On the Mall with Goldman

Synopsis

We’d like to start the new year with some upbeat music to honor the American composer and bandleader Edwin Franko Goldman, who was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on today’s date in 1878.

At the tender age of 14, Goldman attended the National Conservatory of Music in New York City, where he studied composition with Antonin Dvorak. At 15, Goldman became a professional trumpet player, performing with the Metropolitan Opera orchestra.

In 1911, he founded the New York Military Band, later known simply as the Goldman Band. They performed hundreds of public concerts around the city, including on the Mall in Central Park. In the 1930s, radio broadcasts made the Goldman Band famous nationwide. Their catchy signature tune, entitled “On the Mall,” was composed by Goldman himself, and invited the audiences to sing—or whistle—along.

Goldman composed about 150 band works of his own, and prompted the commission of many more, including wind band classics by American composers such as Virgil Thomson, Walter Piston, and Howard Hanson. The Goldman Band, led by Goldman, or his son Richard, also premiered new works by leading European composers as well.

Goldman founded the American Bandmasters Association in 1929 and served as its Second Honorary Life President after John Philip Sousa.

Edwin Franko Goldman died in New York in 1956. For his contribution to the radio industry, he has a star on Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame, and The Goldman Bandshell in Allentown, Pennsylvania, is named in his honor.

Music Played in Today's Program

Edwin Franko Goldman (1878 - 1956) On the Mall Eastman Wind Ensemble; Frederick Fennell, cond. Mercury 434 334

On This Day

Births

• 1866 - Russian composer Vassili Sergeievitch Kalinnikov (Gregorian date: Jan. 13);

• 1923 - Jazz vibraphone virtuoso, Milt Jackson, in Detroit; He was a member of the famous Modern Jazz Quartet;

Deaths

• 1782 - German composer Johann Christian Bach, in London, age 47; He was the youngest surviving son of J.S. Bach;

Premieres

• 1724 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 190 ("Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied") performed (incomplete) on New Year's Day as part of Bach's first annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1723/24);

• 1725 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 41 ("Jesu, nun sei grepreiset") performed on New Year's Day as part of Bach's second annual Sacred Cantata cycle (1724/25);

• 1726 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 16 ("Herr Gott, dich loben wir") performed on New Year's Day as part of Bach's third annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1725/27);

• 1729 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 171 ("Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm") probably performed in Leipzig on News Year's Day as part of Bach's fourth annual Sacred Cantata cycle (to texts by Christian Friedrich Henrici, a.k.a. "Picander") during 1728/29;

• 1735 - Bach: Part 4 ("Fallt mit Danken, fallt mit Loben") of the 6-part "Christmas Oratorio," S. 248, in Leipzig;

• 1848 - Moniuszko: opera “Halka” (1st version in 2 acts in a concert version), in Vilnius;

• 1858 - Moniuszko: opera “Halka” (2nd version in 4 acts), in Warsaw at the Weilki Theater;

• 1873 - Rimsky-Korsakov: opera "The Maid of Pskov," in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Jan. 13);

• 1879 - Brahms: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77, by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, with soloist Joseph Joachim and the composer conducting;

• 1894 - Dvorák: String Quartet No. 12 in F, Op. 96 and String Quintet in Eb, Op. 97 (both nicknamed the "American"), in Boston, by the Kneisel Quartet (and violist M Zach in the Quintet);

• 1942 - Chavez: Piano Concerto, in New York City, by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Dimtri Mitropoulos, with soloist Eugene List;

• 1953 - Bloch: "Suite Herbaïque" in Chicago;

• 1954 - Walter Piston: “Fantasy” for English horn and orchestra, by the Boston Symphony, Charles Munch conducting;

Others

• 1585 - Composer Giovanni Gabrieli becomes the second organist at St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice; His uncle, the composer Andrea Gabrieli, is the first organist;

• 1791 - Haydn arrives in England for a series of concerts at the invitation of orchestral conductor and impresario Johann Salomon;

• 1801 - Eight members of the U.S. Marine band perform the first official music at the unfinished Executive Mansion (the "White House") at a New Year's Day reception hosted by President and Mrs. John Adams;

• 1908 - Gustav Mahler makes his conducting debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, leading a performance of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde."