A Glimpse into Montréal’s Musical History
by Eric St-Pierre
Montreal International Jazz Festival (photo: gonzai.com)
Montrealers have always had great influence in the music industry, both locally and on the international scene.
From 1929 to 1950, the New York Metropolitan Opera’s primary conductor of French repertoire was Wilfrid Pelletier, founding conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. Pelletier also founded the Conservatoire de Musique et d’Art Dramatique du Québec, where many successful musicians have been trained, including Joseph Masella, principal horn in the OSM from 1943 to 1969. Fun fact: for a while, Joseph and seven of his brothers—Raphael (clarinet), Pietro (oboe), Rodolfo (bassoon), Alfred and Mario (violin), and Paul and Giulio (horn)—were all playing in the OSM at the same time!
Montréal has always been one of the hottest jazz cities in North America. During the US Prohibition of the 1920s and ’30s, Montréal was one of the few places where you could still legally buy alcohol...which made our nightclubs and cabarets flourish. Montréal’s reputation was so infamous that it was nicknamed "Sin City!" This environment helped create famous Montréal-born jazz artists like Oscar Peterson, Maynard Ferguson, and Oliver Jones. Nowadays, Montréal's International Jazz Festival is the biggest annual jazz event in the world, taking place each year in June, with over 500 indoor and outdoor shows.
1969 provided a notorious moment in Montréal’s musical history: it was during that spring that John Lennon and Yoko Ono held their famous “bed-in” protest against the Vietnam war. This is where they recorded the song Give Peace a Chance live from their bed at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel. You can still rent the mythical room, but you will have to spend a few thousand dollars a night (and even in Canadian dollars, that’s a lot)!
Over the last few years, many musicians and performers from Montréal have loomed large on the international scene. Celine Dion, for example, was born and raised in the suburbs of Montréal, but other famous artists are linked to our city: singer-songwriters Leonard Cohen, Rufus and Martha Wainwright, and Elisapie; concert pianists Marc-André and Charles-Richard Hamelin; members of the rock bands Simple Plan and Arcade Fire; and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, to name a few. This diversity has made Montréal a rich and fertile environment for musicians in many genres.
Speaking of maestro Nézet-Séguin, we are happy to announce that he will be conducting a concert as part of IHS 55 in partnership with the Festival de Lanaudière and the Orchestre Métropolitain. This concert will feature IHS 55 artists Sarah Willis, Stefan Dohr, Yun Zeng, and host Louis-Philippe Marsolais performing Schumann’s Konzertstück as well as Strauss’ Alpine Symphony.
Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin (photo credit: © Orchestre Métropolitain)
A lawn-section ticket for this concert is included with your full registration to IHS 55 (with upgrades possible on demand, according to availability). Register now for IHS 55 at www.ihs55.org. More information on the concert is available at Strauss au sommet – Festival de Lanaudière (lanaudiere.org)
Pedagogy Column—Find Your Voice
by Arkady Shilkloper
I played in orchestras for twelve years in Moscow, and while that was a great experience, it made me want to find my own unique voice in music and in horn playing. I mostly now play music that I write or improvise—even if I’m playing a piece someone else wrote for me, I’ll put my own stamp on it.
Every horn player can find his or her own voice on the instrument. I like to have students get away from printed music, but of course telling a student to just start improvising is very unhelpful. A good starting point is to imitate, on the horn, sounds that you hear in the real world. It could be whale sounds, or car alarm sounds, or sheep, dogs, cats, wolves, trucks, screams, or anything else. The point is to make your horn sound like something else instead of trying to play notes that someone else wrote.
Another great exercise is to imitate the intonation of human speech. By “intonation” I don’t mean playing in tune, but rather the ups and downs we make with our voice as we speak. For instance, you might say, “I learned something interesting at school today.” When I say that sentence, my voice goes a little higher on the words “interesting” and “school.” Also, there is a rhythm to the words: they don’t all come out as even eighth notes—not even close. You can use pitch and rhythm on the horn to imitate that sentence or any other sentence. Start by saying what you want. Next: repeat it with your voice, but without words, just with rhythmic pitches. Now play it on your horn, in the same way. This is a way to give yourself permission to just play, without playing something that someone told you to play!
There is an interesting practice called sound painting developed by Walter Thompson. It comprises a large set of hand gestures that the Soundpainter (who is the composer/conductor) gives to the players. You can look at the gestures on the website or develop your own. Get into a group of players who want to improvise, and develop gestures for long note, short note, high note, low note, do something different, faster, slower, and so on. The gestures, in other words, give a context and direction to the players, which is easier than just making music up from scratch.
As you do this in a group, start responding to what each other is playing. And start paying attention to what you are playing. What kinds of musical gestures come out of your bell? What kinds of sounds? You are developing your own musical voice!
You can also work on your body’s sense of rhythm. Think of a slower tempo in 4/4 time. Sit in a chair and tap beat 1 with your left foot. Then add beats 1 and 3 with your right. When you can do that, use your left hand to tap quarter notes on your left knee. When you can do all three of these things together, add eighth notes in your right hand on your right knee. It’s hard, but you are learning to coordinate your body according to its sense of rhythm.
As you develop your body’s sense of rhythm, you can apply that sense to the music you improvise. You are becoming more and more coordinated: experiencing rhythm will become a full-body experience. The music that comes out of your bell can be informed by that sense of rhythm, so that you aren’t playing random notes at random times, but notes that flow with your own rhythmic logic.
At this point, you will be finding your musical voice. And all of this work will make you a better horn player, too, no matter what kind of music you are playing.
Composer Spotlight—Claude Arrieu
by Caiti Beth McKinney
Hello everyone!
For our April edition, I want to introduce you to a composer with whom I only recently became acquainted: Anne-Marie Simon, or as she is more widely known, Claude Arrieu. Born in Paris in 1903, Arrieu became a student at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1924 where she studied piano and composition with famous teachers such as Paul Dukas. There seems to be little agreement on why Arrieu chose to adopt a pen name, but a certain possibility is that her mother was also a composer who went by several different pen names, including Cecile Paul Simon, Guy Portal, and John Rovens. The second possibility is that all of these pen names use traditionally male first names, although Claude was occasionally a woman’s name as well. While this is speculation, it is quite possible to see how the choice to adopt male names could have been attempts to avoid the sexism rampant in the composition world during the 19th and early 20th centuries. While she is, unfortunately, not well-known today, she achieved a high level of success in her career prior to her death in 1990. Her extensive catalogue includes twelve operas, film and radio music, as well as chamber and solo works.
Arrieu wrote several pieces that feature the horn, including (as of now) an unrecorded piece for solo horn and piano entitled Le Coeur Volant. Since it is available to purchase, I hope someone will take up the challenge and get us a recording! More well-known is her Wind Quintet, written in 1955, which exemplifies the French neo-classicism popular during this period. In the movements of this work, the listener can hear elements pulled from jazz, Impressionist composers like Debussy and Ravel, and much more. Check out a recording and enjoy!
Röntgen: Aus Jotunheim
Röntgen: Aus Jotunheim
door Paul van Zelm
Rond het jaar 2000 speelde ik enkele seizoenen lang met de hoboist Maarten Karres en zijn vrouw Ariane een prachtig programma, rondom de vriendschap tussen Julius Röntgen en Edvard Grieg. Gespeeld werden de hobosonate van Röntgen, enkele liederen en pianowerken van Grieg, waaronder het stuk „Sehnsucht nach Julius“, opgedragen aan Röntgen (later “Resignation“ opus 73 nr. 1). Als hoofdwerk voor de hoorn speelde ik de suite Aus Jotunheim voor hoorn en piano, een vijfdelig werk, baserend op noorse volksmuziek. Om de genoemde vriendschap tussen Grieg en Röntgen toe te lichten, lazen we brieven en fragmenten uit een biografie voor.
De beiden komponisten maakten in 1875 kennis in Leipzig. Toen Grieg in 1883 Amsterdam bezocht, nodigde Röntgen hem bij zich thuis uit om te verblijven. Het plan was, dat Grieg 1 dag zou blijven. Grieg had Röntgen geschreven: „ik verheug me er bijzonder op, u en uw vrouw weer te ontmoeten. Zorg er altublieft voor, dat die ene dag 48 uur duurt!“ Het liep anders: Grieg zou een hele maand bij Röntgen blijven. Sindsdien waren de beiden Komponisten door een warme vriendschap verbonden, tot Griegs dood in 1907.
