Information and excerpts from Elliot Forbes, A History of Music at Harvard to 1972 (Department of Music, 1988) and Forbes, A Report of Music at Harvard from 1972 to 1990 (Department of Music, 1993)

Eighteenth Century Beginnings

In the early years of Harvard College, music in student life came primarily through singing: at chapel service, college ceremonies, and as entertainment. Concert music is first documented in the 18th century when at a reception given for Governor Hutchinson in 1771, the "young gentlemen of the college" performed an anthem "set to music." Ten years later, commencement exercises opened with "an anthem performed by a collegiate band of musicians." The first organized instrumental music organization at Harvard is the Pierian Sodality, founded in 1808 as "the oldest musical organization in continuous existence in America," now known as the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra.