{"id":682,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:48:37","latitude":39.7685163000000017063939594663679599761962890625,"longitude":-86.154221599999999625651980750262737274169921875,"title":"The May Music Festival","subtitle":"Tomlinson Hall","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/a5b8e14cb599da11fe66aec8936950d3.jpg","address":"202 E Market St, Indianapolis, IN 46204","all_locations":[],"zoom":8,"creator":["Caroline Emenaker"],"description":"Music festivals in the 19th century were grand and well attended. Tomlinson Hall, a large civic building, was built in the 1870s and 1880s right next to the City Market near Monument Circle. The building was over 20,000 square feet and designed to seat 4,200 guests and 650 people on stage. For context, the Murat Theatre in the Old National Center can seat just over 2,600. Hilbert Circle Theatre, a few streets away from where Tomlinson Hall stood, can only hold 1,660.
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\r\nThe Indianapolis May Music Festivals were just one of the festivals held there. At least nine were held between 1889 and 1897. Conductor Carl Barus put on the festival. He first came to Indianapolis in 1882 to work with the Maennerchor. Barus conducted the opening performance at Tomlinson Hall in 1886 and became involved in planning the May Music Festival. The festival wasn’t just small bands and singers. An entire festival orchestra, chorus, and various soloists performed pieces by classical and contemporary composers. It was not necessarily an orchestra from Indiana. Orchestras came from all over the country to perform works by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and other composers still listened to today.
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\r\nThe festival featured many notable singers of the era. Clementine De Vere performed as a soloist in 1890. It was her first time performing in Indianapolis, though she had done stints in New York and Europe well before this festival. The program even compared her to Jenny Lind, the “Swedish Nightingale,” who was one of the most highly renowned singers of the 19th century. Italo Campanini, one of the most successful operatic tenors of the late 19th century, performed in the festival in 1892. The program said that “his successful career is too well known to be republished here…Campanini is one of the greatest singers of this age.” Each festival had around ten soloists, each with at least a local following. Having an event this large was important to the culture of the city. The 1890 pamphlet said that “Indianapolis needs the Music Festival for the same reason that the West needs the World’s Fair. A great undertaking is a stimulus to any population.”","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"Building no longer exists.","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["

Devadasan, Neil. “Tomlinson Hall.” Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, March 6, 2021. https://indyencyclopedia.org/tomlinson-hall/.

","The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. \"Jenny Lind.\" Encyclopedia Britannica, April 8, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jenny-Lind.","

Fischer, Jessica. “Carl Barus.” Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, February 5, 2021. https://indyencyclopedia.org/carl-barus/.

"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/a5b8e14cb599da11fe66aec8936950d3.jpg":{"id":3331,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Tomlinson Hall","description":"Tomlinson Hall was built in the late 19th century but was remodeled in 1912. This architectural drawing from 1907 was possibly done to aid in the remodel. | Bass Photo Co Collection, Indiana Historical Society | 1907 | Rubush & Hunter, W. H. Bass Photo Company","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/a5b8e14cb599da11fe66aec8936950d3.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/c139e1195f40f35a6b13590c01951e95.jpg":{"id":3332,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Carl Berus","description":"The Indiana Tribüne published this image of Carl Berus, conductor of the May Music Festival, in 1905. | Hoosier State Chronicles | April 25, 1905 | Indiana Tribüne","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/c139e1195f40f35a6b13590c01951e95.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/b6c74393f48eefdbb50be9cf187d3687.jpg":{"id":3333,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Second May Music Festival Program","description":"This program from 1890 is from the Second Annual Festival. It gives information on the pieces performed, the soloists, and a background on the organization. | Indiana University Indianapolis Digital Collections | May 1890 | Indianapolis May Music Festival Association","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/b6c74393f48eefdbb50be9cf187d3687.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/fb67f4342c02be24f8f1e79826d027b0.jpg":{"id":3334,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Tomlinson Hall, 1893","description":"The inside of Tomlinson Hall could seat over 4,000 guests, as shown in this image. It was set up in this image for a reunion of the Grand Army in 1893. | Indiana Historical Society | September 16, 1893","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/fb67f4342c02be24f8f1e79826d027b0.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/original/888995d41fc2ed60e2e45f5b7c81ffb6.mp4":{"id":3335,"mime-type":"video/mp4","title":"Beethoven Symphony No. 5","description":"This is a performance by the Boston Philharmonic of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. It was performed at one of the May Music Festivals. | The Boston Philharmonic | February 2019"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/original/eb5d2d5cab546bd88ea5fea21cb30061.mp4":{"id":3336,"mime-type":"video/mp4","title":"Clementine De Vere","description":"Clementine De Vere was a world-renowned soprano and performed at the Second Annual May Music Festival in 1890. This is a recording of her singing from 1914. | CurzonRoad | 1914 | Clementine De Vere"}}}