Arthur Fiedler

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a recording of Desert Island Discs as it was being broadcast, rather than the studio recording.

Speaker 10:08

and for that reason you may hear some interference, and some degradation in the sound quality.

Speaker 10:14

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in 1965.

Presenter0:28

Each week a well-known person is asked the question, if you were to be cast away alone on a desert island, which aid gramophone records would you choose to have with you?

Presenter0:37

As usual, the castaway is introduced by Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:40

How do you do, ladies and gentlemen? Our castaway this week is a visitor from the United States, the conductor of the famous Boston Pops Orchestra, Arthur Fiedler.

Presenter0:50

mister Fiedler, we're dumping you very unfeelingly on this island.

Presenter0:54

How well do you think you could endure prolonged loneliness?

Arthur Fiedler0:58

I think I I would enjoy it very much at the moment because my profession brings me before so many people and and even working with so many people with a l orchestra of approximately a hundred players. So I think it'd be a great great relief.

Presenter1:09

My

Presenter1:11

On what basis have you chosen these eight records? Are you looking back into the past, or are they to inspire you for the future, or cheer you up for the present?

Arthur Fiedler1:19

I think more or less looking

Arthur Fiedler1:21

back into the past and refreshing my memory of music that I've enjoyed.

Presenter1:27

What's the first one you've chosen?

Arthur Fiedler1:28

The first one is the third prelude with a well-tempered clarichord in C-sharp major, performed by Madam Vandelandowska.

Arthur Fiedler1:37

Why have you chosen this?

Arthur Fiedler1:39

Well, I think it's a very good example of Bach at his best, if I may say so.

Presenter2:45

Bach's third prelude in C-sharp major, played by Vanderlandowska. Now what's your second choice, Mr. Fiedler?

Arthur Fiedler2:52

My second choice would be the Queen Mab schetzo from Rome and Juliette by Berrios, performed by Maestro Attoro Toscanini.

Presenter2:59

Why do you choose this?

Arthur Fiedler3:01

Well, because it's a very difficult orchestral piece and I think it's superbly played in this case.

Presenter4:04

The Queen maps get so from

Presenter4:06

Romeo and Juliet by Belios

Presenter4:08

Conducted by Toscanini.

Presenter4:11

Mr. Fiedler, whereabouts in the United States do you come from? Where were you born?

Arthur Fiedler4:14

I was born in Boston.

Presenter4:15

Now your name Fiddler in German means Fiddler. That's right. So your musical roots seem to go back a long way. My

Arthur Fiedler4:21

My father was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He was a violinist. I knew my grandfather. He was a violinist. And as far back as we can tell, they're all musicians.

Presenter4:31

So as a child, did you take it for granted that you would be?

Arthur Fiedler4:34

No, I did not, neither did my father, but I did take lessons on the violin and the piano at an early age of about five and a half, just for the sake of uh an accomplishment and for discipline.

Presenter4:45

Yes. When did you decide that you wanted to be a musician?

Arthur Fiedler4:47

I decided that when I was about fifteen years of age, my father had

Arthur Fiedler4:51

Served 25 years in the Boston Orchestra and then decided to retire to Europe and I was confronted by a decision to be made at that time and I chose music and I chose conducting.

Presenter5:02

Yeah.

Arthur Fiedler5:02

Where did you study? At the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin.

Arthur Fiedler5:06

What was your very first professional engagement?

Arthur Fiedler5:08

Well, I don't know about professional engagement. You mean as a conductor?

Presenter5:12

No, I mean as as a musician.

Arthur Fiedler5:13

Oh well, when I was a student in Berlin, my father having retired, I knew that I couldn't expect too much financial help from him. So much of my student days were spent in playing chamber music in various homes of German people in Berlin, where the wife played the piano or the husband played the cello or something like that. And I also played in the theatres and to earn my way through and even played at cafes and any anything that could come along.

Presenter5:39

Yes. This was just before the First World War.

Arthur Fiedler5:41

That's right.

Presenter5:42

And then you return to the United States. Yes.

Presenter5:45

What did you do when you got there?

Arthur Fiedler5:46

Well, I was very fortunate to find a position in my hometown orchestra, which is the Boston Symphony. Dr. Carl Mook was the conductor at that time. Following

Presenter5:54

Following your father's footsteps.

Arthur Fiedler5:55

Yes, exactly.

Presenter5:56

You played a variety of instruments with the Boston Symphony.

Arthur Fiedler5:58

Yes, I have. I started as a biologist and I

Presenter5:58

Guess I

Arthur Fiedler6:01

I switched to viola and I became the official pianist for a while and the organist. I played the celestial at all times. I helped in the percussion section and I did general housework.

