Paul Mansur (1926-2009)
Paul Mansur has been dedicated to the horn, to education, and to the IHS. The success of The Horn Call and a scholarship in his name assure his legacy with the IHS.
Paul was born in Oklahoma in 1926 and began playing horn in the Wewoka High School Band. He graduated from the Oklahoma Military Academy and entered the US Navy in 1944, serving in the Philippines. On discharge in 1946, he began studies in civil engineering at the University of Oklahoma, but then changed to music, completing degrees in theory and horn in 1951, followed by a master's degree in education from Arizona State College in 1953. After teaching in public schools for six years, he earned a doctorate in Music Education at the University of Oklahoma.
While working on his doctoral dissertation, Paul was Director of Music Therapy at Central State Griffin Memorial Hospital. "I count the experience as one of the best learning experiences and most satisfying job of my life along with being the poorest paid position of my career."
Paul began his 25 years at Southeast Oklahoma State University (SOSU) in Durant OK in 1969 as Chairman of the Music Department and retired in 1990 as Dean of the School of Arts and Letters; he is now Dean Emeritus.
Paul's playing experience includes the Oklahoma City Symphony (as an undergraduate), the Phoenix Symphony (as a master's student), and principal horn in the Sherman (TX) Symphony for 20 years while at SOSU (including transporting SOSU students).
During his years at SOSU, Paul was a representative to committees and conventions of the state association of college music departments, the Music Educators National Association, and the Jazz Educators Association. SOSU engaged in a thorough self-study and became an accredited full member of the National Association of Schools of Music during his tenure. He also preached for the Blue Church of Christ and later with the Utica congregation.
Paul has contributed immeasurably to the IHS since its inception. He served as the third Editor of The Horn Call for 17 years, from 1976 to 1993. During this era he was an ex-officio member of the Advisory Council and afterward served for two three-year terms as an Advisory Council member. From 1976 through 1999 he was the "corporate memory" of the IHS. In addition to his editorship, he contributed many articles to The Horn Call, including workshop reports, interviews, profiles, recording and book reviews, and the column "Mansur's Answers." He was elected an IHS Honorary Member in 2003.
Paul was further honored by the establishment of the Paul Mansur Scholarship, which provides opportunities for full-time students attending the IHS international symposium to receive a lesson from a world renowned artist or teacher (a featured artist or Advisory Council member) and a one-year IHS membership.
Paul and his wife, Norma, moved to Tennessee in 1995 to be near family.
Erich Penzel
Erich Penzel first recorded many horn concertos and sonatas; his discography is perhaps the most legendary of any hornist in the twentieth century. Through his recording and his teaching, he has influenced horn playing in Germany and throughout the world.
Penzel was born in 1930 in Leipzig, in the former East Germany. He received his horn training at the Musikhochschule in Leipzig, where he studied with Wilhelm Krüger and Albin Frehse. From 1949 to 1961 was the solo horn of the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig; from 1954 to 1960, he was a member of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra; and from 1955 to 1961 he taught horn at the University of Leipzig. In 1953 he won third prize in the Prague Spring competition.
In 1961 Penzel escaped from then East Germany and was solo horn of the WDR (West German Radio Orchestra) Köln (Cologne) until 1973.
In 1973 Penzel became the horn professor at the Musikhochschule in Köln and Maastricht. Many important hornists have since studied with him, including Christian Lampert, Stefan Dohr, Wolfgang Wipfler, Marie-Luise Neunecker, Claudia Strenkert, René Pagen, Will Sanders, and Jens Plücker.
In 2005 Penzel was elected an IHS Honorary Member and received the Order of Merit, First Class, for his outstanding achievements. He continues to teach horn and chamber music at home and abroad.
Hans Pizka
Hans Pizka, because of his lifelong devotion to his art and his activities as ambassador through music, has been honored by the President of the Federal Republic of Austria with the honorary title of Professor. Hans is also associated with many performances of the Siegfried Long Call, and the photo was taken after one of his Long Call performances.
Hans was born in 1942 in Metz, Lorraine, France, the eldest son of horn professor Erich Pizka. His family roots go deep into Bavaria's Suebia province near Fuessen and Memmingen which was part of Austria then, and his mother's side goes back to the early 12th century in St. Hubert near Kempen, not far from Cologne and Duesseldorf, next to Cleve and Xanten. It is interesting to note that Xanten is the site of Wagner's Siegfried, and also there is a Maria Stich on his father's side of the family in Upper Austria, from central Bohemia in the early 18th century, the same century in which Johann Wenzel Stich (Giovanni Punto) was born.
