Lorenzo Sansone (1881-1975)
Lorenzo Sansone is known to many horn players for his publications and his innovative designs of equipment, especially the five-valve B-flat horn. He was also highly regarded as an orchestral player and a teacher.Sansone was born in 1881 in Monte Sant'Angelo, Italy. Despite disapproval from his father, Sansone began playing flugelhorn in the town band at age 10. At 13, he was hired by a band in another town to play horn and also played in the town orchestra. Because no horn teachers lived in the area, he taught himself, and he was proud of this fact.
In 1903, Sansone emigrated to the US and started playing in the Chiafferelli Italian Band. After three years, he became conductor of the Ventura (CA) City Band. He arranged, edited, and composed music for that band and taught various instruments in Oxnard CA.
Sansone's orchestral career included virtually all the major orchestras in the US in the first half of the 20th century (some now defunct); Los Angeles Symphony, Denver Symphony (1909-1910), St. Paul Symphony (1910-1911), St. Louis Symphony (1912-1915), Chicago Symphony (1914 summer), Cincinnati Symphony (1915-1918), Detroit Symphony (1918-1919), New York Symphony (1920-1922), Beethoven Symphony (1927), National Broadcasting Orchestra (1929), Metropolitan Opera (1931-1933).
Sansone was on the faculty of Juilliard School from 1921 to 1946, where he taught nearly 300 students. He also taught privately at his shop and later at his home. He often said, "You are your own best teacher." He taught primarily from method books and stressed learning transposition by clefs rather than intervals. He often played for his students to illustrate his ideas. Sansone published etudes, two method books, editions of standard repertoire, and French Horn Music Literature with Composers' Biographical Sketches. Southern Music took over his publications. He published a series of articles in The International Musician in the early 1940s.
Sansone played a Kruspe double horn for 11 years but switched to a five-valve B-flat horn in 1914, while he was playing in St. Louis, and stayed with the B-flat horn for the remainder of his career. The horns were manufactured to Sansone's specifications by Wunderlich in Chicago from 1914, by Kruspe from 1916, and finally, from 1954, by Sansone at his shop, Sansone Musical Instruments, in New York City. The shop was established in 1925, with most of the business in publications in the early years. After 1954 he manufactured the five-valve B-flat horn, other brass and wind instruments, mouthpieces (metal and Lucite), woodwind reed tools, and mutes. His son Lawrence, who was also a professional horn player, eventually took over the business.
Sansone was elected an IHS Honorary Member in 1971. A tribute appears in the November 1975 issue of The Horn Call and an article on his life and accomplishments in the February 2005 issue.
James Stagliano (1912-1987)
James Stagliano was best known for his expressive style of playing and his great high register, and he was the first hornist to record the high baroque music of Steinmetz, Barsanti, Handel, and Telemann. For a time, he held the record for the highest note recorded on a horn, an E-flat (concert A-flat) in the cadenza of a the Mozart Concert Rondo. He was a great lyrical player and truly representative of the style of cantabile playing taught by the fine Italian musicians of that period.
Stagliano was born in Italy in 1912 and emigrated to the US as a child. He first learned piano, then studied horn with his uncle. His father, a trumpeter, also gave him some training. At age 16, Stagliano joined the Detroit Symphony as assistant principal horn to his uncle. He moved to the St. Louis Symphony as principal horn, then in 1936 to Los Angeles, where he played in the Los Angeles Philharmonic until 1944 and became a leading player in the studios, especially Fox Studios. His movie credits include Gone With the Wind and Fantasia.
He left Los Angeles to play in the Cleveland Orchestra under Leinsdorf, but after a year was persuaded by Koussevitzky to join the Boston Symphony, where he stayed for a remarkable reign from 1947 to 1973. He founded Boston Records and, with Sarah Caldwell, the Opera Company of Boston.
Stagliano reached many players through his recordings and broadcasts, although his recorded legacy suffers from primitive recording techniques and little or no splicing. He was a natural player and had few students, but he did have some advice. He recommended standing up while practicing because of the natural support this provides. He felt that the best horn playing has "repose," by which he seemed to mean savoring each tone to the maximum, avoiding any sense of urgency or compulsion to get through. He refused to let a poor performance bother him, and he advocated relaxing when away from the horn.
