Philadelphia is home to one of the world's most vibrant and well-documented musical heritages, stretching back to thecolonial era. Innovations inclassical music,opera,R&B,jazz,soul, androck have earned themusic of Philadelphia national and international renown. Philadelphia's musical institutions have long played an important role in themusic of Pennsylvania and that of the nation, especially in the early development ofhip-hop, earlyrock and roll,disco,freestyle music, and soul music (specifically, thePhiladelphia soul genre).[1] Philadelphia's diverse population has also given it a reputation for styles ranging fromdancehall toIrish traditional music, as well as a thriving classical and folk music scene.
ThePhiladelphia Orchestra's third conductor,Leopold Stokowski, championed American classical music of the 20th century, and on tour, in recordings, and notably in Walt Disney's 1940 animated filmFantasia, brought the traditional and modern classical repertoire to a broad American listening public for the first time. TheCurtis Institute of Music onRittenhouse Square, founded in 1924 byCurtis Publishing Company heiressMary Louise Curtis Bok, has trained many of the world's best-known and respected American composers and performers, includingLeonard Bernstein andSamuel Barber during the 20th century, and current starsJuan Diego Flórez,Alan Gilbert,Hilary Hahn,Jennifer Higdon,Lang Lang, andRay Chen.
The city has played an equally prominent role in developing popular music. In the early years ofrock and roll, a number ofSouth Philadelphia-born popular vocalists made Philadelphia and popular music virtually synonymous, includingChubby Checker,Frankie Avalon, andBobby Rydell. This led to the airing of the popular rock and roll dance showAmerican Bandstand, hosted byDick Clark from theWPVI-TV studios at 46th andMarket Streets at the time, where teenagers would descend in droves after school to be televised dancing to the latest hits on the pop charts in front of a national audience.
Today, Philadelphia is well known for itship-hop scene, including superstars likeThe Roots,Meek Mill, andLil Uzi Vert. It is also well known for itsalternative rock andDIY music scene, which has been a launchpad forindie rock stars includingAlex G,Kurt Vile,The War on Drugs,Modern Baseball,Japanese Breakfast, andHop Along.[2][3]
Philadelphia has a wide variety of performance venues for music. The city's most senior venue is the famedAcademy of Music. Established in 1857, the academy is the longest continuously operatingopera house in the United States that is still being used for its original purpose. At the very center of Philadelphia's musical life, the academy is home to many internationally recognized performance ensembles, including thePhilly Pops, thePhiladelphia Ballet, andOpera Philadelphia. The academy also presents touring artists and musical theatre of the highest caliber.[4]
The most recent addition to the city's list of venues is theKimmel Center for the Performing Arts, home of the internationally renownedPhiladelphia Orchestra, which opened in 2001. The Philadelphia Singers often sing in concerts with the orchestra. The center is also home to theChamber Orchestra of Philadelphia,Philadanco and thePhiladelphia Chamber Music Society (PCMS). The PCMS, established in 1986, puts on concerts by internationally renowned performers as well as local ensembles like 1807 and Friends, who have been prominent local performers since 1981.
Also of major importance to the city is theMann Center for the Performing Arts, one of the largest outdooramphitheatres in the United States.[5] Established in 1976 as the Robin Hood Dell West, the Mann Center is the summer performance space for the Philadelphia Orchestra. It is also host to major touring artists from all genres of music and is Philadelphia's main venue for popular entertainers. In addition to the Mann Center, theTower Theater, inUpper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia serves as a destination for many top touring acts.
TheAnnenberg Center for the Performing Arts is another notable venue in the city. Founded in 1971, the center now includes theUniversity of Pennsylvania's Irvine Auditorium, Zellerbach Theatre and Harold Prince Theatre.[6] The center offers a varied program of more than 170 performances each year, including concerts, theatre, and dance.
Philadelphia has a thriving jazz and cabaret scene, largely due to the efforts of theJohn W. Coltrane Cultural Society, which honors local jazz legendJohn Coltrane and helps to promote jazz in the city. There are a number of nightclubs in the city that host live music, most notably Warmdaddy's which has been a hot spot for jazz and blues entertainers for more than four decades. The city is also home to thePhiladelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts, which has been called the "first-ever club designed and constructed specifically as a jazz institution". Another notable venue is World Cafe Live (WCL), which opened October 2004. A three-tiered music hall, restaurant, and bar, WCL has been host to such artists asGeorge Clinton and theParliament-Funkadelic,Rhett Miller,Natalie Cole,KT Tunstall,Allen Toussaint,Pink Martini,Buckethead, andLiz Phair.
Philadelphia's diverse ethnic groups have established several organizations that promote their musical styles, including theAsian Arts Initiative and theLatin American Musicians Association (AMLA). The AMLA was established by Jesse Bermudez in 1982 inNorth Philadelphia to promote Latino music and musicians. The association runs a Latin School of Arts, which features teachers likeElio Villafranca and Pablo Batista.[7] The Italian American Broadcasting Network is in Philadelphia and promotes radio stations that broadcast Italian music in southeastern Pennsylvania; the Philadelphia stations that play Italian music includeWPHT,WEDO, andWEMG.[8] ThePainted Bride Art Center is a local organization that promotesalternative andavant garde music, and Crossroads Music is the city's only organization entirely dedicated to presenting musicians with roots in specific cultural traditions from all parts of the world.
