Musician and conductor Arthur Fiedler was born on 12/17/1894 in
Boston, MA. His family was musically inclined, and he
traveled with them to Vienna, Austria, in 1910. The next year he
enrolled in the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin and stayed there for
four years, studying violin and piano. It was also where he took up
conducting. He returned to the US and his hometown of Boston, joining
the Boston Symphony Orchestra as a violinist.
In 1924 he organized the Boston Sinfonietta, a chamber music group, and
toured with them for several years. Five years later he began the
Explanade Concerts, a series of free outdoor performances of the Boston Symphony Orchestra , and the next year he became conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, which consisted of members of the Boston Symphony, and
remained its conductor until 1979. Under his leadership the orchestra
became one of the most recognizable and popular in the world; Fiedler
didn't want it to have the image of a staid, stuffy, stereotypical
"long-hair" chamber orchestra, and his innovative programs of classical
music, Broadway show tunes, folk songs, the works of contemporary
composers and jazz attracted generations of fans, and both the
orchestra and Fiedler himself became icons among music fans. They
regularly performed concerts on PBS (Public Broadcasting System),
attracting a much wider audience than most orchestras ever received. He
and the Pops Orchestra were presented with a Peabody Award in 1971 for their
performances on educational television.
Arthur Fiedler died in Boston, MA, on 7.10,79.
