Transcript Slide 1

April 18, 1882 –
September 13, 1977
Music History
Grade 10
Mr. Jonathan Helmick
Background
Musically gifted at a young
age - thirteen in fact - Leopold
Stokowski was the youngest
person admitted to the Royal
College of Music.
This thirteen year old
organist, aside from learning the
piano and organ, would impact
American music like none before!
Background (cont.)
Stokowski began his musical career
as an organist. Later, he picked up
the piano and violin. However, his
virtuosic talent was found in the
ultimate instrument: the orchestra.
Though, he would have in fact
argued that it was the concert hall
itself that he commanded.
“Every hall is different… one must adapt oneself to the
conditions… how it sounds when it is empty, how it sounds when
it’s full of people. A concert hall is a musical instrument… it
reflects certain tones more than others.” ~ Leopold Stokowski
Goals
Throughout his conducting legacy, Stokowski made
himself known for the following ideas and
accomplishments:
• The “Stokowski Sound”
• Orchestral Innovations and
Showmanship
• Music for All
• “Fantasia”
• Musical Transcriptions and
Transformations
• New Music
• The “American Way”
The Stokowski Sound
Stokowski pioneered the study of
mathematics and music. His goal was to
achieve a perfect live and recorded
sound.
He studied each instrument in depth to
explore their potential, their optimum
placement in an orchestra for solo and
group performance. He even explored
sound reflection and absorption designing acoustical reflectors.
In other words…
NERD
The Stokowski Sound
Seriously though, he did improve the sound of the orchestra in
a number of significant ways:
• First, he allowed his strings to
use free bowing.
Normally, a string section in an orchestra will
synchronize their bowing with one another in a
performance. In free bowing, the instrumentalists
bow as they please producing a warm sonorous
tone with a distinct color – the characteristic
“Stokowski Sound.”.
• Second, he would frequently experiment with the seating of the orchestra for the
prime result.
Innovations and Showmanship
Not only did Stokowski believe sound was essential to a
performance, but showmanship as well!
It was not uncommon for Stokowski to have his hands spotlighted in
order for his silhouette to be projected on the walls of a concert hall during a
performance.
Music for All
Many of the orchestras that Stokowski
conducted and founded did not pay him for
long periods. For example, in order to
provide an outlet for talented young
musicians, he founded the All American
Youth Orchestra. During its inception, he
worked without compensation to bring
music to all and encourage these youth.
It was that important.
“Music can be one element to help us build a new conception of life in which the
madness and cruelty of wars will be replaced by a simple understanding of the
brotherhood of man.”
~ Leopold Stokowski
“Fantasia”
Stokowski seen here immortalized
in bronze with his colleague (and
friend) Mickey Mouse.
In his desire to bring the music
of ‘the greats’ to the greatest
number of people, Stokowski
agreed in 1973 to conduct the
soundtrack to a Walt Disney
animation of the “Sorcerer’s
Apprentice.” Walt Disney hired
his services and later expanded
the project to include
animations to a number of
classical works that Stokowski
would conduct for what would
become “Fantasia.”
Did You Know?
The magical gestures used by Mickey Mouse in the “Sorcerer’s
Apprentice” were actually animations of Stokowski’s conducting gestures
as he created the soundtrack!
Musical Transcriptions and
Transformations
Though innovative, Stokowski’s
own transcriptions of music for
orchestra were controversial at
best.
Often, Stokowski would rearrange works
of earlier composer’s for instruments that
had not been present during that
composer’s time.
Furthermore, he would interpret existing works
outside of the performance styles of their
period. It was not uncommon for him to meld
Baroque music with Romantic interpretation.
Musical Transcriptions and
Transformations
“When Handel wrote the Messiah, he conceived of choruses of heroic
dimensions which produced a glorious ocean of sounds but the
orchestra of his time was limited and the instruments were far less
evolved than they are today. To play and sing this music today we
should, in my opinion, try to conceive of the orchestra as Handel
himself would conceive of it, if he had the instrumental potentialities
we have today. .” ~ Leopold Stokowski
Musical
evolution… What
a concept!
New Music
During Stokowski’s time, when other conductors were solely
programming the music of the master’s for their concerts,
Stokowski premiered new composition after new composition.
In fact, not only did Stokowski
resign from many an orchestra for
their refusal to play twentieth
century compositions, but he
founded orchestra after orchestra for
that explicit purpose – the American
Symphony Orchestra, for example.
Performance of
“The
Rite of Spring.”
The American Way
Stokowski encouraged America to embrace it’s own musical
heritage. It was time for America to articulate itself through
its own media, according to Stokowski.
Whenever possible, Stokowski encouraged the use of American made instruments or,
even better, instruments that were native to the Americas. Anything to break away from
European influence was ideal.
Conclusion
Stokowski accomplished so much in so little time. From his innovations in
sound and recording, to his patronage, and conducting legacy, Stokowski
enriched American music and cultivated its evolution.
“A painter paints his pictures on
canvas. But musicians paint their
pictures on silence. We provide the
music, and you provide the silence.” ~
Leopold Stokowski