Werner Janssen
Encyclopedia
Hans-Werner Janssen was an American
conductor
of classical music, and composer
of classical music and film score
s.
on 1 June 1899. His father was the famous New York Restauranter of the Hof Brau Haus and encouraged Werner to enter the family business, opposing the son's desire for a musical career. Therefore, after Werner completed secondary school (graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy
) he had to support his own musical education at Dartmouth College
. He did this by being a waiter, performing in cabarets and theaters, and selling his own popular compositions. At the New England Conservatory of Music
he studied with the composers George Chadwick and Frederick Converse
. He also studied piano with Arthur Friedheim
, a pupil of Franz Liszt
.
Janssen entered the US military (infantry) in World War I
. After the war he returned to his studies and earned a bachelor's degree in music at Dartmouth College
in 1921. He began to compose jazz songs for Tin Pan Alley
. He made recordings as a pianist of two of his popular songs in 1920. He composed for the Ziegfeld Follies
of 1925 and 1926 and wrote several songs which became national hits. This helped finance his conducting studies with Felix Weingartner
in Basel
, Switzerland (1920-21) and with Hermann Scherchen
in Strasbourg
, France (1921-25). He also received a Juilliard Fellowship and the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome
for his tone poem for large orchestra in a jazz idiom New York's Eve in New York. That composition received its premiere from the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by Howard Hanson
on May 8, 1929. In 1930, it was performed by the Cleveland Orchestra
conducted by Nikolai Sokoloff
, and was recorded in 1929 by The Victor Symphony Orchestra conducted by Nathaniel Shilkret
. Shilkret and Janssen were later (1945) to exchange roles, with Janssen and his Symphony Orchestra of Los Angeles conducting the Genesis Suite
which was conceived of and coauthored by Shilkret.
He was engaged in 1927 by the National Broadcasting Corporation to direct symphony concerts on the radio but was dismissed early on. He was also hired in 1929 by Samuel Roxy Rothafel
to conduct at his Roxy Theater
but was soon dismissed from that post as well.
Three years of studying in Rome at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
with mentor Ottorino Respighi
resulted in several new compositions including the Louisiana Suite and the string quartet American Kaleidoscope performed by the Quartetto di Roma. His work with that group led to an engagement to conduct the Royal Orchestra of Rome. He also took conducting engagements throughout Europe (including Berlin
, Budapest
, Copenhagen
, Riga
, Stockholm
, and Turin
). He conducted an entire concert of the works of Jean Sibelius
in Helsinki in February 1934. Sibelius said of this concert: "You may say that tonight Finland has for the first time discovered my music. This achievement of Janssen's is the deed of a hero". After a second concert, he received the Order of the White Rose
on 8 March 1936 from the government of Finland for his contribution to Finnish music.
He was appointed associate conductor of the New York Philharmonic
for the 1934-1935 season, and on 8 November 1934 became the first American-born conductor to lead the orchestra. He was conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
from 1937 through 1939.
While Janssen filled roles as guest conductor, he was also contracted to write film music. His first credited film score was for The General Died at Dawn
(1936), which was nominated for an Academy Award, the first of six Janssen scored films to be nominated. In 1939, he resigned his position with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to work with film producer Walter Wanger
. He composed several other film scores including Blockade
(1938), Winter Carnival
(1939), Eternally Yours
(1939), Slightly Honorable
(1940), The House Across the Bay
(1940), Guest in the House
(1944), The Southerner
(1945), Captain Kidd
(1945), A Night in Casablanca
(1946), Ruthless
(1948), and Uncle Vanya
(1957), starring and co-directed by Franchot Tone
. He was also responsible for the score for the 1966 German television production Robin Hood, der edle Ritter (Robin Hood, the Noble Knight). He continued to write non-film compositions too, including the Foster Suite (1937), the String Quartet No. 2 (1938), the Octet for Five (1965), and the Quintet for 10 Instruments (1968).
In 1940, he formed the Janssen Symphony in Los Angeles, which became a rival organization to the Los Angeles Philharmonic
and a forum for contemporary music until 1952. Compositions for this were commissioned from American composers. This group performed and recorded film music, musical theater works, and contemporary musical scores. Numerous recordings were made by Janssen and this orchestra for Capitol Records. Janssen formed a partnership with producer David L. Loew
to produce the Musicolor series of classic musical shorts, including Toccata and Fugue (1946) and Enchanted Lake (1947), both filmed in Cinecolor
.
