Summary and Analysis of “Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a

Bachelors' Frontier” by Elizabeth Juliana Knighton

Terra Childs

University of Central Florida

MUH3633 Music in the United State

Professor Warfield

11/23/2020

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 Introduction:

Proceeding the late twentieth century, women had limited abilities of performing

music. Social restrictions left them incapable of playing large or indelicate instruments

and conducting, compositing, and performing music outside of their own home was

highly opposed. Within the article “Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a

Bachelors' Frontier” by Elizabeth Juliana Knighton, discussions of such discrimination

and the emersion of an impressively driven women’s successes will be explored

extensively. Below you we read an analogous summary of the article, music history to

aid in furthering understanding the writing’s historical context, and my personal

opinions on the quality/significance of Knighton’s composition.

Summary:

It is well known that the segregation of women extends far beyond an economic

scope. Musical involvement unfortunately is no different. Although women were allowed

to participate as vocalists, instrumental performance and conducting were highly

discouraged throughout the early to mid-twentieth century. As stated by Knighton

“Women...were...expected to keep their musical interests in the home” and “female

instrumentalists were expected to play only those instruments that allowed them to

maintain a ‘delicate and decorative appearance’,” 1 essentially restricting them to piccolos

and pianos. Starting in the 1970s though, the first opportunities began to arise as “Lady

Orchestras” on the east coast aimed to reduce prejudice by creating all women

(including the conductor) ensembles. These were harshly criticized due to either their

lack of complete instrumentation (because of the social restrictions) or “undignified” 2

1 KNIGHTON, E. (2011). Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors’ Frontier.

Journal of the Society for American Music, 5(3), 365-394. doi:10.1017/S1752196311000174
2 KNIGHTON, E. (2011). Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors’ Frontier.
Journal of the Society for American Music, 5(3), 365-394. doi:10.1017/S1752196311000174

2
use of non-lady-like instrumentation. Therefore, with no way to be fully accepted within

society, women were once again left only performing music within their own homes.

Hope sparked though in the latter half of the nineteenth century as manifest

destiny prompted thousands of families to move to the Pacific Northwest. A previously

unsettled territory, the Pacific Northwest was free of social expectations and, when the

men left to work each morning, “the women found themselves tasked with creating and

building the community institutions they desired” including “schools, libraries,

hospitals, [and] religious aid groups.”3 Thanks to this, the Northwest was quickly

established as a “ progressive place in terms of attitudes toward women” which was

especially demonstrated when states like Idaho allowed women to vote as early as 1896

whilst it wasn't nationally permitted by the nineteenth amendment until 1920 4. These

progressions aided the creation of many important musical organizations as well. The

Ladies Musical Club (LMC), established in Seattle in 1891 by well verse, musically

educated women, was a group that worked with previously musical, now married,

women who were interested in regaining their performance abilities. Along with this,

the LMC worked to provide financial aid to ladies attempting to pursue music as a

career “by offering scholarships and interest-free loans for higher levels of music

education.”5 These actions paved the way for female success as, within less than 60

years, “twenty-two members of the Ladies’ Musical Club were also members of the

Seattle Symphony Orchestra”6 a massive feat.

3 KNIGHTON, E. (2011). Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors’ Frontier.

Journal of the Society for American Music, 5(3), 365-394. doi:10.1017/S1752196311000174
4 KNIGHTON, E. (2011). Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors’ Frontier.
Journal of the Society for American Music, 5(3), 365-394. doi:10.1017/S1752196311000174
5 KNIGHTON, E. (2011). Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors’ Frontier.
Journal of the Society for American Music, 5(3), 365-394. doi:10.1017/S1752196311000174
6 KNIGHTON, E. (2011). Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors’ Frontier.
Journal of the Society for American Music, 5(3), 365-394. doi:10.1017/S1752196311000174

3
 Madame Davenport Engberg enters this section of history by thriving off of the

benefits the Pacific Northwest had to offer and accelerating the positive perception of

women in music through an array of accomplishments. Madame Davenport Engberg

comes from a strong family that is used to overcoming obstacles. She was an orphan,

adopted by two loving parents, Richard and Cynthia Davenport, who provided the basis

of her musical training through violin lessons. She originally lived in Bellingham,

Washington where the locals claimed she possessed undoubtable potential and was

likely a child prodigy. She continued her studies and “after Mary's 1899 marriage to

Henry Engberg (1864–1942), a Danish immigrant and successful pharmacist in

Bellingham, the couple departed for Europe so that Mary could study in the renowned

musical centers there.”7 Upon returning to the United States after 5 years, Mary had

made large strides in terms of her performance abilities. “For quality of tone, excellent

interpretation, and brilliant bowing, this young artist has few equals,” stated a New York

City critic after attending one of her performances in Mendelssohn Hall 8. The praise

continued as Madame Davenport-Engberg arrived back in her hometown. In fact,

Madame Davenport-Engberg was so highly praised that, on the morning of her first

recital back in Bellingham, the paper published a poem commending Engberg for

returning home with such success 9. After her debut, Engberg continued performing but

had callings in other matters of music as well.

