A TRUMPET BATTLE AT NIBLO'S PLEASURE GARDEN

T HE spirit of competition commonly associated with 19th-century industry and business in the United States also pervaded the theater and concert world. Partisans of leading actors and actresses, singers, and virtuoso instrumentalists flocked to support their favorite performers and sometimes strengthened their arguments with fruit, bottles, and fists. One of the most famous American musical competitions took place in New York City on August 22, 1834, at Niblo's Garden. The contestants were two trumpeters, John Thompson Norton, an Englishman who came to the United States in 1827, and Alessandro Gambati, an Italian musician associated with the Italian Opera in New York. To establish their reputations in this country, Norton and Gambati appeared before the public on many occasions. Like other professional instrumentalists in America in the 1830s, they spent most of their time playing music in theaters. In New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and New Orleans the leading theaters scheduled operas, if not nightly, at least several times a week in season.