Janssen was the music director of the Utah Symphony 1946-1947, the Oregon Symphony
1947-1949, and the San Diego Philharmonic (1952-54). He also had positions at the NBC Symphony Orchestra
("Symphony of the Air") (1956), Toronto Symphony Orchestra
(1956-1957), the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra
, the Vienna State Opera
Orchestra (1959-1961) and the Vienna Volksoper
. Recordings with the latter included Karl-Birger Blomdahl
's opera, Aniara
; and Sergei Prokofiev
’s opera War and Peace
. He returned to the U.S. in the early 1970s.
Shilkret, described Arthur Judson
as being the leading person for choosing symphony conductors, and he quotes Crawford as quoting Hart: "All agree that from 1915 to 1956, at least, Arthur Judson exercised a power and influence in the symphony and concert affairs of this country without equal then or at any other time." Shilkret says that "Werner Janssen tells, in his unpublished autobiography (referenced as 'Janssen, Werner and D. Bruce Lockerbee, ca 1980, While the Music Lasts, unpublished, 261 double-spaced typed pages'), of unintentionally bypassing Judson and later being forced to pay Judson a commission on all of his (Janssen's) performance fees, without getting a single booking from Judson in return."
in 1937, to actress Ann Harding
whom he had met in Hollywood. They had one child, daughter Grace Kaye. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1963 (in the divorce proceedings, Ann stated that he had given her an ulcer). His second marriage was to Christina Heintzmann, who survived him at his death. He had three children with his second wife: Werner Janssen Jr., Alice Janssen Krelle, and Jennifer Janssen. At his death (19 September 1990, at Stony Brook, New York
) he was also survived by his three children with Christina, by two sisters, by four grandchildren and by eight great-grandchildren.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
of classical music, and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
of classical music and film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
s.
Biography
Janssen was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on 1 June 1899. His father was the famous New York Restauranter of the Hof Brau Haus and encouraged Werner to enter the family business, opposing the son's desire for a musical career. Therefore, after Werner completed secondary school (graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...
) he had to support his own musical education at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
. He did this by being a waiter, performing in cabarets and theaters, and selling his own popular compositions. At the New England Conservatory of Music
New England Conservatory of Music
The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, is the oldest independent school of music in the United States.The conservatory is home each year to 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies along with 1400 more in its Preparatory School as well as the School of...
he studied with the composers George Chadwick and Frederick Converse
Frederick Converse
Frederick Shepherd Converse , was an American composer of classical music.-Life and career:Converse was born in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Edmund Winchester and Charlotte Augusta Converse. His father was a successful merchant, and president of the National Tube Works and the Conanicut Mills...
. He also studied piano with Arthur Friedheim
Arthur Friedheim
Arthur Friedheim was a Russian-born pianist, conductor and composer who was one of Franz Liszt's foremost pupils.Friedheim was born in Saint Petersburg in 1859. He began serious study of music at age eight...
, a pupil of Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
.
Janssen entered the US military (infantry) in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. After the war he returned to his studies and earned a bachelor's degree in music at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
in 1921. He began to compose jazz songs for Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century...
. He made recordings as a pianist of two of his popular songs in 1920. He composed for the Ziegfeld Follies
Ziegfeld Follies
The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
of 1925 and 1926 and wrote several songs which became national hits. This helped finance his conducting studies with Felix Weingartner
Felix Weingartner
Paul Felix von Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist.-Biography:...
in Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, Switzerland (1920-21) and with Hermann Scherchen
Hermann Scherchen
Hermann Scherchen was a German conductor.-Life:Scherchen was originally a violist and played among the violas of the Bluthner Orchestra of Berlin while still in his teens...
in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, France (1921-25). He also received a Juilliard Fellowship and the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome
American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome.- History :In 1893, a group of American architects, painters and sculptors met regularly while planning the fine arts section of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...
for his tone poem for large orchestra in a jazz idiom New York's Eve in New York. That composition received its premiere from the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra is an American orchestra based in the city of Rochester, Monroe County, New York. Its primary concert venue is the Eastman Theatre at the Eastman School of Music....
conducted by Howard Hanson
Howard Hanson
Howard Harold Hanson was an American composer, conductor, educator, music theorist, and champion of American classical music. As director for 40 years of the Eastman School of Music, he built a high-quality school and provided opportunities for commissioning and performing American music...
on May 8, 1929. In 1930, it was performed by the Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...
conducted by Nikolai Sokoloff
Nikolai Sokoloff
Nikolai Sokoloff , was a Russia-American conductor and violinist. He was born in Kiev, and studied music at Yale. From 1916 to 1917 he was musical director of the San Francisco People's Philharmonic Orchestra, where he insisted on including women in his orchestra and paying them the same as men...
