A boyar or bolyar (, , , , ) was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes (in Bulgaria, tsars), from the 10th century through the 17th century. The rank has lived on as a surname in Russia and Finland, where it is spelled "Pajari".

Etymology

According to most sources the word is of Proto-Bulgarian origin. Some believe that it is composed of the roots ''bai'' ("noble, rich") and ''är''. Another possibility is that the word originated from the Bulgarian title ''boila'' ("noble") which is attested in Bulgar inscriptions and rendered as ''boilades'' or ''boliades'' in the Greek of Byzantine documents. This title certainly did enter Old Russian as быля (bylya).

Boyars in Bulgaria

The oldest Slavic form of boyar—''bolyarin'', pl. ''bolyari'' ()—dates from the 10th century and it is found in Bulgaria, where it may have stemmed from the old Bulgar title ''boila'', which denoted a high aristocratic status among the Bulgars. It was probably transformed through ''boilar'' or ''bilyar'' to ''bolyar'' and ''bolyarin''. In support of this hypothesis is the 10th century diplomatic protocol of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII where the Bulgarian nobles are called ''boliades'', while the 9th century Bulgar sources call them ''boila''.

A member of the nobility during the First Bulgarian Empire was called a ''boila'', while in the Second Bulgarian Empire the corresponding title became ''bolyar'' or ''bolyarin''. ''Bolyar'', as well as its predecessor, ''boila'', was a hereditary title. The Bulgarian bolyars were divided into ''veliki'' (great) and ''malki'' (minor).

In Bulgaria at present the word ''bolyari'' is used as a nickname for the inhabitants of Veliko Tarnovo—once the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire.

Boyars in the lands of Kievan Rus'

Boyars wielded considerable power through their military support of the Kievan princes. Power and prestige of many of them, however, soon came to depend almost completely on service to the state, family history of service and to a lesser extent, landownership. Ukrainian and "Ruthenian" boyars visually were very similar to western knights, but after the Mongol invasion their cultural links were mostly lost.

The boyars occupied the highest state offices and through a council (Duma) advised the Grand Duke. They received extensive grants of land and, as members of the Boyars' Duma, were the major legislators of Kievan Rus'.

After the Mongol invasion in the 13th century, the boyars from central and southern parts of Kievan Rus' (modern Belarus and Ukraine) were incorporated into Lithuanian and Polish nobility (szlachta). In the 14th and 15th centuries many of those Ukrainian boyars who failed to get the status of a nobleman actively participated in the formation of Cossack army, based on the south of modern Ukraine.

Boyars in Muscovy

In Moscow in the 14th and 15th centuries, the boyars retained their influence. However, as the knyazes of Muscovy consolidated their power, the influence of the boyars was gradually eroded, particularly under Ivan III and Ivan IV.

Tsar Ivan IV "Ivan the Terrible" severely restricted the boyars' powers during the 16th century. Their ancient right to leave the service of one prince for another was curtailed, as was their right to hold land without giving obligatory service to the tsar.

The Boyar Duma expanded from around 30 people to around 100 in the 17th century and was finally abolished by Tsar Peter the Great in 1711 in his extensive reforms of government and administration.

Boyars in Wallachia and Moldavia

In the Carpathian regions inhabited by Romanians, the boyar () class emerged from the chiefs (named ''cneaz'' (knight) or ''jude'' (judge) in the areas north of the Danube and ''celnic'' south of the river) of rural communities in the early Middle Ages, initially elected, who later made their judicial and administrative attributions hereditary and gradually expanded them upon other communities. After the appearance of more advanced political structures in the area, their privileged status had to be confirmed by the central power, which used this prerogative to include in the boyar class individuals that distinguished themselves in the military or civilian functions they performed (by allocating them lands from the princely domains).

The boyar condition

Being a boyar implied three things: being a land-owner, having serfs and having a military and/or administrative function. A boyar could have a state function and/or a court function. Being only a land owner was not enough to be considered boyar. If a land-owner had no function he was categorised as a "mazil", although he was said to be of noble origin ("din os boieresc", literally "of boyar bones"). Having such a function implied automatically being a boyar. This function was called "dregătorie" and some times "boierie" (literally "boyarness"). The Prince and only the Prince had the power to give a boierie to someone and to make him thus a boyar. The small land-owners, who possessed together a domain in indistinction ("devălmăşie") and had no serfs were called "răzeşi". According to some historians, they were descendants of mazil land-owners. In fact, their condition was identical to that of free peasantry. The Romanian nobility was thus composed of three categories to be distinguished: răzeş, mazil, and boyar.