Stagliano played an Alexander double horn for nearly everything except Bach, for which he used a Kruspe single high F horn. He was elected an IHS Honorary Member in 1981.
Louis Stout (1924-2005)
Louis Stout was a highly-regarded orchestral player (he never lost an audition), a revered teacher with scores of successful students, and a renowned collector of brass instruments. He had inexhaustible energy and curiosity, learned solfège early, memorized all the horn excerpts, and was always willing to share his expertise and stories. His teachers were Elaine Kessler, Marvin Howe, Mason Jones, and Robert Schultz.
Louis was born in 1924 in
By the age of ten, Louis was listening to the Chicago Symphony on the radio. He vowed that he would one day play in the orchestra, a vow that he was able to fulfill. During high school, a friend died and the friend's mother asked Louis to play for her son. Many times over the years, Louis would face difficult solo passages with a sense of perspective that made the passages less important than other elements of life.
Louis graduated from high school at age 15 and spent most of the following year playing horn solos with a pianist friend. Then he enrolled at Ithaca (NY) College, where his horn teacher made a major change in his embouchure, which he later said was the best thing for his career even though it was difficult at the time. It was also at college that his teacher insisted he learn the B-flat side of the horn, and he became primarily a player of the B-flat horn. During his junior year, Louis borrowed money to buy his first "professional" horn, a 45-year-old Schmidt that he later said was the best horn he ever owned, and played an audition for first horn in the New Orleans Symphony. He had won the audition and signed the contract when it was discovered that he was not a union member; however, the manager wanted Louis enough to arrange the necessary membership.
In
Louis played in
During his Chicago and Michigan years, Louis acquired an amazing collection of instruments, with which he toured the US and Europe in a lecture/demonstration called "The Horn: from the Forest to the Concert Hall." The collection is one of the largest private collections in the world and is now in the Franz Streitweiser's Trumpet and Horn Museum at Schloss Kremsegg in Linz, Austria. Louis's interest in historical horns led to his pioneering use of natural, single B-flat, and descant horns for early music performance.
Louis served on the Fulbright committee, and he and Glennis taught in Taiwan for two years on a Fulbright grant after his retirement. Louis participated in many IHS symposiums, often surrounded by adoring students. He was given the Punto award in 1991 and was elected an Honorary Member in 2005.
A tribute to Louis appears in the October 1989 issue of The Horn Call and a remembrance in the February 2006 issue.
photo courtesy of Holton
Willem A. Valkenier (1887-1986)
Valkenier is recognized as one of the "founding fathers" of horn-playing in the United States. He came from the European (Czech and German) tradition, and his tenure in Boston influenced players and his many students.
Valkenier was born in 1887 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He had piano lessons as a child and started horn with a military clarinetist, who, when Valkenier was 14, sent him to Edward Preus. Preus was a natural horn player from Bohemia (Czechoslovakia) who had played first horn in a German opera company in Rotterdam and settled there. He was a strict taskmaster, sparing with praise, who taught the Czech cantabile tradition.
After two years studying with Preus, Valkenier started playing in a vaudeville theater orchestra. In the summer, he played in a Civil Guard symphonic band with Preus playing first horn, a continuation of his education. His first major professional job was third horn in a symphony orchestra in Gronignen (Netherlands), then a year as first horn in Haarlem. Wanting a better living than he could attain in the Netherlands, he found a job as first horn in the Collegium Musicum in Winterthur, Switzerland. After a year, he saw an advertisement for first horn in Breslau (Silesia, later part of Poland), a larger city, where he won the job and got an excellent grounding in opera.
Valkenier applied for a summer engagement in Bad Kissingen, Germany, where the Konzertverein Orchestra from Vienna played. After he had performed the Aria from the Bach B Minor Mass, Valkenier was offered the permanent first horn position; the orchestra bought out the remainder of his Breslau contract. In Vienna, Valkenier played a lot of Mahler (Mahler had died the year before) as well as chamber music. World War I wreaked havoc with the orchestras in Vienna, so in 1914 Valkenier found a position as first horn with the Berlin State Opera, where he stayed nine years and played under Furtwangler and Richard Strauss, among others.
