Interview conducted by Oliver Daniel, May 29, 1976.

Format:

Other

Author/Creator:

Pleasants, Henry, interviewee.

Contributor:

Daniel, Oliver, interviewer.

Oliver, Michael, interviewer.

BBC Radio.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Betz, Marshall.

Connell, Horatio.

Disney, Walt, 1901-1966.

Disney, Walt.

Eddy, Nelson, 1901-1967.

Eddy, Nelson.

Heifetz, Jascha, 1901-1987.

Heifetz, Jascha.

Philadelphia Civic Opera Company.

Genre:

Interviews.

Oral histories (literary works)

Sound recordings.

Transcripts.

Physical Description:

1 audiocassette : analog

1 sound tape reel : analog, 7 1/2 ips, 2 tracks, NAB standard ; 10 1/2 in., 1/4 in. tape

digital ; 4 3/4 in.

16 leaves

Contained In:

Oliver Daniel Research Collection on Leopold Stokowski. Folder 763; Box 51, CD 016.

Place of Publication:

May 29, 1976.

Summary:

Henry Pleasants discusses music in Philadelphia in the early twentieth century mentioning Nelson Eddy's operatic roles with the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company, Eddy's teacher Horatio Connell, and Eddy's performances with Stokowski, including a role in Berg's Wozzeck. Pleasants discusses Stokowski's conflicts with the board of directors of the Philadelphia Orchestra over financial constraints on Stokowski's programs, and his reaction to their decision to fire him. He discusses Stokowski's auditions, his preference for conducting younger musicians, his decision not to use a baton to conduct, his rearrangement of musicians on the stage, his visual imagination as a conductor, and his inconsistencies. He remembers Walt Disney's visit to the Academy of Music and the recording engineering for Fantasia. He mentions Gunther Schuller, Henry Cowell, Marshall Betz and tells a story about Heifetz performing at the Robin Hood Dell in Philadelphia. Pleasants also discusses the impact of stories about Stokowski's personal life in the press mentioning Greta Garbo and Evangeline Johnson.

The BBC birthday salute recorded in the middle of the Pleasants interview includes Michael Oliver interviewing Stokowski about the events of his life and also comments from Henry Pleasants, Antony Hodgson, Sidney Sax, and John Georgiadis.

Notes:

Recorded May 29, 1976 at Henry Pleasants' apartment in London, England; includes recording of the BBC broadcast for Stokowski's ninety-fourth birthday, originally broadcast April 18, 1976.

BBC broadcast has a separate transcript, filed with the transcript for the Pleasants interview.

Original copy: Cassette tape 15; preservation copy: one 10 1/2 in. reel to reel tape 16; service copy: one compact disk CD 016. Preservation and service copies recorded October and November 2000.

Contains:

Stokowski birthday salute