Hans was educated at the Academic Gymnasium in Linz, Upper Austria, (a 450-year-old school) mainly by professors of the Jesuit tradition. A citizen of Austria, he speaks German, English, and Italian, understands and speaks other languages well enough to communicate (Spanish, some Japanese), and can read Greek and Thai (slowly). A scholar of history, he also can read the old-style Suetterlin German writings and the ancient French court writings of the 16th and 17th century. He began his musical education at age four on violin, and continued with viola and horn at age 9. His first horn teacher was his father, and later he continued his horn studies with Gottfried von Freiberg and Josef Veleba of the Vienna Philharmonic. His first public performance was at age 11, and he played his first horn concerto in front of a professional orchestra at 15.
His orchestral career led him from Linz (Bruckner Orchestra), to Duesseldorf as successor to Gerd Seifert, and to Munich as successor to Norbert Hauptmann. He held the "Franz Strauss Chair" as the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra's principal horn in Munich from 1967 to 2007, and is called as an extra player or to fill in as first horn with the Vienna Philharmonic. He has played under conductors Karajan, Boehm, Kleiber, Sawallisch, Mehta, Ozawa, Muti, Abbado, Kubelik, Bernstein, and many others, and he has been a frequent soloist in countries all over the world. Hans has been a concert soloist, author of several important horn-related books (Mozart and the Horn, Hornist Dictionary 1986, and Wagner and the Horn), lecturer, horn designer, horn collector, publisher of horn-related music, producer of compact discs, and an expert regarding nearly everything connected with the horn. He has published about 500 titles of music, most for or with horns. He has started a horn-making business under his own brand name, producing double horns and Viennese Pumpenhorns.
In 2002, Hans finished his sixth term on the Advisory Council (1982-95 and 1997-2002), having served the society in many capacities, including Vice President. He translated and published The Horn Call in German (Hornruf) from 1983-1994. Also in 2002, the IHS elected Hans an Honorary Member.
Wendell Hoss (1892-1980)
Wendell Hoss, distinguished hornist and revered teacher, is perhaps most often associated with the founding of the Los Angeles Horn Club and the International Horn Society. He served as the first President of the LAHC, and was the first Vice President of the IHS. He is known throughout the horn world for his transcription of the Bach Cello Suites, for many years the transcription to have, and still highly influential. Respected and admired also as a true gentleman, Hoss has been hailed as “the Dean of American Horn Players.”
Hoss enjoyed a wide-ranging career prior to settling in Los Angeles. As early as 1916, he had played extra horn with the Chicago Symphony in their first performance of the Strauss Alpine Symphony. He was principal horn of the Cleveland Orchestra (1921-22). He returned to Chicago (1922-23) as principal horn, but soon left, not wanting to participate in the humiliation of his teacher L. de la Mare, who was dismissed around the same time. He was principal horn of the Rochester Philharmonic from 1924-1930, at the same time becoming the first professor of horn at the Eastman School of Music. From 1928 to 1930 he commuted to New York City for commercial recording and radio work, even playing briefly with the NBC Symphony. He again was principal horn in Cleveland (1930-32), where he also soloed with the orchestra in Mozart’s 3rd Concerto.
Hoss moved to California in 1933, entering the busy commercial scene. There he remained, interrupted only by a two-year engagement (1940-41) with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Fritz Reiner conducting. (Fittingly, Hoss played Bach for Reiner at his audition.) During his years in Los Angeles, Hoss played with every major film studio orchestra, including 18 years with the Walt Disney studio.
Hoss was soloist with the Rochester and Cleveland orchestras numerous times. He also loved chamber music, performing regularly with the Cleveland Chamber Players and forming the Lobero Trio with his wife, Olive, on violin and viola and pianist Melvin Smith. He recorded the Schubert Octet with the Kolisch Quartet in Washington DC in 1940. He celebrated his 70th birthday with a performance of the Brahms Trio and Schumann’s Adagio and Allego.
Hoss taught at the Eastman School of Music, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Southern California at Santa Barbara, the Music Academy of the West, San Diego State College, and the California Institute for the Arts. His students include composer John Cage, Robin Graham, Keith Johnson, George Cable, Walter Hecht, Warren Greff, and David Jolley.
Hoss was a founding member of the IHS, on the Advisory Council (1970-1976), first Vice President (1971-1972), and was elected an Honorary Member in 1974.
Frøydis Ree Wekre
Through a long and distinguished career as one of the world's leading horn players, as a professor and celebrated cultural personality, Frøydis's work has been of tremendous value to the art of horn playing and its repertoire of contemporary music. Her distinctive tone and communicative abilities have captured audiences and composers all over the world, and numerous works have been written especially for her.
