Frederick Fennell facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Frederick Fennell |
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Frederick Fennell conducting the United States Navy Band
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| Background information | |
| Born | July 2, 1914 Cleveland, Ohio |
| Died | December 7, 2004 (aged 90) Siesta Key, Florida |
| Occupation(s) | Conductor |
| Instruments | Drums |
| Associated acts | Eastman Wind Ensemble Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra Dallas Winds |
Frederick Fennell (July 2, 1914 – December 7, 2004) was a famous American conductor. He was a key person in making the Eastman Wind Ensemble a well-known music group. Fennell also taught music and had a big impact on music education in the US and around the world. Many people consider him one of the most important band conductors since John Philip Sousa.
Contents
Early Life and Musical Beginnings
Frederick Fennell was born in Cleveland, Ohio. When he was just seven years old, he chose the piccolo as his main instrument. He played drums in a fife-and-drum corps, which is a group that plays fifes (small flutes) and drums, often for parades or military events. By age ten, he owned his first drum set. In high school, he played the kettledrum (a type of drum) in the orchestra and was the drum major for the band. A drum major leads a marching band.
Fennell also attended the Interlochen Arts Camp, a famous summer program for young artists. There, he was chosen to be the bass drummer in the National High School Band. This band was even conducted by the legendary John Philip Sousa himself! Fennell also got to conduct at Interlochen when he was only seventeen.
He later studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. While there, he started the first University of Rochester marching band. He also held indoor concerts with the band after football season. Fennell earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Eastman. He was the very first person to get a degree in percussion performance from the school. He also studied conducting with famous musicians like Serge Koussevitzky. During World War II, Fennell helped with music for the USO (United Service Organizations), which provides entertainment to US troops.
Creating the Eastman Wind Ensemble
In 1952, while recovering from an illness, Frederick Fennell had a brilliant idea. He imagined a new kind of symphonic band. Instead of a huge concert band, he wanted a smaller group. This new group would be about the size of the wind section of a symphony orchestra. He believed this would make the music sound clearer and more in tune.
In May 1952, he gathered nearly 40 of the best student musicians at the Eastman School. He told them, “I chose the best students in the school, the best solo performers and the best ensemble players." On September 20, 1952, he led the first practice for this new group, which he called the Eastman Wind Ensemble. Their first concert was on February 8, 1953. Fennell wanted new music for his ensemble, so he wrote to almost 400 composers around the world. He asked them to write pieces specifically for his new group. Some of the first famous composers to respond were Percy Grainger, Vincent Persichetti, and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Famous Recordings
Frederick Fennell became one of America's most recorded conductors. He led the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra, and other groups in many recordings. He recorded over 300 musical pieces on 29 albums for Mercury Records.
His 22 albums with the Eastman Wind Ensemble are especially well-known. One album, Lincolnshire Posy, featuring music by Percy Grainger, was named one of the "50 best recordings" by Stereo Review magazine. He also recorded a special two-volume set called Civil War-Its Music and Its Sounds. For this project, the Eastman Wind Ensemble played on old, original instruments from the Civil War era. This album earned him a medal from the Congressional Committee for the Centennial of the Civil War. In 2003, another of his albums, Winds in Hi-Fi, was chosen for the National Recording Registry. This registry selects recordings that are important to American history and culture.
Many of Fennell's Mercury recordings have been re-released on compact disc. He also made the first symphonic digital recording in the United States in 1978. He recorded for many other labels too, including Telarc and Reference Recordings.
Later Career and Legacy
After his time at Eastman, Fennell continued his impressive career. He was an associate music director for the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (now the Minnesota Orchestra). In 1965, he became a conductor-in-residence at the University of Miami. There, he conducted the symphony orchestra and started another wind ensemble. He also served as a guest conductor for groups like the Dallas Wind Symphony. In 1984, he was invited by the musicians to become the first conductor of the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra.
Fennell was known for his polite but strong presence on stage, even though he was not very tall. His conducting was very lively and energetic. He was famous for his conducting workshops, which sometimes included exercises in swimming pools! He remained very active in music until just a few months before he passed away at age ninety. At that time, he was the conductor laureate (a special honorary title) of the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra and a principal guest conductor for the Dallas Wind Symphony.
