History Mystery

The secret of the sounds of a city

By Jennifer Crutchfield

Chance, finance and happenstance met in 1892, when a talented young musician from Bohemia performed a gig at a place called Lookout Mountain. That meeting would forever change the destiny of the arts in Chattanooga.

Joseph O. Cadek, a violin virtuoso and a hot commodity in the musical world, spoke no English when he traveled from Prague to Boston, the musical center of the United States. His nostrils still stinging with brine from the sea voyage, he joined his troupe for a railroad trip to the Lookout Inn, atop Lookout Mountain in the Tennessee Valley.

The landscape reminded Cadek of his early years, and he chose to live in Chattanooga, bringing his Parisian-born fiancé here to start their family. They had four children here, becoming the founding family of the artistic life of a city.

Ardent about the arts

Joseph Cadek’s talent was extraordinary. He was passionate about his art and highly sought after, performing in the hot spots of turn-of-the-century America; in 1898 he traveled to Washington, D.C. to play a solo for President and Mrs. William McKinley and the Supreme Court.

He was similarly ardent about fostering that art in Chattanooga, his adopted city. He recruited artists to visit and teach here, and with an equal fervor he taught Chattanooga children the theory and passion of the violin. He led classes at Normal University, gave private lessons to children, and started the first musical societies in the city. His professional gigs in larger cities likely funded his love of living in the Tennessee Valley.

The convenience of the railroad and the strength of Cadek’s ability as a musical promoter and teacher led to a vibrant arts community in a newly revitalized city. In 1904 he opened the Cadek Conservatory, promising thorough instruction from beginning until finish, an event heralded as the most important single influence on the growth of music in Chattanooga.

A school in the heart of a family

Classes began at the conservatory on Jan. 1, 1905, and the first recital was on Jan. 19—an amazing 18 days later. The enthusiasm with which Cadek and his staff taught mesmerized Chattanooga and inspired pupils, from infants to octogenarians.

The secret of the birth of the arts in Chattanooga is in the family, and the Cadek Conservatory was a family institution. The convergence of rail lines in Chattanooga brought artists through town, many who, like Cadek, chose to live here while traveling for their work. Having so many artists-in-residence benefited the local arts community—the choirs, choruses and theatres, and the citizenry that so embraced them.

The Cadek Conservatory has always been dedicated to training individuals in the fine arts and fostering musical awareness in the entire community. Joseph Cadek lauded his adopted city for its many concerts, extolling them because “what sets the city apart from all other cities of its size in the South is the variety and importance of the music that is produced by its own citizens.”

Setting the tone in the city

Cadek launched his conservatory at a time when Chattanooga was booming. According to the 1890 census, its 29,100 residents included people from 27 states and 11 foreign countries. With 283 businesses and 56 industries, the city was experiencing marked economic growth despite a national recession. The burgeoning rail system, coupled with the popularity of Chickamauga and Chattanooga Battlefield, the nation’s first military park, began drawing tourists to the Scenic City, many of whom had served in the epic Civil War battle.

In its earliest days, Cadek Conservatory was housed in the former home of the Mizpah Congregation Synagogue at 421 Walnut St. Later it moved to 724 Oak St., the first of several changes of locale around what is now the UTC campus. But wherever the conservatory was located, its sounds and mission were the same. In 1925 it was the largest school of its kind in the South, and in 1928, the year after Cadek’s death, the conservatory was honored with a fellowship from the Julliard Foundation in New York. The Cadek Conservatory made Chattanooga the musical center of the South, offering instruction in dancing, fine arts, drama, piano theory, wind instruments, voice, violin and viola, and remaining consistently devoted to music for and by the people of this city.

When Joseph Cadek and his bride died five years apart, they left as a legacy their love for the family, the arts and their city. That legacy remains as a gift to all Chatanoogans today. Families with names like Whiteside, Strang, Temple, Holtzclaw and Ferger traveled in pony buggies up Georgia Avenue to the Cadek Conservatory, parents going first to hear the music of their children’s voices, then returning for concerts to hear the world’s most famous artists.

Revolution in music education

Talented artists, loving parents and devout Chattanoogans, the Cadeks believed the early years were a magical time when children could learn amazing things. Their dedication to teaching children was one of the secrets in the strength and growth of the arts community of Chattanooga. Young Ottokar, Harold, Lillian and Theodora Cadek were reared alongside their parents’ other “children”: the opera, choral, symphony and chamber music organizations. The Cadek family’s love of music also fostered choirs, youth musical groups and family musical gatherings that continue to this day.

Joseph Cadek, especially, inspired not just his students but their families. Through his influence, the conservatory accepted even the youngest students, encouraging babies to learn with their families how to control things by making sounds. It was a revolutionary idea in music education, an idea embraced by a city committed to arts in education and society. Under his guidance, the Cadek Conservatory went from a small school to one recognized by Julliard and accepted among the National Association of Schools of Music and the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts.

Those who best knew him defined Joseph Cadek by his relationship with his wife and children. While he could be a stern disciplinarian, he had a loving disposition and a keen sense of humor; friends recalled that he never could get the hang of putting the family car in reverse. But he was always adept at moving Chattanooga’s arts community forward.