Music chronology
Some musical moments in IBM history
- 1915 The first company band, with five members, is formed in Endicott, N.Y. Thomas J. Watson, Sr., the president of the Computer-Tabulating Recording Company -- the forerunner of IBM -- had suggested that a group of employee musicians perform at the company's first ever sales convention in Endicott.
- 1916 The International Time Recording Company Concert Band (later IBM Band) is officially organized, with 32 members, under the direction of Roy Collar.
- 1916 ITR publishes a song book for use at its annual convention.
- 1927 The "Songs Of The IBM" song book is published.
- 1928 The IBM Orchestra is formed in Endicott.
- 1928/1929 The IBM Men's Glee Club is organized in Endicott.
- 1938 At the January 18 dedication of the IBM World Headquarters Building in New York, Vittorio Giannini conducts the Columbia Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra in the first performance of the IBM Symphony, which Giannini had composed especially for the event.
- 1939 On May 4, the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy, performs at IBM Day at the New York World's Fair. Included in the performance is the new IBM anthem -- "Hail to the IBM" -- composed by Vittorio Giannini (with lyrics by IBMer Fred W. Tappe) to honor Thomas Watson's 25th anniversary with the company. That evening, the piece is performed at the banquet of the IBM Hundred Percent Club (which honors IBM's top sales performers of 1938) and is sung by the entire assembly.
- 1939 On May 18, IBM presents the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pierre Monteux, at IBM Day at the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco.
- 1940 On IBM Day (May 13) at the New York World's Fair, IBM presents Lily Pons and Lawrence Tibbett of the Metropolitan Opera Company, along with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra under the direction of Wilfred Pelletier. More than 10,000 IBM employees from the United States and abroad attend IBM Day events at the World's Fair.
- 1940 Two weeks later, IBM presents Grace Moore and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra under the direction of Caetano Meroln at the Golden Gate International Exposition. More than 200 IBM inventors, engineers, scientists and friends travel to the concert via a special train called the "Scientific Special."
- 1940 In June, Dusolini Giannini, a star of the Metropolitan Opera, sings at the IBM Hundred Percent Club in Endicott.
- 1941 On September 2, Lily Pons of the Metropolitan Opera sings in an IBM program at the Canadian National Exhibition.
- 1942 On September 19, Lily Pons, along with James Melton of the Chicago Opera Company, sings at an IBM dinner following the dedication of a new facility at the company's Endicott plant.
- 1942 A band, orchestra and mixed glee club are organized at IBM's Poughkeepsie, N.Y., plant.
- 1943 The IBM Women's Glee Club is formed at Endicott.
- 1944 The IBM Mixed Chorus is formed at Endicott. (The group builds to 102 members within five years.)
- 1946 Eleanor Steeber and James Melton of the Metropolitan Opera Company sing at the dedication of the IBM Clubhouse in Poughkeepsie.
- 1948 The IBM Band in Endicott now has 46 musicians and the band in Poughkeepsie has 38, the IBM Orchestra in Endicott has 21 members and the Poughkeepsie Orchestra has 15, the IBM Glee Club in Endicott has 67 singers, the IBM Poughkeepsie Mixed Glee Club has 34 participants, and the IBM Women's Glee Club in Endicott has 59 members.
- 1950 The IBM Male Chorus is organized at Poughkeepsie "so that those men who enjoy singing may join with others of like interest and, while themselves enjoying this fellowship, bring to the surrounding communities entertainment of this highest order."
- 1951 Chanson-Aires, a women's choral group, is formed in Endicott.
- 1953 "IBM Song Book" is published (the latest edition of this publication in the IBM Corporate Archives collection).
- 1965 The IBM Band -- with 45 members -- celebrates its golden anniversary with a lunch concert at the Endicott facility, the first of 11 outdoor concerts scheduled for that summer.
- 1980 The IBM Mixed Chorus of Poughkeepsie presents its annual spring concert.
- 2001 The IBM Band in Endicott plays its final notes.