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Virtual Concert – Severance Hall 2002
June 19, 2020
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The Medina Community Band, under the baton of Marcus Neiman, appeared in concert with the Case Western Reserve University Concert Winds and Symphony Winds, under the baton of Dr. Gary Ciepluch, on Sunday, October 12, 2002, in Severance Music Hall (Cleveland, OH). Medina Community Band is sponsored and supported by the Medina Community Band Association, at the time a standing committee of the Medina Breakfast Kiwanis Club. Don Moore was president of the Medina Community Band Association.
Featured soloist was Marcia Nelson-Kline performing Frank Simon’s Willow Echoes. The Medina Community Band’s program consisted of Raymond Overture (Thomas/Safranek); El Capitan March (Sousa); Willow Echoes (Simon) with Marcia Nelson-Kline, soloist; Scenes from The Louvre (Dello Joio); Lassus Trombone (Fillmore); and, The Stars and Stripes Forever (Sousa).
Medina Community Band Program
Severance Music Hall – Cleveland, Ohio
Sunday, October 12, 2002
Jeffrey Kehnle, retired vice-president at Old Phoenix National Bank (now Huntington National Bank), and long time narrator for Medina Community Band served as the voice of Medina Community Band.
Ambroise Thomas, 1811–96, French operatic composer, studied at the Paris Conservatory, receiving the Prix de Rome in 1832. He later taught composition there and became its director in 1871. Thomas wrote cantatas, a number of ballets, and 20 operas, of which Le Caïd (1849, a satire on Italian opera), Mignon (1866), and Hamlet (1868) were the most successful. Thomas’s parents were music teachers. By the age of 10, he was already an experienced pianist and violinist. In 1828, he entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied with Jean-François Le Sueur (who also taught Berlioz) while at the same time taking piano lessons privately from the famous virtuoso Frédéric Kalkbrenner.
Raymond. Of the twenty operas by Ambroise Thomas, all that remains is an overture from one of them (Raymond), and assorted other fragments of two others. Thomas’ talent was a modest one. He was more lyrical than dramatic, more charming and graceful than passionate or profound. He was born in Metz, France, on August 5, 1811. Raymond is a rather silly operatic adaptation of the story of the Man with the Iron Mask. It was produced in Paris on June 5, 1851, was a dismal failure, and was relegated to oblivion. Its overture, however, has become one of the most popular in French opera.
ENCORE – El Capitan March (Sousa) – The Maestro would often perform one of his own marches as an encore during performances. One of the perennial Sousa favorites, this 
march has enjoyed exceptional popularity with bands since it first appeared. It was extracted from the most successful of the Sousa operettas, El Capitan. El Capitan of the operetta was the comical and cowardly Don Medigua, the early seventeenth-century viceroy of Peru. Some of the themes appear in more than one act, and the closing theme of the march is the same rousing theme which ends the operetta. This was the march played by the Sousa Band, augmented to over a hundred men and all at Sousa’s personal expense, as they led Admiral Dewey’s victory parade in New York on September 30, 1899. It was a matter of sentiment with Sousa, because the same march had been played by the band on Dewey’s warship Olympia as it sailed out of Mirs Bay on the way to attack Manila during the Spanish-American war.
Jeffrey Kehnle’s encore comments:
Marcia Nelson Kline, Copley resident Marcia Nelson Kline began her trumpet studies with parents Milton and Sarah Nelson, Lloyd Haines, and further advanced her studies with Harry Herforth and James Darling. She is a member of Medina Community Band (since 1984) and Brass Band of the Western Reserve (since 1997) and has performed with Marcus Neiman’s Sound of Sousa Band, Mill Street Brass Quintet, and Cleveland Women’s Orchestra. She is featured as a cornet soloist on Medina Community Band’s CD “Sounds of Summer”. Marcia has an associate degree in medical assisting from The University of Akron and is retired from the Cleveland Clinic where she was an ophthalmic technician.
Frank Simon (1889-1967) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He studied cornet under William J. Kopp and later, Herman Bellstadt, both charter 
members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and at the age of 23 performed with the CSO. In 1914 he left the Symphony and joined the internationally renowned John Philip Sousa Band, and in 1917 became solo cornetist and assistant conductor of that great organization. In 1921 Simon as approached by a senior executive at Armco Steel to begin a company band. Simon reluctantly agreed and by 1929 the Armco Band was a household name. NBC and WLW broadcast performances every Sunday afternoon across the nation. In addition to his work with Armco, in 1930 Simon joined the faculty of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Frank Simon suggested to Miss Bertha Bauer that it might be a good idea to begin a band department and he would be willing to run it. She accepted his offer and became a trendsetter. He not only established the first band department, but he attracted so many students to the band program at the Conservatory that Bertha Bauer frequently admitted to friends that by beginning the band department she was able to save the Conservatory from bankruptcy during the Depression. Frank Simon was a cornet soloist with the band from 1914-1920, and after Herbert L. Clarke retired in 1917 he assumed the assistant conductor`s position.