Other local institutions include thePhiladelphia Gay Men's Chorus, founded in 1981,[9] and theMendelssohn Club, a choral group that dates back to the 19th century. The Mendelssohn Club was founded byWilliam W. Gilchrist, one of the major figures of 19th century music in the city.[10] Also of note is thePhiladelphia Youth Orchestra, one of the most highly regarded children's groups in the United States, having performed worldwide since forming in 1939.[11]
A local and highly respected musical novelty is theWanamaker Organ, located in the Center CityMacy's department store at 1300 Market. Itsorgan was built in 1904, designed by organ architectGeorge Ashdown Audsley. The organ was so large it required thirteen freight cars to bring it from St. Louis. Once in Philadelphia, the organ was made even larger, with additional pipes added—3,000 were added by 1917, and between 1924 and 1930, 10,000 more were added. The modern organ has 28,500, ranging from a 32-foot (9.8 m) long and 3-inch (76 mm) thick pipe made of Oregon sugar pine and a tiny, quarter-inch long pipe. Performances on the Wanamaker Organ are given twice a day, Monday through Saturday.[12]
Major music festivals in Philadelphia include the West Oak Lane Jazz Festival (formerly held annually in June), the Bach Festival of Philadelphia (since 1976), and the long-standing and historicalPhiladelphia Folk Festival.[13] There are also a number of different summer concert series and ethnic festivals held atPenn's Landing, including the Smooth Jazz Summer Nights Series in August. TheJazz on the Ave Music Festival (since 2006) typically takes place in mid August on Broad Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue featuring Jazz, Soul, Gospel and R&B, as well as some contemporary urban music. ThePhiladelphia Céilí Group is a prominent local organization that promotes Irish music, and runs a festival, which the Group claims is among the oldest continuous Irish traditional festivals in the U.S.[14] Not too far from the city is the annual Concerts Under the Stars summer festival in Upper Merrion township. Making Time Festival held on the historic Fort Mifflin, is another important cultural event which happens annually in late September, hosting important dance music acts from around the world as well as historically significant ambient artists and experimental musicians.[15]
Perhaps the most famous annual musical event in Philadelphia is theMummers Parade, aNew Year's Day celebration that features outrageous costumes,old-time string bands and other entertainment. The tradition dates to the mid-17th century, when Finnish and Swedish settlers in Philadelphia celebrated holidays by shooting muskets. Their parade grew more diverse over the years, and theMummers tradition became official in 1901, and has occurred every year but two since. The Mummers' string band is a large group of several dozen musicians who play banjos, violins, bass viols, glockenspiels, bells, accordions, saxophones and drums in an "old-fashioned, tinny sound approximating the popular music of 1900 and earlier".[16]
The earliest music in the Philadelphia region was that of theindigenous peoples of the area, though little is known about their music. The city was founded in 1682 byWilliam Penn of England on land granted to him byCharles II as a place of refuge for victims ofreligious persecution. As a result, much of the city's early music history is tied to sacred music from a variety of different religious traditions. The city'sGerman immigrants were influential in establishing a vibrant musical culture amongProtestant churches and in the field of music publishing during the first half of the 18th century.
While non-religious music was actively performed in homes and in private social clubs during the earlycolonial period, public performances of non-religious music did not occur until the 1750s. At that time Philadelphia rose to prominence as the major cultural capital in theThirteen Colonies inBritish America, and then in the newly-established United States after theRevolutionary War. The city established a reputation for classical music ofHaydn andMozart. It had the best opera and theater scene in the United States during the latter half of the 18th century.
Philadelphia became an important center for music inNorth America during the colonial era and late 18th century. During the early colonial period, music-making took place mainly in the church and the home. Although the original settlers of Philadelphia were EnglishQuakers who had little interest in music,William Penn's hospitality to other religious groups ensured the eventual growth of musical activities. German immigrants who began arriving in the city around 1700 brought musical instruments with them, builtorgans, and composedhymns.Some of the earliest printing ofsheet music came from these German immigrants and more than 20 editions ofGerman languagehymnals were printed in the city before 1750. By the mid-18th century the city was the leading center for music printing in theNew World. One of the earliest English-language hymnals from the United States that still survives is an extant copy ofIsaac Watts'Hymns and Spiritual Songs, printed in 1741 byBenjamin Franklin.[17] Of the colonial hymnbooks in English, the largest and most significant wasUrania, or A Choice Collection of Psalm-Tunes, Anthems, and Hymns, compiled byJames Lyon (Philadelphia, 1761).
Colonial Pennsylvania was home to a number of religious minority sects, several of which have played an important role in the musical development of the area. A number of GermanPietists settled in the Philadelphia area in 1694, led byJohannes Kelpius. These Pietists lived along the banks of theWissahickon Creek, and became known as the Hermits (or Mystics) of the Wissahickon. Kelpius was a hymn writer and musician. Kelpius has been said to be the composer of certainhymn tunes, although music historianGilbert Chase doubts that he wrote the music, much of which, Chase claims, "is taken from readily identifiable German sources". These hymns were translated into English by Christopher Witt, a painter and musician said to have built the first private non-churchorgan in the colonies of North America.[18]
The city of Philadelphia has also been a major center forRoman Catholic church music. The first Catholic hymnbook published in the United States came from Philadelphia in 1787, entitledLitanies and Vesper Hymns and Anthems as They Are Sung in the Catholic Church; this collection included music scored fortreble andbass, with later editions adding a third vocal section, and used highlyornamentedplainchant themes in theMass and hymns. The publisherMathew Carey was particularly influential, publishing a catechism in 1794 that included hymns in later editions.[19]
Performances of early non-religious music were originally relegated to the home or private social clubs in the city. The earliest known private concert was given in 1734, the first known public concert in 1757. Subscription concerts featuring a chamber orchestra were initiated in that year, including music by contemporary English, Italian, German and Bohemian composers, largely through the efforts ofGovernor John Penn andFrancis Hopkinson, a signer of theDeclaration of Independence and amateur composer and performer.