Frøydis Ree Wekre was born in 1941 in Oslo into a musical family. She studied piano and violin (playing in the Norwegian Broadcasting Junior Orchestra) before taking up horn at the age of 17, having become fascinated by the sound of the horn and the idea of having her own voice in the orchestra.
Her horn studies continued in Sweden, Russia, and the US. Her principal teachers were Wilhelm Lanzky-Otto and Vitali Bujanovsky. Frøydis first won a position with the Norwegian Opera Orchestra, then in 1961 she joined the Oslo Philharmonic and became co-principal in 1965. In 1991, she retired from the orchestra to be professor of horn and wind chamber music at the Norwegian Academy of Music, where she already held a part-time position.
Her role as a teacher has been important to Frøydis, and dozens of her students play in major orchestras around the world. She has been offered professorships in several countries. She received the Lindeman Prize in 1986 for her contributions as a teacher. With Nordic colleagues, she started the NORDHORNPED teaching group, whose activities include studying their own teaching on video. With Academy colleagues, she has been forging connections with music conservatories in the US.
Renowned as both teacher and performer, Frøydis has given masterclasses and workshops throughout Europe and North America. Her book On Playing the Horn Well has been translated into several languages, and she has contributed articles to various publications, including The Horn Call. Her latest book is Collected Writings. Sometimes she demonstrates playing a scale with the main tuning slides pushed all the way in, then pulled all the way out; the scale is in tune at A=440 in both instances, showing that you can play in tune no matter the horn. She advocates practicing lip and mouthpiece buzzing while waiting for a bus, even if it might be considered a bit eccentric; "If people don't know you, it doesn't matter what they think of you, and if they do know you, well, then it's not a surprise."
Her CDs showcase her talents and include many works that have been dedicated to her or that she has commissioned, notably works by Andrea Clearfield and Norwegian composers such as Trygve Madsen and Wolfgang Plagge.
Frøydis is named after an Icelandic saga character; in the midst of war, her mother wanted to give her the name of a strong person. Her name is now instantly recognized in the horn world, and she prefers to be addressed by her given name.
In 1973, Frøydis sponsored IHS memberships for Peter Damm and Vitaly Bujanovsky, both of whom lived behind the Iron Curtain and were unable to send membership dues to the US. In 1976 the effort became formalized into the WestEast (WE) project (renamed the Friendship Project in 2000) to support members in countries where the economy or currency restrictions make regular memberships impossible.
Frøydis served on the IHS Advisory Council from 1974-1978 and 1993-2000 and as IHS President from 1998-2000, and she was elected an IHS Honorary Member in 1994 and given the Punto Award in 2022. She was co-host of the International Horn Symposium in Banff in 1998 and has participated in symposiums from the earliest days as performer, lecturer, and master, often humorous and always inspiring. She is famous for her whistling prowess, a highlight at otherwise business-like IHS General Meetings.
Barry Tuckwell (1931-2020)
Barry Tuckwell was the most recognizable name in solo horn playing in the latter half of the 20th century, but he was also revered as a conductor, educator, and author. He was present at the first horn workshops and was the first president of the IHS.
Barry was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1931 into a musical family. He learned organ, piano, and violin and had perfect pitch. He started playing horn at the suggestion of family friend Richard Merewether, who became his first horn teacher. At age 15, Barry joined the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as third horn, moving to Sydney a year later to study with Alan Mann at the Sydney Conservatorium and play assistant to Mann in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
In 1951, at age 19, Barry arrived in London. Over the next four years, he played in the Buxton Spa Orchestra, Halle Orchestra, Scottish National Orchestra, and Bournemouth. In 1955 he became first horn of the London Symphony Orchestra, a position he held for 13 years. He was also on the board of the orchestra and chairman of the board for six years.
Barry left the LSO in 1968 to pursue a free-lance solo career. He had already begun that type of work, so the transition was smooth. "If you are the principal in an orchestra, in a sense you are playing in public more, because you have to come to the rehearsals, which are not just yourself playing. The other thing is that if you are playing in an orchestra, you are actually playing more. If you're not in an orchestra, you to be very careful not to under-play. You have to actually practice more – you have to, otherwise your lips go, you lose all your strength. It's not easier – it's just another set of problems." Barry was the world's most recorded horn player and received three Grammy nominations. He formed a horn trio and a wind quintet with which he toured and recorded.