Presenter6:12

A little light dusting.

Presenter6:14

Then after a few years you decided to form your own chamber orchestra.

Arthur Fiedler6:17

Well, you see I was bent on on conducting and in in those days it was extremely difficult for a young American to have an expensive toy like an orchestra entrusted to him. Most of the conductors in those days were well-known Europeans. But I was

Arthur Fiedler6:33

Insisting on the fact that I wanted to conduct, and the only way I could do it was to pull myself up above my bootstraps, and I organized a chamber orchestra, which I called the Boston Symphony, with my colleague.

Presenter6:44

Yeah.

Presenter6:45

Well, there you are, a conductor. I think at this point in your career, we might break off your third record. What should we have now?

Arthur Fiedler6:51

Well, I would like very much to do the opening of the finale of the Beethoven II Symphony. And this is with the Klempera and the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Presenter8:00

The opening of the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Klempere conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Presenter8:07

So, Mr. Fiedler, this was the pattern for some years. You were a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and conducting the Boston Sinfoniette.

Presenter8:15

Then you embarked on a new project, your Esplanade concert.

Arthur Fiedler8:19

Yes, I didn't know that you knew about this. This was my own idea. It occurred to me that you get the greatest amount of finest literature in the world, gratis at public libraries as we have in the United States.

Arthur Fiedler8:34

You get the great works of art at our Museum of Fine Arts, of which we have a wonderful one in Boston.

Arthur Fiedler8:41

And whenever it came to music, uh you had to dig into your genes and uh buy a ticket. And I th I knew very well that it cost money to maintain uh art museums and libraries. So I thought maybe I could

Arthur Fiedler8:54

dig up some funds for music which would be free to the public, the same as the other institutions. And for two years I went around and visually rang doorbells to try to raise sufficient money to get these concerts started and I was successful.

Presenter9:09

These were open air content.

Arthur Fiedler9:10

They still are going on.

Presenter9:12

And with enormous audiences, I really

Arthur Fiedler9:14

Oh, terrific. Well, I mean, during the war, when there wasn't much else to do and we had a great many service people in Greater Boston, we thought nothing particularly of having between thirty and forty thousand people.

Presenter9:24

Thirty or forty thousand.

Arthur Fiedler9:25

You see it was free. There were no gates, there were no barriers.

Presenter9:28

Yeah.

Arthur Fiedler9:28

You could rent a chair for the great sum of ten cents, or you could bring your own camp chair, or you could lie on the grass.

Presenter9:34

Mm-hmm. Wonderful.

Presenter9:36

Then in in nineteen thirty,

Presenter9:39

Thirty five years ago, a musical appointment that was very important to you and and indeed to Boston.

Arthur Fiedler9:44

Well that was the appointment as collector of the Boston Pops.

Presenter9:48

Orchestra. Yeah. Now the Boston Pops concerts started as as promenade concerts and they

Arthur Fiedler9:53

They were started in 1885 and I think they were called promenade concerts. And this was a word that the Americans didn't take to so well. They played music in those days. That was popular. By popular we mean Schubert, Tchaikovsky, waltzes of Strauss, Marshes and so forth. The public themselves, instead of saying popular concerts, shortened it and said popular.

Presenter10:12

Yes. And this was a a spring season by members of the Boston Simply.

Arthur Fiedler10:17

Yes, it immediately follows the winter season by 97 of the players from the Boston Symphony. Yeah.

Presenter10:22

And drinks are served during the concert in Symphony Hall. That's right.

Arthur Fiedler10:26

You don't have to drink if you don't want to. And you can have uh champagne, light wines, beer and soft drinks. But uh and you may smoke. It is a very delightful way to enjoy uh music of that type performed as well as we know how.

Presenter10:42

Apart from the light classics, you also have show music and a few popular tunes and also a lot of new music.

Arthur Fiedler10:50

Yes, we have had many first performances. We have a soloist every night.

Arthur Fiedler10:54

And we we play the classics too.

Speaker 210:56

Uh

Arthur Fiedler10:56

And keep with the current hits of the cinema and of the of the Broadway shows and so forth. There's a great deal of this type of music that is secondary music that is neglected that should be heard. And I give it my real love and affection just as well as I would to a Brown symphony.

Presenter11:06

Yeah.

Presenter11:13

One or two of these neglected numbers that you revived, I mean, for example, there was jealousy.

Arthur Fiedler11:17

Well, Jealousy was a composition that I found in a music store and amongst some old music and I liked the tune right away and I performed it and the audience seemed to like it very well. Then I brought it to the attention of the recording company who had never heard of it and thought it couldn't be good because they didn't know of of it.