Awards and Honors
Frederick Fennell received many awards and honors throughout his life.
- In 1969, he received Columbia University's Alice M. Ditson Conductor's Award.
- He was given the Star of the Order from the John Philip Sousa Memorial Foundation in 1985.
- Eastman School of Music awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1988.
- He was inducted into the National Band Association Hall of Fame of Distinguished Band Conductors in 1990.
- In 1994, he received the Theodore Thomas Award of the Conductor's Guild.
- He was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2001.
- In 2003, he received the Charles E. Lutton Man of Music Award.
Fennell was especially proud of his honorary doctorate from Eastman. He was also honored as an honorary chief of the Kiowa Nation in the 1960s. He received a medal of honor from Interlochen in 1989. He often guest conducted famous groups like the Boston Pops Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the United States Marine Band. In 1997, he became the first civilian to conduct an entire concert with the United States Marine Band. He repeated this honor in 1998 at a concert celebrating the Marine Band's 200th anniversary.
Fennell was a member of two important music fraternities: Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Kappa Kappa Psi. A music hall in Kofu, Japan, was named Frederick Fennell Hall in 1992. In 2006, the music library at the Interlochen Center for the Arts was named in honor of Fennell and his wife, Elizabeth Ludwig Fennell.
Frederick Fennell passed away in Siesta Key, Florida. His daughter shared that his last words were, "I cannot die without a drummer. I hear him. I'm O.K. now." This shows his deep love for music, especially drums, until the very end.
Fennell's Writings
Frederick Fennell also wrote several books about music:
- Time and the Winds, a Short History of the Use of Wind Instruments in the Orchestra, Band and the Wind Ensemble (1954)
- The Drummer’s Heritage, a Collection of Popular Airs and Official U.S. Army Music for Fifes and Drums (1956)
- The Wind Ensemble (1988)
He also edited music for many publishers, including Boosey & Hawkes and Carl Fischer Music. For the Fennell Editions at Ludwig Music, he edited over 50 musical scores for bands. One of his favorite marches that he edited was National Emblem by Edwin Eugene Bagley. Fennell also wrote a series of sixteen articles called ‘Basic Band Repertory’ for The Instrumentalist magazine. These articles focused on what he called "indestructible masterpieces for band."
In 1951, Fennell wrote his own march called "Tally-Ho March." He wrote it to honor the Tally-Ho Music Camp and its founders.
In 1937, Frederick Fennell married Dorothy Codner, a violinist he met at the Eastman School of Music. They were happily married for 33 years.
Selected Recordings
Here are some of Frederick Fennell's notable recordings:
- Eastman Wind Ensemble, Frederick Fennell, conductor. American Concert Band Masterpieces. Mercury Records MG40006/MG50079, 1953.
- Eastman Wind Ensemble, Frederick Fennell, conductor. Marches by Sousa and Other. Mercury Records MG40007/MG50080, 1953.
- Eastman Wind Ensemble, Frederick Fennell, conductor. La Fiesta Mexicana. Mercury Records MG40011/MG50084, 1954.
- Eastman Wind Ensemble, Frederick Fennell, conductor. Folk Song Suites and Other British Band Classics. Mercury Records MG40015/MG50088, 1955.
- Eastman Wind Ensemble, Frederick Fennell, conductor. Marching Along. Mercury Records MG50105/MWS5-14/SR90105, 1956.
- Eastman Wind Ensemble, Frederick Fennell, conductor. Hindemith/Schoenberg/Stravinsky. Mercury Records MG501434/SR90143, 1957.
- Eastman Wind Ensemble, Frederick Fennell, conductor. British Band Classic, Vol. 2. Mercury Records MG50197/SR90197, 1958.
- Eastman Wind Ensemble, Frederick Fennell, conductor. Sousa on Review (Marches by John Philip Sousa). Mercury Records MG50284/SR90284, 1961.
- Eastman Wind Ensemble, Frederick Fennell, conductor. Screamers! (Circus Marches). Mercury Records MG50314/SR90314, 1957.
