Andre Kostelanetz

Background

Andre Kostelanetz was born on December 22, 1901 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He was the son of Nachman Kostelanetz and Rosalie Dimscha. Both of his parents were amateur musicians and encouraged their son's musical interests. Andre immigrated to the United States in 1922 and became a naturalized citizen in 1928.

Education

Kostelanetz attended St. Peter's School from 1911 to 1918, and was a student of conducting at the St. Petersburg Conservatory from 1920 until 1922.

Career

Kostelanetz supported himself by working as an accompanist and coach at the Mariinsky Opera until it closed in February 1922. Although emigration from Russia was illegal, he then left the country and rejoined his family, who had previously gone to New York. He was hired as a rehearsal accompanist at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Kostelanetz met George Gershwin at the latter's New York apartment in 1926, and over the years Gershwin's music constituted one focus for his conducting talents.

In 1930, Kostelanetz was named conductor of the CBS Broadcasting System's symphony orchestra. His musicianship contributed to the success of a number of radio programs, particularly the "Chesterfield Hour. "

During his early years on the radio, Kostelanetz developed his own instrumentation and microphone technique, which others emulated. A number of big band leaders who later achieved fame, including Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, and Mitch Miller, played for Kostelanetz during the early 1930's. Major opera and instrumental soloists, notably Rosa Ponselle, Lawrence Tibbett, Lucrezia Bori, Kirsten Flagstad, and Jascha Heifetz, were featured on the "Chesterfield Hour. " While some early critics regarded Kostelanetz as a mere popularizer, a majority came to recognize his intelligence, efficiency, and musicianship. He was well known in the industry for the excellent results he got from his musicians despite a minimum number of rehearsals. Many of his recorded interpretations of the music of popular composers of the day were well received, although purists objected to his medleys of classical selections and popular music.

During World War II, Kostelanetz led a number of orchestras consisting of uniformed personnel in Europe, Southeast Asia, and North Africa. In the early 1940's he identified and purchased a device that made it possible for his musicians to determine whether they were using the proper pitch without having to rely entirely on the ear. Word of this innovation soon reached the United States Navy, which made use of it in conjunction with its sonar system. The machine played a vital role in helping the Allies locate enemy submarines.

In the late 1930's, Kostelanetz first conducted summer concerts for the New York Philharmonic, and in 1953, as guest conductor, began a series of recordings with that orchestra. In May 1963 he originated and directed a series of Promenade concerts in Philharmonic Hall, New York City, during the months of May and June, normally considered an unpropitious time of year for such an initiative. These events became increasingly popular and helped expand the Philharmonic's audience. Kostelanetz remained their artistic director for sixteen years. The repertoire for these concerts often featured seldom-heard compositions by well-known composers, mixed with premieres of new compositions, standard "pops" selections, and encores rarely if ever heard at regular Philharmonic concerts. The series was finally ended in 1978 because of its prohibitively high cost of production. From 1974 to 1979, Kostelanetz also led a series of summer concerts in New York's Central Park. One such occasion in the summer of 1979 drew an audience of between 200, 000 and 250, 000 persons, believed to be a record for a concert of serious music. Total attendance during that six-year period was estimated at approximately 1 million persons. Kostelanetz served as a guest conductor of the Philharmonic for twenty-seven consecutive seasons (1952 - 1979), longer than any other person in its history. He also led many of the major orchestras of the United States, Europe, Japan, and Israel.

As a conductor, Kostelanetz gave a good deal of attention to the music of the nineteenth-century European romantics, but he also put considerable emphasis on the work of twentieth-century American composers. He commissioned a number of works by prominent American composers, including Virgil Thomson, Alan Hovhaness, Ferde Grofé, Aaron Copland, Jerome Kern, William Schuman, Paul Creston, and others. A good many of these have remained in the standard concert repertoire.

Achievements

• Kostelanetz enjoyed an enormous success as a recording artist, producing more than two hundred recordings for Columbia Records that earned $52 million in sales. He also conducted the musical scores for several Hollywood films.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Echoes: Memoirs of Andre Kostelanetz 1981

• music

  • Sounds Of Today 1967
  • Joy to the World: Music for Christmas
  • The Columbia Album of Richard Rodgers 1991
  • Andre Kostelanetz: 16 Most Requested Songs 1986
  • Carnival Tropicana
  • The Genius Of Andre Kostelanetz: Plays The Music Of Richard Rodgers
  • Murder On The Orient Express/Never Can Say Goodbye
  • Today's Golden Hits/The Shadow Of Your Smile
  • Scarborough Fair & Other Great Movie Hits / Traces
  • Music of Kreisler Rodgers & Kern
  • Music of Cole Porter / Music of Victor Youmans
  • Ultimate Collection
  • Stars and Stripes Forever
  • Christmas Concert
  • Broadway's Greatest Hits/Andre Kostelanetz Plays Hits From Funny Girl,Finian's Rainbow and Star
  • Moon River
  • Kostelanetz Touch
  • His Very Best
  • Cafe Continental

Views

Quotations: "Everybody should have his personal sounds to listen for - sounds that will make him exhilarated and alive or quiet and calm."

Personality

A mild-mannered individual who achieved considerable success and became wealthy, he was able to indulge his love for valuable works of European and Oriental art.

Connections

His first wife was Sarah Loy. They were married from 1923 to 1937. In 1936 Andre Kostelanetz directed the soprano Lily Pons, in the film That Girl From Paris. They were married on June 2, 1938, and were divorced in 1958; the couple had no children. Kostelanetz's 1960 marriage to Sara Gene Orcutt, a medical technologist, ended in divorce in 1969.

Father:

Nachman Kostelanetz

Mother:

Rosalie Dimscha

ex-spouse:

Lily Pons

Lily Pons was a French-American operatic soprano and actress.

ex-spouse:

Sara Gene Orcutt

ex-spouse:

Sarah Loy

References

• Andre Kostelanetz on Records and on the Air: A Discography and Radio Log Andre Kostelanetz On Records and On the Air is a comprehensive discography of the commercial recordings of the Russian/American conductor and radio personality, Andre Kostelanetz. James H. North has collected all his recordings, spanning the range from popular to classical. Organized chronologically by album, North provides the complete details of each recording: composer, song title, timing, date and site of the recording session, producer of that session, and matrix numbers, as well as every American issue of each recording.
  2011