Publications

Book: Musical Gifts or How a Maine Fishing Village Became a Center for Great Music

Dr. Thomas Wolf

May 15, 2011

Bay Chamber Concerts

How did a fishing village, famous for its great sailing ships, its lime kilns, and the purity of its winter ice become a center for great music? This charming book tells the story of a coastal Maine town that has, for almost a century, been a destination for some of the world’s greatest musicians. Launched as a summer music colony by the philanthropist Mary Curtis Bok Zimbalist in 1930, the community’s history reflects a larger story of classical music in America. The story is told by Thomas Wolf, the former Artistic Director of Bay Chamber Concerts, whose family was part of the musical history of Rockport, Maine for three generations. The book contains over 60 historical photographs and is full of amusing and never-before-told anecdotes of some of the great musicians of the twentieth century.

Otter Island Films produced a documentary about the history of Rockport’s musical community and Thomas Wolf’s family’s involvement in its sustenance. The film, Musical Gifts, is based on the book by Thomas Wolf. Watch it here.

As a courtesy, for readers of this WolfBrown website, we have provided the full text of this book for you to access and download.

SHARE

Recent Publications

Blog: All Hands On Deck

Alan Brown

January 26, 2021

WolfBrown

A Call to Action for Arts and Public Health For nine months during 2020 we navigated the worst crisis to hit the arts and culture sector in modern >>

Initiators and Responders: Leveraging Social Context to Build Attendance

Alan Brown

Summer 2004

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Issues Brief Series #4 Summer 2004, Published by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation  by Alan Brown Two observations from recent studies illustrate the paradox of >>

Book: The Routledge Companion to Music and Human Rights

Routledge

The Routledge Companion to Music and Human Rights is a collection of case studies spanning a wide range of concerns about music and human rights in response to intensifying >>