In de jaren daarna zou Röntgen maar liefst 14 keer naar Noorwegen reizen om Grieg te bezoeken, meestal in de zomer. Er werden dan dagenlange trektochten door het gebergte „Jotunheimen“ ondernomen, telkens ook met het doel, Noorse volksliederen te horen en deze op papier te zetten. Röntgen schreef hierover: „Jotunheim is een wereld voor zich, slechts in de zomer door herders bewoond. Met Grieg samen ging de reis per paardenkar en een roeiboot over het Sognefjord naar Skjolden. Het was een warme namiddag in augustus en we lieten, liggend op hooizakken, het grootse landschap aan ons voorbijtrekken.“ Later schreef Franz Beyer, vriend en reisgenoot van Röntgen, het volgende: „Na de overnachting in een berghut mochten we mee de wei op om de koeien te melken. Ook daarbij werden natuurlijk de Noorse volksliederen gezongen en deze werden nog tijdens het zingen, met het notenpapier op de rug van de koe liggend, quasi „vers van de koe“ opgeschreven!“ Uit deze liederen en melodieën is in 1892 de Suite „Aus Jotunheim“ ontstaan. Aanvankelijk voor viool en piano, als geschenk voor het 25 jarig huwelijk van Grieg en zijn vrouw Nina. In 1901 was de versie voor hoorn en piano, voor de bekende weense hoornist Luis Savart geschreven. Voor Savart schreef Röntgen nog een werk: Variationen und Finale über „Sankt Nepomuk“.
In de bovengenoemde concerten speelde ik het stuk uit het manuscript, dat zich tegenwoordig in het Nederlands Muziek Instituut in Den Haag bevindt.
In 2003 verscheen een gedrukte versie van de hand van John Smit (die heel toevallig ook mijn eerste hoornleraar was). Toen ik in de herfst van 2022 een aantal korte video ́s opnam om op het internet te publiceren, was het voor mij een logische keuze om enkele delen van de Jotunheim Suite op te nemen: in zijn genre (hoogromantiek) is het stuk een waardevolle aanvulling op ons repetoire.
Fearless Performance—Fandom
by Jeff Nelsen and Katy Carnaggio
Hey everyone, how do you get better at horn?
I bet we all could write a book on etudes to try, tools to use, mouthpieces to experiment with, recordings to listen to, how many hours to practice in a day and how to space them out….
But we want to talk about a resource that often goes unnoted.
What has helped us get better at horn? beyond ANYTHING else?
People. Your horn instructor, for sure. But also, the best friend you shoot hoops with or the serendipitous encounter you have with somebody during grocery checkout or the classmates you spend Friday night listening to mind-blowing recordings with over drinks.
“There is absolutely nothing more important in life than other people. Nothing. Not even the brilliant and impactful work you will do. Especially with your spouse, children, immediate family, and close friends—those relationships are where your deepest joy and meaning can and should come. Those relationships are what drive you to be and do your best in life.” ~Benjamin Hardy
We are basically saying that people expand our belief about who we can be and who we want to be. Our connections ultimately inspire us to do the work to be the best version of ourselves. They give us the inspiration to spend 5 more minutes in the practice room to figure something out. They offer us another perspective when we're stuck. They give us grace when we've forgotten how (or we're just too tired) to extend it to ourselves. The people in our lives are basically like an Eye of the Tiger soundtrack playing in the background of all we do…except not in an annoying way!
A lot of horn work is time alone in a practice room, but that doesn't mean you have to go it alone. You can build a community around you so that you can be all of who you are, try out different things, have it not work, and still be fully embraced. This is something we are both very intentional about cultivating in our lives, both on and off horn! And it takes practice, too.
As you’re working hard to boost your skills, remember it’s not just an extra bonus if we get to connect with others. It is a life essential that we have somebody who we believe gets us and is in a full state of support…our fandom!
And if you're still searching for your fans, it's always great to first practice being a fan. Here are some ways to get started:
- Invite somebody you know could use some practice accountability for a weekly practice date. Whether at school in separate rooms or muted on Zoom, having somebody around doing the work with you can be a huge boost in motivation.
- Schedule a coffee date with somebody you’ve always wanted to get to know.
- Book a lesson with somebody you’ve always been interested in studying with.
- Authentically compliment a colleague on something freakishly amazing they do.
- Write a thank-you letter to that person who's played a big role in your musical life.