Presenter11:32

And I believe you sold a million copies of that record.

Arthur Fiedler11:35

Well that was the first orchestra record that reached the million mark. For which I got a gold record.

Presenter11:40

And since then there have been several records that have reached the million marks.

Presenter11:44

Well now thanks to the success you've made of the orchestra during the past 35 years, it has winter tours as well as just the spring season.

Arthur Fiedler11:51

It has winter tours but not

Arthur Fiedler11:54

That orchestra itself is an orchestra that we don't mean to fly under false colours, but we call ourselves the Boston Pops Tour Orchestra, which is an orchestra assembled especially for touring. Similarly to the Saddler Wells here, you carry on your Saddler Wells performances here, and you have a troupe that goes to the United States.

Presenter12:12

Well but the recording orchestra consists of members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Presenter12:17

Let's have your fourth record now, Mr. Fiedler. What's that again?

Arthur Fiedler12:20

Well, my fourth record I think

Presenter12:20

Uh

Arthur Fiedler12:22

is one that I have always enjoyed and which I marvel at always, Rachmaninoff and his own arrangement of the schizo The Midsummer Night Stream of Mendelssohn.

Presenter13:33

McManinoff playing the schizerzo from Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream Music.

Arthur Fiedler13:38

You know, I had the great honour and the pleasure of knowing Mr. Rahmana personally. He was a fantastic character, charming gentleman with a very austere bearing. First man that I ever saw with a real crew cut. I think he wanted to look less like a musician than he wanted to look more like an average businessman and a delightful person, great musician.

Presenter14:02

Apart from your activities in Boston, you've guests conducted all over the United States.

Arthur Fiedler14:06

not only in the United States, but in many parts of the world.

Presenter14:09

Yeah.

Arthur Fiedler14:09

South America a great deal in Europe

Presenter14:12

When did you first conduct in this country?

Arthur Fiedler14:14

This country, I would say about four years ago.

Presenter14:17

On your last visit, I believe, you played a Beatles number in Liverpool. It really caused a sensation.

Arthur Fiedler14:22

No, I did it on this visit.

Presenter14:24

And it was a sensation.

Arthur Fiedler14:25

It was a sensation. Not only that, but when I finished the audience would not leave.

Arthur Fiedler14:31

And uh mister Grove, the conductor of the um orchestra.

Arthur Fiedler14:36

The Royal Philomonic

Arthur Fiedler14:37

Of Liverpool was backstage, and when he heard all this applause, and I said, you know, I don't want to do this again because to anchor an encore is

Arthur Fiedler14:45

you know, it takes the the sheen off of it.

Arthur Fiedler14:48

He said, you've got to go out and do it again, and I did.

Presenter14:50

With the

Arthur Fiedler14:51

Uh

Presenter14:51

Problem

Arthur Fiedler14:52

I want to hold your hand.

Presenter14:52

Huh, good.

Presenter14:54

Apart from music, mister Fiedler, what are your hobbies?

Arthur Fiedler14:57

Well, I enjoy very much and have enjoyed, I'm not working at it as hard as I would like to and as I have in the past, fire prevention and fire fighting.

Arthur Fiedler15:06

I'm an honorary chief in about 110 cities throughout the world, and one of my cars in Boston. I have a official Boston fireplace and a radio which gets all the calls and whenever I can I go.

Presenter15:19

And I believe you are not unknown to the Boston police.

Arthur Fiedler15:22

No, I'm an honorary commissioner of police there too and I have a great thrill in going out in the cruising cars and uh trying to follow a murder or a stabbing or what may be, you know.

Presenter15:36

Yeah.

Arthur Fiedler15:36

Uh

Presenter15:36

Are your children going to keep up the family musical tradition?

Arthur Fiedler15:38

Well, it's hard to say. We've all had music lessons and uh my oldest daughter is just nineteen and is at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Uh she's particularly interested in writing about music and perhaps wants to become a critic, which

Presenter15:51

Oh, I see.

Arthur Fiedler15:53

I said you're right. Yeah, I'm watching it all right.

Presenter15:55

Let's have record five. Now, what next?

Arthur Fiedler15:59

But record five

Arthur Fiedler16:01

Would be the GT Parisienne by Offenbach arranged by Rosenthal, which would turn out to be one of my very best-selling records. And I'm playing it here on this desert island because I just want to remind myself of what I've done in the past, and also because I rarely play my own records. And it might be interesting for me to take the time to hear myself.

Presenter17:22

The opening to Offenbach's Guerde Parisienne, played by the Boston Pops Orchestra. Now we come to your sixth record. What's that?

