- Series
- A conversation with
- Air Date
- 1968-12-16
- Duration
- 00:28:34
- Episode Description
- Series Description
- Subject(s)
- Creator(s)
- Contributors
- Genre(s)
- Geographic Region(s)
- regions
- Time Period
- 1961-1970
[00:05 - 00:10]
Conversation with Leopold Stokowski. This is another in a
[00:10 - 00:14]
continuing series of programs each of which offers the listener a rare
[00:14 - 00:19]
opportunity to hear an eminent musician informally discussing his own career
[00:19 - 00:25]
and expressing his thoughts about a variety of topics related to the art of music.
[00:25 - 00:29]
The regular participants in these discussions are Aaron Parsons professor of
[00:29 - 00:34]
music theory at Northwestern University School of Music and program annotator for the Chicago
[00:34 - 00:39]
Symphony Orchestra. And George Stone program director for Zenith radio
[00:39 - 00:44]
corporation's serious music station WEAA FM in Chicago.
[00:44 - 00:49]
Mr. Parsons and Mr. Stone I was their guest on today's program. Mr. Leopold Stokowski
[00:49 - 00:54]
who beginning in 1912 was conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra for many years and
[00:54 - 00:59]
later of the all American Youth Orchestra. Also music director of Hollywood Bill
[00:59 - 01:04]
the Houston Symphony and the American Symphony Orchestra. Now
[01:04 - 01:07]
here is George Stone.
[01:07 - 01:11]
There's a chapter on in your book music for
[01:11 - 01:16]
all of us. There are two sentences which provide I think an excellent starting line for this
[01:16 - 01:21]
conversation. Conductors are born not made
[01:21 - 01:27]
norm out of academic education can make a real conductor out of someone who is not
[01:27 - 01:31]
born with the necessary qualities. I want to serve you tell us
[01:31 - 01:35]
what are these qualities.
[01:35 - 01:40]
They are very mysterious. One of them is
[01:40 - 01:45]
the willingness and the ability to
[01:45 - 01:50]
cooperate with other persons. And I think a
[01:50 - 01:54]
good performance of great music by an orchestra or
[01:54 - 02:00]
an orchestra is when each individual
[02:00 - 02:05]
in the orchestra is cooperating with all the others in the orchestra
[02:05 - 02:10]
and when all the artists in the orchestra are
[02:10 - 02:15]
cooperating with the conductor and he with them. So the
[02:15 - 02:19]
key word is cooperation.
[02:19 - 02:25]
When I've given a person with these innate qualities and the
[02:25 - 02:30]
ability to cooperate what qualities must be acquired.
[02:30 - 02:34]
There it is. Not so much quality as
[02:34 - 02:38]
experience I think. And it takes in my
[02:38 - 02:43]
opinion and many years of rehearsing and
[02:43 - 02:48]
conducting concerts in different countries
[02:48 - 02:51]
because every country has a different
[02:51 - 02:58]
personality in its orchestras and
[02:58 - 03:03]
to travel from one country to another. Not taking
[03:03 - 03:08]
one's orchestra with one but always
[03:08 - 03:13]
conducting the artists in the local LA Custer there is
[03:13 - 03:18]
very. It teaches one very much.
[03:18 - 03:23]
And that release that has been my experience and I think it's a
[03:23 - 03:28]
pleasure too because for example a few
[03:28 - 03:33]
months ago I was in Romagna conducting the orchestra there.
[03:33 - 03:38]
And that of course is behind the so-called Iron Curtain. Yes I swear there is
[03:38 - 03:44]
no iron curtain for music because music is international.
[03:44 - 03:48]
So I was very impressed. With the
[03:48 - 03:53]
fine quality of the orchestra there and I became
[03:53 - 03:58]
friends with some players in the orchestra and
[03:58 - 04:03]
they told me that nice places to go if I wanted to
[04:03 - 04:08]
eat some good food or drink some good wine. They told me all kinds of
[04:08 - 04:12]
things about their life there and
[04:12 - 04:17]
where I could see some of the find examples of architecture
[04:17 - 04:22]
of Ramanujan which is very extraordinary
[04:22 - 04:27]
and I was very impressed by the fact that there were money and
[04:27 - 04:32]
people are so havoc and yet
[04:32 - 04:37]
they are romantic when the Roman
[04:37 - 04:42]
soldiers came there a long time ago. They were very impressed. I
[04:42 - 04:46]
was told by the beauty of the Slavic girls
[04:46 - 04:52]
and soon the country was full of young
[04:52 - 04:56]
Romagna. And I noticed that the language.
