- Concordia Hall
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Concordia Hall was a music venue in Baltimore, Maryland.[1] It was founded in 1867 by Germans from the largest immigrant community in that city It was the location for readings by Charles Dickens in 1868, during his lst American tour. [2], and other visiting lecturers and musical groups, and the site of civic events. .
The great Yiddish actor, Boris Thomashefsky, came to Baltimore in the mid-1880's and gave what was probably the first performance of Yiddish theater in Baltimore at Concordia Hall. In his autobiography he left a description of the Hall:
- “...Concordia Hall, the aristocratic club of the Baltimore German Jews. The Hall was truly a beauty. No more beautiful hall have I seen even up to the present day. There were more than one thousand seats, true theater seats. The hall was decorated all in gold. The seats were gilded and covered in red velvet. The floors were spread with expensive carpets. The stage was also gorgeous, bedecked with expensive decorations. Huge gilt chandeliers lit the beautiful interior. The dressing rooms were spacious, airy and lavishly furnished. The entry to the theater was truly magnificent. Wide steps of white marble with six marble columns on each side just like the White House in Washington. It was in this spectacular palace where we would play our first Yiddish performance.” (Translation by Daniel Setzer)[3]
. . A fire destroyed the Corcordia in 1891.
References
- ^ Scharf, J. T. (1874). The chronicles of Baltimore: Being a complete history of "Baltimore town" and Baltimore city from the earliest period to the present time. Baltimore: Turnbull Bros.
- ^ Dickens, Charles, Madeline House, and Graham Storey. Letters. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965. p.709
- ^ Thomashefsky, Boris, "Mein Lebens-Geschichte", Trio Press, New York, 1937 p.168
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