After theAmerican Revolutionary War, a substantial number of professional musicians from Europe arrived in Philadelphia.Rayner Taylor,Alexander Reinagle andBenjamin Carr were the leading figures in the city's musical life around the turn of the 18th century. These men had emigrated from England and were active as performers, composers, conductors, teachers and concert managers.Susannah Haswell Rowson was an important female composer active in the city. She wrote thelibrettos for two of Reinagle's compositions, and was a successful poet, guitarist, singer, playwright and actress. Benjamin Franklin was also a musician, a guitar teacher and inventor of musical instruments like theglass armonica.[20] In 1784Andrew Adgate organized the Institution for the Encouragement of Church Music, renamed the Uranian Academy (1787–1800). The school was the center of the city'schoral music scene during the latter part of the 18th century.
The earliest known performance of a musical drama in Philadelphia wasColley Cibber’sFlora, or Hob in the Well, aballad opera performed by a touring opera company from England in 1754. In 1757 Francis Hopkinson mounted an elaborate production ofThomas Arne’s masqueAlfred. Both the Society Hall Theatre, built byDavid Douglass in 1759, and the Southwark Theatre, which opened in 1766 with Arne'sThomas and Sally, staged productions of plays and operas given by theAmerican Company. Although the Quakers and other religious groups expressed their moral opposition to theatrical performances, comic operas by leading British composers were frequently performed, often soon after their premières in London.
During the revolutionary period expensive theatrical entertainments were prohibited, except during the time of the British occupation, and the ban remained in effect until 1789. After the ban was lifted, Philadelphia became one of the nation's main theatrical centers. The New American Company, founded in 1792 by Reinagle andThomas Wignell, recruited a large number of singers and composers from England. Although the principal repertory was from London, several composers who lived in Philadelphia wrote original operas; among the most successful were Carr'sThe Archers (1796), Reinagle'sThe Volunteers (1795), and Taylor'sThe Aethiop (1814). The success of Philadelphia opera due in part to the construction in 1793 of the New Theatre, later known as the Chestnut or Chestnut Street Theatre, by Reinagle and Wignell. SeveralMozart operas made their United States debut in the New Theatre, includingDon Giovanni andMarriage of Figaro, both in 1793. Taylor and Carr also worked at the New Theatre which was the most splendid theatre in the United States in its day. The building seated nearly 2000 people, and its design was based on theTheatre Royal, Bath in England.
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Philadelphia's Holy Trinity Church published the first German-American Catholic catechism in 1810, while the music director of St. Augustine's Catholic Church, Benjamin Carr, also published hymnbooks in the early 19th century. Carr's 1805 work introduced "O Sanctissima" and "Adeste Fideles" to American Catholics. The AmericanSodality movement began in Philadelphia in 1841, founded by Felix Barbelin; Barbelin personally prepared the firstAmerican Sodality Manual, which was followed by others throughout the later 19th century. The Catholic Church of Philadelphia established important institutions of musical education in the early 19th century, with the foundation a singing school and boys choir. Throughout the 1810s premieres ofLudwig van Beethoven’s works like hisEroica Symphony which premiered in 1811. TheSisters of Notre Dame de Namur and the Sisters of the Holy Child published several collections of hymns, some of which were later included inSt. Basil's Hymnal.[19]
Philadelphia's African American musical heritage dates back to colonial times, and gained some national and international renown beginning withFrank Johnson, who settled in Philadelphia around 1809. Johnson composedmarches andquadrilles that became very popular; he even performed forQueen Victoria in 1837. By the end of the century, African Americans in Philadelphia had their own musical institutions, including a symphony orchestra and choral societies.[21]
With the inauguration of theMusical Fund Society in 1820, musical activity in Philadelphia greatly increased. By the mid-19th century, the city was a national center for musical development, with local religious music changing considerably, and new styles becoming regionally popular, especiallyEnglish opera. An important concert was held in Philadelphia in the mid-19th century, one of the first major concerts in the country led by a chorus, in this case from theCollege of Philadelphia.[22] Philadelphia saw the première in 1845 of the first American grand opera,Leonora by composer and music journalist of theNational Gazette and thePublic Ledger,William Henry Fry. The opera was written in the Italian style and admired so much that it was performed 16 times that season.
Philadelphia'sAcademy of Music, the "Grand Old Lady of Broad Street," was founded in 1855. When it opened it was by far the finestopera house in the United States. Built by the Philadelphia firm ofNapoleon Le Brun and modeled afterLa Scala, the house has three balconies, an impressive interior and nearly 3000 seats. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on June 18, 1855, with PresidentFranklin Pierce in attendance and the venue opened with a grand ball on January 26, 1857. The first opera performed there was thewestern hemisphere premiere ofGiuseppe Verdi'sIl Trovatore, on February 25 of the same year. The Academy of Music is the oldest existing opera house in the United States and was declared aNational Historic Landmark in 1963; it remains the principal opera house for the city and is the home of thePennsylvania Ballet. It was the principal concert hall in Philadelphia until the opening of theKimmel Center for the Performing Arts in 2001. Many first American performances were given there, includingCharles Gounod'sFaust (in German, 1863),Richard Wagner'sDer fliegende Holländer (in Italian, 1876) andArrigo Boito’sMefistofele (1880).
In the second half of the 19th century, two additional opera houses were opened: theChestnut Street Opera House (1885) and the Grand Opera House (1888). With three houses available, the city was able to attract touring companies that featured the finest European stars. A number of American premières were directed byGustav Hinrichs at the Grand:Cavalleria rusticana (1891),L'amico Fritz (1892),Les pêcheurs de perles (1893),Manon Lescaut (1894) and Hinrich's own opera,Onti-Ora (1890).
The city's first resident orchestra of importance, theGermania Orchestra was founded in 1856. Under the direction of Carl Lenschow, the ensemble gave annual series of concerts up through 1895. The conductor and impresarioTheodore Thomas also presented one or two concert series each season between 1864 and 1891. During the centennial celebration of American independence in 1876 the Thomas Orchestra gave concerts throughout the summer but, as the programs were too weighty and the hall too far from the center of the city to attract a large audience, Thomas suffered a great financial loss.
