by Jeff Snedeker
The story of the International Horn Society begins in 1968 and, fittingly, with a horn workshop. As William C. Robinson, freshly-hired horn professor at Florida State University (FSU), got to know his new students, “he became aware that his students, although talented, had very little knowledge of their instrument’s heritage. They were not familiar with the names of Anton Horner, Max Pottag, and others who were the founding fathers of horn playing in this country [i.e., in the USA]. Robinson’s growing awareness of this problem fostered the idea of bringing the world’s greatest horn players and teachers together for a workshop, including Anton Horner, Max Pottag, Wendell Hoss, and Carl Geyer. Robinson recalls, ‘Bringing them together would give all in attendance... the opportunity to get to know them and to learn an appreciation of the heritage of horn playing which is ours. Mr. Horner and Mr. Pottag were in their nineties and Mr. Hoss and Mr. Geyer were only slightly younger, so I knew that our time was limited if we were going to bring them, together.’” from David McKinley Hedgecoth, “The Life and Career of William Calvin Robinson” (MM thesis, Florida State University, 2003).
In the summer of 1968 in Aspen, Colorado, Robinson spoke with Philip Farkas, with whom he had studied 10 years before and who had become a friend and mentor, about the idea of hosting a workshop that would feature the horn, its music, and some prominent performers. Farkas, already a legend from his orchestral and teaching career, expressed strong support, lending credibility to the idea, something that Robinson maintained was critical to the mounting of this first event. Next, Robinson spoke to Joseph White, his predecessor at FSU who had moved into an administrative role at the school, about the possible event. White, a former student of Anton Horner and a Curtis classmate of Mason Jones and James Chambers, was very supportive and together they approached the Dean of the School of Music, Wiley Housewright. The school did not have a budget to support the event as conceived, so the duo was encouraged to present the proposal to the Division of Continuing Education. To their pleasant surprise, their proposal was met with enthusiastic support. (Jeffrey Snedeker, International Horn Society: The First 50 Years, page 14)
The First National French Horn Workshop was subsequently held in June 1969 at FSU. To learn more about this first workshop and how the IHS came to be, buy the book!
Want to know more? Take a listen to our podcast on the making of the book, Bonus Episode: IHS 50th Anniversary Book.
