IMSLP Forums

Many thanks to all for educating me on the subject of fanfares. For his 1933 Hollywood Bowl concerts, my father, Nicolas Slonimsky, scheduled nine fanfares that had appeared in "Fanfare" and actually played eight (the Malipiero was pitched overboard for reasons unknown), plus five others, including his own. Somehow he found time to whip up a set of parts for them all, including Henry, Stravinsky, Caturla, and Ardevol. There is no record of where the idea came from - possibly from Goossens, with whom he had worked at the Eastman School in Rochester, NY, when he first came to the US in 1923. One thing seems clear: he was not booted out of town prematurely for playing too much wild music. There is no suggestion in his almost daily letters of plans, programs, etc. other than those that actually took place, and nothing about being paid off to leave. Indeed, he left quite satisfied with having done what he intended. Besides, he was to become a father for the first time in August - it seems unlikely, to say the least, that he would schedule anything later than the end of July.

Yes, John Cage said those concerts "changed my life."

Electra Yourke wrote:Yes, John Cage said those concerts "changed my life."

And your father’s advocacy for composers like Edgard Varèse had an obvious influence on later musicians such as Frank Zappa, for which many people would be equally grateful, I think. Thank you very much for adding detail of your father’s worthy contributions to this thread.