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.
Marvin Howe (1918-1994)
The Singer of Smooth Melodies
by Randall E. Faust
Excerpted from an article appearing in The Horn Call XXVI, no. 3 (May 1996): 27-36.
photos courtesy of the Office of Public Information at Eastern Michigan University
"Believing as I do that the horn is best as a singer of smooth melodies, I have laid heavier stress on legato playing than is usual in most beginning brass methods." [Foreword--Method for French Horn--Marvin C. Howe, Remick--MPH, New York, 1950.]
"...and an older teacher, Marvin Howe, showed that music is more than mere notes with a moving performance of Saint-Saens "Romance". ["19th Annual Horn Symposium," British Horn Society, Summer Newsletter 1987, John N. Wates]
Marvin Howe, this singer of smooth melodies, was born February 26, 1918, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was educated in the public schools and graduated from Harding High School in Marion, Ohio in 1935. A lifelong scholar, Marvin's collegiate studies began at the Oberlin Conservatory--where he was the first person to earn a Bachelor of Music degree in Horn in 1939. He also earned from Oberlin his bachelor's degree in School Music in 1940, (Phi Kappa Lambda). A college roommate at Oberlin--Fred Myers--later became the father of the Principal Hornist of the New York Philharmonic--Philip Myers. His horn teacher at Oberlin was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra--William Namen. Also, he was influenced by other members of the Cleveland Orchestra at that time--Martin Morris and Philip Farkas.
After college, his early career was teaching instrumental and vocal music in public schools in Lexington, Ohio, and Glens Falls, New York, before volunteering to serve in World War II. He was a band director in the U.S. Army--serving as a warrant officer at the Army Music School in Arlington, Virginia, and also in the European sector until 1945. During the time Dr. Howe was in the Army, he was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, before being sent to Europe. Before entering the Army, Dr. Howe did graduate work at the University of Michigan (1941). However, after returning from Europe, he studied at the Juilliard School of Music and Columbia University in New York City in 1946. While at Juilliard, he studied with New York Philharmonic hornist Robert Schulze.
From 1946 to 1948, Professor Howe taught horn and brass instrument pedagogy at Ithaca College, while completing his Master of Science in Music Education there in 1948. At Ithaca, he worked with trumpeter and brass pedagogue Walter Beeler. Marvin's Method for French Horn was begun at that time-and he often credited Beeler-who was writing his Method for Cornet at the same time-as a particularly helpful consultant. From 1948-1953, he taught at The University of Illinois. As an important center for the study of contemporary music, The University of Illinois brought him into contact with several prominent composers. He performed works such as the Paul Hindemith's Sonata for Horn and Piano (1939) and the Igor Stravinsky's Dumbarton Oaks Concerto under their direction there. The Maine Sketches for Horn and Piano (1952) by Eugene Weigel was inspired by Weigel's hearing Marvin's low register exercises in a nearby studio!
After taking a year off to take care of the family farm in Ohio, Marvin moved his family to Cedar Falls, Iowa, where he became an Instructor of Music at Iowa State Teachers College. In addition to teaching horn, brass instruments, and pedagogy, Marvin toured the State of Iowa as a consultant for music teachers. A performance with George Waln's Woodwind Quintet on a Post-Camp NACWPI Conference at Interlochen, Michigan in 1956, led to his employment at The National Music Camp in 1957. Soon, Interlochen became the summer home for his wife-Arline Howe, his daughters-Nancy and Peggy, and his son Michael. While teaching at the National Music Camp, Dr. Howe touched the lives of many students who are now performing in major symphony orchestras, teach in major universities, and actively support the fine arts throughout the world.
From 1960-1962, he did further graduate work at The University of Iowa. After completing is Master of Fine Arts Degree and residency for the Ph.D., he was appointed Principal Hornist of the Syracuse Symphony and Professor at Syracuse University in New York. The next year, he accepted an invitation to return to teaching at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. At both Ithaca and Syracuse, he performed as a hornist with the faculty quintets.
Nineteen sixty-six was an important year for Professor Howe for two reasons: first, he completed the final dissertation requirements for the Ph.D. at The State University of Iowa (his dissertation, "A Critical Survey of Literature, Materials, Opinions and Practices as Related to the Teaching of the French Horn," stands as an important survey of horn teaching today--and an important critique of the state of horn pedagogy as of 1966) and second, he moved to Michigan to teach at Eastern Michigan University. The State of Michigan, then, became his home--teaching at Interlochen during the summers and at Eastern Michigan University during the winter months. Upon retirement in 1979, he moved to Interlochen, and then finally to Traverse City in 1993.
