Harvey B. Dodworth

Who was Harvey B. Dodworth?

Harvey B. Dodworth was a bandmaster and conductor of the 13th Regiment Band as well as the Dodworth Band, and was the first person in the United States to arrange Richard Wagner's music for military bands. He conducted with a band of sixty musicians in between salutes and boxing matches, as well as opening in Madison Square Garden, in which he had plans to lease in 1879 to turn it into a "music garden", where he would conduct a 123-piece band. Dodworth's band also had free weekly concerts in Central Park, which drew large crowds. He was born in England, and played the piccolo at the age of ten in the New York Park Theater. He played for 51 years in his father's band until October 1890. Dodworth died in West Hoboken, New Jersey in 1891.