1950 magazine article

7/29/2019 1950 Magazine Article

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This cool and inviting lalce near Brevard, North Ca rolina, is where the

Transylvania Music Campers swim afler hour, of rehearsal under thedirection of J ame5 Chr ist ia n Pfoh l, No rth Carolina '3 4. Brother Pfohl isfounder and director of th e camp as we ll as director of th e famed BrevardMusic Festiva l that at tra cts o utsta nding g uest ar tists to the Blue Ridge

Mountain town each sum mer .

A Li l t lo r Souther , . Music

Pfoh ' Pionee r s Ca .np l o r Yo , . ." T , . I ' - ~ n t

JAMES CHR ISTIAN PFOHL, Alpha Tau (North

Carolina) 1934, has won national acclaimas the dynamic head of the Transylvania Music

Camp and director of the Brevard, North Caro·

lina, Music Festival. We ll known as the direc-

tor of the Music Department of Davidson

College and conductor of the Cha rlotte Sym.

phony Orchestra, he has developed the festival

to the point where it is recognized as the out·

standing summer musical eve nt in the 5omh.

Brother Pfohl is the fo under of the Transyl.

vania Music Camp near Brevard (population:

3,000) which draws ~ e n t e d young musicians

from 12 to 18 from more than 20 states to

spend seven weeks of the summer in the healthy

atmosphere of the Blue Ridge Mounta ins of

western Norrh Carolina on a beautiful lake

camp. Here he teaches these youngsters good

music and good sw imming! They combine reo

hearsals, a heavy program of recitals and con·

certs, both stage and radio, with hours in the

sun, sWimming, boating, hiking, and playing

tennis, softba ll, and basketball.

James Chr istian Pfohl

Director of Tra nsylvan ia Mu sic Ca mp

a nd Brevard Music Festival

.' .''.'



He has recruired a starostudded faculty for

his camp. The instructors come from the na

rion's large orchestras and schools of music.

They come for their room, board, and a mere

pittance; for the camp is still weak financially .

Yet, they return year after year, imbued with

rhe pioneer spirit of build ing music culture

where on ly a short time ago there was none.

In his dr ive to bring professional music to

the South, Jim Pfohl said: uWe do not have

a topflight professional music school in the

South. We hope the students we train will lift

the South's musical life."

The climax of the musical summer is reach

ed the nrst of August when the students move

OUt and the 70 professional orchestral playe rs

move in. These, with faculty members, and a

few students who merit the privilege of re

maining, set themselves to a period of rehearsal

before the Brevard Music Festival begins.

This year the festival wi ll be held the week

ends of August 11, 12, and 13, and 18, 19, and

20, with such famous guest stars as Eugene

Ji m Pfohl directs th e Charlotte Symphony Orch-

estra in addition to his many other activities. He

nursed th e once defunct organization bade: to

health an d popularity. Now ever yon e of th e

symphony's concerts is assured of a sellou t.

List, pianist (the ex-GI who played for Tru-

man and Stalin at Potsdam); Norma Heyde,

soprano; Julian Patrick, baritone; Margaret

Thuenemann, contralto; Paul Makovsky, con

cert violinist; and William Hess, tenor.

The now famous festival and camp had its

beginnings in the Transylvania Music Camp

Brother Pfohl opened on the campus of Davidson College in 1937, with an enrollment of

26 boys. His plans were scarcely under way

when World Wa r I [ forced him to move his

group to Queens College at Charlotte.

It was several seasons later while vacationing

in the mountains of western North Carolina

with his wife, the former Louise Nelson, con

cert pianist, and their three children, that he

came upon a quiet, green valley, the site of a

boys' camp that had been abandoned during

the war. The lake was a weed patch; the buLld

ings were gone to rack and tuin. He made a

pay-you-Iater deal with the owners, rebuilt the

camp, and the next year his students flocked

into the Blue Ridge camp operating on the

theme of "Health, Harmony, and Happiness."

Through the camp's generous sharing of mu

sical instruction and entertainment, it wasn't

lo ng before the citizens of the wide-awake,

colorful resort town of Brevard realized the

me rit of the new enterprise in their midst, and

called a meeting, not only to express the gtati

tude for what Jim Pfohl was doing for the

community, but to see what could be done in

the way of encouragement and promotion. Re

sult: the Brevard Music Festival Association

was organized.

Thus, in 1946, the new association, now the

Brevard Music Foundation. began to sponsor

a Festival Symphony Orchestra, composed of

leading musicians representing the large sym

phonies, music departments, and organizations

over the country, with Ji m Pfohl as conductor.

Director Pfohl has also brought back to life

the Char lotte Symphony Orchestra. On June2, 1949, he was named conductor of this group,

which had become a defunct organization be

cause of its debts, He proposed to work for

practically nothing in an earnest desire to get

the orchestra back on its feet. The results of

his efforts in rebuilding this pioneer musical

organization were aptly expressed by The



Charlotte News which had this to sayan April

26, 1950: "Bootlegging will start in Charlotte

next fall, listeners at the final concert of the

Charlotte Symphony were told last night.

. . . . '1 t will be bootlegging of concert tickets,

according ro Arthur H. Jones, a member of

the orchestra's board of directors. . . .

Whetherthis 'illegal' activity will commence temains to

be seen. But one thing is clear: if the orchestra

is brought to the same degree of perfection

next season as Conductor James Christian Pfohl

developed last night, a music lover should get a

ticket somehow, honestly or dishonestly."

James Christian Pfohl, born in Winston·

Salem, North Carolina, on Seprember 17, 191 2,

was the son of a Moravian minister, now a

bishop of that church, and Bessie Whittington,

a musician. He began his musical education

when he was a child with piano lessons fromhis mother. Before he was six years old, he had

decided to make the trumpet his solo instru·

ment. He played trumpet during his high school

days in Winston·Salem and also studied string

bass. He won a scholarship through the All.

Southern High School Orchestra and was a

student at Interlochen in 1929, pla ying string

bass, trumpet, and piano.

Pianist Eugene List, right, an ex·GI wh o gained

early fame by playing for President Truman an dMarshal Stalin at Potsdam, will be guest soloist

at th e Brevard Music Festival on August 11. Thepl"ogl"am is undel" th e dil"ection of Bl"othel" Pfohl.

The muslcal.minded young man entered the

University of North Carolina and was initiated

by Alpha Tau Chapter. For his second year

he transferred to the University of Michigan

where he received his B.M. degree, cum l a u d ~ .He returned in 1939 to receive his M.M. degree

in musicology from the University of Mich·

igan School of Music. In September 1933, hebecame director of music at Davidson College.

He has been at Davidson since that time

and in 1946 was made a full professor. For six

years he was director of music at Queens Col-

lege, and now is coordinator of the music de-

parnnents of Davidson and Queens.

Brother Pfohl was music director of the

Southern Hour, a religious service broadcast

over WBT. He was also founder and conductor

of the Mint Museum of Art Orchestra inCharlotte for the seasons 1944·45 and 1945·46.

In the summer of 1945 , Mr. Pfohl was guestconductor for the National Symphony Orch·

estra in its Warergate Series.

But, with all of his activities in the music

world, Brother Pfohl has not forgotten Sigma

Chi. Along with Grand Praetor Roy B. Me·

Knight, he was one of the guiding lights of the

local group ar Davidson which became our

Delta Lambda Chapter on March 20, 1948.

Dil"ector Pfohl gives on e of his Transylvania Mu -sic Camp stu dents a little personal attention.

Hl l has made the camp a haven fOl" childl"en wh oenjoy good mU5ic an d good swimming.

1950 magazine article

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