Dr. Howe loved to teach! Whenever the opportunity would present itself, he would be there. When his friend Philip Farkas had a heart attack in 1978, he flew to Bloomington, Indiana, on weekends to make sure the students received their lessons. Later, in 1982, he taught for James Winter at the California State University-Fresno during Dr. Winter's sabbatical leave. Later, when officially "retired", he would give clinics, lectures, and recitals, as well as conducting the horn choir at Interlochen. His energy was remarkable!
Marvin was an active and avid member of The International Horn Society. In addition to contributing to The Horn Call, he served on The Advisory Council, and performed and/or presented clinics at International Horn Workshops in Canada (1975), Provo, Utah (1987), Potsdam, New York (1988) and Texas (1991). In 1990, he was honored with the Society's Punto Award, and in 1994, he was elected to Honorary Membership in the International Horn Society. However, as much as his "official" duties, he enjoyed the camaraderie of the workshops and the chance to be a participant. He and his wife Arline provided support to performers, encouragement to exhibitors, and fellowship to hornists young and old alike. Workshop cafeteria meals were a time to meet friends and revel in the development of his many former students. In addition to the opportunity to see colleagues and hear former students, he relished the chances provided by workshops to learn new truths, rediscover old truths, and to affirm important values. Some of these are documented in his Horn Call article: "Thoughts Triggered by the 1993 IHS Convention, Charleston, Illinois."
In 1988, the Marvin Howe Horn Scholarship Endowment Fund was created by former students of Dr. Howe. Those interested in contributing to this fund in honor of Dr. Howe may contact the Director of Advancement, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Interlochen, Michigan 49643.
Writings for and about the Horn
Pedagogical Materials
- Method for French Horn, Remick Music Co. New York, 1950. Reprinted by Marvin Howe--available from Mrs. Howe, 6443 Mission Ridge, Traverse City, Mi 49686
- Ph. D. Dissertation--A Critical Survey of Literature, Materials, Opinions, and Practices and Related to the Teaching of the French Horn (1966), University of Iowa.
- Notes on the Horn --1967 published in The Horn Call XXII, no. 2 (1992): 53-55.
- Stopped Horn-- (1968) Treatise. Excerpt published in The Horn Call IV, no. 1 (1973): 19-24.
- Refinement of Tone Quality--paper presented at the 23rd IHS Symposium, University of North Texas, 1991.
- Thoughts Triggered by the 1993 IHS Convention, Charleston, Illinois. The Horn Call XIV, no. 1: 75-76.
- Howe's Handy Hints for Stopped Horn--Unpublished article.
- Method for Horn-- Volume 2. Unpublished.
MUSIC-- Published Arrangements and Transcriptions
- Das Signpost --Franz Schubert arranged for Horn Quartet (The Hornist's Nest)
- Die Zwei Blauen Augen-- Gustav Mahler arranged for horn ensemble (The (Hornist's Nest)
- Divertimento No. 8--W.A. Mozart arranged for Horn Quartet published by Southern Music Co.
- Exaudi Deus--Orlando di Lasso arranged for Horn Quartet published by Southern Music Co.
- Finale-Viennese Sonatina No. 6--W.A. Mozart trans. for Horn Trio (The Hornist's Nest)
- Ihr Bild--Franz Schubert arranged for Horn Quartet (The Hornist's Nest)
- Largo from the Violin Concerto in a minor-Vivaldi transcribed for Horn and Piano (Encore Music)
- Madrigals arr for Horn Quartet 2 volumes--(The Hornist's Nest)
- Madrigals for Brass Sextet (Elkan Vogel)
- Quando Corpus--G. Rossini arranged for Horn Quartet (McCoy's Horn Library)
- Seventeen Horn Duets--(Hornist's Nest) presented at the International Horn Workshop 1975
- Someone's Horse is Standing There--Russian Folk Song arranged for horn quartet (The Hornist's Nest)
- Three Tuba Solos-- (Lawson and Gould Co.)
MUSIC-- Unpublished Arrangements and Transcriptions
- Andante Cantabile-Pinsutti arranged for Horn Quartet
- Cherubim Song-Bortiansky arranged for Horn Quartet
- Collected Solos --arr. for Horn and Piano
- Horn Quartets--A Baker's Dozen
- Sarabande from the Holberg Suite--Edvard Grieg arranged for Horn Quintet
MUSIC written for, premiered by or dedicated to Marvin C. Howe
- Elegy and Caprice for Horn and Piano (1994) by William Presser
- Maine Sketches for Horn and Piano (1952) by Eugene Weigel
- Night Watch for Horn, Flute, and Timpani (1943) by Ellis B. Kohs
- "Prelude/Nocturne" from Concerto for Horn and Wind Ensemble (1987) by Randall E. Faust
- Prelude for Horn Alone (1974) by Randall E. Faust
- Sonatina for Horn and Piano (1978) by William Presser
Anton Horner (1877-1971)
Anton Horner founded a distinctively American style of horn playing, and his impact is still with us today. He is credited with having introduced the double horn in the US and having introduced the use of an assistant first horn. He is quoted as saying, "God made some people Horn players; others are not so fortunate."