, and was recorded in 1929 by The Victor Symphony Orchestra conducted by Nathaniel Shilkret
Nathaniel Shilkret
Nathaniel Shilkret was an American composer, conductor, clarinetist, pianist, business executive, and music director born in New York City, New York to an Austrian immigrant family.-Early career:...
. Shilkret and Janssen were later (1945) to exchange roles, with Janssen and his Symphony Orchestra of Los Angeles conducting the Genesis Suite
Genesis Suite
Genesis Suite is a 1945 work for narrator, orchestra, and chorus. A musical interpretation of the first eleven chapters of the Book of Genesis, the suite was a collaborative work by seven composers, some of whom wrote film music in Hollywood. The project was conceived of by Nathaniel Shilkret, a...
which was conceived of and coauthored by Shilkret.
He was engaged in 1927 by the National Broadcasting Corporation to direct symphony concerts on the radio but was dismissed early on. He was also hired in 1929 by Samuel Roxy Rothafel
Samuel Roxy Rothafel
Samuel Lionel Rothafel, known as "Roxy" was an American theatrical impressario and entrepreneur. He is noted for developing the lavish presentation of silent films in the deluxe movie palace theaters of the 1910s and 1920s.-Biography:Born in Stillwater, Minnesota, Samuel L. Rothafel was a showman...
to conduct at his Roxy Theater
Roxy Theater
The Roxy Theatre was a 5,920 seat movie theater located at 153 West 50th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues, just off Times Square in New York City. It opened on March 11, 1927 with the silent film The Love of Sunya, produced by and starring Gloria Swanson. The huge movie palace was a leading...
but was soon dismissed from that post as well.
Three years of studying in Rome at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, based in Italy.It is based at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, and was founded by the papal bull, Ratione congruit, issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prominent in Western...
with mentor Ottorino Respighi
Ottorino Respighi
Ottorino Respighi was an Italian composer, musicologist and conductor. He is best known for his orchestral "Roman trilogy": Fountains of Rome ; Pines of Rome ; and Roman Festivals...
resulted in several new compositions including the Louisiana Suite and the string quartet American Kaleidoscope performed by the Quartetto di Roma. His work with that group led to an engagement to conduct the Royal Orchestra of Rome. He also took conducting engagements throughout Europe (including Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
, Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, and Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
). He conducted an entire concert of the works of Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...
in Helsinki in February 1934. Sibelius said of this concert: "You may say that tonight Finland has for the first time discovered my music. This achievement of Janssen's is the deed of a hero". After a second concert, he received the Order of the White Rose
Order of the White Rose
The Order of the White Rose of Finland is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty, and the Order of the Lion of Finland. The President of Finland is the Grand Master of all three orders. The orders are administered by boards consisting of a chancellor,...
on 8 March 1936 from the government of Finland for his contribution to Finnish music.
He was appointed associate conductor of the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
for the 1934-1935 season, and on 8 November 1934 became the first American-born conductor to lead the orchestra. He was conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is a professional American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland.In September 2007, Maestra Marin Alsop led her inaugural concerts as the Orchestra’s twelfth music director, making her the first woman to head a major American orchestra.The BSO Board...
from 1937 through 1939.
While Janssen filled roles as guest conductor, he was also contracted to write film music. His first credited film score was for The General Died at Dawn
The General Died at Dawn
The General Died at Dawn is a 1936 film that tells the story of a mercenary who meets a beautiful girl while trying to keep arms from getting to a vicious warlord in war-torn China. The movie was written by Charles G. Booth and Clifford Odets, and directed by Lewis Milestone.It stars Gary Cooper,...