Origin

Although functions could only be accorded by the Prince and were not hereditary, land possession was hereditary. The Prince could give land to somebody, but could not take it from its possessor, unless for serious reasons, such as treason. Therefore there were two kinds of boyars: those whose ancestors, as chiefs of the ancient rural communities, had held land before the formation of the feudal states, such that the prince merely confirmed their preexisting status as land-owners; and those who acquired their domain from a princely donation or who had inherited it from an ancestor who acquired it through such a donation (''cf.'' the distinction between ''Uradel'' and ''Briefadel'' in the Holy Roman Empire and in its feudal successor regimes). During Phanariot régime, there were also boyars who had no land at all, but had only a function. This way the number of boyars could be increased, by selling functions to those who could afford them.

Hierarchy

The close alliance between the boyar condition and the military-administrative functions led to a confusion, aggravated by the Phanariots: these functions began to be considered as noble titles, like in the Occident. In fact, this was not at all the case. Traditionally, the boyars were organized in three states: boyars of the first state, of the second state and of the third state. For example, there was a first or a grand postelnic, a second postelnic, and a third postelnic, each one with his different obligations and rights. The difference of condition was visible even in the vestimentation or physical aspect. Only the boyars of the first state had the right, for example, to grow a beard, the rest being entitled only to a mustache. Within the class of the boyars of the first state there was the subclass of the "grand boyars". Those were great land-owners and had also some very high functions, like the function of great vornic. Above those grand boyars was only the Prince.

The Prince

Usually a Prince was a boyar before his election or appointment as Prince, but this was not a condition sine qua non. Initially, only princiary descendants could be elected princes. During the Phanariot epoch, however, any man could be a Prince if appointed by the Sultan (and rich enough to buy this appointment from the Grand Vizier). During the Ottoman suzerainty, and especially during the Phanariot régime, the title of Prince became an administrative function within the imperial ottoman hierarchy, and thus the ultimate form of boyardness.

Cultural references

Norwegian composer Johan Halvorsen wrote a march entitled ''Bojarenes inntogsmarsj'' (''Entry March of the Boyars''), known in Norway as the signal tune for the radio programme "Ønskekonserten". Edvard Grieg arranged it for solo piano.

Boyars are characters in the game Warhammer Fantasy, They appear in the Kislev army which is based on medieval Poland/Russia.

Boyar sons are featured as a military unit for the Novgorod faction in the 2006 strategy game Medieval II: Total War.

''Shadows of Darkness'', the fourth game in the Quest For Glory series of adventure games, makes reference to the late Boyars who ruled the valley of Mordavia, but who have long since died in the time when the game takes place.

In TaleWorlds' historical fantasy role playing video game Mount&Blade;: Warband, the lords of the Kingdom of Vaegirs, a fictitous kingdom inspired by Slavic cultures, are titled Boyars.

See also

Okolnichy

Russian nobility

References

External links

Wallachian and Moldavian noblemen (late sixteenth century)

Category:Noble titles Category:Russian loanwords Category:History of Russia Category:Bulgarian loanwords

az:Boyar be:Баяры be-x-old:Баяры bg:Болярин ca:Boiar cs:Bojar da:Bojar de:Bojaren et:Bojaar el:Βογιάρος es:Boyardo eo:Bojaro fr:Boyard it:Boiardo (aristocrazia) he:בויאר lv:Bajārs hu:Bojár mk:Болјарин nl:Bojaren no:Bojar pl:Bojarzy pt:Boiardo ro:Boier ru:Боярин sk:Bojar sl:Bojarji sr:Бољари fi:Pajarit sv:Bojar uk:Бояри vi:Boyar

Joe Spina (born September 1, 1946 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2003, representing a Brampton-area riding for the Progressive Conservative Party.

Spina was educated at the University of Windsor, receiving a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1975. He was the owner and president of Amplexus Communications from 1981 to 1995 and served as president of the Brampton Board of Trade in 1989-90. He was also a founding chair of the Brampton and Vaughan Santa Claus Parades.

