Abstract
The Brooklyn Philharmonic Society (1857) and Brooklyn Academy of Music (1861) were brainchild of Luther Wyman and his wealthy, liberal, and civic-minded collaborators in Brooklyn Heights. The financial crisis of 1857 did not impede Brooklyn’s elite from founding a dozen signature cultural associations that characterized the city’s renaissance effort, including the Brooklyn Institute, Athenaeum, Mercantile Library, Horticultural Society, Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute, Packer Institute, and Prospect Park. The Brooklyn Academy of Music, designed by Leopold Eidlitz, became centerpiece of Brooklyn’s renaissance. The Brooklyn Eagle heralded the private patronage and assiduous fund raising that enabled these institutions and downplayed the uncertainties, social tensions, political divisions, and financial struggles accompanying them at the outbreak of the Civil War. However, well-intentioned attempts at egalitarian seating and ticket pricing sparked controversy.
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