Horner was born in Austria in 1877; in 1885 he immigrated with his family to the US and settled in Philadelphia. His father was a violinist, and Horner studied violin with him from age 8 to 13. After his father died in 1890, the family returned to Austria. In 1891 he entered the Leipzig Conservatory as a violin student. At the insistence of his great uncle, Josef Semmler, a hornist and music teacher, he took on the horn as his second instrument, studying with Friedrich Gumpert. After a year, he made horn his primary instrument.
Horner returned to Philadelphia upon graduation in 1894 and worked in the Walnut Street Theater and various other jobs. In 1899 Victor Herbert appointed him first horn of the Pittsburgh Orchestra. In the 1900 summer season he played on a European tour with Pittsburgh, and in 1901 as first horn of the Sousa Band. In 1901 he was joined by his brother, Joseph (1882-1944), who had played the previous season as the original second horn of the new Philadelphia Orchestra.
Horner auditioned for the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1902 and was appointed first horn by Fritz Scheel. He was joined again by his brother, who remained second horn until his retirement in 1938. Horner appeared as soloist with the orchestra a number of times; his last solo appearance was in 1928 in the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante. During his years with the Philadelphia Orchestra, he also played with a number of other chamber groups and orchestras, including the Bethlehem Bach Festival and the Baltimore Symphony's first series of concerts. Horner shared first horn duties during the 1929-30 season, and the following season moved to third horn, where he remained until his retirement in 1946.
Horner taught at the Curtis Institute of Music from its founding in 1924 until 1942, and his students (James Chambers, Marc Fischer, Mason Jones, Arthur and Harry Berv, and many others) have performed in orchestras worldwide. In the first years, the faculty played the principal parts in the school orchestra, so students heard and watched their teachers. Horner had his students stand in their lessons to aid breathing. He would sing rather than play to demonstrate, saving his embouchure for evening concerts.
While still at the Pittsburgh Symphony, Horner saw an advertisement for the Kruspe double horn and ordered one, beginning a long association with Kruspe. This first instrument was the Gumpert model double (designed by Edmund Gumpert, Friedrich's nephew). Starting in 1902, Horner had horns built to his specifications (the Horner Model), which he imported and sold until World War II. This design was copied by several other makers, the most notable being the Conn 8D.
Horner's major publication (still available today) is Primary Studies for the French Horn.
Horner was an original member of the IHS, and was elected an Honorary Member in 1971. A tribute appears in the May 1972 issue of The Horn Call and a reminiscence by one of his students in the April 1990 issue.
photo courtesy of The Philadelphia Orchestra Association Archives and John Collins
Herbert Holtz (1894-1980)
Herbert Holtz devoted his life to music and teaching, and to his native Hartford CT. He is remembered as a gentle and modest man who was also a hornist of the highest quality. He came out of retirement to play the obbligato part in Mahler's Fifth Symphony.
At age 15, Holtz played trumpet in the governor's Foot Guard Band, but switched to horn because he was told the opportunities would be greater. He studied horn with Joseph Franzl, who traveled from New York to play with the Hartford Symphony (then called the Hartford Philharmonic).
A superb pianist, Holtz first earned his living playing for silent movies and teaching piano. Later he became principal horn in the Hartford, Springfield, and New Haven symphony orchestras. He was principal horn when the Harford Symphony Society launched the orchestra's first season in 1938, one of the musicians who offered their services gratis for a year to help the newly-formed orchestra get off the ground.
In the early 1940s, Holtz played extra horn with the Boston Symphony. He passed up an opportunity to play full time with the orchestra because he preferred his native Hartford. He taught horn at the Harford Conservatory and Hartt College and gave piano lessons into his retirement.
Holtz had a beautiful liquid tone, and his intonation, accuracy, and musicianship were always of the highest standards.
He retired from playing in 1967, but returned to play the obbligato part of Mahler's 5th Symphony with the Hartford Symphony - and impeccable performance and just months before his 74th birthday.
Holtz was elected an IHS Honorary Member in 1974. A tribute appears in the April 1981 issue of The Horn Call.
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.
Ingbert Michelsen (1917-1991)
Ingbert Michelsen was the leading horn player in Denmark and the teacher of a generation of Scandinavian horn players.
Michelsen was born in Skanderburg, Denmark in 1917. His father was a carpenter and amateur musician. Even before entering school, Michelsen started playing on an old tenor (alto) horn, then switched to trumpet. At age 10, he was admitted to a new Conservatory of Music in Århus. The teacher, Ejnar Knudsen of the Jutlandian Dragoons, arrived at the first lesson in his uniform, carrying his horn in a sack. He unpacked the horn and asked Michelsen, who had never seen a horn before, to try it. Michelsen did not dare refuse the imposing figure, and so horn became his instrument. Lessons were taken standing, with the military teacher also standing. Michelsen started playing third horn with the Århus Symphony Orchestra at age 12.