Arthur Fiedler17:30

That I think I would like to perform would be the overshoot of the Fledemaus of Johann Strauss and the Carayan recording.

Presenter18:41

Part of the overture of Die Fleder Maus, played by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Carijan.

Presenter18:47

How well equipped would you be to be a castaway, mister Fiedler? I mean, are you a practical chap? Are you good with your hands?

Arthur Fiedler18:54

Well, I've never had occasion to try very well. I I do like to do things with my hands. I usually start off very well and I get a little bit fed up with it and it ends up pretty badly. But I think if I were forced to do it, and it would be a wonderful way to spend the time, I'd like to create some things that might be useful or decorative even.

Presenter19:10

Yes, you'll persevere long enough to get up some kind of a shelter, at any rate.

Arthur Fiedler19:14

Oh, I would think I would, yes. Could you live off the land?

Presenter19:17

Are you good at gardening or anything of that sort?

Arthur Fiedler19:18

Well, I like to see things grow very much, plants. I've even had to fool around a little bit with mild vegetables and things of that sort, but I think it's very interesting.

Presenter19:28

Uh

Presenter19:29

But in the main, to you were a garden is a place to sit in.

Arthur Fiedler19:32

Well, not in the setting, just a walkthrough.

Presenter19:35

Could you build some kind of a craft, a raft, or something of that sort?

Arthur Fiedler19:39

No, I've read a great deal about uh crafts like Contiki and the people who've gone round the world in small boats and so forth and uh uh perhaps my memory would help me a little bit in trying to emulate.

Presenter19:51

But you have no ambitions that way.

Arthur Fiedler19:53

Not really.

Presenter19:54

Let's get back to music. What's number seven?

Arthur Fiedler19:57

Part of the Deus Eri of the Verdi Requiem, performed by Tuscany and the NBC Symphony Orchestra.

Arthur Fiedler20:04

I happen to have known Tuscany very well. He was a very good friend of mine. I was an ardent admirer of his, and still am. And I've had the great honour of having conducted the NBC Symphony on many occasions.

Presenter21:19

The opening of the Dieziere from the Verde Requiem, the NBC Symphony Orchestra and the Robert Shaw Chorale conducted by Toscanini.

Presenter21:28

We come to your last record, mister Fiedler. What's that?

Arthur Fiedler21:31

The last record is something that's uh rather up to date, or was up to date, a few years ago, and that is the latter part of the Vite of Spring of Strabinski. I think a performance by Montau was a very dear friend of mine, and unfortunately passed away last year.

Arthur Fiedler21:46

And um the Paris Consevitois Orchestra, I believe.

Presenter22:50

A section from Stravinsky's The Right of Spring, Pierre Monteur conducting the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra. Those are your eight records, mister Fiedler. If you could only take one, which would it be?

Arthur Fiedler23:03

Well really you're putting me on the spot. It is extremely difficult. As a matter of fact, it's been extremely difficult to pick these eight. As you well know, there's an embarrassment of riches. I would rather not answer that, if I may.

Presenter23:15

All right. You think it over and send us a postcard.

Arthur Fiedler23:18

All right.

Speaker 223:18

Yeah.

Arthur Fiedler23:19

But there's no post there, is there?

Presenter23:21

Right there.

Arthur Fiedler23:21

On the island?

Presenter23:22

New Island?

Presenter23:24

You put in the box.

Arthur Fiedler23:24

I'm not in the bottle.

Presenter23:25

Oh. You have no bottle. It'll have to be smoke signals.

Arthur Fiedler23:29

Well, how have I got a match? I have to rub sticks.

Presenter23:32

That's it. Right. And one luxury to take with you to the island.

Arthur Fiedler23:38

Well, that is very, very difficult also. But I've been thinking about this because I was forewarned that you might ask me this. I think I would like to take a very fine pair of binoculars with me.

Arthur Fiedler23:48

Because I might get tired of watching the sea and getting sand between my toes and I might want to look for birds or animal life and perhaps look in the horizon to see that somebody might be willing to remove me from this island.

Presenter24:06

Horizontal.

Presenter24:07

and one book other than the Bible or Shakespeare.

Arthur Fiedler24:11

Well, uh it's hard to put it in one volume, but this would be a chance of a lifetime that I've been looking forward to all my life, that is to read the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Presenter24:19

You come back and make a fortune on quiz programming.

Presenter24:22

Well, thank you, Arthur Fiedler, for letting us hear your choice of Desert Island discs. Thank you very much. Goodbye, everyone.

Presenter24:38

The guest in today's recorded programme was Arthur Fiedler.

Presenter24:41

The interviewer was Roy Plumley and producer Monica Chapman.

Speaker 124:52

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Islandists Archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.