In 1923, Valkenier, a pacifist and still a Dutch citizen, began to see that conditions in Germany were going to "go wrong" in response to the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. He was friendly with cellist Pablo Casals and considered settling in Barcelona, but finally decided to try America. Valkenier talked with conductors in New York and Chicago, but both had six-month union waiting periods, so he went to Boston (a non-union orchestra until 1942) as first horn of the second horn section.
Valkenier was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1923 to 1950. His first year was under Pierre Monteux, then Koussevitsky took over for 25 years. Around 1950, Valkenier started having trouble with his teeth and so decided to stop playing. He had not liked playing under Koussevitsky, so he stayed long enough to play a season under Charles Munch.
While in Boston, Valkenier delighted in performing chamber music, in both professional engagements and informal pick-up sessions with his colleagues in the BSO or with visiting artists such as Arthur Schnabel, Arnold Schoenberg, and Paul Hindemith. He also played viola and cello parts on his horn.
Valkenier taught many students at New England Conservatory during his BSO tenure and others on Cape Cod during his retirement. He had high standards and insisted on everything being played correctly, but he was also gentle and encouraging, and he was an advisor and confidant to his students, taking a paternal interest in them.
Valkenier started playing on a hand horn, then a Slot single horn. His first double horn was a Kruspe, and the second a Schmidt. Later he used a Kruspe single B-flat horn for operas and a Schmidt single high F horn for high Bach cantatas.
Valkenier was elected an Honorary Member in 1971. A profile of him appears in the October 1983 issue of The Horn Call, a memoriam in the October 1986 issue, and a transcription of an interview in the February 1994 issue. Additional photos of Boston Symphony Orchestra sections appear in the April 1988 issue.
Ifor James (1931-2004)
Richard Ifor James was known for his incredible agility and secure high range, but also a broad spectrum of tone color. Philip Jones has said, "What fascinated me about Ifor was his ability to play all over the instrument with enormous panache and great momentum." Ifor left a legacy of recordings, many successful students, and a gift for humor and friendship.
Ifor was born in 1931 in Carlisle, England. His father was a top amateur cornet player and his mother (Ena Mitchell) was a famous soprano. At the age of four, Ifor began playing cornet in a local championship Brass Band. Only three years later he became a "professional," playing trumpet frequently in the theatre, paid in chocolate bars and pens because of child labor laws.
From age 16 to 21, Ifor played football (soccer) for Carlisle United, but at the same time he knew that music was his future. He had always wanted to be an organist, and during this time he became an assistant cathedral organist in Carlisle. When a horn player in the local orchestra became ill, Ifor borrowed the man's horn and played the job. He liked the horn and decided to try it for two years. He studied privately with Aubrey Brain and then won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. He would train for football in the morning, study music afternoons, and play football games on the weekends.
He began his horn career with the Halle Orchestra (after being invited to audition for Sir John Barbarolli) and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. He also played concertos, recitals, chamber music, and broadcasts and founded the Ifor James Horn Quartet. He loved most playing recitals.
Later Ifor moved to London where he played with many orchestras and chamber groups. He became professor of horn at the Royal Academy of Music, principal horn of the English Chamber Orchestra, and horn player in the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble (1966-1980). With this group he toured the world and made more than 30 recordings. He also recorded many little gems of the horn literature for his Cornucopia project, which also included a lecture series and publishing music for winds.
Ifor became professor for horn at the Royal Northern College (Manchester) and the University of Aberdeen. In 1983 he became professor for horn at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany, where he taught until retirement in 1996. He was one of the world’s most successful teachers, with over 60 players in the profession, among them several who are now following solo careers and over 20 principal horns. He advocated developing the discipline to practice for hours and to love practicing and never be satisfied. "The world owes you nothing, and this profession is not waiting for you. You have to work hard enough to deserve to be in it."
The orchestras with which Ifor James performed are too numerous to name, as are the countries he toured. Many famous composers have written for and dedicated works to him. He was also a composer who has written both for the horn and many other combinations. Ifor said about himself: "I play the horn because I can't sing. If I could sing, I would not play the horn."