[04:56 - 05:02]
Has many Slavic words like Polish words and also
[05:02 - 05:07]
many Italian sounding words. For example when they
[05:07 - 05:12]
bid each other good night they say they say I want to set up
[05:12 - 05:17]
a home which is purely Italian and there are other
[05:17 - 05:22]
Italian words like that which have survived almost
[05:22 - 05:27]
completely. And so there
[05:27 - 05:32]
is a culture a wonderful culture in that country
[05:32 - 05:37]
combining the best of Italy and Slavic nations
[05:37 - 05:43]
and the beauty and stamina of the people
[05:43 - 05:47]
is very remarkable. And also the greatness
[05:47 - 05:52]
and flexibility of the orchestra. So in my
[05:52 - 05:57]
opinion it is well for a conductor to travel
[05:57 - 06:02]
and conduct all kinds of orchestras even amateur
[06:02 - 06:07]
orchestras. Because if one conducts amateur or courteous
[06:07 - 06:11]
as I sometimes do that I learn very much
[06:11 - 06:16]
from the difficulties they have. The players have with their
[06:16 - 06:21]
instrument and also with the rhythm of the
[06:21 - 06:26]
music and of the blending of all the parts that they are
[06:26 - 06:31]
playing to make what we call our song. One learns very
[06:31 - 06:36]
much so if a young conductor would
[06:36 - 06:41]
conduct a great orchestra like this Chicago orchestra. It
[06:41 - 06:46]
would be so easy for him because the orchestra is great
[06:46 - 06:50]
and able to play so well any kind of music any
[06:50 - 06:54]
style of music. Whereas with an amateur or Custer
[06:54 - 06:59]
one has much more difficulty and it's just those difficulties from
[06:59 - 07:02]
which one learns.
[07:02 - 07:07]
I take it that you consider equally important
[07:07 - 07:12]
a broad cultural background that is equally important and has a
[07:12 - 07:17]
thorough grounding in music. Well you know for a man can be a real a complete
[07:17 - 07:17]
conductor.
[07:17 - 07:22]
Obviously it must be that. But you know I
[07:22 - 07:27]
think I'm wrong because as I think of it a
[07:27 - 07:32]
little deeper. I had a great friend Koussevitzky.
[07:32 - 07:37]
Yes of course the Wicki was a bass player.
[07:37 - 07:41]
He did not have a good education as
[07:41 - 07:45]
I was fortunate enough to have. And
[07:45 - 07:51]
he at first could not read the score.
[07:51 - 07:58]
So he persuaded two
[07:58 - 08:02]
pianists to play four hands scores for him
[08:02 - 08:07]
and he listened that way. Then gradually
[08:07 - 08:13]
as the years went along and he was with the Positively he did
[08:13 - 08:17]
learn to read score. But I
[08:17 - 08:22]
noticed that when he listened to the pianists
[08:22 - 08:28]
playing the music he was listening to the true
[08:28 - 08:33]
score. The true score is sound. The
[08:33 - 08:38]
paper score is paper but it's not sound music is
[08:38 - 08:43]
essentially sound and Koussevitzky. I learned
[08:43 - 08:48]
very much from him. It made me see clearly that a
[08:48 - 08:53]
man can have immense bone ability as because of its good had
[08:53 - 08:57]
to conduct and yet not have a general
[08:57 - 09:03]
education. Could not read scar
[09:03 - 09:08]
but his ears were so sensitive that when the four hands were
[09:08 - 09:12]
playing the music of squaws with his ears
[09:12 - 09:17]
he understood in some way
[09:17 - 09:23]
which is mysterious to me but it's a fact that he did understand.
[09:23 - 09:27]
They did conduct wonderfully music. Before he could read squat
[09:27 - 09:32]
afterwards he could read score. He just went on conducting well.
[09:32 - 09:38]
So it was not a question of score. It was something else.
