Harmonious Discord: Nineteenth-Century Music and New York City's Church of St. Francis Xavier

Abstract:In 1847, the Jesuits succeeded on their third attempt to establish themselves in New York City. After a difficult beginning, in 1851 they opened the parish church of St. Francis Xavier on West 16th Street in Manhattan, and it soon became one of the most well-known parishes in the nation's fastgrowing city. Although the church building was not large in size, under the direction of William Bergé as organist and conductor, its music became famous throughout the city and beyond, as much with Protestants as with Catholics. The repertory was influenced by changing musical tastes and ecclesiastical legislation over the years and that of other Catholic churches in the city. The Manhattan parishes of St. Stephen's and St. Paul the Apostle sometimes vied with Xavier for the finest or the most "Catholic" music. Xavier was so successful that by the 1880s a much larger church was needed. The move from the old structure to the new one marked a significant moment of change in the parish and its music, the neighborhood and the city, and the Catholic Church itself.