Adam Itzel Jr. Explained

Adam Itzel Jr. (November 30, 1864 – September 5, 1893) was a 19th-century American conductor, pianist, and composer active in Baltimore.

He attended the Peabody Institute's Conservatory of Music, earning a certificate of proficiency in 1880 and (along with Hermine Hoen) the conservatory's first graduate degree 1882.^[1] He was the conductor of the Academy of Music's orchestra, and directed the touring McCall Opera Company.^[2] In 1890 he was hired to teach and conduct at Peabody.

Composer Eliza Woods was one of his students.^[3]

Itzel's best-known composition was the light opera The Tar and the Tartar. It premiered in Chicago in April 1891 with Digby Bell and Helen Bertram in the leads,^[4] then ran for 152 performances at New York's Palmer Theater. The show was not a critical success, but enjoyed popular success due to Bertram's scandalous barefoot dance. The show was performed across the continent by at least six companies.^{[5] [6]} After his death, it ran again for a week in 1894 at New York's Union Square Theater with Milton Aborn in the lead role.^[7]

Adam Itzel died at the age of 29 of consumption in Baltimore, Maryland, September 5, 1893. A memorial concert was held at Peabody in February 1894; Daniel Gilman gave the commemorative address.^[8] The Peabody Archives at Johns Hopkins University hold his archives.^[9]

Selected works

• The Tar and the Tartar (libretto by Harry B. Smith)
• Jack Sheppard (3-act opera, libretto by A. K. Fulton)^[10]
• untitled 3-act opera, libretto by W. Day
• The Baltimore (song, "Dedicated by The Sun of Baltimore to the gallant worship that beras the name of the Monumental City", commemorating the launch of the USS Baltimore (C-3))^[11]

Notes and References

1. Book: Fifteenth Annual Report of the Provost to the Trustees of the Peabody Institute of the City of Baltimore . June 1, 1882 . Steam Press of Wm. K. Boyle & Son . 1882 . Baltimore . 17–36.
2. News: June 1, 1891 . Facts, Rumours, and Remarks . The Musical Times . 336.
3. Web site: Woods . Eliza . 10 May 1895 . The Sun . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20000229114948/http://www.proquest.com:80/ . 2000-02-29 . 2020-06-28 . Proquest Historical Newspapers . en.
4. Book: Franceschina, John . Harry B. Smith: Dean of American Librettists . March 2004 . Routledge . 978-1-135-94908-2 . 57 . en.
5. Thomas Allston Brown, A History of the New York Stage: From the First Performance in 1732 to 1901 (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1903), v. 3, 343.
6. Book: Hildebrand . David . Musical Maryland: a history of song and performance from the colonial period to the age of radio . Schaaf . Elizabeth M. . 2017 . Johns Hopkins University Press . William Biehl . 978-1-4214-2240-4 . Baltimore . 110.
7. Book: Franceschina, John . Harry B. Smith: Dean of American Librettists . March 2004 . Routledge . 978-1-135-94908-2 . 75 . en.
8. Book: Twenty-Seventh Annual Report of the Peabody Institute of the City of Baltimore . June 1, 1894 . Wm. K. Boyle & Son . Baltimore . 21.
9. Web site: Collection: Adam Itzel Jr. and John Itzel orchestral arrangements Johns Hopkins University Libraries Archives Public Interface . 2024-01-15 . archivesspace.library.jhu.edu.
10. Book: Office, Library of Congress Copyright . Dramatic Compositions Copyrighted in the United States, 1870 to 1916 . 1918 . Johnson Reprint Corporation . 1106 . en.
11. Book: Itzel Jr., Adam . The Baltimore . Geo. Willig & Co . Baltimore.