[09:38 - 09:43]
And I cannot with words describe that something else
[09:43 - 09:48]
but it was extremely definite that this
[09:48 - 09:51]
extra good very talented man.
[09:51 - 09:57]
By his ears and his
[09:57 - 10:03]
impulse and his instinct was able
[10:03 - 10:08]
to conduct marvelously as he did.
[10:08 - 10:12]
What kind of training do you think is most important for a conductor
[10:12 - 10:17]
in in which in this level of thinking that you describe
[10:17 - 10:22]
here there must be certain kinds of musical experience or training
[10:22 - 10:28]
specifically musical which will add to this dimension.
[10:28 - 10:33]
Yes well I just think of one
[10:33 - 10:37]
thing very essential is to understand all the
[10:37 - 10:41]
instruments. They're all different. And.
[10:41 - 10:47]
If the conductor house a player to do something which is
[10:47 - 10:52]
contrary to the nature of his instrument then the
[10:52 - 10:57]
player becomes annoyed and
[10:57 - 11:02]
the results are not good. So a conductor must understand all the
[11:02 - 11:07]
instruments and that is almost a lifetime of study.
[11:07 - 11:12]
In my opinion getting back to what we said a moment ago I would judge
[11:12 - 11:16]
them. But in your opinion this indefinable something
[11:16 - 11:21]
which because of its keep was asked is that very thing of which you were
[11:21 - 11:26]
speaking. In the chapter on conducting in your book. Yes the man was born with it
[11:26 - 11:31]
as we can't lay our finger on it but this was what it is when everything about
[11:31 - 11:33]
human nature is mysterious.
[11:33 - 11:38]
The body is mysterious. We have
[11:38 - 11:43]
within the framework of our body we have a
[11:43 - 11:48]
heart beating with certain rhythm. We have the blood flowing at a
[11:48 - 11:52]
certain temple. We have the
[11:52 - 11:57]
impulses of the nervous system from the brain
[11:57 - 12:02]
to all the parts of the body. And I often think
[12:02 - 12:07]
my first instrument was vilely and I started when I was seven playing violin.
[12:07 - 12:09]
When.
[12:09 - 12:16]
Violinist's says to the left and play in the third position or the fifth
[12:16 - 12:21]
position or whatever it is it's the mind to tell said who and what to do
[12:21 - 12:26]
when he wants to play not bow down bow or speak out of
[12:26 - 12:31]
it's the mind that tells it all happens in the mind.
[12:31 - 12:34]
So all is this mysterious
[12:34 - 12:40]
extraordinary harmony that's within the human body
[12:40 - 12:45]
is all a part of playing an instrument well
[12:45 - 12:50]
and even more so conducting the modern orchestra because
[12:50 - 12:55]
conducting what an orchestra is extremely complex.
[12:55 - 12:57]
He's dreamy.
[12:57 - 13:01]
The life itself has become more complex too. Yes
[13:01 - 13:06]
recently an issue of a prominent national
[13:06 - 13:11]
magazine devoted a considerable amount of space to a discussion of the
[13:11 - 13:16]
young conductors and the problems they face. And as I recall one of the statements
[13:16 - 13:21]
that was made in the air is that conducting the
[13:21 - 13:25]
art and profession of conducting today is as different
[13:25 - 13:30]
from conducting 50 years ago as comparing an
[13:30 - 13:35]
astronaut with World War 1 pilot. In
[13:35 - 13:40]
your judgment having. Live through this
[13:40 - 13:44]
period in positions of eminence and constantly in the
[13:44 - 13:49]
mainstream of music would you feel that this is an apt
[13:49 - 13:53]
description that the whole role of the conductor has changed this
[13:53 - 13:55]
much.
[13:55 - 13:59]
Yes because a conductor must adapt
[13:59 - 14:04]
himself to the new conditions of life and the new conditions of
[14:04 - 14:09]
life according to those who understand
[14:09 - 14:14]
about economy and the new conditions are becoming
[14:14 - 14:18]
very serious. It was recently
[14:18 - 14:23]
out west and one orchestra almost collapsed because
[14:23 - 14:28]
of difficult conditions that one must see clearly
[14:28 - 14:33]
that if a man or a company makes automobiles
[14:33 - 14:38]
or planes or any kind of machinery or supplies
[14:38 - 14:43]
food he's doing all these things for humanity
[14:43 - 14:48]
but also for profit. Whereas every orchestral concert
[14:48 - 14:53]
that is performed in the United States is performed I don't loss
[14:53 - 14:59]
and it is that loss that deficit that has to be made up at the end of the
[14:59 - 15:03]
season. And that is becoming more and more difficult because
[15:03 - 15:08]
of higher taxation. According to The Economist
[15:08 - 15:13]
I don't understand these things very well but there are economists who have studied
[15:13 - 15:18]
given a whole lifetime of study to the economy of the nation
[15:18 - 15:23]
and with this higher taxation it might be that there would
[15:23 - 15:27]
be immense difficulty to continue
[15:27 - 15:33]
because through all performances because they are a luxury
[15:33 - 15:38]
they are not the physical necessity of life.
[15:38 - 15:43]
They are the necessity. It's true of the mind
[15:43 - 15:48]
which loves everything which is cultural by the people. There
[15:48 - 15:53]
are many who do not feel that way and so
[15:53 - 15:58]
I am very anxious for the future of the great Augustus of the United
[15:58 - 15:59]
States.
[15:59 - 16:05]
How would you feel Maestro Stokowski about some
[16:05 - 16:10]
kind of state support whether the federal government or the state
[16:10 - 16:14]
governments or even municipalities of our great
[16:14 - 16:19]
orchestras and other cultural institutions do you think this would be a desirable thing
[16:19 - 16:21]
or an undesirable thing.
[16:21 - 16:26]
May I ask you a question. If we had state or
[16:26 - 16:31]
federal help that would be
[16:31 - 16:33]
very costly of course.
[16:33 - 16:35]
Where would the money come from.
[16:35 - 16:38]
Well I assume it probably would come from taxes.
[16:38 - 16:39]
That's it.
[16:39 - 16:44]
Then you've answered your own question. I guess we don't get anything for nothing.
[16:44 - 16:49]
We were there and you were about to ask a question.
[16:49 - 16:52]
I've will change the direction a little bit
[16:52 - 16:54]
because.
[16:54 - 16:59]
We think of you has first an organist. No
[16:59 - 17:04]
violinist would you say you were a violinist as your wife.
[17:04 - 17:08]
I couldn't play organ until my legs were long enough for the
[17:08 - 17:13]
pedals. When I was a child I
[17:13 - 17:18]
used to play soccer with some boys and one of the boys.
[17:18 - 17:23]
His father was a priest and I was invited to the house
[17:23 - 17:28]
and then I heard the wonderful sound.
[17:28 - 17:33]
It was the organ playing in the church and I wanted to go in there and I went in there and what I wanted
[17:33 - 17:38]
to play that and they put me on the seat but my
[17:38 - 17:43]
legs were too short behind a low seat here in a high airfield out
[17:43 - 17:48]
of the question. It was several years before I
[17:48 - 17:52]
already played piano violin first and then piano and then
[17:52 - 17:55]
later organ.
[17:55 - 17:56]
But.
[17:56 - 18:03]
The point of seeing very one important thing
[18:03 - 18:07]
about AW Custer is string technique of the violins
[18:07 - 18:12]
violas the cellos and the double basses and they have
[18:12 - 18:16]
certain certain scenes in
[18:16 - 18:21]
common principles basic principles but they also have
[18:21 - 18:27]
certain differences and the conductor must understand those things.
[18:27 - 18:33]
You have then started with the violin and into piano and I
[18:33 - 18:37]
believe all the organ you were playing in the manuals and you gradually as your legs developed you
[18:37 - 18:42]
developed the ability to do the bark tree also not as a
[18:42 - 18:47]
prelude and you as in the other repertory.
[18:47 - 18:53]
Now when you turn to conducting you turn
[18:53 - 18:58]
to a in this in a way a similar kind of an instrument but
[18:58 - 19:00]
very obviously a very different one.
[19:00 - 19:06]
But what advantages do you have from your background of organ
[19:06 - 19:11]
playing where you have such a vast array of color shades shadings
[19:11 - 19:16]
to the orchestra as it is well it's very different
[19:16 - 19:20]
because with the organ it is often
[19:20 - 19:25]
difficult and sometimes impossible to make middle
[19:25 - 19:30]
voices like I'll talk to the voices. I already have.
