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PHOENIX I25THBIRTHDA YSALUTE TO BAMContinued From Preceding Pagety, the arts are but the natural progeny of astrong educational foundation. Without this,the reflex towards culture is greatly reduced A w a rp nf th is n rin rin lp th p riti^ p ris ofBrooklyn had started their journey towardcultural independence with the founding ofthe Apprentice%u2019s Library in 1823. This project, taken to enhance the minds of youngmen in search of a lasting occupation,marks the first concerted effort to erect alasting cultural institution in Brooklyn.By 1833, the Library, though still standing, gave way, in importance, to the newlyfounded Lyceum, which grew out of therestive national movement to create a placeto %u201cstimulate intelligent discussion ofscience and the arts as well as civic andhumanitarian subjects.%u201dKnowledge of these two older institutionsare crucial in any full understanding of therole and the importance of the BrooklynAcademy that was to come. For, by 1860,Brooklyn was ready for a much larger,more complete vessel to hold its civic,scientific and religious discourses. A placethat could accommodate the overflowingcrowds who wanted to listen to HoraceGreeley, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and themost celebrated and charismatic religiousleader of the day, Henry Ward Beecher, ofthe local Plymouth Church. The Civil Warwas in high gear, Abraham Lincoln gaveone of his first speeches on emancipationfrom the stage of the Academy.AN ALL-STAR LINE-UPMore than any other cultural institution inAmerica, the Brooklyn Academy combinedthe usually dispersed lyceum, library,laboratory and stage into a cohesive, innovative anchor for the greater community.Over the years, this was proven many,many times. Nowhere else, for example,could one expect to find on consecutivenights, Woodrow Wilson, The Boston Symphony, Booker T. Washington, The LeipzigPhilharmonic, Joseph Jefferson, and Mrs.John Drew.The linking, physically, of the arts, education, lectures and oratory at the Academywas certainly vanguard for the NineteenthCentury. So much so, that basically very little conceptually has changed today. Throwa Jesse Jackson, a Carl Sagan, a JimmyBreslin into the already existing poly g lo t of the Next Wave, Philharmonic, ballet,children%u2019s programs and opera at theAcademy of today and you get a good ideaof the lasting power of such an incrediblyforward-looking institution.It also points up the deep respect that today%u2019s BAM leaders, Harvey Lichtenstein,BAM%u2019s Executive Producer and President,and Judith Daykin, General Manager, havefor the history of BAM.ENDED IN TRAGEDYUnfortunately, the unbroken 125 years ofhistory are not without tragedy. And thoughone would like to speak of the happy endingof the old Academy, its obsolescence andneed for new quarters, one cannot. For,after over 40 years of being America%u2019soldest, most revered center for the performing arts, the Academy burned to the groundin the morning hours of November 30,1903.It was a spectacular fire in which theflames were reported to have shot scores offeet above the roof. The day was to havebrought another triumphant evening, with atestimonial dinner for U.S. Senator and newNew York Democratic boss, SenatorPatrick McCarren scheduled to take place.Martha McGowan recounts the lead fromthe New York Times the following day: %u201cItwas one of the swiftest destructions thatBrooklyn has ever known, the whole greatauditorium being a seething flame within 20minutes of the first time the first spark wasseen.%u201dThe New York Tribune%u2019s banner for theday: %u201cA Firetrap Destroyed%u201d offers a different perspective and sums up some of thedangers in theatres built before the reformsin the national fire code. This was notBrooklyn%u2019s first theatre disaster, either. Theinfamous fire that trapped a good numberof those in the balcony at the old BrooklynTheatre, in 1873, served as the catalyst fornational reform in constructingauditoriums.Happy125th Anniversary Brooklyn Academy of Music.HB%u00ae