If nothing else, come hang out with US! We're hosting a free 1-hour training on April 11 and 12. We're setting up the registration page (maybe we could get connected to some tech geniuses?), but if you put your name on our list, we'll send you a note when registration opens: https://www.fearless-performance.com/
Stepping out of your comfort zone to build relationships doesn't always feel great. We might feel like we don't have time to do it. But it is very much worth it.
Cheers to our amazing horn community here at IHS! Grateful for you!
Horn on Record
by Ian Zook
Volume 6—James Stagliano
This month’s Horn on Record will focus on a collection of short Russian and French pieces for horn and piano by seminal American hornist James Stagliano with Paul Ulanowsky as pianist.
This album is fascinating for both the exquisite performances and presentation of obscure gems in the repertoire, and also for the unique marketing strategy of having this album released by Pfizer Pharmaceutical Laboratories as part of their Sinequan (doxepin HCl) Collector’s Series.
Released in 1971, Stagliano’s French Horn Masterpieces was one of eleven recordings comprising The Sinequan Collector’s Series. Moreover, Stagliano was well-represented in this catalog since the series also includes his recording of the complete Mozart concerti with the Zimbler Sinfonietta, as well as the Dvořák Serenade op. 44, the Strauss Serenade op. 7, and the Thuille Sextet op. 6, all with the Boston Woodwind Quintet and Boston Wind Ensemble.
A sidebar on the gatefold album jacket outlines the medical usage of Sinequan, a name brand for doxepin hydrochloride that was a capsule available in dosages from 10 to 50 mg. It was advertised to help “relieve excessive and frequently immobilizing psychoneurotic anxiety and depression” and that it “may produce a response where other antidepressant and antianxiety agents have failed.” Are we to assume that the fine chemists and marketers at Pfizer Laboratories found the sound of the horn a soothing sonic balm for their Sinequan patients?
James Stagliano (1912-1987) was born in Italy and emigrated to the United States in 1920. His uncle, Albert J. Stagliano, was a hornist in the staff orchestra of the Detroit radio station WWJ in the early 1920s. Albert later went on to hold the positions of principal horn in the Detroit Symphony (1929-1936), the Cleveland Orchestra (1936-1937), and as a member of the NBC Symphony under Toscanini until the end of his career. Needless to say, Albert provided much guidance and tutelage for James, who himself first played as an extra musician with the Detroit Symphony at age 16. James then joined the Detroit Symphony as assistant principal horn, performing alongside his uncle during the 1930-1931 concert season.
James Stagliano’s musical career flourished. He held appointments with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (1934-1936), the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1936-1937), as a Hollywood studio player in the early 1940’s, with the Cleveland Orchestra in 1944, and, as his final destination, joining the Boston Symphony as co-principal horn alongside Willem Valkenier in 1946. When Valkenier retired in 1950, Stagliano assumed the principal chair through 1973. Altogether, he served as principal or co-principal of the Boston Symphony for twenty-seven years.
In addition to his storied orchestral career, Stagliano was active in recording with the orchestras of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Twentieth Century-Fox, Universal, Warner Brothers, United Artists, and Walt Disney motion-picture studios. As such, he played on numerous films, including Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and Fantasia. Additionally, he also gave the American radio premiere of the second Concerto by Richard Strauss at Tanglewood in 1949, the work having already been performed in 1948 by Anthony Miranda and the Little Orchestra of New York (both well after Gottfried von Freiburg’s premiere with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1943).
While this album does feature a few cornerstone repertoire choices with Dukas’ Villanelle, Poulenc’s Elegie, and Gliere’s Nocturne, this review will focus on the shorter and more obscure gems that are all truly wonderful pieces in their own right.
Feodor Akimenko, a Ukrainian composer noted as Stravinksy’s first composition teacher, gives the horn a treasure in his Melody. Stagliano presents this anthemic opening statement with a committed build to the soaring high points. Ample relaxation and elision of the notes allows the phrases to finish beautifully.
Stagliano presents another gorgeous morsel with Russian composer Alexander Gretchaninov’s Lullaby. The use of silky, softly-lifted portamento throughout this melody lends a sense of tenderness and compassion.
An arrangement of Faure’s Après un rêve showcases Stagliano’s well-known and delicate high range. The sonic activity of the high harmonics in his sound keeps the tone rich and complex, while his velvety articulation shapes lines without any hinderance.