[19:30 - 19:35]
And with your cursor it's much easier to do
[19:35 - 19:39]
that sometimes the violas or the cellos or the horns can bring out these little
[19:39 - 19:44]
voices very difficult to do I used to do it playing on four males at
[19:44 - 19:45]
the same time.
[19:45 - 19:49]
But there were limits to that too. To do it well.
[19:49 - 19:55]
And another thing is that if one
[19:55 - 19:59]
presses the key of the organ it
[19:59 - 20:04]
produces a certain tone because it makes the air go into a
[20:04 - 20:09]
pipe somewhere according to the stops and.
[20:09 - 20:15]
When we dock her struck the instruments. It's
[20:15 - 20:20]
different it's not a pipe which gives one kind of tone that
[20:20 - 20:25]
take the violas or the cellos on the horns or any instrument they've
[20:25 - 20:30]
forgot. For example many kinds of tones are possible and many
[20:30 - 20:35]
good additions of tone of of volume of
[20:35 - 20:40]
sound and many qualities and colorings of sound.
[20:40 - 20:45]
So the New York Kustra is much more complex
[20:45 - 20:50]
much much more complex than modern orchestra of course it
[20:50 - 20:55]
depends whether one is aware of all these
[20:55 - 20:57]
possibilities.
[20:57 - 21:02]
I hear sometimes a conductor just beats time were a good
[21:02 - 21:07]
argument. I don't beat time it is unnecessary they know it's 3 in about 0
[21:07 - 21:12]
5 in about 0 9 or whatever it is that event that is just
[21:12 - 21:15]
not conducting conducting is something much more important than that.
[21:15 - 21:21]
You know we think of you as a great innovator and one of the areas of
[21:21 - 21:26]
innovation that is in this effort to achieve a certain type of
[21:26 - 21:31]
sound or balance in the orchestra and we know that in the
[21:31 - 21:35]
days until that off you you tried various seating arrangements and
[21:35 - 21:41]
have you discovered what your ideal orchestral sound
[21:41 - 21:41]
is.
[21:41 - 21:46]
And you know out of all of this yours I mean Titian First of all it's
[21:46 - 21:50]
important to remember that the acoustic in every concert hall in the
[21:50 - 21:55]
world is different. Therefore the seating cannot be
[21:55 - 22:01]
I do not have a single conception of seating at all.
[22:01 - 22:04]
I directed to the concert hall.
[22:04 - 22:11]
This concert hall is different from what it was last time I was here. Some I don't know they've
[22:11 - 22:16]
changed something they haven't changed and I was wondering always differently what your reaction would be.
[22:16 - 22:20]
Well. This is a very big subject but
[22:20 - 22:25]
just mention a few things. Here you have the contrabass on
[22:25 - 22:30]
audience right. They are playing the tone away from the
[22:30 - 22:35]
listeners. Which is not intelligent.
[22:35 - 22:39]
It just isn't plain common sense. If they were on the
[22:39 - 22:44]
audience left then they would be playing to the
[22:44 - 22:49]
listeners and we need plenty of basic sound
[22:49 - 22:54]
from the double bases just like the middle of an organ which is the
[22:54 - 22:59]
foundation of the whole sound above of all the
[22:59 - 23:06]
different instruments. So that's one thing which must be considered.
[23:06 - 23:10]
It's the direction of sound instruments which is very not
[23:10 - 23:15]
neglected. For example French horn plays this way
[23:15 - 23:21]
and tone goes to the right downwards whether you like it or
[23:21 - 23:24]
not that's how it is these are the facts. Ture but
[23:24 - 23:30]
it all goes up which into the light. Just the opposite. To go here on CNN
[23:30 - 23:36]
which we must consider these differences flutes tone goes up
[23:36 - 23:38]
or both will go a lot this way.
[23:38 - 23:41]
Violin goes his way.
[23:41 - 23:46]
Cello goes this way and in the Viola said summer often on the wrong side of the
[23:46 - 23:51]
stage for the falls to the brain is out on bond a concert
[23:51 - 23:57]
hall because every enclosed space now we're in an enclosed space here.