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photo courtesy of Walter Hecht
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Barry listed as inspirations Dennis Brain, Gottfried von Freiburg, Tommy Dorsey, the Chicago orchestra with Farkas, and the Cleveland Orchestra. He championed the double horn when the British tradition held to single horns, and he worked with Mark Veneklasen, Walter Lawson, and Holton in testing, analyzing, improving, and designing horns. He played the Holton Tuckwell Model 104 with a Lawson bell for his retirement concert in 1997. The Kruspe sound was his ideal.
Barry taught at the Royal Academy of Music in London for ten years, was artist-in-residents at Dartmouth and Pomona College, was a Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne, and led the Tuckwell Institute for several summers in the US.
Barry inspired many composers, including Thea Musgrave, Gunther Schuller, Richard Rodney Bennett, Don Banks, and Oliver Knussen, who have written concertos or chamber music for him.
Barry founded the Maryland Symphony Orchestra in 1982 as its conductor, was chief conductor of Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and conducted many other orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, and the Queensland Orchestra.
Major publications include:
Horn (Yehudi Menuhin Music Guides)
Fifty First Exercises for Horn
Playing the Horn; A Practical Guide
Great Performer's Editions
Mozart Concertos for Horn
In addition to serving as the first president of the IHS (1970-76), he served again as president from 1992-94, and then continued as a member of the Advisory Council until 1998. He was elected an Honorary Member in 1987. He was also Honorary President of the British Horn Society and a Patron of the Melbourne International Festival of Brass.
The Barry Tuckwell Scholarship was established with the IHS in 1997 to encourage and support worthy horn students to pursue education and performance by attending and participating in master classes and workshops anywhere in the world.
Barry was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1965 and a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1992. Among the many other awards he received were the Honorary Doctor of Music from the University of Sydney, Fellow of the Royal College of Music, Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music in America, the Andrew White Medal from Loyola College, the Harriet Cohen Memorial Award, the JC Williamson Award, and the Bernard Heinze Award for outstanding contribution to music in Australia. He was also an Honorary member of both the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music in London. In 2007 Live Performance Australia presented him with the James Cassius Williamson Award for performing excellence.
The May 1997 issue of The Horn Call is devoted to Barry and includes a discography and bibliography.
Lucien Thévet (1914-2007)
Lucien Thévet was the last of the horn players of the traditional French school and was called by one critic "Prince of the Horn." In addition to his orchestral playing, he performed all the major solo repertoire, premiered pieces composed and dedicated to him by Le Flem, Françaix, Passani, Landowski, and the Poulenc Elegie (accompanied by the composer), and gave the French premieres of the Britten Serenade (1945 with Peter Pears) and Strauss Concerto No. 2. (1950). He recorded the Ravel Pavane eight times and performed it in concert many more times. His style included vibrato, as was typical of the French school.
Thévet was born in 1914 in
Thévet was also principal horn of the Paris Conservatory Orchestra (1938-1967) and the Paris Opera Orchestra (1941-1974). Charles Munch offered him the principal horn position with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, but Thévet declined.
In a famous incident at the Paris Opera, Thévet was called to the stage for numerous curtain calls after playing the off-stage solo in Wagner's Siegfried, an event that was reported in the press. The press also praised his solo playing: "Mr. Thévet gives the impression of perfection with his confidence, incredible flexible phrasing, and beautiful sound." Thévet made many solo recordings in addition to recordings with the Paris Conservatory Orchestra and Paris Opera Orchestra.
Thévet taught at the Paris Ecole Normale de Musique, the Nineteenth Arrondissement Conservatory, and for 34 years at the Versailles Conservatory. Students came from all over the world to study with him. Thévet would take students at any level. He taught beginning students in concert pitch, and he taught transposition by clefs rather than intervals.
Thévet played a Selmer horn with piston valves and an ascending third valve (described in the Autumn 1973 issue of The Horn Call). In 1950, he became technical advisor for the Selmer company, and in 1964 he designed a new model of horn for them.
Alphonse Leduc published Thévet's Méthode Complète de Cor (1949). Other publications include Sixty Studies for Horn, Fifty Transposition Exercises for Horn, Sixty-five Sight-reading Studies for Horn, One Hundred Rhythmic Exercises in Two and Three Parts for Instruments in the Treble Clef, and Transposition: A Method for Conductors, Players, and Arrangers.
Thévet was made a Knight of Arts and Letters, was Honorary President of the French National Association of Horn Players, and was elected an IHS Honorary Member (1978). The November 1995 issue of The Horn Call contains an homage to him on his 80th birthday as well as an article by him. Two tributes appear in the October 2007 issue.
Hand position picture courtesy of Pete Exline.
