A legacy of giving at Norfolk Chamber Music Festival

One hundred and twenty years ago, Carl and Ellen Stoeckel commissioned New York architect E.K. Rossiter to design The Music Shed in Norfolk, Connecticut. After nearly a decade of entertaining their friends and neighbors with the finest music of the day, they built a permanent home for their beloved Litchfield County Choral Union.

The commission and full funding of the construction was not unheard of in an era when great fortunes led to public enrichment. Railroad tycoon John D. Rockefeller was instrumental in funding institutes of higher education. Steel baron Andrew Carnegie was building libraries all over the country, and famously said that a man who dies rich is a disgrace, challenging his peers to give their fortunes back to the people.

But the Stoeckels went even further. They took it upon themselves to pay for everything from trains and coaches for American musicians to trans-Atlantic crossings for European composers, and even rented instruments when needed. They never told anyone what it all cost and worked hard to keep their names off the buildings and mastheads, instead directing all credit to the Litchfield County Choral Union.

Upon her death in 1939, widowed Ellen Battell Stoeckel bequeathed the entire operation to the Yale School of Music. Since then, Yale has operated the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival at the iconic property, with only modest renovations made in 2024.

This year, the Festival is looking to the past for inspiration as it presents its “Anniversaries” program, featuring performances dedicated to celebrating history. On Saturday, Aug. 1, the Festival looked back 200 years with pieces written in 1826 by Schubert, Beethoven and a 17-year-old Felix Mendelssohn. The previous evening focused on the Music Shed itself, with repeat performances of works by Sibelius, Coleridge-Taylor and even Rachmaninoff, all of whom graced the shed with their presence.

On Aug. 8, the festival will celebrate its final anniversary of the season: America’s 250th. The program will feature a world premier by Juilliard-trained composer and pianist Nahre Sol. The piece is part of the Festival’s Musical Bridges project, which commissions music inspired by the American West.

Apart from the anniversaries, there’s still more music to come. Friday, Aug. 7 will feature pieces by Haydn, Holcomb, Schoenberg and Shostakovich. On Aug. 14, works by Beach, Childs and a little more Haydn will be performed with Melvin Chen on piano. Oboeist Stephen Taylor will join William Purvis and the Norfolk Fellows for an evening of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos on Saturday, Aug. 15. The culmination of the season happens on Saturday, Aug. 22 with a musical tour of choral masterworks from the Renaissance through today, featuring the Norfolk Festival Chamber Choir and Orchestra.

Of note is the Festival’s new collaboration with locally based fashion brand BODE. While no robber barons — or even modern-day rocketship billionaires — it’s nice to know the spirit of musical altruism lives on in Norfolk.

To learn more, head to norfolkmusic.org.