The city's largeGerman population supported several singing societies. TheMännerchor (1835–1962), the Junger Männerchor (from 1850) andArion (1854–1969) have been disbanded, butHarmonie (1855) and eight other German choral groups remain active. Other important early choruses were the Abt Male Chorus, led successively by Michael Cross andHugh Archibald Clarke, and the Eurydice Chorus (1886–1918). Two choruses still flourishing are theOrpheus Club of Philadelphia, founded in 1872 it is America's oldest men's chorus of its kind,[23] and theMendelssohn Club, founded in 1874 by Philadelphia composer and musicianWilliam W. Gilchrist.[10][19]
The Philadelphia Roman Catholic musical tradition produced the celebrated and controversial composerAlbert Rosewig, who was active in Philadelphia from 1880 through 1919. Rosewig "used romanticized harmony for Gregorian chants, and even harmonized the priest's altar chants" in an attempt to incorporate then-current styles of classical music. His innovations were eventually forbidden byPius X. Afterwards, the Philadelphia-area conductor and composer led the United States in the development of a more traditional style in the 20th century.[19]
Philadelphia's population, like those of other major American metropolitan areas, grew steadily more diverse in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with immigrants fromIreland,Russia, andItaly landing on the banks of theDelaware Bay and constituting the largest groups. Philadelphia became a regional center forItalian music and also produced a number of well-regardedIrish musicians and groups.[24]
In the 19th century, Philadelphia was an important center for the composition, publication and performance of popular music, and by the second half of the century more than 100 composers were writing songs and dances for the theatre and salon.Minstrel shows were enthusiastically received, and in 1855 the first black minstrel theatre was opened. The local minstrel performerJames A. Bland composed songs that attained phenomenal success, especially "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" (1878) and "Oh, dem Golden Slippers" (1879). The latter became the 'theme song' of theMummers, who established clubs and formally inaugurated the annual tradition in 1901 of dressing in extravagant costumes and parading on New Year's Day while performing on banjos, guitars, saxophones and glockenspiels.
The concert sopranoMarie Kunkel Zimmerman was described as "Philadelphia's leading soprano" by thePhiladelphia Inquirer in 1896.[25] She was later a soloist in many concerts with thePhiladelphia Orchestra given between 1902-1907, including as the soprano soloist in Beethoven'sSymphony No. 9 for conductorFritz Scheel's final performance with the orchestra on February 8, 1907.[26]
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Philadelphia became home to the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1900, for much of its history considered preeminent among American orchestras and one of the "Big Five" American ensembles. The Orchestra was initially led byFritz Scheel; in 1907,Karl Pohlig took up its baton. But it was theconductorLeopold Stokowski who made the Orchestra one of the most prominent in the country. Stokowski jointly held the conductor's post withEugene Ormandy beginning in 1936, with Ormandy taking over completely in 1938.
Under the direction of Stokowski and Ormandy, the Philadelphia Orchestra produced several well-known recordings in the 20th century, including the 1940 score for theDisney filmFantasia, and the Orchestra under the flamboyant "Stokie" with his gift for self-promotion pursued an ambitious schedule of national and international tours, becoming the template for the modern classical orchestra in the 20th century. After Stokowski's departure, Ormandy led the Orchestra into the 1970s, preserving its lustrous sound and relying on the popular classical repertoire that had made the "Philly sound" famous, when it became the first American orchestra to visit China and perform in theGreat Hall of the People inBeijing; the Chinese tour was well received and has since been repeated three times.[27]
The 20th century saw the Orchestra become the first of its kind to make electric recordings, to perform on its own commercially sponsored radio broadcast, to perform on the soundtrack of a feature film,The Big Broadcast, to appear on a national television broadcast, to record the complete Beethoven symphonies on compact disc, to give a live cybercast of a concert on the Internet, and to tour Vietnam.[27]
ThePhiladelphia Opera House was built over the course of just a few months in 1908 byimpresarioOscar Hammerstein I. The house was initially the home of Hammerstein's opera company, thePhiladelphia Opera Company, but was sold to theMetropolitan Opera ofNew York City in 1910, when it was renamed the Metropolitan Opera House. The Metropolitan Opera's association with the city of Philadelphia began during its first season, presenting its entire repertoire in the city during January and August 1884. The company's first Philadelphia performance was ofFaust (with Christina Nilsson) on January 14, 1884, at the Chestnut Street Opera House. The Met continued to perform annually in Philadelphia for nearly eighty years, taking the entire company to the city on selected Tuesday nights throughout the opera season. With the exception of ten years spent performing in Hammerstein's opera house, the Met mostly performed at the Academy of Music. In 1961 the Met's regular visits ceased after having given close to 900 performances in Philadelphia.
Since the end ofWorld War I, many local opera companies have operated in Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Grand Opera Company and thePhiladelphia Civic Opera Company were two companies active up until theWall Street Crash of 1929 forced them to close their doors. ThePhiladelphia Grand Opera Company was the name of four differentAmericanopera companies active at the Academy of Music during the 20th century. The last and most well known of the four was founded in November 1954 with the merger of the Philadelphia Civic Grand Opera Company and thePhiladelphia La Scala Opera Company. That company in turn merged with thePhiladelphia Lyric Opera Company in 1975 to form the city's only current producer of grand opera, theOpera Company of Philadelphia. Of the three earlier companies, only one lasted beyond one season; a company founded in 1926 which later became associated with the Curtis Institute of Music in 1929. That company closed its doors in 1932 due to financial reasons during theGreat Depression. The city's music schools also regularly produce operas, and theAmerican Music Theater Festival occasionally presents contemporary operas.