Spina was elected to the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1995, defeating incumbent Liberal Carman McClelland by just over 5,000 votes in the riding of Brampton North. This riding is located in "905 belt", a suburban region which provided the Ontario Tories with their strongest support base in this period. He increased his level of victory in the 1999 provincial election in the redistributed riding of Brampton Centre, defeating Liberal Gurjit Grewal by over 10,000 votes. In 2000, he supported Stockwell Day's bid to lead the Canadian Alliance on the second ballot of the new federal party's leadership vote.

Spina was not a prominent figure in the Progressive Conservative Party, and was not appointed to cabinet in the governments of Mike Harris and Ernie Eves. In 2001, he introduced a Private Member's Bill attempting to increase public awareness of congenital heart defects. He supported Tony Clement for the party's leadership in 2002.

In the 2003 provincial election, he was narrowly defeated by Liberal candidate Linda Jeffrey, completing a Liberal sweep of the Brampton-Mississauga region.

In the Canadian federal election of 2004, Spina ran for the Conservative Party of Canada in the riding of Vaughan against high-profile Liberal incumbent Maurizio Bevilacqua. He was resoundingly defeated, losing to Bevilacqua by almost 20,000 votes.

During the 2004 campaign, Spina accused the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation of being biased toward the governing Liberals (at one point calling it the "Communist Broadcasting Corporation"), and suggested that its funding should be scrapped (except in rural sparsely populated markets that cannot support commercial broadcasting).

References

External links

Category:Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Category:Conservative Party of Canada candidates in the 2004 Canadian federal election Category:1946 births Category:Living people

Coordinates	38°53′51.61″N77°2′11.58″N
name	Johan Halvorsen
background	classical_ensemble
born	15 March 1864 Drammen, Norway
died	4 December 1935 (age 71)Oslo, Norway
instrument	Violin
genre	Classical
occupation	Conductor, pedagogue, violinist
associated acts	Oslo-Filharmonien }}

Johan Halvorsen (15 March 1864 4 December 1935) was a Norwegian composer, conductor and violinist.

Biography

Born in Drammen, Norway he was an accomplished violinist from a very early age and became a prominent figure in Norwegian musical life. He received his musical education in Kristiania (now Oslo) and Stockholm, and was a concertmaster in Bergen before joining the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. He was a concertmaster in Aberdeen, Scotland, then a professor of music in Helsinki, and finally became a student once again, in St Petersburg, Leipzig (with Adolph Brodsky), Berlin (with Adolf Becker), and Liège (with César Thomson).

Returning to Norway in 1893, he worked as conductor of the theatre orchestra at Den Nationale Scene in Bergen and of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. He became concertmaster of the Bergen Philharmonic in 1885, and principal conductor in 1893. In 1899 he was appointed conductor of the orchestra at the newly-opened National Theatre in Kristiania, a position he held for 30 years until his retirement in 1929.

As well as theatre music, Halvorsen conducted performances of over 30 operas and also wrote the incidental music for more than 30 plays. Following his retirement from the theatre he finally had time to concentrate on the composition of his three great symphonies and two well-known Norwegian rhapsodies.

Halvorsen's compositions were a development of the national romantic tradition exemplified by Edvard Grieg though written in a distinctive style marked by brilliant orchestration. Halvorsen married Grieg's niece, and orchestrated some of his piano works, such as a funeral march which was played at Grieg's funeral.

His best known works today are the ''Bojarenes inntogsmarsj'' (''Entry March of the Boyars'') and ''Bergensiana'', along with his Passacaglia and Sarabande, duos for violin and viola based on themes by George Frideric Handel.

Selected compositions

;Operetta

''Mod Nordpolen''; in 3 acts

;Incidental music

''Gurre'', Op. 17; music for the play by Holger Drachmann

''Nordraakiana''

''Askeladden''

''Reisen til Julestjernen'' (Journey to the Christmas Star); music for the play by Sverre Brandt

''Tordenskjold'', Op. 18; music for the historical play by Jacob Breda Bull

''Kongen'' (The King), Op. 19; music for the play by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

''Fossegrimen'', Op. 21; music for the play by Sigurd Eldegard

''Vasantasena''; music for the old Indian play

''The Merchant of Venice''; music for the Shakespeare play

''Much Ado about Nothing'' (1915); music for the Shakespeare play

''Livet i skogen'', Op. 33; music for William Shakespeare's ''As You Like It''

