Fabien Sevitzky

{{Short description|Russian-born American conductor (1891–1967)}}

Fabien Sevitzky (September 29, 1891 in Vyshny Volochyok – February 3, 1967 in Athens) was a Russian-born American conductor. He was the nephew of renowned double-bass virtuoso and longtime Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Serge Koussevitzky.{{cite magazine | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,791414-2,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604110522/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,791414-2,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=June 4, 2011 | title=People: Fathers | magazine=Time | date=20 March 1944 | accessdate=2010-02-21}}

Sevitzky became music director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1937 after he first conducted it in winter 1936,{{cite magazine | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,757577,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604110532/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,757577,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=June 4, 2011 | title=Music: Sevitzky to Indiana | magazine=Time | date=5 April 1937 | accessdate=2010-02-21}} and remained in the position until 1955. He led the orchestra in a series of recordings for RCA Victor from 1941 to 1946 & for Capitol Records up to 1953, which were issued on 78-rpm and 33-1/3-rpm discs.{{Cite web |url=http://www.historic-recordings.co.uk/EZ/hr/hr/viewitem.php?retpos=center&retbut=none&return=sitemap&text=Fabien%20Sevitzky&PHPSESSID=gfqqf473hvun142bggk3tl7lh0 |title=Historic Recordings - Fabien Sevitzky|access-date=2013-09-26 |archive-date=2016-10-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011004825/http://www.historic-recordings.co.uk/EZ/hr/hr/viewitem.php?retpos=center&retbut=none&return=sitemap&text=Fabien%20Sevitzky&PHPSESSID=gfqqf473hvun142bggk3tl7lh0 |url-status=dead }} The orchestra was recorded in the Murat Theatre.{{cite web |url=http://www.damians78s.co.uk/html/fabien_sevitzky.html |title=Fabien Sevitzky |access-date=2013-09-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927222812/http://www.damians78s.co.uk/html/fabien_sevitzky.html |archive-date=2013-09-27 }} Among the more unusual recordings were of Tchaikovsky's first symphony (recorded March 19, 1946) {{Cite web|url=http://raritetclassic.com/load/fabien_sevitzky_conducts_tchaikovsky_symphony_no1/4-1-0-491|title=Fabien Sevitzky conducts Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.1 - Аудио - Аудио - Каталог файлов - Rare classical music}} and Manfred (recorded January 27, 1942).{{Cite web |url=http://www.historic-recordings.co.uk/EZ/hr/hr/viewitem.php?retpos=center&retbut=none&return=sitemap&text=Reviews%20of%20Historic%20Recordings%20releases%20by%20Gary%20Lemco&PHPSESSID=0he3fp4cvt3uffd4rpholr9ch1 |title=Reviews of Historic Recordings |access-date=2013-09-26 |archive-date=2016-10-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011010018/http://www.historic-recordings.co.uk/EZ/hr/hr/viewitem.php?retpos=center&retbut=none&return=sitemap&text=Reviews%20of%20Historic%20Recordings%20releases%20by%20Gary%20Lemco&PHPSESSID=0he3fp4cvt3uffd4rpholr9ch1 |url-status=dead }}

He married harpist Mary Spaulding in 1959, and the couple subsequently moved to Miami to take up faculty positions at the University of Miami while his wife also gave private harp lessons. He guest-conducted the University's orchestra soon after his arrival, and became its permanent conductor in 1963. He championed the music of William Grant Still, from whom he commissioned works including Threnody: In Memory of Jan Sibelius,{{cite journal | jstor=1214290 | last=Portanova | first=Mary Spaulding | title=Music Is Beauty | journal=The Black Perspective in Music | volume=3 | issue=2 | pages=196–198 |date=May 1975| doi=10.2307/1214290 }} and conducted the premiere of Still's opera Highway 1, U.S.A. in 1960.{{cite journal | last=Dorr | first=Donald | title=Chosen Image: The Afro-American Vision in the Operas of William Grant Still | journal=The Opera Quarterly | volume=4 | issue=2 | pages=1–23 | year=1986 | doi=10.1093/oq/4.2.1}} He was music director of the Greater Miami Philharmonic Orchestra from 1956 to 1962,{{cite news | author=Bill von Maurer | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2206&dat=19861120&id=Lv4lAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LPMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1029,5742387 | title=Alain Lombard Finds a New Miami | work=The Miami News | date=20 November 1986 | accessdate=2010-02-21 | archive-date=2013-05-16 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516221340/http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2206&dat=19861120&id=Lv4lAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LPMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1029,5742387 | url-status=dead }} and died suddenly in 1967.

His wife, who later became Mary Spaulding Portanova, survived him.

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