Also in the realm of serious music was the founding in 1924 of the classical conservatory, theCurtis Institute of Music, by Mary Louise Curtis Bok, daughter ofCurtis Publishing Company founder Cyrus H.K. Curtis. Curtis has trained some of the world's best-known composers and musicians, includingSamuel Barber,Gian Carlo Menotti,Leonard Bernstein, and pianistsAbbey Simon,Walter Hautzig,Richard Goode,Susan Starr, andPeter Serkin as well as current international performers includingDavid Hayes, Juan Diego Flórez, Alan Gilbert, Hilary Hahn,Lang Lang andVinson Cole. Currently well-known composers who are Curtis graduates includeDaron Hagen and present day faculty memberJennifer Higdon. Other famous faculty members at Curtis over the years include pianistsJozef Hofmann,Rudolf Serkin,Gary Graffman andMieczyslaw Horszowski, singersMargaret Harshaw, Eufemia Giannini Gregory,Charles Kullman,Richard Lewis, violinistEfrem Zimbalist, and composersGeorge Frederick Boyle andRandall Thompson.[28]
Philadelphia has also had an activechamber music scene. One of the most prominent professional groups in the early 20th century was theCurtis String Quartet (1932–81). The members were graduates of the Curtis Institute, and the quartet travelled widely and made many recordings. ThePhiladelphia String Quartet, made up of members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, was formed in 1959 and in 1967 became the quartet-in-residence atUniversity of Washington. Members of the Philadelphia Orchestra frequently give chamber music concerts. The Concerto Soloists, founded in 1964 by Marc Mostovoy, were the city's principal professionalchamber orchestra, succeeded and reorganized as theChamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. ThePhiladelphia Chamber Music Society, established in 1986, brings prominent chamber groups and soloists to the city.
Several notable local choruses existed in the city during the 20th century. The Philadelphia Choral Society (1897–1946), conducted by Henry Gordon Thunder, was the city's major chorus for many years. Other former choruses include The Treble Clef Club (1884–1934), the Palestrina Choir (1915–48), the Accademia dei Dilettanti di Musica (1928–60), the Pennsylvania Pro Musica (1972–2020).[29] Still flourishing areMendelssohn Club of Philadelphia (1874),Singing City (1947), the Philadelphia Choral Arts Society (1982) and VoxAmaDeus (1989).The Philadelphia Singers, founded in 1971, was the city's principal professional choir under the direction ofDavid Hayes, but disbanded in 2015. ThePhiladelphia Boys Choir & Chorale is the city's premier boys choir since 1968.
Philadelphia also produced innovative performers in fields as varied aspop,punk rock,soul andjazz. AsChuck Berry andBuddy Holly were creating rock and roll during the middle 1950s, Philadelphia—then experiencing a citywide cultural and political renaissance led by MayorsJoseph S. Clark andRichardson Dilworth and chief city plannerEdmund Bacon—began in 1956 to host the national television show that would prove to transform popular music in America and around the world by bringing rock and roll brightest stars to West Philadelphia to accompany Philadelphia school kids as they danced after school at 46th and Market Streets--"American Bandstand" with hostDick Clark. The city spawned some of early rock's best-known vocalists during the fifties and early sixties, includingChubby Checker,Frankie Avalon,Jimmy Darren,Mario Lanza,Fabian Forte, andBobby Rydell. This period was explored to some extent in a network television drama set in South Philadelphia,American Dreams.
Philadelphia's jazz heritage is noteworthy, especially as the city thatJohn Coltrane moved to after graduation, one of the most innovative performers of the 20th century. ThePhilly soul sound of the 1970s was also an especially important part of the national musical consciousness of its era.
The city also has a distinguished history with localindie rock andpunk. Punk bandPure Hell formed in the 1970s. The 1980s saw a localNew Wave scene with bands like Johnny's Dance Band (JDB), alongsidehardcore punk bands like Sadistic Exploits. The 90s indie rock scene found greater national popularity through the bandsDead Milkmen andZen Guerrilla,[30] TheDead Milkmen would go on to lead the charge in a satire punk era onMTV during the late 80's, while the city also produced an electronic music scene, known for acts likeDieselboy andJosh Wink.
Philadelphia's gospel heritage stretches back toCharles Albert Tindley, a local reverend,[31] who composed many important hymns. Tindley's "I Do, Don't You" inspired the composerThomas A. Dorsey, who credited Tindley with the innovation of gospel music. Tindley composed most of his works between 1901 and 1906, and was known for his booming preaching style.[32]
Philadelphia has produced a number of populargospel acts, most famously the singerClara Ward. Ward rose to fame after a performance at theNational Baptist Convention in Philadelphia in 1943. Ward formed a group with several other local singers, and toured widely throughout the decade; the Clara Ward Singers were known for bringing a sense of style and glamour to the emerging gospel music industry.
The Dixie Hummingbirds are also one of Philadelphia's most famous International Quartet Groups, who are still performing today.Since early in the 1920s this group has remained :"The Gentlemen of Song", with their signature White Tails Suits and their inimitableharmony, keeps the Gospel Quartet alive and well in the 21st century.
Philadelphia became home to a large community of Irish immigrants in the 1840s, and then continually through the later 19th and 20th centuries. These immigrants brought with them many styles of traditionalIrish music, such asjigs andreels. Beginning in the late 1940s, Philadelphia's Irish music scene grew rapidly, spurred in part by the broadcasting of live music by Austin Kelly and the All-Ireland Irish Orchestra by the WTELradio station.
Modern Philadelphia has contributed a number of important performers of Irish music, most famouslyMick Moloney,John Vesey, Kevin McGillian, andSéamus Egan, each of whom were part of a nationwide resurgence of interest in traditional Irish-American music.[33] In Philadelphia, this revival of traditional music built on the work of earlier pioneers likeEd Reavy, a composer who began working in the 1930s.