''Dronning Tamara'' (Queen Tamara); music for the play by Knut Hamsun

''Macbeth'' (1920); music for the Shakespeare play

;Orchestra

''Bojarenes inntogsmarsj'' (Entry March of the Boyars) for orchestra (or concert band) (1895)

''Festovertyre'' (Norwegian Festival Overture), Op. 16 (1899)

''Nächtlicher Zug'' from ''Miniatures'' for string orchestra, Op. 29 No. 2 (1910); arrangement by the composer

''Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in Memoriam'', Op. 30 (1910)

''Norway's Greeting to Theodore Roosevelt'', Op. 31 (1910)

''Suite ancienne'' to the Memory of Ludvig Holberg, Op. 31 (1911)

''Festmarsj'' (Festival March). Op. 32

''Scène funèbre''

''Sérénade'', Op. 33 (1913)

''Bergensiana'', Rococo Variations on an Old Melody from Bergen ''"Jeg tog min nystemte Cithar i Hænde"'' (I Took Up My Newly Tuned Zither) (1913)

''Norske rapsodie No. 1'' (Norwegian Rhapsody No. 1) in A major (1919–1920)

:# Springar :# I went so lately to my bed :# Halling - Springar

''Norske rapsodie No. 2'' (Norwegian Rhapsody No. 2) in G major (1919–1920)

:# Dance tune from Åmot :# Han Ole :# Springar

Symphony No. 1 in C minor (1923)

Symphony No. 2 ''"Fatum"'' in D minor (1924, revised 1928)

Symphony No. 3 in C major (1929)

''Norske eventyrbylleder'' (Norwegian Fairy-tale Pictures), Op. 37 (1933); reworking of 1925 incidental music

:# Peik, prinsessen og stortrollet (Peik, the Princess and the Big Troll) :# Prinsessen kommer ridende på bjørnen (The Princess Comes Riding on a Bear) :# Trollenes inntog i berget det blå (Entry of the Trolls into the Town Hall) :# Dans av småtroll (Dance of the Little Trolls)

''Festovertyre'' (Norwegian Festival Overture), Op. 38

''Elegi'' for string orchestra

''Forspill til den hvite Ring''

''Rabnabryllaup uti Kraakjalund'', Norwegian Folk-Song Arrangement for string orchestra

;Concert band

''Hallingdal Bataljon's Marsj'' (1882–1883)

''Gatemarsj'' (Street March)

''Norwegian Sea Picture''

''Salutation to the Royal Couple of Norway''

;Concertante

''Air norvégien'' (Norwegian Air) for violin and orchestra, Op. 7 (1896/1903).

''Veslemøy's Song'' for violin and orchestra (1898); dedicated to Kathleen Parlow

''Norwegian Song "The Old Fisherman's Song"'' for violin and string orchestra, Op. 31 (1901, 1913)

''Andante Religioso'' for violin and orchestra (1903)

Concerto in G major for violin and orchestra (1909)

''Bryllupsmarsch'', Norwegian Wedding March for violin and orchestra, Op. 32 No. 1

''Danses norvégiennes No. 1'' for violin and orchestra (1915)

''Danses norvégiennes No. 2'' for violin and orchestra (1915)

;Chamber music

''6 Stimmungsbilder'' (6 Mood Pieces) for violin and piano (1890)

Suite in G minor for violin and piano (1890)

''Danses norvégiennes'' for violin and piano (1897)

''Elegie'' (Andante) for violin and piano (1897)

''Passacaglia'' in G minor on a Theme by George Frideric Handel (from Harpsichord Suite in G minor, HWV 432) for violin and viola (1897)

''Sarabande con Variazioni'' in G minor on a Theme by George Frideric Handel for violin and viola (1897)

''Crépuscule'' for violin and piano (c. 1898)

''Suite Mosaïque'' for violin and piano (1898)

:# Intermezzo orientale :# Entr'acte :# Scherzino – "Spurven" (The Sparrow) :# Veslemøys sang (Veslemøy's Song) :# Fête nuptial rustique (An Old-fashioned Wedding)

String Quartet in E, Op. 10

''Little Dance Suite'' for violin and piano, Op. 22

''Slåtter'', Peasant Dances for violin solo (1903)

''Miniatures'', 5 Easy Pieces for 2 violins and piano, Op. 29 (1910)