To relax while on tour, Ifor drew in black and white. He also enjoyed spending time away from professional life at his house in Norway in summer or his flat in Tenerife in winter.
Ifor played a Hess, a Paxman, a Raoux piston F horn, and finally a Paxman B-flat/A and a piccolo B-flat for extremely high works. He enjoyed experimenting with equipment.
Ifor performed at many horn workshops and was elected an IHS Honorary Member in 2003. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Aberdeen, also in 2003.
Antonio Iervolino (1912-1990)
Antonio Iervolino was responsible for developing horn playing in Latin America, through his students and with the Association of Trompas of Latin America (ATLA), which was formed in 1987.
Iervolino started playing professionally at age 15 in the movie theaters, zarzuelas, and operas in his native Buenos Aires. He became first horn in Montevideo, Uruguay at age 19, and at age 24 he returned to Buenos Aires to the Teatro Colon, where he remained for 17 years. With little formal instruction or prior teaching experience, and before he had developed a virtuoso technique himself, he produced five virtuoso horn players among his students.
In 1951, after a dispute with management, Iervolino resigned his lifetime position at Teatro Colon. He taught and free-lanced in Buenos Aires, then in 1958 returned to Montevideo, where he played first horn for four years. Then he and his wife moved to Italy, where he became first horn in a chamber orchestra in Milan and later first in the Italian Radio and Television Chamber Orchestra in Naples while his wife pursued an opera career. An automobile accident took his wife's life and injured his mouth severely, and he and his doctors thought that playing again would be impossible.
In 1966, during his convalescence, Iervolino attended a rehearsal at Avery Fisher Hall in New York and he met his future wife, who encouraged him to try playing the horn again. He retaught himself to play on scar tissue and permanent bridgework, became second horn with the American Ballet Theater touring company, and then was invited to Puerto Rico to play first horn in the orchestra and teach at the conservatory where Pablo Casals was the director.
In 1973, Iervolino returned to New York City to teach at Mannes School of Music. He lived in a studio apartment and taught there, often inviting students to stay for days or longer. He never charged anyone who spoke Spanish. His teaching turned into a three-volume method book (The Horn, Its Theory and Basic Technique).
The idea for the ATLA association and its first meeting in San Carlos Bariloche, Argentina was accepted throughout Latin American because of Iervolino's teaching. Luckily, the Teatro Colon Foundation came together with private funds to make the association possible just before the financial crisis in Argentina. Hornists traveled great distances from all over Latin America to attend in a beautiful natural setting. Iervolino later left a substantial portion of his estate to support a foundation to promote and educate horn players in Latin America.
Iervolino was elected an IHS Honorary Member in 1990, shortly after his death. A tribute appears in the October 1990 issue of The Horn Call.
Fritz Huth (1908-1980)
Fritz Huth entered 10 solo competitions in his lifetime and won them all. He held important orchestra and teaching positions, and many of his students hold principal horn positions in major orchestras.
Huth was principal horn with the Dresden Staatskapelle and Hamburg State Opera (1949-1958). He was a member of Bayreuth Festival orchestras for 35 years. He also was highly regarded as a soloist and chamber musician. His solo tours took him to Africa as well as the Soviet Union and throughout Europe.
Huth taught first at the Music Academy in Detmold and then for 36 years at the Bavarian State Conservatory Würzburg. Among his students are Hermann Baumann and Peter Hoefs. Hoefs was his last student (1970-72) and comments that Huth was one of those musicians whose best years were lost in World War II.
Huth was involved in the Mozart Festival in Würzburg and was awarded a Gold Mozart Medal for his activities there.
Publications include Schule für Horn (Method for Horn), Vorschulübungen (Preparatory Studies) and Tonleiter-Studien (Scale Studies). His method is described: "By means of this systematic, slow, step by step method, it is possible for the beginner to reach his goal as quickly and as surely as possible."
Huth was elected an IHS Honorary Member in 1980, shortly before his death. A tribute appears in the October 1980 issue of The Horn Call.
