Otto Sutro

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Otto Sutro (b February 24,1833 in Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), Germany; d. January 19, 1896 in Baltimore, Maryland) (3) was the owner of a music store in Baltimore at 119 and 121 East Baltimore Street. He was an agent for Steinway & Sons. Otto was an organist, founder of the Baltimore Oratorio Society and a leading figure in the musical life of Baltimore. His daughters Rose and Ottilie were noted as an ensemble piano-duo team that performed with success in America and Europe.

Otto Sutro was one of eleven children of  “a talented, highly gifted, intellectual family” (8) that included Adolph, the Mayor of San Francisco and projector of the Sutro Tunnel in Nevada, Theodore, a lawyer with his musician wife, and other brothers who were manufacturers and merchants.(8)

At age 16, on the advice of Felix Mendelssohn, Otto attended the Conservatory of Music in Brussels. When Otto came to the United States in 1851 to join his family, he began teaching music and became organist for Trinity Episcopal Church in Baltimore but soon left to pursue the gold rush in California. He remained for six years as a gold miner, merchant, music teacher and organist until 1858. At his return to Baltimore, he started a musical appreciation society known as the “Wednesday Club.” He was also an active member of the Maryland Society of California Pioneers.(3)

When Otto tired of the life as a music teacher, he opened his first music store. He married Arianna Handy, a pianist, singer and daughter of a former Chief Justice of Mississippi. Otto helped found the Oratorio Society and became its principal conductor.(3) When the Walker building went up for sale, Otto purchased it and remodeled it for his business. By 1887 he was doing “a large trade in pianos, organs, sheet music and “in the higher grades of small musical instruments and brass-band goods.”(5) William Steinway visited him (Diary, 1887-06-14) and suggested how to improve the store. Otto created a room with “extraordinary acoustic qualities” just for Steinway grand pianos.(5) Over the years Otto Sutro borrowed money from William; some of the notes by which William provided that financial help continued to be a concern even after Sutro’s death.(Diary, 1896-03-01)  He incorporated Otto Sutro & Co. in West Virginia with William as a secured creditor in the amount of $50,000.(Diary, 1894-05-09) (1)(4)

Otto Sutro died at a Baltimore hospital of a “complication of diseases”(3) while his wife was touring Europe with daughters Rose and Ottilie as ensemble artists. Otto was very proud of his daughters’ fine performances. He had previously accompanied them to Europe (Diary, 1894-06-14) and had planned to join them again in the spring.(8)  The funeral service took place on February 5, 1896 (6) a few days after his wife and daughters had returned from Europe.(Diary, 1896-02-01) A memorial service, which included the Oratorio Society, was held at Sutro Hall in the Walker building the evening of March 5, 1896.(7) “Upon his death his daughters Rose & Ottilie commissioned a memorial for their parents installed at the now First & Franklin Presbyterian Church on Park Ave. and Madison St. in Baltimore. It stands in the Narthex and shows Otto at the organ with his wife standing like a singer.”(2)

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Sources:

1. Kohler, Eric L. ed. A Dictionary for Accountants. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall Inc. 1975, p. 420.
2. Miller, Donald G. The Scent of Eternity: A Life of Harris Eliott Kirk of Baltimor. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1989, pp 247-248, found on Google.
3. “Otto Sutro Passes away,” Musical Courier, January 22, 1896, pp. 44-45.
4. Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1961, p. 162.
5. “Trade in Baltimore,” Musical Courier, October 19, 1887, p. 264.
6. untitled, The Baltimore Sun, February 5, 1896, p. 4.
7. untitled, The Baltimore Sun, March 5, 1896, p. 6.
8. untitled, Musical Courier, November 14, 1894, p. 27.