[23:57 - 24:02]
That is if we would study it. There is a
[24:02 - 24:06]
fundamental sound wave to this enclosed space there is a very close
[24:06 - 24:11]
place you know a big place like this concert hall here.
[24:11 - 24:16]
It's basic but probably it's we do not hear that we
[24:16 - 24:20]
hear overtones we hear other parcels of that fundamental
[24:20 - 24:26]
and they are natural to that home sometimes. I'm sure you've
[24:26 - 24:31]
noticed suddenly one note I sharpen a B-flat that
[24:31 - 24:35]
stand out to promenade all the time is because you're just in one of those
[24:35 - 24:40]
nodal points your ears are another thing to remember is
[24:40 - 24:45]
everybody's ears are different. Everybody hears differently.
[24:45 - 24:49]
Everybody's right is different from a lefty that has been measured
[24:49 - 24:54]
by scientific instruments. So all these
[24:54 - 24:59]
things make it very complex and the old way of seating the
[24:59 - 25:04]
orchestra started with Haydn when he had a much smaller or close to
[25:04 - 25:08]
a very good one. Probably but it was
[25:08 - 25:14]
the first violins on this side of the second violins here that was
[25:14 - 25:18]
good in those times and that small place because I know the hallway he played
[25:18 - 25:21]
I visit there sometimes.
[25:21 - 25:25]
But to day with with just a few
[25:25 - 25:28]
violins with heightened today we have.
[25:28 - 25:35]
32 or 36 violins and they can all be massed
[25:35 - 25:40]
together sometime when you want something. Very probably that when from
[25:40 - 25:45]
from the leadline of middle Arctic sound. So it's very
[25:45 - 25:50]
complex. It's so complex that I don't know how to find
[25:50 - 25:55]
words to express it. But I feel it know it live in it but
[25:55 - 25:57]
I don't know how to say.
[25:57 - 26:02]
And there's your rehearsal hall such as here you are in a sense in a new
[26:02 - 26:06]
hall though you've been here at least five times before it has changed you.
[26:06 - 26:11]
You're constantly making adjustments during the rehearsal time to achieve the kind of
[26:11 - 26:13]
balance that you hear.
[26:13 - 26:17]
Yes so so that we write
[26:17 - 26:23]
melodic lines for instruments by the right degree of prominence.
[26:23 - 26:29]
And our door who is French and
[26:29 - 26:35]
which means that certain age limits must be lifted up and others must be depressed
[26:35 - 26:39]
otherwise they all. That sounds unclear. The
[26:39 - 26:45]
Sometimes I hear of very unclear performances.
[26:45 - 26:50]
The Right Things are not implemented. It's the same with painting.
[26:50 - 26:56]
I learnt very much from Reeves French impressionists.
[26:56 - 27:01]
There will be in the foreground some persons farther
[27:01 - 27:06]
back will be other persons who look smaller because of what you call
[27:06 - 27:10]
or stressed by perspective. Behind that is are some
[27:10 - 27:14]
houses farther back are some trees farther back
[27:14 - 27:18]
tops of hills farther back
[27:18 - 27:25]
some clouds of sky and so forth. So you have
[27:25 - 27:30]
planes but we have exactly the same thing in New York US
[27:30 - 27:35]
only some persons are not sensitive to it
[27:35 - 27:40]
or about able to make it that way.
[27:40 - 27:45]
Clear is a question of all yes
[27:45 - 27:49]
and relief because there is no question of really thought of there.
[27:49 - 27:55]
That is very extremely important and very neglected
[27:55 - 28:01]
so that when you have all certain passages of the Shostakovich 6 which you are
[28:01 - 28:06]
rehearsing getting ready to perform to tomorrow evening
[28:06 - 28:12]
there are certain contrapuntal elements where these this combined it of we would love to
[28:12 - 28:16]
go which does so well in this religious symphony that is extremely
[28:16 - 28:21]
complex counterpoint but not the kind of
[28:21 - 28:24]
counterpoint to teach in the schools.
[28:24 - 28:28]
It is more than kind of counterpoint something to try and leave
[28:28 - 28:34]
you very early to do your listening to a
[28:34 - 28:40]
conversation with Leopold's to KOSKY with Aaron Parsons and George Stone.
[28:40 - 28:43]
We pause ten seconds before station identification.
🔍