Our last example comes from the French composer Émile Vuillermoz. While the title listed on the album jacket is simply Etude, this piece more specifically comes from the compilation arranged for horn by Edward Vuillermoz entitled Dix Pièces Mélodiques (published by Alphonse Leduc). Stagliano plays the featured stormy middle section with fleet dexterity, allowing the churning piano part to drive the tempo. As the opening melody returns, Stagliano’s smooth tone and sense of line once again impart a sense of space and timelessness. Enjoy this elegant performance of a forgotten piece.
While we cannot offer any Sinequan to our readers, we hope that this foray into the performances of James Stagliano has been a cure for any nagging earworms! Thank you for reading, and as always, please visit us at Horn on Record.
Greeting, April 2023 in Korean
친애하는여러분께,
저는 개인적으로 사계절 중 가을을 선호하지만, 봄은 매우 감사한 삶의 갱신을 가져다 줍니다. 하지만 사실 지구의 절반은 가을입니다. 북반구 전역에서는 봄과 함께 다양한 축제가 열립니다. 중국에서는 4월 5일 청명절에 묘지를 청소하는 의식으로 조상을 기립니다. 말레이시아, 스리랑카, 싱가포르 및 인도의 일부 지역에서는 4월 14일에 타밀의 새해인 푸탄두를 기념합니다. 한편 남반구에서는 호주와 뉴질랜드에 있는 우리 친구들이 4월 25일 Anzac Day에 군 복무를 하는 남녀들을 기억합니다. 미국에서는 4월에 연방 세금을 내야 하기에, 꼭 필요한 해야 할 일이긴 하지만 봄을 맞이할 시간은 훨씬 적은 것 같습니다. 하지만 적어도 호른 연주자들은 Kopprasch 립트릴 에튀드를 정복하거나 또는 Strauss tone poem 을 성공적으로 연주를 하든 항상 음악으로 무언가를 기념하거나 축하할수 있습니다.
우리의 훌륭한 정규 교육학 칼럼 Horn and More 4월호에는 (이달에는 비교할수 없이 훌륭한 Arkady Shilkloper가 발표함) 또 다른 단계의 Fearless Performance (두려움 없는 연주) 팁을 제공하며, IHS 55 개최도시인 몬트리올의 음악 역사에 대한 매혹적이고 흥미로운 통찰력을 얻을 것입니다. Horn on Record와 Composer Spotlight는 제가 가장 좋아하는 교육 자료 중 두 가지가 되었습니다. (제 학생들은 이에 대해 끊임없이 듣습니다). 우리는 Nury Guarnaschelli와의 스페인어 인터뷰를 포함하여 세계 다른 지역의 사람들과 그들의 활동을 따라잡을 것입니다. 하지만 이번 달에는 매우 특별한 두 분을 소개하게 되어 정말 기쁩니다. International Horn Society의 Executive Director인 Julia Burtscher께서 그녀의 작업과 영감을 엿볼수 있게 해줍니다. 그리고 Florian Dzierla는 Ein Waldhorn Lustig 패널에서 삽화에 대한 그의 위대한 열정 중 하나 (호른을 제외하고)를 공유합니다. 그리고 이것으로도 충분하지 않다면 우리의 뛰어난 Angela Winter가 멋진 우크라이나-호주 작곡가인 Catherine Likhuta와의 매력적인 인터뷰 1부를 제공합니다저는 여러분이 Horn and More의 이번 호에서 재미있고 유익한 정보들을 빠짐없이 모두 즐기시기를 진심으로 바랍니다. 만약 여러분중에 피드백이나 제안 사항이 있거나 또는 우리의 관심을 끌만한 가치 있는 호른 연주자 및 호른 행사를 알고 있거나 혹은 자신이 직접 기여할수 있는 무언가가 있다면 주저하지 말고 hornandmore@hornsociety.org로 이메일을 보내 알려주시기 바랍니다. 만일 Horn and More를 처음 보신다면 IHS 웹사이트의 Horn and More 페이지에서 매달 수신 받도록 등록할수 있습니다. 그렇게 해주시길 부탁 드리고, 또한 동료 및 급우들과도 공유해 주시길 부탁드립니다.
나이가 많든 적든, 학생이든 아마추어든 프로든, 지구 어느곳에 있든지 여러분을 맞이하고 기념하기 위해 우리가 여기 있습니다.
잘 연습하시길!
Mike Harcrow, 편집자, Horn and More