Prior to his Sousa years, he was with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Weber`s Prize Band of America. On the recommendation of foremost cornet soloist Herman Bellstedt, he was accepted into Sousa`s Band without audition. He was an emotional man, and this quality was reflected in his artistry. After leaving the band in 1920, Simon founded and conducted an industrial band for the American Rolling Mill Co. (Armco) in Middletown, Ohio. The Armco Band started as a band of amateurs and grew to a fully professional band with weekly network radio broadcasts. Simon then turned to music education. He taught at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and the University of Arizona and was a mentor to several students who eventually rose to the top of their profession. He was one of the first men elected to the prestigious American Bandmasters Association and later served as its president.[1]
Willow Echoes (Cornet Solo) was published in 1920 by Fillmore Bros. Co. Willow Echoes was Frank Simon’s tour-de-force, a solo he performed many times with the Sousa Band. It is speculated that the title reflects fond memories of many rehearsals and concerts at Willow Grove Park, home of the Sousa Band. It is one of the most elegant works in the cornet solo repertory. Simon went to his death saying that the inspiration for Willow Echoes was Herbert L. Clarke, famed solo cornetist with The Sousa Band. Clarke had told him that the best soloists were those who played their own music. Simon was inspired by Willow Grove, that pantheon of good band music. The new piece was a hit with Mr. Sousa, Mr. Clarke, and the public. Mr. Sousa commented on hearing the piece for the first time, “This is it, this is exactly what I’ve been looking for, this is what I want. You play it at the night shows.” What more could one ask?
Joseph John Richards was born August 27, 1878 in Cwmavon, Wales. His family immigrated to the United States four years later, settling in Peterson, Kansas. He began learning various brass instruments at the age of ten, progressing rapidly, playing in various amateur bands. At the age of nineteen he was appointed leader of the Norton-Jones Circus Band, beginning a long career as bandmaster with numerous ensembles. Richards’ first composition appeared in print in 1899; during this period he began writing marches and other works, and certainly many of his early works were first performed by the bands that he led. His career as a circus bandleader culminated with his directorship of the Ringling Bros. Circus Band from 1911 through 1918.
During the circus off-seasons, Richards attended Kansas State Teachers College and the American Conservatory of Music. Beginning in the early 1920’s, he taught school music and directed bands in various Illinois towns through 1944. In 1945, upon the death of Herbert L. Clarke, he was appointed director of the famed Long Beach, California Municipal Band, a post he held until 1950. Subsequently, Richards returned to Illinois in the spring and summer to lead the Mt. Morris Band while wintering in Long Beach. He died on March 16, 1956 in Long Beach. Richards was highly regarded by his peers. He was elected to the American Bandmasters Association in 1939 and served as its president in 1948. He composed well over one hundred works that were published. Undoubtedly his most famous composition – one which enjoys great popularity today – is the marvelous “Emblem of Unity” march.
Emblem of Unity was written in a traditional march form with slight deviations. Of particular interest is Richards’ use of augmented sixth chords in the introduction, as well as solo measures for the snare drum. Possibly the most recognizable feature of the march is the prominent use of the horn section, combined with the baritones on solo measures in the first strain. The horns are featured again in the second strain with exposed octaves accompanied only by chromatic passages in the woodwinds and trumpet parts. The march was written while he was directing both the public school and municipal bands in Sterling, Illinois. Barnhouse published the march in 1941. This brilliant march, Richard’s most popular, was written while he was living in Sterling, Illinois, conducting both the high school and community bands. A classic and exciting composition, this work is played by hundreds of school and professional bands each year. Some of the composition’s unique features include: the chord changes which precede the snare drum forzando in the introduction, the short lower brass breaks, and the final strain which sounds correct at either a constant, slower, or accelerating tempo. (Texas A&M University, Legend of the March Volume III, jacket notes, Dr. Timothy Rhea, conductor)
Jeffrey Kehnle – Life after high school band.
Scenes from the Louvre (Dello Joio)
Norman Dello Joio (born Nicodemo DeGioio on 24 January 1913, New York City; died 24 July 2008, East Hampton, N.Y.) was born to Italian immigrants and began his musical career as organist and choir director at the Star of the Sea Church on City Island in New York at age 14. His father was an organist, pianist, and vocal coach and coached many opera stars from the Metropolitan Opera. He taught Norman piano starting at the age of four. In his teens, Norman began studying organ with his godfather, Pietro Yon, who was the organist at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. In 1939, he received a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music, where he studied composition with Bernard Wagenaar.
As a graduate student at Juilliard he arrived at the conclusion that he did not want to spend his life in a church choir loft, and composition began to become his primary musical interest. In 1941, he began studies with Paul Hindemith, the man who profoundly influenced his compositional style. It was Hindemith who told Dello Joio, “Your music is lyrical by nature, don’t ever forget that.” Dello Joio states that, although he did not completely understand at the time, he now knows what he meant: “Don’t sacrifice necessarily to a system; go to yourself, what you hear. If it’s valid, and it’s good, put it down in your mind. Don’t say I have to do this because the system tells me to. No, that’s a mistake.”
