Music HistoryGrade 10

Mr. Jonathan Helmick

April 18, 1882 –

September 13, 1977

BackgroundMusically 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

• The “Stokowski Sound”• Orchestral Innovations and

Showmanship• Music for All• “Fantasia”

• Musical Transcriptions and Transformations

• New Music• The “American Way”

Throughout his conducting legacy, Stokowski made himself known for the following ideas and

accomplishments:

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.

• Second, he would frequently experiment with the seating of the orchestra for the prime result.

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.”.

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”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.”

Stokowski seen here immortalized in bronze with his colleague (and friend) Mickey Mouse.

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 MusicDuring 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