#TBT: Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra started 75 years ago

The Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra started in 1946 with the help of two wolves. Well, technically, a Wolf and a Wolfe: Rabbi Sidney Wolf and Dr. C. Burdette Wolfe.

Editions of the Corpus Christi Times from the early 1920s carried mentions of a Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra performing at a variety of social events. There was even an account of the orchestra performing at the dedication ceremonies for the opening of the rebuilt wooden Nueces Bay Causeway in October 1921.

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Another group attempted to form an orchestra in 1935, but they didn't last. In 1938 some members of the Corpus Christi Music Club joined to form an orchestra but that also quickly fizzled.

In early 1940 a group of mostly amateur musicians banded together and formed the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra. Their first performance took place four months later in May, led by conductor George Goldman who also performed two piano solos, including one he composed himself, inspired by the oil field flares of the area.

Goldman was the driving force behind this infant orchestra. He arrived in Corpus Christi in December 1939 and quickly began organizing others to form a symphony orchestra. The performance by 35 musicians was held at the Corpus Christi Senior High School Auditorium and tickets were 50 cents apiece. Mayor A.C. McCaughan even issued an official proclamation of May 20 -- the day of the concert -- as Symphony Day in Corpus Christi.

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An advertising stunt to promote the new symphony and devised by a local advertising executive went slightly awry. Bill Richards had 1,000 handbills printed reading "Blitzkrieg Proclamation" with "Symphony Day" underneath in smaller type, with the plan to drop the handbills from a plane. According to Richards, since everyone was already scanning the skies for Nazi warplanes, they would receive the handbills instead. The Civil Aeronautics Authority put the kibosh on that: no objects could be tossed from planes in flight. Richards hired delivery boys instead to pass out the bills around downtown. Despite the initial success, the orchestra didn't continue.

Finally, a new group decided Corpus Christi deserved a symphony. One of the main drivers behind the formation of this symphony group was Rabbi Sidney Wolf of Temple Beth El, and he had the determination to make it stick this time. Wolf, born in Cleveland, was a musical prodigy who began piano lessons at 7 and was performing in a professional musical combo at 13. While completing his college and rabbinical studies in Cincinnati he continued his musical performances that included musicales with members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and other student musicians. He even wrote a thesis on German Jewish musician and composer Louis Lewandowski.

Over the next dozen years interest waned until Corpus Christi Junior College, or Del Mar College as it's now known, hired Dr. C. Burdette "Bud" Wolfe to start its music department. Wolfe also came from a musical background, with his parents, brother and sister all professional musicians. The two joined forces, with Wolfe as the symphony director leading the 63-piece orchestra and Wolf serving as the president of the Corpus Christi Symphony Society in charge of fundraising. They determined about $6,500 was needed to get the first season off the ground.

On Dec. 10, 1945 the temperature outside was 36 degrees and rain fell steadily but 800 people showed up to the Corpus Christi High School Auditorium to hear the new Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra perform several pieces including Von Weber’s “Der Freischütz,” Grieg’s “Last Spring,” and Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite.” Despite the rain -- which Times reporter Tom Mulvaney heard dripping in the wings as it found its way into the auditorium -- the performance was a success. Mulvaney noted he had witnessed the debuts of two other orchestras in cities larger than Corpus Christi, but Corpus' was by far the best. 

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"There was good balance throughout and little evidence of stage fright on the part of any individual in the group. The woodwinds, the brass, the percussion and the strings all stood out when they should; all held up with the sturdiness of long practice, not with the desperation of necessity."

And despite some hiccups, including the COVID-19 pandemic delaying the start of their 75th anniversary season until 2021, the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra has held steady.

Allison Ehrlich writes about things to do in South Texas and has a weekly Throwback Thursday column on local history. Support local coverage like this by checking out our subscription options and special offers at Caller.com/subscribe