After four years at the Conservatory, Michelsen started training to become a builder since music was not considered to be a safe way to make a living. However, he paid for his education by playing wherever he could, and then, in quick succession, won an audition for the Royal Opera Orchestra in Copenhagen, was offered solo horn in the Århus Symphony, and finally won an audition for the Danish Radio Symphony, the position he held for 27 years (1942-1969). In 1949, he received a scholarship to study for four months with Gottfried von Freiberg in Vienna. He taught at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen from 1956 to 1984.
In addition to his outstanding orchestral work, Michelsen was highly regarded as a soloist and chamber musician. He performed many Danish premieres (Britten Serenade, Hindemith Sonata and Concerto) and solos dedicated to him (Niels Viggo Bentzon Sonata and Launy Grøndahl Concerto) as well as performing standard concertos throughout Europe. "[His] fabulous technique and outstanding flexibility over the whole range of his instrument, combined with his brilliant musicianship, made him one of the most loved chamber musicians of the country." He was also heard on soundtracks in Swedish films.
Few recordings of Michelsen are known, but admirers have collected tapes of his radio performances; Ib Lanzky-Otto played some of these at a Scandinavian Horn Club gathering. Michelsen was held in high regard by many conductors and visiting soloists. Rostropovich insisted that Michelsen share the solo bows after a performance of the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1.
Michelsen's first horn was a Gottfried F horn dating from the 1880s; in later years, he found it in a second hand shop and bought it back. After leaving the conservatory, he acquired in double horn. Later he had a D descant horn made for him by Alexander, intended for the Bach B minor Mass but used for many other works in D, for its lighter, elegant tone quality rather than for ease of playing. He also designed mouthpieces and was a skilled furniture maker.
Michelsen was elected an IHS Honorary Member in 1978. A tribute appears in the April 1992 issue of The Horn Call.
Richard Moore (1914-1988)
"Whether lasting through a Salome, pounding out a Long Call, backing up NBC script shows, or playing in Xavier Cugat's orchestra, Dick served his Art well. Loyal to his colleagues and dedicated to his students, Dick Moore demanded much of himself in maintaining the highest standards of teaching and performance."
Richard Moore studied with Lorenzo Sansone during his last year of high school. During his college years in Los Angeles, he studied with Georg Hofmann, played in a repertoire orchestra, and worked as an usher at the LA Philharmonic. "I was so interested in music that even though nobody had any money during the Depression, I'd go to a store that had miniature scores that were badly printed, seconds that were yellowed and old so they cost just pennies." He also worked summers at the Hollywood Bowl as a stage guard. He used the opportunities to listen to great musicians and learn from what he heard, marking the scores with his observations.
Moore returned to New York for graduate work at Juilliard, studying horn with Josef Franzl, his most influential teacher. He also took a few lessons with Anton Horner. He played in the National Training Orchestra. In 1936 he was offered his first professional contract as second horn with the Chautauqua Orchestra.
In quick succession, Moore played principal in the National Symphony, assistant first in Pittsburgh (where he spent his time practicing), then Radio City Music Hall and free-lance work in New York City. In 1940, he was accepted into the NBC Symphony, which included various other work such as brass band. A euphonium player in the brass band was also personnel manager of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and he recommended Moore to the Met.
Even while playing full-time at the Met (1942-1985, principal 1942-1964), Moore continued to free-lance and play television shows. He was justifiably proud of his accomplishments with the Met, especially the recordings of Humperdink's Hansel and Gretel (1947, no splicing), Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutti (with Stiedry), and Strauss's Salome (with Welitch and Reiner). He appreciated working beside Gunther Schuller at the Met. "I was lucky to have such a sensitive musician who knew the scores that completely as a colleague." He felt that much musicality was lost in later years as horn players seemed concerned with playing higher, louder, faster. "Today we are getting players who are far better instrumentally prepared, better technicians, but not musically prepared."
Moore taught for 22 years at the Manhattan School of Music. He wrote methods (A French Horn Primer and French Horn Method I & II), a warm-up book (Master Horn Warm-up and Flexibility Studies), Operatic French Horn Passages, and Anthology of French Horn Music (excerpts with detailed comments, published in 1993). He was a demanding but inspiring teacher. He listened to live and recorded music, especially of singers, and studied scores to know what everyone else was playing, and he recommended such studies to his students. "I'd study how singers phrased things, especially in opera, since I often played the same phrase with them before, during, or after they sang it."
Moore was elected an IHS Honorary Member in 1987. A tribute on the occasion of his retirement from the Met appears in the April 1986 issue of The Horn Call, and another, after his death, in the April 1989 issue.
