? Led Zeppelin & the Aeolian Hall Connection. Stay tuned!
