Frank C Bach Mandolin Orchestra Wisconsin School of Music 1901 to 1909 Teaching Mandolin Violin Guitar

Bach's Mandolin Orchestra
by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com



Frank C. Bach was instructor of violin, mandolin, and guitar at the Wisconsin School of Music, 433 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin, in 1910 when this advertising postcard was sent to one Miss Mae Maurer of Arcadia, Wisconsin. As times were different in 1910, sending a postcard to Miss Maurer in Arcadia meant that no address was necessary. The postcard was mailed with the usual once cent stamp with an nice flag cancel.

We don't hear much about mandolin now, but at one time the instrument was prominent enough to have its own instructor at the Wisconsin School of Music. That was also the time when telephone numbers in Madison, Wisconsin, now in the 21st century with a population moving toward a quarter of a million people , were a mere three digits long.

Very little is reported about Mr. Frank C. Bach, yet I did find in a Wisconsin Alumni publication dated October 1901 that Mr. Bach had recently been named teacher of mandolin, and in another publication noted later that his career with the Wisconsin School of Music ended in 1909.

From the internet information on old telephone directories I discovered that Frank had at least two wives, for in 1902 his wife's name was Daisy, but in 1907 it had changed to Theresa M. In a biennial report to the Regents of the University of Wisconsin, there is reported a reshaping of the school of music with the goal of raising the standards of education to be in better comparision with other music school both nationally and internationally, which led to the release from teaching duties for Mr. Bach at the end of the 1909 collegiate year.

Yet the postcard presented here has a postmark of November 21, 1910. Perhaps Mr. Bach was now an affiliated instructor? Or, perhaps the sender still had cards to use. We don't know. We also don't know who sent the card to Miss Maurer, other than the person was in the mandolin orchestra, because of one brief sentence, What do you think of us? Lastly, as to which person in the photograph is Frank C. Bach, I cannot tell.

This postcard is currently in auction on QualityMusicandBooks.com.
LINK to this article's text in Adobe PDF format for download.