Day 5: A Spirit of Music

Author's Note: Just so you don't think I'm a super genius or anything, all of the details I have about Theodore Thomas come to us from his Wikipedia page.

Another Note:  As with yesterday's update, there are photos from this excursion up on the Chicago 365 Facebook page

     Today we start our first sort of 'theme' week, since we're gonna be bouncing around various locations in the South Loop for the next 5 days. Bearing that in mind, let's look at another statue today. 
    
     At the corner of Michigan Avenue and Balbo Avenue, (within Grant Park) there is a statue standing that honors a man named Theodore Thomas. An inscription behind the statue says in part that "Scarcely any man in any land has done so much for the musical education of the people as did Theodore Thomas in this country..." Seems like a pretty big deal.  So who is Theodore Thomas?  Well, a little digging reveals that Thomas was a musical prodigy as a child, came to America from Germany, and in 1891, started up a little musical outfit that we know of today as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The CSO originally played their concerts in the Auditorium Theater, but Mr. Thomas was nonplussed by the idea of having to sell out a 3,000 seat hall twice a week.  So, he spearheaded the construction of Orchestra Hall, which houses the CSO to this day.  However, Thomas would only live just long enough to usher the CSO into their new home.  While conducting rehearsals for the dedicatory concert(which happened on December 14, 1904) he came down with influenza and eventually died on January 4, 1905.  After his death, he was hailed as a "legend in his own time", amongst many other accolades.  Eventually, there was a statue erected in his honor nearby Symphony Center.  One more tidbit of note:  the cousin of Theodore Thomas' second wife is a distant ancestor of the Bush political family.
  
     Now, there is one more thing I want you all to remember.  The area where Thomas' statue is located is known as the Spirit of Music garden. Keep this in mind, becasue in a few months we will be revisiting this location.