Hello jack650,
O Sutro & Co was a music publishing company and music store. It was
definitely in business from 1868 until 1897. After that, the trail
runs dry.
I found some information on a bulletin board which deals with the
history of the Sutro family.
Otto Sutro was a musician and composer, and ran a musical publishing
house in Baltimore from 1868 until his death in 1896. He was
apparently a leading light on Baltimore's cultural landscape.
The family came from (Aix-la-Chapelle, the German Aachen). Otto’s
father died in 1847. Following the Revolution of 1848, and th
subsequent economic crash, “Mrs. Sutro decided that there was small
prospect in the Fatherland, under the circumstances, for such a future
as she aspired too for her family, composed of eleven children. The
choice of a foreign home was deemed imperative, and the lady favored
America. In the Autumn of 1850 the Sutros landed in New York, and
subsequently settled in Baltimore, Maryland.”
http://www.sfmuseum.org/sutro/bio.html
Otto’s brother, Adolph H. Sutro, moved from the East Coast to San
Francisco. Otto, however, had stayed in Europe, in Brussels, Belgium,
where he continued his musical education until moving to the US in
1851. Adolph became a self-made millionaire, philanthropist, and later
a mayor of San Francisco (http://www.nps.gov/goga/clho/history.htm )
and built the famous Sutro Baths
(http://www.nps.gov/goga/clho/suba/index.htm )
Otto married Arianna Handy. Their daughters, Rose and Ottilie, both
became concert pianists. Max Bruch wrote a double piano concerto for
them.
Information from http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=005Mip
“Otto Sutro, who had come to Baltimore in 1851, quickly became a
central figure in the musical life of the city, establishing a
successful publishing house and music store and hosting the boisterous
gatherings of the Wednesday Club. With Peabody [Orchestra] composer
Fritz Finke, Sutro took on the job of organizing the Oratorio Society
in 1881. In addition to performing standard choral repertoire, the
Society introduced many new works by Baltimore composers including
Hamerik's last American work, "Choral Symphony."”
http://www.mdhc.org/bibliotest/essays.php?essay=20
The Maryland Historical Society has a painting of Otto Sutro, which
you can see at http://www.marylandartsource.org/artwork/detail_000000206.html
I looked in the Library of Congress catalog, and found records of 4
music scores published by O. Sutro. However, the latest date I was
able to find was on the site of the Performing Arts Reading Room of
the Library of Congress.
“MAGNATES MARCH: TWO-STEP. Ditzel, Henry (m). Baltimore, MD: Otto
Sutro & Co., 1897.
(M28.D) 23137 C2.
[Note: Dedicated to the Magnates of the National League and American
Association of Base Ball Clubs. Cover photograph of the seventeen
"delegates to the Schedule Meeting of the National League and American
Association of Base Ball Clubs" held in Baltimore, 1897.]”
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/baseballbib.html
This shows that the company was still active in the year after Otto
died. However, I have found no further references to it after 1897.
Searches on the names of Otto’s daughters and wife did not provide any
relevant information.
Search strategy: I started by searching on: Sutro Baltimore, and then,
on the basis of the information obtained, also searched on “Otto
Sutro”, as well as “O. Sutro & Co” |
