Sarah Caldwell (1924-2006), dubbed the “Orson Welles of the Opera” along with her mother visited Maryville on April 20, 1977 where she conducted the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at Lamkin Auditorium (now Bearcat Arena).
Caldwell was born in Maryville. Her father parents have roots in the Ohio Colony that settled farms around Burlington Junction. area, and her grandparents are buried in the Ohio Cemetery at Burlington. They had moved from the huge Victorian Caldwell farm mansion at Burlington to Maryville, where she was born. They moved to Maryville so the mother could teach piano at Northwest. Her parents divorced when she was 2.
Her mother moved to New York to complete her graduate degree in music at Columbia University, and the first 10 years of her life were spent with various family members, including those in Kansas City—most notably with her father, George B. Baker. Baker’s father, George S. Baker, founded Maryville National Bank in 1868 at 3rd and Main (and was purchased by Theodore Robbinson and James B. Prather in 1873). George B. lived part of the time in Kansas City and is buried in Miriam Cemetery in Maryville. George S. was married to Margaret Prather (and a sister to James B. Prather). Margaret and James B. are the children of Isaac Newton Prather, who is credited with founding Nodaway County and deciding to locate Maryville as the county seat in the middle.
Here are some stories about her time in Maryville:
From Encyclopedia.com
Sarah was not unhappy in this extended family, where her creativity appeared to have been appreciated. Her favorite holiday was the Fourth of July, for which she loved to stage elaborate backyard fireworks displays. Not allowed to buy the fireworks until July 3, Sarah made the rounds of stores in Maryville in advance, setting aside her purchases. When she brought them home, “I would set them all out on the table and look them over: sparklers, snakes, cherry bombs, Roman candles, firecrackers. Then I’d make my plans.” These displays became the first expression of Caldwell’s innate theatrical talent.
The News-Press, in covering the Maryille event, had these quotes:
Her remarks were witty: “I think I was thrown out of the Girl Scouts. I was caught in quicksand on the third day. Maybe I wasn’t thrown out; I wasn’t invited back. “I could drive a car at nine, but I haven’t yet learned to back. “I learned to make root beer. When you put it in the basement, interesting things happen. “When we take my dog, Cranberry, to a kennel, he’s going to the ‘slammer.’
In 1936, when she was 12, her mother married Henry Alexander, a professor of political science at the University of Arkansas, and the family moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas. She graduated from Fayetteville High School in 1938 at the age of 14, enrolled at the University of Arkansas, and did additional studies at Hendrix College.
She won a scholarship as a viola player at the Berkshire Music Center in 1946. For 11 years she served as the chief assistant to Boris Goldovsky. Caldwell moved to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1952 and became head of the Boston University opera workshop. In 1957 she started the Boston Opera Group with $5,000. This became the Opera Company of Boston
At the New York City Opera, Caldwell staged Der junge Lord and Ariadne auf Naxos (with Carol Neblett), both in 1973.
She became the second woman to conduct the New York Philharmonic in 1974 with an all-female programme of composers including Ruth Crawford Seeger, Lili Boulanger and Thea Musgrave.
On 13 January 1976, Caldwell became the first female conductor at the Metropolitan Opera
Links:
Nodaway County Historical Society Write Up
Wikipedia Article
Time Cover Story November 10, 1975
Findagrave (She died in Portland, Maine and was cremated)
In the photo below, Sarah is at Northwest Missouri State University J.W. Jones Student Union on April 20, 1977. In the center is Dr. Robert Foster, the college’s president. On the left is her mother. The pictures of the house are the Caldwell farm and the Victorian house just north of Burlington Jct.
