Mary Huntimer
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Kommisar Rondart, the opera that led Sigurd Rascher to Edmund von Borck
All of the entries in my database have one thing in common, they all received a premiere, if not on an opera stage, then as an orchestral work. This opera defies that simple distinction, it never premiered on the stage. Despite that absence, Kommisar Rondart by Edmund von Borck is essential to saxophone history, as…
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1855 Italian opera, L’ebreo, how did the saxophone get in the score?
I searched through the website ilsaxofonoitaliano.it and found one of the oldest works for saxophone in Italian repertoire: the 1855 Giuseppe Apolloni opera, L’ebreo. There is little information about the saxophone, so I went to find out more about this work and how the saxophone became a part of the opera. Looking at my database,…
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Il Saxofono italiano is now in the database, listen to the Italian Saxophone
One area of opera I was missing in my database was early Italian opera. The earliest opera I found that used the saxophone was Giaccomo Puccini’s Turandot. Is this really the first Italian opera that used the saxophone? I knew I was missing some works. I was getting ready to dig into Italian opera featuring…
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Navy Sax symposium presentation notes and sources
To see more about the jazz problem, click here For more information on John Alden Carpenter, check out these videos. This recording is from 1932. Sides 3 and 4 can be heard here and sides 5 and 6 can be heard here Krazy Kat-John Alden Carpenter Post on Harry Lawrence Freeman with additional videos is…
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Selmer high pitched alto saxophone? Possible answers to why this exists…
I’ve been researching possible explanations to why Selmer made a handful of high pitched saxophones in 1932. For background on the saxophone, check out the initial post here, and the response. Just to reiterate, Selmer has no history of manufacturing high pitched woodwinds, based on the information about this saxophone Selmer only manufactured 10 high…
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A Selmer Cigar Cutter in E? Some Answers and more Questions…
A reader emailed me to tell me about his 1932 Selmer Cigar Cutter Saxophone in E, so I wrote about the saxophone here to see if I could find more information. Many readers responded that this saxophone is not tuned to E, but is a high pitched E flat. I needed more information on the…
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The Mystery of the Selmer Cigar Cutter Alto Saxophone in E
I always enjoy hearing feedback from saxophonists who like this historical project, but sometimes the feedback leads to more research. Yesterday, I received an email from Frank R. in the Netherlands. Frank informed me he is the owner of a Selmer Cigar Cutter saxophone tuned in E. The saxophone also has an additional stamp, AD,…
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Harry Lawrence Freeman—The Black Wagner
The first major American opera composer is not who you might expect, a Black man born right after the Civil War in Cleveland, Ohio. Harry Lawrence Freeman (1869-1954) is perhaps on of the most unique American composers whose work spans the 19th and 20th century. Born in Cleveland to a middle class home, Freeman was…
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Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s “Blues Opera” is coming back to the stage
Harold Arlen (1905-1986) is best known for his contributions to movie musicals, penning one of the most popular songs in movie history, the Wizard of Oz’s “Over the Rainbow.” What is not as well known are his works outside of Hollywood. A little known opera Arlen composed in 1959 with librettist Johnny Mercer, Free and…
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The Jazz Operas of W. Franke Harling
In 1925, composer W. Franke Harling (1887-1958) set out to make an opera that experimented with jazz. This concept made headlines across the musical world, “New American Music Drama of Redemption Utilizes’ Jazz” is just one example from Musical America.[1] What makes this opera unique is it premiered 10 years before the opera that is…
the Operatic Saxophone 