The Tuesday Musical Club has been part of San Antonio's musical life for some time now. Founded in 1901 by Anna Hertzberg, the organization is celebrating an important milestone this season. A century ago, their very first “musical tea” was held, which paved the way for the group’s annual Artist Series, brining performers like Van Cliburn, Joshua Bell, the Eroica Trio, and Simone Dinnerstein to San Antonio for intimate performances.
We sat down recently with Deborah Moore and Kathy Amen to talk about the history of the Tuesday Musical Club and its artist series. Below is a partial transcription of our conversation. To hear the whole program, including some amazing music captured by KPAC 88.3 FM over the years, use the audio player at the top of this page.
Barry Brake: Set the stage for us. What were things like in San Antonio in classical music in 1923?
Deborah Moore: Well, here in the city, I know that [the Tuesday Musical Club] had come through the 1918 pandemic. The club had been founded in 1901. It says in this article from the fall of 1923, “a series that presents a particularly happy combination of musical interest and social pleasure is the group of four Musical Teas, which the Tuesday musical club is sponsoring. Each of these teas will be given in the ballroom of the St. Anthony Hotel on Tuesday afternoons. It has been the object of the committee in selecting the series to present a group of artists who have a particular appeal for San Antonio audiences. Those who have at some time lived in San Antonio or in Texas and have since achieved distinction abroad.
Barry Brake: I absolutely love that. And you called it a tea?
Deborah Moore: Yes. At some point in its later years, the title “Artist Series” was added, I think, to lend an idea of more that it was a concert series and not just a social event, but a long standing tradition of the club has always been to after our programs at the clubhouse to have a tea period. Of course, we serve tea and coffee and Kathy here can certainly speak to that tradition and others in the club. Yes. We serve tea and coffee and crustless sandwiches.
Barry Brake: Oh, I love it. You mentioned the St. Anthony…
Deborah Moore: So from what we see in the early programs, they were at the St. Anthony. They were at the Gunter Hotel and at the Plaza Hotel. Hotels in their ballrooms, because at that time, as we've just been discussing, there weren't any large auditoriums performance-wise in the city. The Municipal Auditorium had not been built yet. It was 1923. The Majestic Theater had not been built yet. McAllister Auditorium at San Antonio College did not exist. So what you had were venues that were available that were also traditionally where music series were, was either the hotel ballrooms or our city's churches.
Barry Brake: The San Antonio cultural landscape was quite different. We've always been kind of a burbling place of cultural activity in Texas, but not this kind of stuff, not for classical music. And I know that Mrs. Hertzberg in particular was a seminal kind of person involved in that. Can we talk a little bit about her role in bringing this kind of entertainment and art to San Antonio?
Kathy Amen: My understanding is that Mrs. Hertzberg found herself in the cultural desert in South Texas and was determined to make the desert bloom. And she did that by organizing the Tuesday Musical Club, getting a bunch of like-minded ladies together to perform and talk about music. And so she did provide this service that really was not available anywhere else at the time. And I should point out that the work of the club, of which there is a lot to be done, is still just done by volunteer members of the club. The Artist Series in particular is a very large undertaking that is organized by Deborah and her colleagues in a volunteer manner.
Deborah Moore: Well, that's an interesting part of what the booking committee does. But first of all, want to pay homage to my colleague and co-chair of the centennial season, Dr. Anna Armstrong. Anna isn't with us [in the studio] today, but we worked together.
Sara Sant’Ambrogio, founding cellist of the Eroica Trio, shares her congratulations to the Tuesday Musical Club:
“It's always one of the highlights of our season is when we play in San Antonio. It's just fantastic. It's such a wonderful, wonderful organization. And they only missed the one year during the pandemic and then one year, I think it was during World War II. It's such a testament to fortitude, to determination... and very intrinsically female, which is fun for us as a trio because the Eroica Trio was the first all-female chamber music group to reach the top. And everybody always says there's that old adage, you know, girls don't play well together. Well, we just proved that they do!”
Olga Kern, Cliburn Gold Medalist, on the Tuesday Musical Club:
“It's very special, of course, to come back for the Tuesday Musical Club, and especially for such a great anniversary, a hundred years old. And to be able to celebrate this together with them, it's very special. I came to San Antonio after I won the Van Cliburn competition… and since that time, I've been here many times. And to perform for this organization... I have so many friends there, all of them female. And it just brings me such a great memories every time. So it's just really special for me.
Barry Brake: Well, the Tuesday musical club has a century long history of this Artist Series bringing to San Antonio artists who will be the major artists of the world. What's in the future for the Tuesday musical club?
Deborah Moore: You know, at 100 years in all that we have experienced, in all that we have learned with all these magnificent women, that we kind of enjoy their infused spirits in what our club volunteers do today… what would be the appropriate way to remain relevant? But continue to be able to bring a gift to the city of San Antonio that this has been, for so many decades, and see what the future might hold for us
Barry Brake: Absolutely amazing. And I'm glad that I'm going to be here to see it. Fingers crossed.
Deborah Moore: Come one, come all! Yes, please. Anyone that would like further information about the series or for tickets and to join our Centennial Circle of donors, which we would love to invite you to, could go to our website at SATMC.org.