Philadelphia's most famous contribution to Irish traditional music is Mick Moloney. Moloney was fromCounty Limerick, and was a musician both in Limerick and in Dublin, playing thebanjo and singing; he was also a member of the popular folk groupThe Johnstons. Having emigrated to Philadelphia in 1973, Moloney has lectured widely on Irish culture and music and founded the organizationGreen Fields of America, which promotes Irish-American music. Egan is a multi-instrumentalist originally from Philadelphia, though he moved back toCounty Mayo as a young man, and has there become a prominent musician. He is co-founder of the Irish music band Solas, and he co-wroteSarah McLachlan's hit song "I Will Remember You", featured in the soundtrack for the filmThe Brothers McMullen, for which Egan also provided the score.[33]
Albert Rosewig had become a prominent local reverend and musical arranger in the late 19th century, known for a modern style that adapted elements of Western classical music. In 1903, however, PopePius X issued an edict (Motu Proprio), which was intended to reform and restore church music to a more traditional style. To that end, local composer, conductor and publisherNicola Montani led the reform, which restricted musical style and instrumentation, and encouraged the use ofpolyphony,Latin and restoredGregorian chant. He was not the only noted local liturgical composer, however, asM. Immaculée, music director ofImmaculata College, was also a well-known composer; she was noted as a composer of choral works, and also promoted liturgical music, and female composers, in the Philadelphia area.[19]
Montani was from New York, but became prominent in Philadelphia as an editor for liturgical music at local publishers, and music director at several Philadelphia Catholic high schools. By the 1920s, he had grown in stature, forming theSociety of St. Gregory and the Palestrina Choir, which helped to bring attention toRenaissance polyphony and publishing theCatholic Choirmaster, a magazine. Montani also created a list of music that did and did not meet the standards put forth byMotu Proprio, in the process banning or altering well-known works by composers ranging fromFranz Schubert andGioacchino Rossini toJoseph Haydn andWolfgang Amadeus Mozart.[19]
Montani'sSt. Gregory Hymnal was used throughout Philadelphia-area Catholic churches until after theSecond Vatican Council. Some modern churches in the city use instruments ranging from electricorgans andguitars tokeyboards,saxophones andmarimbas. TheInternational Eucharistic Congress was held in Philadelphia in 1976, commissioning a new hymn entitled, "Gift of Finest Wheat", whose use has become widespread. In 1979,Pope John Paul II visited Philadelphia and celebrated a public outdoor mass for 1.2 million on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on October 3, 1979. For that visit, a mass choir was formed and led by Dr. Peter LaManna which continued existence as the Archdiocesan Choir of Philadelphia.[19][34]
Philadelphia developed an early jazz scene, beginning withEthel Waters, a singer from nearbyChester, Pennsylvania, who was the first star forBlack Swan Records. TheStandard Theatre andDunbar Theatre, later renamed the Lincoln Theater, were important venues for jazz in the early 20th century, when most major performers stopped in Philadelphia,Baltimore,Washington, D.C., andNew York City. Though jazz was an African American creation coming out of Gospel and Blues, Philadelphia's multi-ethnic population was attracted to the style, and the city's Italian and Jewish neighborhoods produced several well-known jazz musicians. Two of the most important were the Italian jazz instrumentalistsEddie Lang andJoe Venuti, the latter of whom became known as the "Mad Fiddler from Philly". Others includedStan Getz,Jimmy Amadie,Robert Chudnick andJan Savitt, who, with his band the Top Hatters, toured withGeorge Tunnell, one of the first African American singers in the city to consistently sing with a major white band. The city's early 20th century mainstream dance scene was led by the bandleaderHoward Lanin, whose band performed popular showtunes, waltzes and light jazz.[35][36]
Philadelphia's African American population grew greatly as a result of immigration from the south during World War 2, when future luminaries like theHeath Brothers,Dizzy Gillespie andJohn Coltrane moved to Philadelphia from the Carolinas. Philadelphia's mid-20th century jazz heritage includes an important role in the development of bebop, a style most closely associated with New York. In the 1940s, Philadelphia jazz was based out of clubs along Columbia Avenue in North Philadelphia and clubs like the Clef Club, the Showboat, and Pep's in South Philadelphia.[37]
The city produced a number ofbop-era saxophonists, the most famous of whom wasJohn Coltrane, one of the most renowned jazz musicians of the 20th century, known for an "active, vigorous, emotionally charged style".[35] The city also producedCharlie Biddle,Clifford Brown,Ray Bryant,Tommy Bryant,Kenny Dennis,Jimmy Oliver,Catalyst,Philly Joe Jones,Al Grey,Reggie Workman,Red Rodney,Jimmy Smith,Hank Mobley,Billy Root,Specs Wright, Jerry Thomas,Wilbur Ware,Hasaan Ibn Ali,Clarence Sharpe, John Dennis,Walt Dickerson,Johnny Coles,Lee Morgan,Cal Massey,Benny Golson,Odean Pope,Bill Barron,Kenny Barron, Arthur Harper,Jymie Merritt, Henry Grimes, Leon Grimes,Jimmy Garrison, Colmar Duncan,Sherman Ferguson,McCoy Tyner, Kenny Rodgers, D.B. Shrier,Mickey Roker,Donald Bailey,Victor Bailey,Thornel Schwartz,Bootsie Barnes,Bobby Timmons,Spanky DeBrest,Sam Dockery,Wayne Dockery,Richard Grossman,Sonny Fortune,Tyrone Brown,Charles Fambrough,Gerald Veasley, Earl Grubbs, Carl Grubbs,Sam Reed, Tom Darnell, Jimmy Vass,Archie Shepp,Sunny Murray,Rashied Ali, and Buddy Delco.[37] And home grown, 20th and Columbia Ave's own, trumpeter Cullen Knight, Jr.
