Boston Pops Orchestra
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, that specializes in playing light classical
Light music
Light music is a generic term applied to a mainly British musical style of "light" orchestral music, which originated in the 19th century and had its heyday during the early to mid part of the 20th century, although arguably it lasts to the present day....
and popular
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
music.
The Boston Pops was founded in 1885 as a second, popular identity
Pops orchestra
A pops orchestra is an orchestra that plays popular music and show tunes as well as well-known classical works. Pops orchestras are generally organised in large cities and are distinct from the more "highbrow" symphony or philharmonic orchestras which also may exist in the same city...
of the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
(BSO), founded four years earlier. Consisting of most of the musicians of the BSO, although generally not the first-chair players, the orchestra performs a summer season of popular music in a casual setting at Symphony Hall
Symphony Hall, Boston
Symphony Hall is a concert hall located at 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by McKim, Mead and White, it was built in 1900 for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which continues to make the hall its home. The hall was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1999...
, and outdoors at the Hatch Shell
Hatch Shell
The Edward A. Hatch Memorial Shell is an outdoor concert venue adjacent to the Charles River Esplanade near downtown Boston....
on the Esplanade
Charles River Reservation
The Charles River Reservation is a -long Massachusetts state park located along the banks of the Charles River in Boston, Cambridge, Watertown, and Newton. The park is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation . The portion of the Reservation between the Charles River Dam and the...
, both in Boston. Closely identified with its long time director Arthur Fiedler
Arthur Fiedler
Arthur Fiedler was a 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 Boston Pops one of the best-known orchestras in the country...
, the orchestra has recorded extensively, made frequent tours and appeared regularly on television. The summer pops season allowed the BSO to become one of the first American orchestras to provide year-round employment for its musicians.
The current Music Director of the Boston Pops Orchestra is Keith Lockhart
Keith Lockhart
For the baseball player, see Keith Lockhart Keith Lockhart , to Newton Frederick and Marilyn Jean Woodyard Lockhart, is an American orchestral conductor....
.
History
Henry Lee Higginson
Henry Lee Higginson was a noted American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known as the founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.-Family and Early Life:...
, the founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, wrote of his wish to present in Boston "concerts of a lighter kind of music." The Boston Pops Orchestra was founded to present this kind of music to the public, with the first concert performed in 1885. Called the "Promenade Concerts" until 1900, these performances combined light classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, tunes from the current hits of the musical theater, and an occasional novelty number. Allowing for some changes of taste over the course of a century, the early programs were remarkably similar to the Boston Pops programs of today.
The Boston Pops Orchestra did not adopt its own official conductor until 1930, when Arthur Fiedler
Arthur Fiedler
Arthur Fiedler was a 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 Boston Pops one of the best-known orchestras in the country...
began a fifty-year tenure as the Pops conductor. Under Fiedler's direction the orchestra's popularity spread far beyond the city of Boston through recordings, radio and television. Unhappy with the reputation of classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
as being solely for affluent concert goers, Fiedler made efforts to bring classical music to a wider audience. He instituted a series of free concerts at the Hatch Shell
Hatch Shell
The Edward A. Hatch Memorial Shell is an outdoor concert venue adjacent to the Charles River Esplanade near downtown Boston....
on the Esplanade
Charles River Reservation
The Charles River Reservation is a -long Massachusetts state park located along the banks of the Charles River in Boston, Cambridge, Watertown, and Newton. The park is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation . The portion of the Reservation between the Charles River Dam and the...
, a public park beside the Charles River
Charles River
The Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...
. Fiedler insisted that the Pops Orchestra play popular music as well as well-known classical pieces, opening up a new niche of popular symphonic music. Of the many musical pieces created for the orchestra, the Pops' most identifiable works were the colorful novelty numbers composed by Leroy Anderson
Leroy Anderson
Leroy Anderson was an American composer of short, light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler...
, including "Sleigh Ride
Sleigh Ride
"Sleigh Ride" is a popular light orchestral piece composed by Leroy Anderson. The composer had the original idea for the piece during a heat wave in July 1946; he finished the work in February 1948. Lyrics, about a person who would like to ride in a sleigh on a winter's day with another person,...
", "The Typewriter" and others.
Under Fiedler's direction, the Boston Pops sold more commercial recordings than any other orchestra in the world, with total sales of albums, singles, tapes, and cassettes exceeding $50 million. The orchestra's first recordings were made in July 1935 for RCA Victor, including the first complete recording of George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
's Rhapsody in Blue
Rhapsody in Blue
Rhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band written in 1924, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects....
. The Pops made their first high fidelity recording on June 20, 1947, of Gaîté Parisienne
Gaîté Parisienne
Gaîté parisienne is a 1938 ballet based on music by Jacques Offenbach, arranged by Manuel Rosenthal. The ballet had the original title of Tortoni, after a Paris café, but Rosenthal recalled that Count Étienne de Beaumont, the ballet's librettist, later came up with the ballet's eventual...
(based on the music of Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
), and recorded the same music seven years later in stereophonic sound, their first venture in multitrack recording.
Fiedler is also credited with having begun the annual tradition of the Fourth of July Pops concert and fireworks display on the Esplanade, one of the best-attended Independence Day celebrations in the country with estimated crowds of 200,000–500,000 people. Also during Fiedler's tenure, the Pops and local public television station WGBH
WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
developed a series of weekly televised broadcasts recorded during the Pops' regular season in Symphony Hall
Symphony Hall, Boston
Symphony Hall is a concert hall located at 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by McKim, Mead and White, it was built in 1900 for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which continues to make the hall its home. The hall was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1999...
, Evening at Pops
Evening at Pops
Evening at Pops is one of the longest running programs on PBS. The program was a public television version of a variety show, hosted by a world-renowned orchestra, the Boston Pops...
.
The list of artist-performers during this period includes world-class soloists and contains some historic and legendary names who performed on the many Boston Pops tours that went to hundreds of cities across the country throughout the 1950s through the '70s. Some shows have holiday–oriented themes, such as Christmas shows featuring performers such as Jonathan Meath
Jonathan Meath
Jonathan Meath is an award–winning American TV producer based in Boston who is notable for earning numerous Emmy nominations and the coveted George Foster Peabody Award in 1993. He is known for his commitment to children's educational television...
, who appeared as Santa with the Boston Pops for ten shows during 2008–2009.
After Fiedler's death in 1979, he was succeeded as conductor of the Boston Pops by the noted film composer John Williams. Williams continued the Pops' tradition of bringing classical music to a wider audiences, initiating the annual "Pops-on-the-Heights" concerts at Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
and adding his own library of well-known film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
scores (including Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
and Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
) to the orchestra's repertoire.
Keith Lockhart
Keith Lockhart
For the baseball player, see Keith Lockhart Keith Lockhart , to Newton Frederick and Marilyn Jean Woodyard Lockhart, is an American orchestral conductor....
assumed the post of principal Pops conductor in 1995. Lockhart continues to conduct the Boston Pops today, adding a touch of flamboyance and a flair for the dramatic to his performances. Williams remains the Laureate Conductor of the Pops and conducts a week of Pops concerts most years. Lockhart brought in numerous pop-music acts to play with the orchestra, including Ben Folds
Ben Folds
Benjamin Scott "Ben" Folds is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and television personality. From 1995-2000, Folds was the frontman and pianist of the alternative rock band Ben Folds Five. Since the group disbanded, Folds has performed as a solo artist and has toured all over the world...
, Rockapella
Rockapella
Rockapella is an American a cappella musical group formed in 1986 in New York City. Their name is derived from the words "rock" and "a cappella". They sing original vocal music and a cappella covers of pop and rock songs; over time, their sound has evolved from high-energy pop and world music...
, Guster
Guster
Guster is an American alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. Formed in 1991, the group is known for its live performances and humor, founding members Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller, and Brian Rosenworcel came about to begin practice sessions while attending Tufts University in Medford,...
, My Morning Jacket
My Morning Jacket
My Morning Jacket is an American rock band from Louisville, Kentucky.The band consists of Jim James , Tom 'Two-Tone Tommy' Blankenship , Patrick Hallahan , Carl Broemel , and Bo Koster .-History:My Morning Jacket was...
, Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann is an American rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and bassist.-Early life:Aimee Mann grew up in Bon Air, Virginia, graduated from Open High School in 1978 and attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out to sing with her first punk rock band, the Young Snakes...
and Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
.
POPSearch
POPSearchPOPSearch
POPSearch is the Boston Pops' nationwide talent competition that offers amateur singers the chance to perform with the orchestra at Boston's Fourth of July Extravaganza, as well as on the orchestra's national tour. The winner also receives a $5,000 cash prize...
is the Boston Pops' nationwide talent competition that offers amateur singers the chance to perform with the orchestra at Boston's Fourth of July Extravaganza, as well as on the orchestra's national tour. The winner also receives a cash prize. The American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
-style competition has expanded into a nationwide contest through video submissions on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
and voting through BostonPops.org.
The POPSearch 2007 grand champion Maria Perry won $5,000 and performed with the Boston Pops on July 3 and 4 in the annual July 4 Extravaganza seen by a live audience of almost a half-million people on the Charles River Esplanade and several million more on WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV, virtual channel 4, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station, located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WBZ-TV's studios and office facilities, shared with sister station WSBK-TV , are located in the Allston-Brighton section of Boston, and its transmitter is located in Needham,...
.
Frances Botelho-Hoeg, an elementary school principal from Kingston, Massachusetts
Kingston, Massachusetts
Kingston is a coastal town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. According to the 2010 Census, it had a population of 12,629.-History:Before European settlers arrived in Kingston it was within the tribal home to the Wampanoag people...
, was knocked out in the second round of the inaugural POPSearch, but returned in 2005 to sweep the competition.
Tracy Silva, a mother of two from Taunton, Mass., and van driver for special needs children, won the inaugural POPSearch contest in 2004.
High School Sing-Off
In early spring of 2008, Keith Lockhart announced "Boston Pops High School Sing-Off A Best of Broadway Challenge," the first-ever Boston Pops musical theater competition for Massachusetts High school students. Students from high schools throughout the state of Massachusetts were encouraged to submit audition videos of musical theater vocal works for solo, duet, trio, quartet, or quintet to the Boston Pops before May 9, 2008. The winner was featured in the Boston Pops Fourth of July concert on the Charles River Esplanade.Music directors and conductors
- 1995–present: Keith LockhartKeith LockhartFor the baseball player, see Keith Lockhart Keith Lockhart , to Newton Frederick and Marilyn Jean Woodyard Lockhart, is an American orchestral conductor....
- 2002–2006: Bruce Hangen (Principal Guest Conductor)
- 1980–1995: John WilliamsJohn WilliamsJohn Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
(Laureate Conductor, 1995–present) - 1955–1999: Harry Ellis Dickson (Associate Conductor)
- 1930–1979: Arthur FiedlerArthur FiedlerArthur Fiedler was a 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 Boston Pops one of the best-known orchestras in the country...
- 1927–1929: Alfredo CasellaAlfredo CasellaAlfredo Casella was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor.- Life and career :Casella was born in Turin; his family included many musicians; his grandfather, a friend of Paganini's, was first cello in the San Carlo Theatre in Lisbon and eventually was soloist in the Royal Chapel in Turin...
- 1917–1926: Agide JacchiaAgide JacchiaAgide Jacchia was an Italian orchestral director.Born at Lugo di Romagna, he studied at the Conservatory at Parma from 1886 to 1891 and at the Liceo Musicale Rossini at Pesaro from 1891 to 1898. He won prizes for flute , conducting , and composition . He debuted as conductor at the Teatro Grande...
- 1916: Josef PasternackJosef PasternackJosef Alexander Pasternack was a well-known conductor and composer in the first half of the 20th century.-Biography:...
- 1913–1916: Clement Lenom
- 1915–1916: Ernst Schmidt
- 1913–1916: Otto Urach
- 1909–1917: André Maquarre
- 1908–1909: Arthur Kautzenbach
- 1897: Leo SchulzLeo SchulzLeo Schulz was a United States musician, a cellist.-Biography:He was educated at Posen, and in the Royal Academic High School of Music in Berlin. He was a principal cellist in Berlin and also played for the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig from 1886 to 1889...
- 1896–1902; 1906–1907: Max Zach
- 1895: Antonio de Novellis
- 1891–1894; 1903–1907: Timothee AdamowskiTimothee AdamowskiTymoteusz "Timothee" Adamowski was a Polish-born American conductor, composer, and violinist. Born in Warsaw, he studied in that city's conservatory, later moving on to further studies in Paris. He served as the first conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra...
- 1891: Eugen Gurenberg
- 1888: Franz KneiselFranz KneiselFranz Kneisel was an American violinist and teacher of Romanian birth.Born in Bucharest, the son of a German bandmaster, he learned to play the flute, clarinet and trumpet, as well as the violin...
- 1887: Wilhelm Rietzel
- 1886: John C. Mullaly
- 1885; 1887–1889: Adolf NeuendorffAdolf NeuendorffAdolf Heinrich Anton Magnus Neuendorff, also known as Adolph Neuendorff was a German-American composer, violinist, pianist and conductor, stage director and theater manager.-Early years:...