Memories of Horn Calls Past: My First Issue of The Horn Call, Part II–Reports on the 1979 Workshop and the Bass Horn

Part one of this series touched on the 1979 Annual Horn Workshop but there were several reports in the October, 1979 issue of The Horn Call that went into more depth.

The first report was by Leslie Gaska. It gave a great view of the event from a participants viewpoint (“Farkas was his usual ebullient self,” etc.) but if I were to pick one item that must have really stood out at the event based on the report it must have been the bass horn.

Thursday was the day of the bass horn. We got our first look at that marvelous horn when Roger Bobo, tubist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, joined Frøydis Ree Wekre in her recital. The horn looks much like a French horn but with a bore size that fits a tuba mouthpiece, making the instrument appear as though viewed with double vision. Its range is that of the tuba, the sound a gorgeous mellow tuba/horn sound. The bell cannot be placed upright on the knee, so it is played in the rest position. Bobo designed the horn, and as he said, it made him, a big fellow, look like a small kid with a Conn 8D…. Bobo and Frøydis played two trios, with composer/pianist Roger Kelloway, in the world premier of Kelloway’s “Sonor”, and “Dance of the Ocean Breeze”. This was my mid-week highlight. They have also recorded an album, including these works, for Crystal Records to be released in the late fall. On the basis of these two works they performed in recital I shall certainly purchase the recording! The blend of Horn and Bass Horn is excellent; they complement and match each other quite well in sonority.

Bruce has posted about the bass horn previously, with more information to be found here (the image above is linked from this site), and also check out this video! This is the same bass horn played recently; it is part of a collection in Texas. And I did buy that album mentioned above, it is a great one and I in fact still listen to it often! Horn and tuba is a favorite combination of mine.

The next report was from Elaine Seiffert, and from her I would highlight several “reminiscences:”

-Alan Civil (in utter seriousness) commented during his master class that to have an excuse for missing the first note of Oberon, one would literally have to fall down dead and be carried off the stage.

-We were advised by Dave Krehbiel to develop “Creative not caring.” Go ahead and try to miss a given note—don’t care about making it, try to miss it instead. The harder you try, the more impossible it becomes to miss.

-According to Frøydis Wekre, playing Gliere or Strauss Concertos is like playing poker—never let people see what is in your hand until you put your cards out.

Another comment that I read in her review that has stuck with me for years is this one,

Mr. Boujanovsky didn’t wait for questions but instead offered the opinion that Mozart was primarily an Opera composer and that many of his Horn Concerto themes can be found in his operas. This removes Mozart from the Soirees Musicales, lace cuffs, silk stockings and powdered wigs image of classical politeness and gives much more “human” outlook to his music.

Back in the Gaska report mention was also made of the “LONG general meeting.” As to why that might have been, in a further report from President Hill we learn that

We have also undergone an extensive appraisal of all our activities and have formulated a complete set of “Working Papers” from which the officers, Advisory Council members, officials, and committee members can more consistently administer the Society’s business. This includes guidelines for all of the officers’ responsibilities, job descriptions for the Editor, Computer Coordinator, and the new positions of Executive Secretary … and Workshop Advisor….”

As a current Advisory Council member I know that I certainly have benefited from their hard work today, it certainly laid the foundations for the IHS as we know it.

Finally, in the category of “hardly working” the concluding article in the issue is titled “The International Horn Society’s Meddling Committee Proudly Announces the Winners of the 1979 Medals.” Some samples:

The Order of the Purple Chop—for those wounded in the line of duty
To: Gayle Chesebro, for the biggest shiner ever seen at a Horn Workshop.

The Elliott Higgins Medal—for the most unusual performance
To: Morris Secon, for “Send in the Clowns”, played and sung.

The Giant Clam—goes unclaimed again this year.
NO AWARD! ISN”T THAT SIMPLY GRAND!)

The Order of the Telephone Trill
To: Arthur David Krehbiel, for obvious reasons. (He says he’s trying to find a way to slow the thing down! Might we suggest some Creative-Not-Caring?)

The Comeback Player of the Year Award
To: King Philip of Bloomington, whose subjects are delighted with his obvious good health, and who still sounds like himself—that which nothing could be whicher sounding!

and finally

The Carrie A. Nation Award
To: The clown who planned a banquet menu in Southern California WITHOUT WINE! (Doesn’t Gallo have a studio?)

Reading the reviews of this particular workshop also is great in relation to the lead up to the upcoming 2011 San Francisco symposium; when the website is ready we will link to it from our events page.

When we return to this series the topic will be the articles on horn history which in retrospect certainly also impacted me a great deal.