A prolific composer, the partial list of Dello Joio’s compositions include over forty-five choral works, close to thirty works for orchestra and ten for band, approximately twenty-five pieces for solo voice, twenty chamber works, concertos for piano, flute, harp, a concertante for clarinet, and a concertino for harmonica. He has also written a number of pedagogical pieces for both two and four hands.
Dello Joio taught at Sarah Lawrence College, the Mannes College of Music, and was Professor of Music and Dean of the Fine and Applied Arts School of Boston University. From 1959 until 1973, he directed the Ford Foundation’s Contemporary Music Project, which placed young composers in high schools who were salaried to compose music for school ensembles and programs. The project placed about ninety composers, many who successfully continued their careers.
The wind band version of “Scenes from the Louvre” is taken from the original score of the NBC television special that was first broadcast nationally in November, 1964. In September, 1965, the composer received the Emmy award for this score as the most outstanding music written for television in the 1964-65 season. The five movements of this suite cover the period of the famous Paris museum’s development during the Renaissance and are based on themes from composers of that period. The movements are titled: The Portals, Children’s Gallery, The Kings of France, The Nativity Paintings, and Finale. The band work, commissioned by Baldwin-Wallace College for its symphonic band, was premiered in 1966 with the composer conducting.
Mvt 1 – The Portals
Mvt 2 – Children’s Gallery
Mvt 3 – The Kings of France
Mvt 4 – Nativity Paintings
Mvt 5 – Finale
Henry Fillmore was one of our most prolific composers with 256 compositions to his record and almost 800 arrangements. He published under various pseudonyms as well
as his own name: Henry Fillmore -114; Gus Beans – 2; Harold Bennett – 65; Ray Hall – 3; Harry Hartley – 6; Al Hayes – 57; Will Huff – 8; and Henrietta Moore – 1. According to Herb Block, Henry got into a conflict with his father (who composed and published liturgical music in Cincinnati) over the kind of music that Henry was composing. Henry liked march music and said, “I will huff and puff and I will write my own music.” Hence, the name Will Huff. Fillmore was a true free spirit. He was brought up by a conservative family in a conservative town. When he couldn’t do as he wished, he ran away with a circus and played trombone in the circus band. To top it all off, he married an exotic dancer.
Lassus Trombone (Characteristic). The characteristic carried the subtitle “De Cullud Valet to Miss Trombone” and was Henry’s favorite of this “trombone smears.” It was also recognized by John Philip Sousa, who included it on every concert of his last tour with his band. The sheet music to “Lassus Trombone” sold over two million copies. Now, with regard to this particular composition of Fillmore, I have played it, conducted it, listened to it for about 50 years, and I use it in my jazz history class as an illustration of the syncopated patterns which made their way into the syntax of jazz. However, until I read Dan’s note, I had never detected or suspected that it had any racial or ethnic overtones. Lassus Trombone is one of the compositions recorded by the University of Illinois Symphonic Band on an album of the music of Fillmore which I mentioned yesterday. I have always assumed that the implication of the title was quite different. In the southern United States, there is a food substance which may be largely unknown in other regions, called molasses. This is a thick, pungent, sugary syrup, usually a by-product of the process of extracting sugar from sugar cane. The syrup is thick under any circumstances, and much more so when it is cold. A favorite saying in this part of the world is “slow as molasses in January.” In the southern dialects, the first syllable is sometimes elided, producing “’lasses.” I speculate that might be the origin of the “Lassus” in “Lassus Trombone.” In this sense, it would refer to the slides and glissandos (smears) which are required of the trombonists who perform it. Pure speculation on my part, I admit, but it seems as likely to me as to read racism into the composition. (Program notes – The Begian Years Vol. IV)
Jeffrey Kehnle – Can you prove you are John Philip Sousa?
In 1896, Sousa and his wife were vacationing in Europe when word came that David Blakely had died. The couple immediately left for home. It was on the return voyage home that Sousa was inspired to begin writing his most famous composition, The Stars and Stripes Forever. From 1900 to 1910, the Sousa Band toured the U.S., Europe, Great Britain, and the Canary Islands, in the South Pacific, strengthening its growing reputation as the most admired American band of its time. After World War I, Sousa continued to tour with his band while championing the cause of music education for all children. He also received several honorary degrees and fought for composers’ rights, testifying before Congress in 1927 and 1928. Sousa’s last appearance before the Marine Band was on the occasion of the Carabao Wallow of 1932 in Washington, D.C. Sousa, as a distinguished guest, rose from the speaker’s table, took the baton from Captain Taylor Branson, the band’s director, and led the band in The Stars and Stripes Forever. Later that year, after conducting a rehearsal of the Ringgold Band in Reading, Pa., the 77-year old Sousa passed away. The last piece Sousa had rehearsed with the band was The Stars and Stripes Forever.
Marcus Neiman, closing comments and thanks.