In 1970, Philadelphia became the home ofSun Ra's band, which helped lay the groundwork for the 1980s scene, which locally producedGrover Washington, Jr. andStanley Clarke. The 1990s local jazz scene continued to thrive with artists likeTim Warfield,Terell Stafford,Jamaaladeen Tacuma,Mark Kramer,Uri Caine,Christian McBride,Joey DeFrancesco,Orrin Evans, Ben Schachter,Eddie Green,Suzanne Cloud,Tyrone Brown,Jim Miller, Larry McKenna,Mike Boone, and Byron Landham.[35]
The city has a thriving jazz radio station inWRTI, sponsored byTemple University. Its hosts include such notables asBob Perkins, Jeff Duperon, andHarrison Ridley Jr.Peco Energy Jazz Festival is held each February.
Philadelphia's first major contribution to mainstream American pop music was the television showAmerican Bandstand, hosted byDick Clark. The show featured music and dancing teenagers and became an enduring feature of American music and television, groundbreaking in its broadcasting of rock and roll in the mid-1950s.,[38] Unterberger also points to many later imitators as evidence ofAmerican Bandstand's legacy:Soul Train and theSaturday Night Live parodySprockets. PCVB[39] regardsAmerican Bandstand as an "institution in American pop culture". Clark, as the show's host, became a leading American music producer and the show brought attention to Philadelphia's music scene, facilitating the rise of local labels likeSwan Records,Cameo-Parkway andChancellor Records. This system produced pop stars includingFabian,Bobby Rydell andFrankie Avalon. A payola scandal threatened the show and Clark at one point but subsequent congressional hearings cleared the music mogul of wrongdoing. Nevertheless, the show moved to Los Angeles in 1963 and Philadelphia's pop output began to wane.[40]
Philadelphia's 1950s-era musical output included the rock pioneerBill Haley fromChester, Pennsylvania, and therockabilly musicianCharlie Gracie. Philadelphia also had a vibrant R&B and soul scene, including most influentially the label Cameo-Parkway, which was responsible for some 1950s R&B dance hits beginning withChubby Checker's "The Twist". Cameo-Parkway followed with a series of other dance-themed novelty songs like "The Wah-Watusi" byThe Orlons, "Mashed Potato Time" byDee Dee Sharp and "The Bristol Stomp" byThe Dovells.[41]
Philadelphia's famous 1950s performers also includedDanny & the Juniors, adoo wop group. They were among the first of Philadelphia's doo wop musicians to gain national success. Doo wop was a style ofa cappella vocal music associated with many cities of the urban East Coast, especially Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey and Baltimore. Anthony and the Sophomores, another Philadelphia doo wop group, emerged in the 1960s.
Beginning in the late 1950s, when he came to fame as a dancer onAmerican Bandstand, the influential dj and media personalityJerry Blavat was a major force in promoting Philadelphia's music, particularly that of Black artists, until his death in 2023.[42]
In the 1960s, Philadelphia soul began to develop its own sound, drawing from thegirl group sound with "strong pop melodies and brassy, upbeat production (without as much use of) interactive harmonies",[43] while other performers, like the funkyHoward Tate andSolomon Burke adopted a moreSouthern soul-style sound. Major girl group-oriented acts includedBrenda & the Tabulations, with their string-dominated doo wop hit "Dry Your Eyes",Barbara Mason's sultry vocals on "Yes, I'm Ready" andClaudine Clark's "raucous" sound.[44]
R&B and soul-oriented indie labels in the 1960s included Phil-LA and Arctic Records, where the songwriting and producing team ofKenny Gamble andLeon Huff began their careers. Gamble and Huff were architects of thePhiladelphia sound in soul music, beginning with their 1967 hit forThe Soul Survivors' "Expressway to Your Heart". Their signature sound was sentimental and romantic, and began to develop withThe Intruders, a long-running pop act.Jerry Butler became an increasingly important performer later in the decade, as Gamble and Huff experimented with a lush, orchestral sound produced by large ensembles of strings, bells and horns. The effect was a "funky" style, "more removed from earlier soul's R&B and blues roots", and "reminiscent of Motown in its attention to detail and hooks, but was much more lightweight". Though Gamble and Huff were the most renowned producers of the Philly soul scene, the area also producedThom Bell, who worked withThe Delfonics,The Stylistics andThe Spinners on a more classical influenced style.[43]
In the early 1970s, Philly soul broke through with its most popular recordings of the era. Gamble and Huff'sPhiladelphia International label started the trend after signing a distribution agreement withCBS.The O'Jays became the first major act under this arrangement, and became known for a grittier lyrical feel, established on the hit "Back Stabbers", which had a socially conscious focus on inner-city life. The O'Jays were followed by the more romanticHarold Melvin & the Blue Notes, which produced the future solo vocalistTeddy Pendergrass.[45] Philadelphia International also released Billy Paul, Three Degrees, MFSB, Bunny Siglar, Dexter Wansel, Anthony White, and The Ebonys.[46]
By the early 1980s, Philadelphia soul had declined greatly in popularity. Audiences continued to embracedisco, with groups such asThe Trammps andSister Sledge leading the way. DrummerEarl Young had codified the beat itself, with a distinct hi-hat pattern.[47] Another one of Philadelphia's major contributions was the local veteranPatti LaBelle, who became a major pop singer. The city remained important musically, giving rise to widely popular localblue-eyed soul duoHall & Oates among many more.
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In the late 20th century and early 21st century, Philadelphia's local music scene produced a number of respected performers from a variety of fields, including jazz, R&B, rock, hip hop, and dancehall. The city's most historically important contribution to popular music since the 1980s was a major part in the early evolution ofEast Coast hip hop, a style based out ofNew York City.