''To serenader'' (Two Serenades) for violin and piano

''Norske viser og danse'' (Norwegian Folk Songs and Dances), 30 Folk Arrangements for violin and piano

''Concert Caprice on Norwegian Melodies'' for 2 violins

;Choral

''Varde'', Cantata for male chorus and orchestra, Op. 11 (1904); words by Per Sivle

''Alrune'' for soprano solo, female chorus and chamber orchestra, Op. 20 No. 1

''Kantate ved kroningen i Trondhjems Domkirke den 22 juni 1906'' for soprano, baritone, mixed chorus, orchestra, harp and organ, Op. 27 (1906); words by Sigvald Skavlan

''Bergensiana'' for mixed chorus

Media

External links

Johan Halvorsen — Beyond the Transitory

Category:1864 births Category:1935 deaths Category:People from Drammen Category:Norwegian composers Category:Norwegian conductors (music) Category:Romantic composers Category:People from Bergen

bg:Юхан Халвошен da:Johan Halvorsen de:Johan Halvorsen et:Johan Halvorsen fr:Johan Halvorsen he:יוהאן הלוורסן nl:Johan Halvorsen ja:ヨハン・ハルヴォルセン no:Johan Halvorsen nn:Johan Halvorsen ru:Хальворсен, Юхан fi:Johan Halvorsen sv:Johan Halvorsen zh:约翰·哈尔沃森

Coordinates	38°53′51.61″N77°2′11.58″N
Name	Kyle Smith
birth name	Kyle Smith
birth date	1966
birth place	East Longmeadow, MA, USA
occupation	Novelist, Critic, Journalist
nationality	American
genre	Comic novel
subject	Fiction, Film
influences	Nick Hornby, Martin Amis
website	http://www.kylesmithonline.com Kyle Smith
spouse	Sara Austin (2007–present) }}

Kyle Smith (born 1966) is an American critic, novelist and essayist. He is a staff film critic for the ''New York Post''. His film reviewing style has been called "an exercise in hilarious hostility" by ''Entertainment Weekly''. He has also contributed to ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''People magazine'', ''New York magazine'', ''The New York Times'', and ''The Weekly Standard''.

Education

Smith was graduated from East Longmeadow (Massachusetts) High School in 1984. Following that, he was graduated ''summa cum laude'' and Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University, and is a former U.S. Army lieutenant and veteran of the Persian Gulf War. From 1996 to 2005 he worked at ''People'' magazine, where he was the editor of the book and music reviews.

Publications

Kyle Smith has published two books in addition to criticism, newspaper and magazine features and essays.

Books

''Love Monkey''

His first book, ''Love Monkey'', a comic novel about a cynical, self-deprecating journalist named Tom Farrell and his romantic tribulations in New York City, was published by William Morrow in 2004. A ''New York Times'' article cast the book as a guys' version of such popular novels as ''Bridget Jones's Diary'' and ''Melissa Bank's'', ''The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing'' and cited Nick Hornby's books ''About a Boy'' and ''High Fidelity'' as inspiration for ''Love Monkey''. ''Times'' critic Janet Maslin called the book "hilarious". ''Entertainment Weekly'' called the book "relentlessly cynical" and concluded that "'Monkey,' like the paper Tom writes for, is loud and brash, but a helluva lot of fun". ''Time'' magazine said, "You couldn't ask for a more entertaining drinking buddy--watch out for a memorable strip-club meltdown scene--but there's a deep, dark subway of despair running underneath his riffs, and that's what makes the book more than a standup routine....'Love Monkey' nails it."

Reception and critical acclaim

''The New Yorker'': "In this chronicle of four and a half months in the life of a hapless, single city-dweller, Smith blends hilarity and cynicism in order to adapt the Bridget Jones formula to a male perspective. A brief detour into a post-9/11 subplot somewhat arrests the comic flow, but it is actually one of the book's most interesting sections, and imparts to the hectic seduction games a nagging sense of unease, along with some genuine insight into the dilemmas of daily journalism."

