San Francisco County

Biographies

PROF. EUGENE S. BONELLI

PROF. E. S. BONELLI, who has reached eminence in the profession of music, first as a performer and later as one of the most successful instructors in the world, was born in St. Thomas, West Indies. He is of Italian parentage, and his musical talent was developed in him at a very early age, and was so marked that his parents sent him to Berlin, Hamburg and Leipsic, where the advantages for a thorough training were better than anywhere else in the universe. He studied hard, graduated with the highest honors, and immediately entered the concert field, where fame and profit would have been the reward of such skill and genius as he possessed. But he had severely taxed his constitutional strength by the severity of the training voluntarily undertaken, and he abandoned that promising field for the no less laborious avenues to fame—teaching.

From Germany Prof. Bonelli went to South America, where he remained but three years, going thence to Boston. But the inhospitable climate of the Atlantic coast drove him away from the “Hub,” and he came to the land of music, sunshine and flowers, in 1879. His record here has been an uninterrupted series of successes, the most remarkable of them being the grand invention of severing the accessory slip of the tendons of the ring finger, by which means flexibility, freedom and greater strength of the hand and strength equal to any of the other fingers on the hand is attained. After receiving this inspired idea, the Professor deemed it necessary to gain practical knowledge of how the operation should be performed painlessly, and to prove to himself and other that it was exactly as he had supposed. He became so proficient that he could perform the operation in a few seconds, without causing any pain, leaving no scar, and causing no possible inconvenience, the hand requiring to be bandaged but a single day. Here was an operation that was simple and efficient, and which the Professor performed in San Francisco on more than 575 pupils, without injury in a single case. He does not claim that the operation is an absolute necessity, but only that it is a great convenience, as clumsy fingers cannot interpret. “The brain conceives, the fingers execute. Hence the necessity of training them for their duty. Liberate them first, if you would lessen your labor.” Expert pianists were not slow to appreciate the value of the invention, and the fame of the Professor on this continent was vastly enhanced thereby. He is still a young man, and no one can say what other aids to training he may not discover.

About six years ago Prof. Bonelli established a school on Market street, with a capacity of about 100 pupils, but it was not long before he was compelled to reject so many applicants that he had to find more spacious quarters, and in November, 1890, he moved to the corner of Golden Gate avenue and Franklin street. The Grand Conservatory of Music now occupies the whole building of thirty-two spacious rooms, and the faculty is composed of fifteen efficient teachers, and 285 pupils are being trained in the different branches of music. A specialty is made of harmony, ear training, and all that goes to make a perfect musician. This is not the largest, but is the most thoroughly equipped conservatory in the United States. The Professor proposes building a perfect concert hall, and the enterprise has the backing of the best men in San Francisco, and when completed a full orchestra will treat the people to a grand concert every month.

No reader must contract the idea that the fame of Prof. Bonelli is confined to the scene of his grandest achievements—the Pacific coast. No instructor is better known in New York and Boston than he, and his great invention and his successful methods are known and adopted in the best conservatories of Europe. He has lived long enough to place a brilliant mark upon the musical training of the age, and make a record that will live as long as music is valued among men. His successful work has fairly begun, and before it is complete the San Francisco Grand Conservatory of Music will have become the Mecca of music lovers throughout the world.

Transcribed by Donna L. Becker

Source: "The Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 2, Pages 192-193 Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.

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