In the early 20th century, Mary Davenport Engberg wanted to make her hometown a better place through music. By creating and conducting the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra, she also broke new ground for women in music.
Violinist Was Born in a Covered Wagon
Mary Laura was born on February 15, 1880, while her parents, George Adamson Cornwall and Mary Messinger Cornwall, were traveling to Spokane by covered wagon from California. She was the seventh of eight children.
When Mary was two, her mother died of measles. She was adopted by Richard and Cynthia Daveport of Mount Hope. The older couple encouraged her interest in music, starting her violin lessons.
When Mary, who went by “Mamie,” was nine, the family moved to Bellingham. She attended the Sehome School. Considered a child violin prodigy, she was 12 when she performed her first public recital.
Newlywed Engberg Studied Music in Europe
In 1899, Mary married Henry Christian Engberg (1864-1942), a successful Danish immigrant pharmacist and owner of Engberg Drug Store.
The couple soon moved to Copenhagen, where Engberg began studying music under Anton Svendsen. Her first child, Paul (1901-1986), was born in Copenhagen.
Engberg made her European debut in 1903, playing before the king and queen of Denmark. She later studied with Carl Halir at the Berlin Hochschule in Germany. Engberg also performed as a soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony and Copenhagen Symphony. She was hailed everywhere she went as the “young Bellingham violinist.”
By 1904, it was time to come home to Bellingham. On the way, Engberg performed at Mendelssohn Hall in New York City, to rave reviews.
It wasn’t until February 1906, after the birth of her second child, Ralph (1905-1964), that Engberg played her homecoming Bellingham concert. Beck’s Theater was packed for the performance, which garnered glowing reviews. Local poet/novelist Ella Higginson even wrote a poem for the occasion.
Engberg Started Bellingham Symphony
“Madame Davenport-Engberg,” as she was best known, continued to perform in Bellingham and throughout the region. She was active in community musical organizations, like the Bellingham Bay Musical Amateurs Club and was a charter member of the Federation of Women’s Musical Clubs. She even taught a class at the local YWCA in 1907.
Engberg also belonged to an orchestra that toured the West Coast. Reflecting years later in the May 1917 Etude magazine, it got her thinking that Bellingham needed an orchestra of its own, made up of local musicians. Good music, she believed, would elevate her community. Confident that she could create a better orchestra than her former one, “At least my orchestra would play in tune,” Engberg joked.
She made the groundbreaking choice to conduct the orchestra herself. At the time, women only led all-female orchestras, but Engberg would recruit both men and women to her group. Some claim she was the first woman to lead a mixed-gender orchestra.
Bellingham proved to be the welcoming community that made this possible, Elizabeth Juliana Knighton reflected in her article “Mary Davenport Engberg: Pioneering Musician in a Bachelors’ Frontier.” Her career, Knighton explains, “is representative of that independent Western mindset… I have not uncovered a single recorded instance of Engberg’s work being disparaged as a result of her gender.”
In any case, Engberg fought an uphill battle to even find enough musicians. When she started recruiting members in 1911, she could only find one viola in town, one that the owner didn’t play. Engberg taught music lessons to get prospective members ready to perform.
The hard work paid off. The “Davenport-Engberg Symphony Orchestra” gave its first concert on May 3, 1912, at Beck’s Theater. The 2,200-seat theater was packed to capacity. Proceeds benefited the Mount Baker Club. Both Engberg and her husband were outdoor enthusiasts.
When not working with her orchestra, Engberg taught private lessons and composed music. From 1912 to 1919, she was on the faculty of Western Washington University. She led the instrumental music department, teaching violin, music composition, and piano accompaniment. She also directed the school’s orchestra.
Meanwhile, her popular orchestra was facing financial difficulties as it entered its sixth season. While Engberg volunteered her time, as did her husband, the symphony’s manager, costs for music and other expenses were rising.
In 1917, the orchestra reorganized, forming a board of directors. This independent group had the sound financial footing to keep the orchestra going after Mary Engberg’s departure. It continues today as the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra.
Engberg Conducted the Seattle Symphony
In 1920, the Engbergs moved to Seattle to broaden Mary’s musical opportunities. She became conductor of the Seattle Civic Symphony Orchestra, now the Seattle Symphony, helping to revive the struggling group. She later founded the Seattle Civic Opera with her son, Paul.
While Henry (and later their sons) operated the Engberg Surgical Appliance Company, Engberg opened the Engberg School of Music at the family’s stately Capitol Hill mansion (1702 Belmont Avenue). Employing several assistant teachers, she would run the school until her death.
Mary Engberg died of a heart attack outside her home on January 23, 1951. Her students remembered her as a professional, no-nonsense leader and a sharp-tongued perfectionist that they both revered and feared. But all agreed that she had been a good teacher.
Many of her former students would go on to award-winning careers of their own. Some even started their own orchestras. The Bellingham Symphony Orchestra continues to go strong, over 100 years after Engberg beat the odds to form it.
Mary Davenport Engberg never intended to break new ground for women in music. She just wanted to make her hometown a better place. And she did.
