Arthur Fiedler

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Tokyo, September 22, 1967: Arthur Fiedler leads the Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra in a rehearsal

Arthur Fiedler should not be confused with Arthur Fielder, a Kent fast bowler of the 1900s.

Arthur Fiedler (December 17, 1894 – July 10, 1979) was the long-time conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, a symphony orchestra that specializes in popular and light classical music. With a combination of musicianship and showmanship, he made the Pops one of the best-known orchestras 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.

Arthur Fiedler Bridge plaque on the Esplanade Bridge

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 the position of conductor of 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 Jesús Maria Sanromá as soloist). His June 20, 1947, recording of Gaîté 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. He and the Boston Pops occasionally recorded classical works that were favorites, but not considered as "light" as most of the pieces that he conducted. He made but a single recording with the Boston Symphony Orchestra: Dvorak's New World Symphony. 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.

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Fiedler and Wernher von Braun in his office during the Fiedlers' visit to the Marshall Space Flight Center on March 23, 1962.

Arthur had many different hobbies. 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 Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston in 1942.

Fiedler conducted at the nationally-televised opening ceremonies of Walt Disney World in 1971. He also appeared on numerous telecasts on "Evening at Pops," carried on PBS stations nationwide.

Fiedler died in Brookline, Massachusetts, at the age of 84 on July 10, 1979. He had been in failing health for some time, and had actually suffered a heart attack after a performance on Saturday evening, May 5, 1979. He was in his 50th year as conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra when he died. After his death, Boston honored him with an abstract sculpture, an oversized bust of Fiedler, near the Charles River Esplanade, home of the free concert series that continues through the present day. John Williams took the post for the following year.