Madam Davenport-Engberg believed that “bringing good music to the

community was, for her, an ethical obligation”. In her own words, “Our country is sadly

7 KNIGHTON, E. (2011). Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors’ Frontier.

Journal of the Society for American Music, 5(3), 365-394. doi:10.1017/S1752196311000174
8 KNIGHTON, E. (2011). Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors’ Frontier.
Journal of the Society for American Music, 5(3), 365-394. doi:10.1017/S1752196311000174
9 KNIGHTON, E. (2011). Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors’ Frontier.
Journal of the Society for American Music, 5(3), 365-394. doi:10.1017/S1752196311000174

4
in need of a cleansing wave of good music and every conscientious musician should add

his or her efforts to make that wave as powerful as possible.” 10 To do so, beginning in

1911, Engberg worked tirelessly recruiting members from her local Bellingham area to

create an entire, 32 piece, orchestra from scratch known as the “Davenport-Engberg

Symphony Orchestra”. Based off of writings, each instrument of the string section only

had one member of the orchestra who knew that instrument before the creation of her

band. To combat this issue, Engberg gave private lessons to each member to allow new

students to progress faster and have a deeper musical understanding of the difficult

pieces covered in rehearsals. She was a hardworking, strict teacher striving to create her

dream orchestra by whatever means necessary. “An outspoken perfectionist who would

deliver tongue-lashings to whip the amateur musicians into proficiency” 11 is how one

friends described Madame’s personality. Thanks to her efforts though, the Symphony

Orchestra did extraordinarily well gaining national attention and expanding rapidly

with both male and female performers. Even through this, Engberg accepted no

financial benefits from these concerts furthering her philosophy that she worked only

for the betterment of the community. Bellingham was forever changed thanks to

Ms.Engberg's dedication. A once quiet, uneducated musical community was left

flourishing with musical interest and a new understanding for classical compositions.

She maintained this highly held legacy after her move to Seattle. Similar to her

philosophy in Bellingham, Engberg wanted to fix the musical atmosphere there. Before

Madame Engberg's arrival, the pre-existing Seattle Symphony Orchestra had troubling

financial problems and a clear lack of strong leadership causing fall outs and very few

10 KNIGHTON, E. (2011). Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors’ Frontier.

Journal of the Society for American Music, 5(3), 365-394. doi:10.1017/S1752196311000174
11 KNIGHTON, E. (2011). Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors’ Frontier.
Journal of the Society for American Music, 5(3), 365-394. doi:10.1017/S1752196311000174

5
organized concerts leading eventually to a "period of dormancy that lasted [from 1922]

until 1926”12. Due to this absence of music, Madame stepped up once again and started a

"training orchestra" known as "Seattle Civic Symphony Orchestra"(SCSO) in 1921. After

three years of progression and clear merit demonstrated by the SCSO’s performances,

Engberg thought it fair to begin her own professional orchestra as well and she, with

union aid, did just that. The Seattle Civic Symphony Auxiliary Orchestra, as it was newly

named, exceeded expectations and its venue’s physical capabilities as a “1,650-seat

theater was completely filled, and potential audience members had to be turned away at

the door for lack of space” 13 at many concerts. The orchestra went on gaining musical

capability and popularity but, due to previous financial burdens, was disbanded in 1924

after Engberg decided to not continue conducting there. Without skipping a beat

though, “Engberg formed a string quartet in 1925 that performed around Seattle and in

the surrounding areas, including in her old home of Bellingham.” 14 After a full career of

constructing her own orchestras from scratch, Madame Davenport Engberg was not yet

satisfied.

Engberg’s passion for teaching private lessons carried over as she established her

own school of violin run straight out of her own home. The school offered a variety of

instrument and musical opportunities to its students because of its exceptional staff

made up of “Engberg and a group of assistant teachers” 15 all with their own expertise.

The students flourished, many of them having highly successful musical careers

12 KNIGHTON, E. (2011). Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors’ Frontier.

Journal of the Society for American Music, 5(3), 365-394. doi:10.1017/S1752196311000174
13 KNIGHTON, E. (2011). Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors’ Frontier.
Journal of the Society for American Music, 5(3), 365-394. doi:10.1017/S1752196311000174
14 KNIGHTON, E. (2011). Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors’ Frontier.
Journal of the Society for American Music, 5(3), 365-394. doi:10.1017/S1752196311000174
15 KNIGHTON, E. (2011). Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors’ Frontier.
Journal of the Society for American Music, 5(3), 365-394. doi:10.1017/S1752196311000174

6
following their enrollment. Although Engberg continued her solo performances, piano

accompanist gigs, string quartet work, and teaching, her final large legacy remained in

the founding of the Seattle Civic Opera in 1932 with her son Paul Engberg. Paul was a

trained opera singer who recruited and perfected the Opera performers whilst Mary

utilized the Seattle Symphony Orchestra members to compile a pit for the productions.

The Engberg’s once again received no monetary compensation, in fact, the opera ran

entirely on a volunteer and fundraising basis. The focus of such performances was still

on educating the public’s musical intuition with “600 of the 2,000 seats in the Moore

Theater...regularly reserved for students and sold for less than 25 percent of the regular

admission fee”16. After two years, the musical director baton was passed down to Paul as

Mary neared retirement.

For such an engaged woman an unfortunate lack of recognition is given for

Madame Davenport-Engberg’s hard work. Due to lack of proper records by the

orchestras she contributed to and, following her death in 1951, her body being cremated

with no physical headstone as a memorial, meant her legacy was almost entirely lost.

Even so, thanks to her persistent work ethic and husband’s economic stability allowing

her to work pro bono, Mary left a long lasting impact on her students and the towns that

she shaped musically.

Music History in Relation to Knighton’s Article:

Proceeding Madame Davenport-Engberg’s lifetime, the musical standards for

women were established throughout the American history covered in this class. The

most notable of these was during the era of Tin Pan Ally. This began in the mid to late

1800s as New York City music publishers focused their efforts on creating only popular
16 KNIGHTON, E. (2011). Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors’ Frontier.
Journal of the Society for American Music, 5(3), 365-394. doi:10.1017/S1752196311000174

7
music17. With the goal of appealing to as many citizens as possible, most tunes were

pulled from hit musicals. Due to a lack of music recording devices at that time, the songs

published were sold as sheet music so families could perform it for themselves. Women

at this time were home tied, expected to be raising children, cleaning, and according to

the textbook “beautifying their surroundings.”18 With this came the obligation for

women to acquire the pianos, and the associated sheet music, for their music rooms.

This was the way in which piano was established as one of the few acceptable

instruments women could play as discussed in Knighton’s writing. This was especially

concreted when popular music publishers noticed this switch to women performers and,

in the 1940s, shifted their focus to writing music aimed towards “women’s musical

tastes and capacities”19 (which likely were entirely inaccurate because all of the

composers were male). Either way, playing piano was how many women began their

musical careers and how many men began segregation women based on the expectation

that females should only play, delicately, within their own home.

My Personal Opinions on the Contents of Knighton’s Article:

I really enjoyed reading “Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a

Bachelors' Frontier.” As an active feminist, I knew my choice of this article would be a

great opportunity to further my musical knowledge of outstanding women in music and

17 Crawford, Richard, and Larry Hamberlin. An Introduction to America's Music. Third ed., W. W.
Norton & Company, 2019.

18 Crawford, Richard, and Larry Hamberlin. An Introduction to America's Music. Third ed., W. W.
Norton & Company, 2019.

19 Crawford, Richard, and Larry Hamberlin. An Introduction to America's Music. Third ed., W. W.
Norton & Company, 2019.

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I do not regret my choice. Madame Davenport-Engberg was a strong woman who’s

geographical location, husband’s financial stability, and brazen personality pushed her

forward allowing her to create groundbreaking female movement without question from

society. The progression throughout Knighton’s writing was logical and thorough. The

separate sections describing each major component of Engberg’s life provided a clear

progression, easy for readers to follow. My biggest criticism of the article is its

misleading title “Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors' Frontier” and follow through.

Knighton began her paper with an abstract containing strong feminist ideals but failed

to tie in such ideals consistently throughout the rest of her writing, focusing more on

events than her own ideas about such events. Even so, Knighton did a great job

compiling information and relating it all to one another. By writing this, she created one

of the few documents discussing Madame Davenport-Engberg’s significant

contributions to the Pacific Northwest’s musical atmosphere.

Bibliography:

KNIGHTON, E. (2011). Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a

Bachelors’ Frontier. Journal of the Society for American Music, 5(3), 365-394.

doi:10.1017/S1752196311000174

Crawford, Richard, and Larry Hamberlin. An Introduction to America's Music.

Third ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2019.

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