''The San Francisco Chronicle'' said of ''Love Monkey'' that "Kyle Smith's exceedingly readable and wickedly funny romantic comedy reads sort of like a 'chick flick' for guys but should be required reading for young women, too, with the peek it gives into the male psyche....Smith...is a natural storyteller with an extraordinarily keen ear for dialogue that is real, hip and witty without being too much so - no small feat. His fresh metaphors are laced with funny pop culture references and his characterization is so good I felt as if I was reading about my own friends, as well as myself, at times. One of the most surprising delights of the book is how completely Smith gets women—what they want, what they're sensitive about, what turns them on, and more. And in getting these things he also reveals many of the female sex's hypocrisies—how we are often guilty of the very superficialities we accuse men of."

''CNN'' wrote of ''Love Monkey'', "Watch out guys, someone is spilling our secrets...'Love Monkey' has been called a male version of ''Sex and the City'' and an American version of Nick Hornby's ''High Fidelity''. It is an achingly accurate depiction of a thirty-something single man....an engaging romp through the mind of a single guy—at times laugh-out-loud funny, at times endearingly touching. The first-time author...understands the life his protagonist is leading and pulls no punches as he exposes the inner life of the 21st-century single guy."

On ''NPR'''s "''Fresh Air''", critic Maureen Corrigan said, "What's hippest about 'Love Monkey is the deft way it resurrects and updates the Dorothy Parker style of talking about New York: brittle, shrewd, self-deprecating, and oh-so-witty. Smith's ruthless humor knows no bounds".

TV adaptation

On January 17, 2006, a one-hour CBS TV series based on the book debuted; it was a dramedy also called ''Love Monkey''. It starred Tom Cavanagh, Judy Greer, Jason Priestley and Larenz Tate. The show aired on CBS in January–February 2006 and on VH1 in April–May 2006.

''A Christmas Caroline''

His second novel, ''A Christmas Caroline'', was published in 2006, also by William Morrow. Writing in ''The Wall Street Journal'', critic Joseph Bottum said, "For those who prefer their sentimentality seasoned with a dash of cynical wit, Kyle Smith's ''A Christmas Caroline'' may be a good selection. Mr. Smith...turns in a quick, enjoyable read about a selfish woman at a fashion magazine who is taught the true meaning of Christmas by three spooky visitors. From the moment you meet Caroline's assistant—a devious redhead named Ursula Heep—you know you're at play in the fields of Charles Dickens....Mr. Smith takes Dickens' old, familiar tale and stuffs it into a woman straight out of ''The Devil Wears Prada''".

References

External links

Kyle Smith's official blog

Category:1966 births Category:Living people Category:People from Hampden County, Massachusetts Category:Yale University alumni Category:United States Army officers Category:American military personnel of the Gulf War Category:American magazine editors Category:American novelists Category:American film critics

:''Not to be confused with Arthur Fielder, a Kent fast bowler of the 1900s.''

Coordinates	38°53′51.61″N77°2′11.58″N
names	Arthur Fiedler
background	non_performing_personnel
birth date	December 17, 1894
birth place	Boston, Massachusetts, USA
death date	July 10, 1979
death place	Brookline, Massachusetts, USA
occupation	Conductor
spouse	}}

Arthur Fiedler (December 17, 1894 – July 10, 1979) was a long-time conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, a symphony orchestra that specializes in popular and light classical music. With a combination of musicianship and showmanship, he made the Boston Pops one of the best-known orchestras in the country. Some people criticized him for over-popularizing music, particularly when adapting popular songs or edited portions of the classical repertoire, but Fiedler kept performances informal and sometimes self-mocking to attract more customers.

Life and career

Fiedler was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Emanuel and Johanna Fiedler. His father was a Polish-born violinist who played in the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and his mother was a pianist and musician. He grew up in Boston, and attended Boston Latin School until his father retired (in the early 1900s), and they moved to Vienna, Austria, in 1910. The family soon moved again, to Berlin, where from 1911 to 1915 young Fiedler studied violin at the Royal Academy of Music (''Hochschule für Musik Berlin'') under Willy Hess. Fiedler returned to Boston at the beginning of World War I. In 1915 he joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Karl Muck as a violinist. He also worked as a pianist, organist, and percussionist.

In 1924, Fiedler formed the Boston Sinfonietta, a chamber music orchestra composed of Boston Symphony members, and started a series of free outdoor concerts.

Fiedler was appointed the eighteenth conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra in 1930. While the position of conductor of the Boston Pops both prior to and after Fiedler tended to be a phase of a conductor's career, Fiedler made it his life's work, having the position for a half-century.