(1936), which was nominated for an Academy Award, the first of six Janssen scored films to be nominated. In 1939, he resigned his position with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to work with film producer Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger was an American film producer. An intellectual and a socially conscious movie executive who produced provocative message movies and glittering romantic melodramas, Wanger's career began at Paramount Pictures in the 1920s and led him to work at virtually every major studio as either a...
. He composed several other film scores including Blockade
Blockade
A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...
(1938), Winter Carnival
Winter carnival
A Winter carnival is an outdoor celebration that occurs in wintertime.Winter carnivals, or festivals, are popular in places where winter is particularly long or severe, such as Scandinavia, Canada and the northern United States...
(1939), Eternally Yours
Eternally Yours (film)
Eternally Yours is a 1939 American comedy film made by Walter Wanger and released by United Artists. The film was produced and directed by Tay Garnett with Walter Wanger as executive producer, from a screenplay by C. Graham Baker and Gene Towne....
(1939), Slightly Honorable
Slightly Honorable
- Cast :*Pat O'Brien as John Webb*Edward Arnold as Vincent Cushing*Broderick Crawford as Russ Sampson*Ruth Terry as Nightclub singer*Alan Dinehart as District Attorney Joyce*Claire Dodd as Alma Brehmer*Phyllis Brooks as Sarilla Cushing*Eve Arden as Miss Ater...
(1940), The House Across the Bay
The House Across the Bay
The House Across the Bay is a 1940 film directed by Archie Mayo, produced by Walter Wanger, written by Myles Connolly and Kathryn Scola, and released by United Artists. The picture involves a singer who waits for an imprisoned gangster to be released from Alcatraz, and also features Lloyd Nolan...
(1940), Guest in the House
Guest in the House
Guest in the House is an American film noir directed by John Brahm. The drama features Anne Baxter, Ralph Bellamy, Aline MacMahon, among others.-Cast:* Anne Baxter as Evelyn Heath* Ralph Bellamy as Douglas Proctor* Aline MacMahon as Aunt Martha...
(1944), The Southerner
The Southerner (1945 film)
The Southerner is a 1945 American film directed by Jean Renoir, based on the novel Hold Autumn in Your Hand by George Sessions Perry. The film received Oscar nominations for Best Director, Original Music Score and Sound. Renoir was named Best Director by the National Board of Review, which also...
(1945), Captain Kidd
Captain Kidd (1945 film)
Captain Kidd is a film starring Charles Laughton, Randolph Scott, Barbara Britton, and John Carradine, directed by Rowland V. Lee, produced by Benedict Bogeaus and James Nasser, music conduced by Werner Janssen, and released by United Artists. The film has entered the public domain since the...
(1945), A Night in Casablanca
A Night in Casablanca
A Night in Casablanca was the twelfth Marx Brothers movie, starring Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, and Harpo Marx. The picture was directed by Archie Mayo and written by Joseph Fields and Roland Kibbee, and is generally considered one of the better of the Marx Brothers' later films.-Plot:Set in...
(1946), Ruthless
Ruthless (film)
Ruthless is a drama film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and starring Zachary Scott and Louis Hayward.-Plot:Horace Vendig shows himself to the world as a rich philanthropist. In fact, the history of his rise from his unhappy broken home shows this to be far from the case...
(1948), and Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski....
(1957), starring and co-directed by Franchot Tone
Franchot Tone
Franchot Tone was an American stage, film, and television actor, star of Mutiny on the Bounty and many other films through the 1960s...
. He was also responsible for the score for the 1966 German television production Robin Hood, der edle Ritter (Robin Hood, the Noble Knight). He continued to write non-film compositions too, including the Foster Suite (1937), the String Quartet No. 2 (1938), the Octet for Five (1965), and the Quintet for 10 Instruments (1968).
In 1940, he formed the Janssen Symphony in Los Angeles, which became a rival organization to the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
and a forum for contemporary music until 1952. Compositions for this were commissioned from American composers. This group performed and recorded film music, musical theater works, and contemporary musical scores. Numerous recordings were made by Janssen and this orchestra for Capitol Records. Janssen formed a partnership with producer David L. Loew
David Loew
David L. Loew was an American film producer. He and his brother Arthur Loew were the twin sons of MGM founder Marcus Loew. After being elected to the board of directors of Loew's, Inc., in 1922, he resigned from the studio in 1935 to launch an independent production career...
to produce the Musicolor series of classic musical shorts, including Toccata and Fugue (1946) and Enchanted Lake (1947), both filmed in Cinecolor
Cinecolor
Cinecolor was an early subtractive color-model two color film process, based upon the Prizma system of the 1910s and 1920s and the Multicolor system of the late 1920s and 1930s. It was developed by William T. Crispinel and Alan M...
