1.
Allegro non troppo
13:47 2.
Adagio non troppo
24:00 3. Allegretto grazioso (quasi andantino)
29:33 4.
Allegro con spirito
Recorded in 1928.
Walter Damrosch (1862-1950)
The distinguished German-American conductor, music educator and composer,
Walter (Johannes) Damrosch, was the son of the eminent German-American conductor and violinist,
Leopold Damrosch (1832-1885), and brother of the German-American conductor and teacher,
Frank (Heino) Damrosch (1859-1937). Walter Damrosch exhibited an interest in music at an early age and was instructed by his father in harmony and also studied under
Wilhelm Albert Rischbieter and
Felix Draeseke at the
Dresden Conservatory.
Walter Damrosch went to
New York with his family in
1871, where he continued his music studies. In 1884, when his father began his season of
German Opera in New York,
Walter was made an assistant conductor. When his father fell ill, he received some deathbed coaching from him and made his
Metropolitan Opera debut conducting
Tannhäuser on
February 11; 1885, just 4 days before his father succumbed. He remained on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera (under
Anton Seidl) until 1891. He also served as his father's successor as conductor of the
Oratorio Society of New York (1885-1898) and the
Symphony Society of New York (from 1885). In 1887 he pursued training in conducting with
Hans von Bülow in
Frankfurt am Main. In 1894 he founded the
Damrosch Opera Company in New York, which he conducted in performances of
German operas until 1899, both there and in other major
USA cities. From
1900 to 1902 he was again on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera. He was conductor of the
New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1902-1903. After the reorganisation of the Symphony Society of New York in 1903, he was its conductor until it merged with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1928. In
1920 he conducted the Symphony Society of New York on a major tour of
Europe. In 1912 he took over the symphonic concerts for young people originally organised by his brother, and he also conducted young people's concerts with the Symphony Society of New York.
Walter Damrosch's interest in music education prompted him to utilise the medium of radio to further the cause of music appreciation; on
October 19, 1923, he conducted the Symphony Society of New York in its first radio broadcast from
Carnegie Hall. He the
National Broadcasting Company's music director under
David Sarnoff, and in 1926 he inaugurated a regular series of radio broadcasts, which were later aired as the "
NBC Music Appreciation Hour" throughout the USA and
Canada from 1928 to
1942. This was a popular series of radio lectures on classic music aimed at students. (The show was broadcast during school hours, and teachers were provided textbooks and worksheets by the network.) According to former
New York Times critic
Harold C. Schonberg in his collection
Facing the Music, Damrosch was notorious for making up silly lyrics for the music he discussed in order to "help" young people appreciate it, rather than letting the music speak for itself. An example: for the first movement of
Franz Schubert's
Unfinished Symphony, the lyric went: This is the symphony, That
Schubert wrote and never finished
He also served as musical counsel to NBC from
1927 to
1947. Damrosch conducted the USA premieres of
Tchaikovsky's 4th and 6th symphonies as well as scores by
Wagner,
Gustav Mahler, and
Edward Elgar. He also conducted premieres of works by
American composers, including world premiere performances of
George Gershwin's
Piano Concerto in F (1925), and
An American in Paris (1928).
Walter Damrosch was best known in his day as a conductor of
Richard Wagner and was also a pioneer in the performance of music on the radio, and as such became one of the chief popularizers of classical music in the USA. Although now remembered almost exclusively as a conductor, before his radio broadcasts he was equally well-known as a composer.
On May 17, 1890, Walter Damrosch married
Margaret Blaine (1867-1949), the daughter of
American politician and presidential candidate
James G. Blaine. They had four daughters.
- published: 25 Mar 2013
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