The 1860s

The early 1860s were tumultuous for the country and Bristow. Exempt from military service, he organized patriotic concerts and composed overtly nationalistic works, including Keep Step with the Music of Union and Columbus Overture (both 1861). He divorced Crane (1863) and married Louise Holder (1864), a widow with a young daughter, Nina. They moved to Morrisania (now in the Bronx) and added daughter Estelle Viola (1868). Bristow’s gigging activities diminished, but he commuted daily to Manhattan to teach and to perform with the two philharmonic societies, the Harmonic Society and the Mendelssohn Union (1867-1871), and in various churches. He wrote two oratorios: Praise to God (1861) and Daniel (1867).