.
Janssen was the music director of the Utah Symphony 1946-1947, the Oregon Symphony
Oregon Symphony
The Oregon Symphony is an American orchestra based in Portland, Oregon. Founded as the Portland Symphony Society in 1896, it is the sixth oldest orchestra in the United States, and oldest in the Western United States...
1947-1949, and the San Diego Philharmonic (1952-54). He also had positions at the NBC Symphony Orchestra
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini...
("Symphony of the Air") (1956), Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario.-History:The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923. The orchestra changed its name to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1927. The TSO...
(1956-1957), the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra
Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra
The Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra is an orchestra in Serbia, regularly considered as one of the finest in the country. Its home base is in Belgrade.- History :...
, the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
Orchestra (1959-1961) and the Vienna Volksoper
Vienna Volksoper
The Vienna Volksoper is a major opera house in Vienna, Austria. It gives about three hundred performances of twenty-five productions during an annual season running from September through June....
. Recordings with the latter included Karl-Birger Blomdahl
Karl-Birger Blomdahl
Karl-Birger Blomdahl was a Swedish composer and conductor born in Växjö. He was educated in biochemistry, but was primarily active in music and by his experimental compositions he became one of the big names in Swedish modernism. His teachers included Hilding Rosenberg...
's opera, Aniara
Aniara (opera)
Aniara is an opera in two acts by Karl-Birger Blomdahl, with a libretto by Erik Lindegren based on the poem Aniara by Harry Martinson, that was premiered in 1959. The opera was described by the composer as a "review about Man in Time and Space"....
; and Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
’s opera War and Peace
War and Peace (Prokofiev)
War and Peace is an opera in two parts , sometimes arranged as five acts, by Sergei Prokofiev to a Russian libretto by the composer and Mira Mendelson, based on the novel War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy...
. He returned to the U.S. in the early 1970s.
Shilkret, described Arthur Judson
Arthur Judson
Arthur Leon Judson was an artists' manager who also managed the New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra...
as being the leading person for choosing symphony conductors, and he quotes Crawford as quoting Hart: "All agree that from 1915 to 1956, at least, Arthur Judson exercised a power and influence in the symphony and concert affairs of this country without equal then or at any other time." Shilkret says that "Werner Janssen tells, in his unpublished autobiography (referenced as 'Janssen, Werner and D. Bruce Lockerbee, ca 1980, While the Music Lasts, unpublished, 261 double-spaced typed pages'), of unintentionally bypassing Judson and later being forced to pay Judson a commission on all of his (Janssen's) performance fees, without getting a single booking from Judson in return."
Personal life
His first marriage was in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1937, to actress Ann Harding
Ann Harding
Ann Harding was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress.-Early years:Born Dorothy Walton Gatley at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, to George G. Gatley and Elizabeth "Bessie" Crabb. The daughter of a career army officer, she traveled often during her early life...
whom he had met in Hollywood. They had one child, daughter Grace Kaye. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1963 (in the divorce proceedings, Ann stated that he had given her an ulcer). His second marriage was to Christina Heintzmann, who survived him at his death. He had three children with his second wife: Werner Janssen Jr., Alice Janssen Krelle, and Jennifer Janssen. At his death (19 September 1990, at Stony Brook, New York
Stony Brook, New York
Stony Brook is a hamlet located in the Town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York, which is on the North Shore of Long Island...
) he was also survived by his three children with Christina, by two sisters, by four grandchildren and by eight great-grandchildren.
Awards and honours
- Juilliard Fellowship
- Prix de Rome (Rome Prize) for Musical Composition, American Academy in RomeAmerican Academy in RomeThe American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome.- History :In 1893, a group of American architects, painters and sculptors met regularly while planning the fine arts section of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...
, 1930 - Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, 1930
- Honorary Doctorate in Music (Mus.D. honoris causa) from Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, 1935 - Order of the White Rose of Finland, Knight First Class, 1936