Elkan Naumburg

Elkan Naumburg (1835–1924) was a New York City merchant, banker, philanthropist and musicologist, best remembered for his sponsorship of the arts in Manhattan. From the last quarter of the nineteenth century, he used his wealth to promote public interest in symphonic and "semi-classical" music by helping to form and establish the Oratorio Society of New York and funding construction of the Naumburg Bandshell, which honors his name, on the Concert Ground of the Central Park Mall.

Naumburg was born in Treuchtlingen, Bavaria, in 1835, and emigrated with his parents to the United States at age 15 to escape the growing anti-Semitism of his native land. He settled first in Baltimore, where he took a liking to chamber music. An amateur pianist with no formal training, he was unable at that time to afford purchasing concert tickets for famous performers like Vieuxtemps and Thalberg.

In 1853, at age 18, he moved to New York City, where he initiated a business career that was first highlighted as a successful merchant and then a merchant banker. He founded E. Naumburg & Co. in 1893 - one of the largest 'commercial paper' banks on Wall Street. Their chief rival was Goldman Sachs. The parlor of his Manhattan townhouse hosted pianists, opera singers and string quartets, and soon became a forum for celebrities of the music field. With his success he chose to make access to fine music available to a broader public in New York, as one of his principal legacies. In 1873, Leopold Damrosch founded the Oratorio Society of New York in the 'back parlor' of Elkan Naumburg's 48th Street home. Bertha Wehle Naumburg (1843-97), Elkan's wife, gave it that name. Elkan, Bertha and Leopold were very good friends, and like Leopold, Elkan also gave one of his son's the name Walter. Elkan probably helped to form the group and he served briefly on its board, when it first began. Richard Arnold, Leopold Damrosch, Marcella Sembrich, Theodore Thomas, and others performed weekly in the Naumburg family parlor during the 1870s, 80s, and 90s, entertaining such Gilded Age critics and artists as Henry Theophilus Finck and Albert Henry Krehbiel.

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