With Fiedler's direction, the Boston Pops reportedly made more recordings than any other orchestra in the world, most of them for RCA Victor, with total sales of albums, singles, tapes, and cassettes exceeding $50 million. His recordings began in July 1935 at Boston's Symphony Hall with RCA, including a world premiere recording of Jacob Gade's ''Jalousie'', which eventually sold more than a million copies, and the first complete recording of ''Rhapsody in Blue'' by George Gershwin (with Jesús Maria Sanromá as soloist). In 1946, he conducted the Boston Pops in one of the first American recordings devoted to excerpts from a film score, Dmitri Tiomkin's music for the David O. Selznick Technicolor epic ''Duel in the Sun''; RCA Victor released an album of ten-inch 78-rpm discs complete with photographs from the film.

Fiedler's June 20, 1947, recording of ''Gaîté Parisienne'' by Jacques Offenbach was eventually released by RCA as their very first long-playing classical album (RCA Victor LM-1001), in 1950. He recorded the same music in 1954 in stereo and began making regular stereo recordings in 1956. A number of Fiedler's recordings were released as 45-rpm "extended play" discs, beginning in 1949, such as Tchaikovsky's ''Marche Slave'' and Ketèlbey's ''In a Persian Market'' (RCA Victor ERA-2). Besides recording light classics, Fiedler also recorded music from Broadway shows and Hollywood film scores, as well as arrangements of popular music, especially the Beatles. He and the Boston Pops occasionally recorded classical works that were favorites, but not considered as "light" as most of the pieces that he conducted. He made but a single recording with the Boston Symphony Orchestra: Dvorak's ''New World Symphony''. There were also recordings of chamber music by his Sinfonietta. Fiedler and the Boston Pops recorded exclusively for RCA Victor until the late 1960s, when they switched to Deutsche Grammophon for classical releases with co-owned Polydor Records for his arrangements of pop music compositions and then London Records. His last album, devoted to disco, was titled ''Saturday Night Fiedler''.

Fiedler was also associated with the San Francisco Pops Orchestra for 26 summers (beginning during 1949), and conducted many other orchestras throughout the world.

Fiedler had many different hobbies. He was fascinated by the work of firefighters and would travel in his own vehicle to large fires in and around Boston at any time of the day or night to watch the firefighters at work. He was even made an "Honorary Captain" in the Boston Fire Department. A number of other fire departments gave him honorary fire helmets and/or badges. The official biography of Fiedler reports that the conductor once helped in the rescue efforts at the tragic Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston in 1942. An avid sailor, he volunteered during the early days of World War II for the Temporary Reserve of the U.S. Coast Guard and was later a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

Fiedler conducted at the nationally-televised opening ceremonies of Walt Disney World in 1971. He also appeared on numerous telecasts on ''Evening at Pops'', carried on PBS stations nationwide.

In honor of Fiedler's influence on American music, on October 23, 1976 he was awarded the prestigious University of Pennsylvania Glee Club Award of Merit. Beginning in 1964, this award "established to bring a declaration of appreciation to an individual each year that has made a significant contribution to the world of music and helped to create a climate in which our talents may find valid expression."

On January 10, 1977, Fiedler was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Gerald Ford.

Personal Life

In 1942, Fiedler married Ellen Bottomley, and they had three children: Johanna, Deborah, and Peter.

In 1994, Doubleday published a book written by his daughter, Johanna, entitled ''Arthur Fiedler: Papa, the Pops and Me''.

Death

Fiedler died in Brookline, Massachusetts, at the age of 84 on July 10, 1979. He had been in failing health for some time and had suffered a heart seizure after a performance on May 5, 1979. At the time of his death, he was in his 50th year as conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. After his death, Boston honored him with a stylized sculpture, an oversized bust of Fiedler, near the Charles River Esplanade, and named a footbridge over Storrow Drive after him. This area is home of the free concert series that continues through the present day. Classical music and movie composer John Williams succeeded Fiedler as the orchestra's nineteenth director. His widow, Ellen Bottomley Fiedler, died October 25, 1984, in Framingham, Massachusetts. She was 70.

Sources

The American Presidency Project - ''Remarks Upon Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom''.

References

External links

Category:1894 births Category:1979 deaths Category:American conductors (music) Category:Culture of Boston, Massachusetts Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Easy listening music Category:Musicians from Massachusetts Category:People from Boston, Massachusetts Category:RCA Victor artists

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