Arthur Fiedler
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Arthur Fiedler (December 17, 1894 – July 10, 1979) was the long-time conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, a symphony orchestra that specialized in popular music. With a combination of musicianship and showmanship, he made the Pops the best-known orchestra in the country. Some criticized him for watering down music, particularly when adapting popular songs or edited portions of the classical repertoire, but Fiedler deliberately kept performances informal, light, and often self-mocking to attract more listeners.
[edit] Biography
Fiedler was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His father was an Austrian-born violinist who played in the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and his mother was a pianist and musician. He grew up in Boston, and attended Boston Latin School until his father retired and returned to Austria, where he studied and worked until returning to Boston at the start of World War I. In 1909, his father took him to Berlin to study violin with Willy Hess, and then in 1915 he joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Karl Muck as a violinist. He also worked as a pianist, organist, and percussionist.
In 1924, Fiedler formed the Boston Sinfonietta, a chamber music orchestra made up of Boston Symphony members, and started a series of free outdoor concerts. He was appointed the eighteenth conductor of the Boston Pops in 1930. While conducting the Pops both prior to and after Fiedler tended to be a segment of a conductor's career, Fiedler made the Pops his life's work, holding the position for a half-century.
Under Fiedler's direction, the Boston Pops reportedly made more recordings than any other orchestra in the world, most of them for RCA Victor, with total sales of albums, singles, tapes, and cassettes exceeding $50 million. His recordings began in July 1935 at Boston's Symphony Hall with RCA, including a world premiere recording of Gade's Jalousie, which eventually sold over a million copies, and the first complete recording of Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin (with Jesus Maria Sanroma as soloist). His June 20, 1947, recording of Gaite Parisienne by Jacques Offenbach was eventually released by RCA as their very first long-playing classical album (LM-1001), in 1950. He recorded the same music in 1954 in stereo and began making regular stereo recordings in 1956. Besides recording light classics, Fiedler also recorded music from Broadway shows and Hollywood film scores, as well as arrangements of popular music, especially the Beatles. There were also recordings of chamber music by his Sinfonietta. Fiedler and the Pops recorded exclusively for RCA Victor until the late 1960s, when they switched to Polydor and then London Records.
Fiedler was also associated with the San Francisco Pops Orchestra for 26 summers (beginning in 1949), and conducted many other orchestras throughout the world.
As a hobby, he was fascinated by the work of firefighters, and would travel in his own vehicle to large fires in and around Boston at any time of the day or night to watch the firefighters at work. He was even made an "Honorary Captain" in the Boston Fire Department. A number of other fire departments gave him honorary fire helmets and/or badges. The official biography of Fiedler reports that the conductor once helped in the rescue efforts at the tragic Coconut Grove fire in Boston in 1942.
Fiedler conducted Florida's New World Symphony Orchestra on the nationally-televised opening ceremonies of Walt Disney World in 1971.
Fiedler died in Brookline, Massachusetts, at the age of 84. After his death, Boston honored him with an abstract sculpture, an oversized bust of Fielder, near the Charles River Esplanade, home of the free concert series that continues through the present day. Because Fiedler "died in office", the 1979 Pops season was suspended. John Williams took the post for the following year.
| Preceded by various |
Conductor, Boston Pops Orchestra 1930–1979 |
Succeeded by John Williams |
