:Goldman Band

{{Short description|American concert band which performed in New York City}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| background =

| name = Goldman Band

| image = Goldman Band LCCN2014714574.jpg

| caption = The Goldman Band circa 1922

| origin = New York City, U.S.

| genre = Concert Band

| years_active = 1918-2005

| label = {{hlist|Victor Records|Decca|Columbia}}

| past_members = Edwin Franko Goldman Richard Franko Goldman

}}

The Goldman Band was an American concert band founded in 1918 by Edwin Franko Goldman from his previous New York Military Band.{{cite news|first=David|last=Hinckley|title=On the mall: Edwin Franko Goldman|date=June 7, 2004|work=New York Daily News|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/city_life/big_town/v-bigtown_archive/story/200650p-173217c.html|archive-date=March 7, 2005|access-date=March 8, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050307063908/http://www.nydailynews.com/city_life/big_town/v-bigtown_archive/story/200650p-173217c.html|url-status=live}} Both bands were based in New York City.

It was Goldman's contention that the New York symphony and orchestra musicians in the summer bands of the time, rarely rehearsed and did not take these performances very seriously. He saw the potential for starting a really good wind ensemble.

The Goldman Band's first concert under that name was in 1920 at Columbia University. The program was representative of Goldman's choices in transcriptions and original works including compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach, Victor Herbert, Edward MacDowell, Johan Svendsen, Ambroise Thomas, Richard Wagner, and Karl Michael Ziehrer.

For ninety-three years the Goldman Band performed free public concerts at a variety of venues in New York City, including on the Green at Columbia, Central Park, Prospect Park, and at the Guggenheim Bandshell at Lincoln Center. Famous instrumental and vocal performers appeared with the band along with guest conductors such as Percy Grainger and Vivian Dunn. Traditional and classical works were performed as well as new works for band. Goldman requested new works for band from European composers including Ottorino Respighi, Albert Roussel, and Jaromir Weinberger. With professional musicians and endowment funds from the Guggenheim Foundation, the band was able to perform in New York and also tour the U.S. and Canada and perform on radio and television.

The Goldman Band was widely considered the successor to the John Philip Sousa band. Many of Sousa's musicians went on to play with the Goldman Band including Henry Heidelberg (piccolo); Johnny Carr, Raymond Scott, Emil Preiss and Joseph Chaney (clarinet); Del Staigers, Oscar B. Short and George Fee (cornet); Wayne Lewis (euphonium) and William Bell (tuba player). {{Cite web|url=https://sousamusic.com/sousa-band-roster/|title = Sousa Band Roster|date = June 13, 2012}}

In 1983, the Guggenheim Foundation withdrew funding to concentrate on social justice issues,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/05/nyregion/foundation-halts-support-for-guggenheim-band.html|title=Foundation Halts Support for Guggenheim Band|last=Teltsch|first=Kathleen|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 5, 1984|access-date=March 28, 2025}} and the band had to start fundraising from other sources, and shortened their season to 35 concerts over a seven-week period.

Conductors after Edwin Franko Goldman

After Goldman's death at age 78 in 1956, his son, Richard Franko Goldman, took the podium until 1979; the year before his death in 1980. Ainslee Cox served as co-conductor with Goldman beginning in 1968, and was sole conductor of the band from 1979 until his death in 1988.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/07/obituaries/ainslee-cox-52-a-longtime-leader-of-goldman-band.html|title=Ainslee Cox, 52, A Longtime Leader Of Goldman Band|author=John Rockwell|work=The New York Times|date=September 7, 1988}} Gene Young succeeded Cox as director until 1997. He was followed by David Eaton (1997-2000), and the last conductor was Christian Wilhjelm.{{cite web | title=The Goldman Memorial Band - A Brief History | work=The Goldman Memorial Band Musician's Web Pages | url=http://goldmanband.home.att.net | accessdate=December 25, 2005 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050425145721/http://goldmanband.home.att.net/ | archive-date=April 25, 2005 | url-status=dead }}

Premieres

The Goldman Band had a long history of premiering notable new works by composers. The Goldman Band gave the first complete performance of Percy Grainger's composition Lincolnshire Posy in the summer of 1937. The first performance of Darius Milhaud’s Suite française was performed by the Goldman Band on June 13, 1945. The first performance of Arnold Schoenberg's Theme and Variations for Full Band, was performed by the Band on June 27, 1946, with Richard Franko Goldman conducting.{{cite web|title=Arnold Schönberg - Catalogue of Works |work=Theme and Variations for Full Band, op.43a |url=http://schoenberg.at/6_archiv/music/works/op/compositions_op43_e.htm |accessdate=December 26, 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070107133214/http://schoenberg.at/6_archiv/music/works/op/compositions_op43_e.htm |archivedate=January 7, 2007 }} On June 23, 1947 the band and a chorus of 200 performed the American premiere of Hector Berlioz’s Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale. The band premiered Robert Russell Bennett's Rose Variations for cornet and band with James F. Burke as the cornet soloist. The band also premiered Bennett's last major composition for band, Autobiography, on June 22, 1977.

The band made numerous recordings for Capitol Records, American Decca, RCA Victrola, and New World Records.

Instrumentation

Instrumentation between 1930–1956, when the band consisted of 64 members, was four flutes, two oboes, one E-flat clarinet, one bass clarinet, nineteen clarinets (eight firsts, six seconds, five thirds), two alto saxophones, one tenor saxophone, one baritone saxophone, two bassoons, four cornets, four trumpets, five French horns{{Clarify|date=November 2015}}, six trombones, two euphoniums, four tubas, two string basses, one harp, and three percussionists.

Cornet and trumpet soloists

File:The Three Aces.jpg

Cornet solos were a featured attraction at most Goldman Band concerts{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}. Cornet soloists during the band's early years included Ernest Williams,{{Cite news|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/06/12/98703620.html?pageNumber=70|title=MUSIC; SUMMER CONCERTS IN THIS TOWN|work=The New York Times |accessdate=21 January 2022}} Vincent Buono,{{Cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1923/06/03/105916119.html?pageNumber=143|title = Park Concerts Begin| work=The New York Times }} Waino Kauppi,{{Cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1924/06/01/101600456.html?pageNumber=141|title = Goldman Concerts in Central Park a Free Gift to New York City| work=The New York Times }} Del Staigers,{{Cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/07/27/102140438.html?pageNumber=121|title = LISTENING-IN; A Mother's Radio Rules. Whoops Sisters on the Air. 200,000 Requests. Swiss Want New Word| work=The New York Times }} and David Rosebrook.{{Cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/05/12/94607178.html?pageNumber=158|title = ACTIVITIES OF MUSICIANS HERE AND AFIELD; Annual Series of Naumburg Concerts to be Conducted by Barzin and Harris -- Other Items| work=The New York Times }}

By 1960, Richard Franko Goldman began to use trumpet soloists in addition to cornet soloists. In addition, cornet trios (and the occasional quartet or brass quintet) were also featured at many Goldman Band concerts. The trio of Leonard B. Smith, Frank Elsass and John "Ned" Mahoney were known as "The Three Aces".{{Cite web|url=https://www.local802afm.org/allegro/articles/requiem-133/|title=Requiem|volume=112|issue=9|work=Allegro|publisher=Associated Musicians of Greater New York|date=September 2012}}

Cessation of operations

In April 2005, negotiations between the band's negotiating committee and the board of directors broke down after the committee failed to get an extension to play at their Memorial Day concert. The board of directors presented various offers with other band members; among them was a proposal to remove five musicians from the band to 48 players. According to then-secretary Mark Heter, the reduction "would not have cut any of the band's 45 tenured posts." The offer also included removing musicians from the board of directors, as well as eliminating the season guarantee from their concerts.{{Cite web|url=http://www.local802afm.org/2005/07/goldman-band-shuts-down/|title=Goldman Band Shuts Down|last=Heyman-Kantor|first=James|work=Allegro|publisher=Associated Musicians of Greater New York|date=July 2005|accessdate=September 3, 2015}} However, the committee declined their offer on May 22.{{cite web|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A06E1D81039F934A15756C0A9639C8B63|title=Goldman Band Closes Down|work=The New York Times|last=Sisario|first=Ben|date=May 27, 2005|accessdate=March 16, 2013}} Five days later, on May 27, the Goldman Band ceased operations, ending 87 years of service.{{cite web | title=The End | work=The Goldman Memorial Band Musician's Web Pages | url=http://goldmanband.home.att.net | accessdate=December 25, 2005 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050425145721/http://goldmanband.home.att.net/ | archive-date=April 25, 2005 | url-status=dead }}

References

External links

[https://archive.today/20020609150238/http://www.worldmilitarybands.com/Goldman.htm Goldman biography]
[http://www.musicassociatesofamerica.com/madamina/1980/concertband.html Music Associates of America article]
[http://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/1760 Edwin Franko Goldman collection] at the University of Maryland. Retrieved 31 Jul 2013.
[https://www.discogs.com/artist/373745-The-Goldman-Band Goldman Band Discography]

Category:American instrumental musical groups

Category:Musical groups established in 1918

Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2005