Meet the Masters

{{short description|American classical music television program}}

{{italic title}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

Meet the Masters is a classical music television program aired in 1952 on NBC. The series debuted on February 24, 1952. The first episode featured violinist Jascha Heifetz.{{cite news |last1=Gould |first1=Jack |title=Radio and Television: Meet the Masters' on N. B. C.-TV Presents Major Musical Figures On and Off Stage |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/112512359 |access-date=November 9, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=February 29, 1952 |page=32|id={{ProQuest|112512359}} |via = ProQuest}} The series went on hiatus after the April 20, 1952, episode,{{cite magazine |date=April 20, 1952 |page=10 |title=This Week -- Network Debuts, Highlights, Changes |url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele21ross/page/n120/mode/1up?view=theater |magazine=Ross Reports |access-date=February 3, 2024 }} and returned on October 19, 1952.{{cite news |title=Sun(19):NBC |url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele25ross/page/n56/mode/1up?view=theater |access-date=February 23, 2022 |work=Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index |date=October 19, 1952 |page=1}} Each episode was developed around "a simple story line woven into the half-hour to give it production appeal along with a pleasing touch of informality."{{cite news |last1=Bird |first1=Bill |title=Radio and Television |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62895127/pasadena-independent/ |access-date=November 9, 2020 |work=Pasadena Independent |date=April 6, 1952 |location=California, Pasadena |page=38|via = Newspapers.com}}

Jack Gould, columnist for The New York Times, reviewed the initial broadcast with mixed feelings. He complimented Heifetz's playing "with all his accustomed brilliance" but felt that the program devoted too much time to Heifetz's answering "a series of questions leading to the standard bromidic gags" from a group of students.

In addition to Heifetz, performers featured on the program in the spring of 1952 included Marian Anderson (March 9), Arthur Rubinstein (March 23), The Trio (April 6), and Andres Segovia, Jan Peerce, and Nadine Conner (April 20). The fall of 1952 had repeats of spring episodes plus a show that featured Gregor Piatigorsky (November 16).{{cite book |last1=Baade |first1=Christina |last2=Deaville |first2=James A. |title=Music and the Broadcast Experience: Performance, Production, and Audiences |date=2 August 2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-061953-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PXbADAAAQBAJ&q=%22Meet+the+Masters%22+nbc&pg=PT109 |access-date=November 9, 2020 |language=en}}

The program was sponsored by James Lee & Sons Co., which manufactured carpets, rungs and knitting yarn.{{cite news |last1=Small |first1=Florence |title=Network Buys |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1952/BC-1952-01-14.pdf#page=27 |access-date=November 9, 2020 |work=Broadcasting |date=January 14, 1952 |page=27}}

In 1953, episodes were distributed by Standard TV via syndication under the title Music by the Masters.{{cite web |title=Meet the Masters: Jascha Heifetz |url=https://mirc.sc.edu/islandora/object/usc%3A58737 |website=Moving Image Research Collections Digital Video Repository |publisher=University of South Carolina |access-date=November 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109220632/https://mirc.sc.edu/islandora/object/usc%3A58737 |archive-date=November 9, 2020}}

The series was purchased by Major Television Productions and enjoyed a second syndicated run in the 1960s under the title World Artists Concert Hall.{{Cite book|last=VanCour|first=Shawn|editor-last=Baade|editor-first=Christina L.|contribution=Spectacular Sound: Classical Music Programming and the Problem of "Visual Interest" in Early US Television|title=Music and the Broadcast Experience|pages=98|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York, NY|date=2016|isbn=9780199314713|oclc=930575994}}