Grindcore,industrial music, andhardcore punk are also a part of Philadelphia's modern music scene, built around labels likeRelapse andDancing Ferret, respectively. Recently, the band Soul Glo has been taking punk and hardcore in a new direction.[48]
Philadelphia has a thriving classical music scene. Many orchestras, choral groups, chamber groups, and new music ensembles call it home. Several famous and successful composers live in Philadelphia, includingJennifer Higdon.
Philadelphia has a diverseDJ scene of electronic dance music, based in an area sometimes calledVinyl Row on 4th Street. Most major events and parties are advertised in this area, and in a column by Sean O'Neal calledDJ Nights in thePhiladelphia City Paper. DJ clubs include Fluid, Shampoo and Transit, while the city's most prominent DJs include Rob Paine, Tom Colontonio, Willyum, Bryon Stout, LickAshot, Roland Riso, Sat-One, DJ Smoove, andRobbie Tronco.[49]
Philadelphia's electronic music scene includes DJs who playhouse,techno and other styles, but the city is particularly known for thetechstep style ofdrum and bass, and is home to perhaps the country's most popular DJ of that style,Dieselboy. The most important drum and bass nightclub in Philadelphia was Club Skyline, which closed in the late 1990s and is now a parking lot, and local performers includeJordana LeSesne, Karl K and MC Dub 2.[50] The composerJoseph Hallman is also an avid remixer/producer and works primarily in Philadelphia.
Some of Philadelphia's current event companies produce many special events throughout the year. Sundae gained notability by their "Sundae" parties, which have recently started a moving Monday called "Rover" that isits different venues. Worship produces the long-running house monthly "Shakedown", which features at least two visits a year fromJosh Wink. In 2010, Bryon Stout launched Philadelphia's first successful house music internet radio station, Deephouselounge.com. The station streams 24/7 around the world with live broadcasts daily.
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The first major pop hip-hop acts from Philadelphia wereWill Smith andDJ Jazzy Jeff; the city also produced a number of other noted performers, likeTuff Crew,Lisa Lopes ofTLC, andnew jack swing groupBoyz II Men. Local recorded hip-hop began in the Late 1970s, withLady B.
It wasSchoolly D, however, who first put Philadelphia on the hip-hop map and made Philadelphia "the spawning ground for a whole new direction in rap music". Often considered the firsthardcore rapper andgangsta rapper, Schoolly D rose to local fame with the single "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?", which got airplay as far north as New York. He rapped about the life of a "gangsta", about living in theghetto and dealing with poverty and crime.
Despite the fact that Philadelphia is one of the birthplaces of hardcore rap, the upbeat and party-drivenWill Smith became the most visible of the early stars. However, the local scene remains vibrant, with regular performances across the city, including atTemple University's African Student Union. Some performers have achieved considerable national acclaim since Smith, however, especiallyThe Roots,Cassidy,The Goats,Beanie Sigel,Freeway,Kurupt,Peedi Crakk,State Property,Meek Mill andEve;[51][52] the city has also produced the well-knownalternative hip-hop duoJedi Mind Tricks,Digable Planets,Princess Superstar,Bahamadia,Chiddy Bang,Spank Rock,Philadelphia Slick,Amanda Blank,Lil Dicky,PnB Rock, andLil Uzi Vert, who worked with Philadelphia native production group Working On Dying, known for flag-shippingTread rap, a sub-genre ofhip-hop that originated in Philadelphia's undergroundrap scene.
Philadelphia is home to the sixth-largest Jamaican population of any city in the United States.[53] Jamaican music clubs, devoted to styles likedancehall, have become a major part of the Philadelphia nightclub scene in the early first decade of the 21st century. Clubs like Upper Deck, Genesis, Pinnacle and Reef have been mainstays of the Philadelphia dancehall scene. Many of these clubs hold dancehall contests, though there is no single such contest that is extremely famous or semi-official in the city.[24]
Philadelphia has been the epicenter of theneo soul movement in R&B, with such acts likeJill Scott,Jazmine Sullivan, andMusiq Soulchild.[1]The Roots helped pave the way for an entire generation of artists that came to be known as theSoulquarians.Erykah Badu,D'Angelo andBilal defined the sound of this movement. Pop starJohn Legend attended theUniversity of Pennsylvania and was so inspired by the local music scene that he made the decision to pursue it full time.
More recently, Philadelphia has been home to a multitude of new sultry neo-soul sounds, including vocalists such as Rosa Nice, who has worked with legendary producer Pop Traxx, also known as Leon Huff Jr., together reaching the top of the Philadelphia independent music charts.
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Rock and Roll was arguably birthed byBill Haley and the Comets during their regular gigs at the Twin Bar in Gloucester City NJ just across the river from Philadelphia during the early 1950s.[according to whom?] In the modern era, the city and its suburbs have since been the home of a couple of influential rock artists likeJoan Jett andTaylor Swift.
The area includes critically acclaimed rock and metal bands, includingA Life Once Lost,Cinderella,Circa Survive,Valencia,Varials,Sinch,Free Energy,Dead Milkmen,Hall and Oates,George Thorogood,G. Love &Special Sauce,Robert Hazard and The Heroes (Hazard wroteCyndi Lauper's hit "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"),The Hooters,The A's, andTodd Rundgren.
Popular rock and indie rock musicians from Philadelphia includePoison,The Bloodhound Gang,Amos Lee,Man Man,A Sunny Day in Glasgow,Bardo Pond, Norwegian Arms,The Starting Line,The Wonder Years,Dr. Dog,Steve Gunn (musician), Phil Moore Browne,National Eye,Nothing,Kurt Vile,CRUISR, The Tressels, Sun Airway,Breaking Benjamin,Halestorm,The War on Drugs,Alex G,Michelle Zauner ofJapanese Breakfast,Hop Along,Beach Slang,Zonic Shockum,Clockcleaner,Modern Baseball, andCold Cave. American musicians from popular bands, such asClap Your Hands Say Yeah andThe Walkmen are also from Philadelphia.
