Boy and the Birds, The

Hager, Frederick W. arr: Clarke, Herbert L.

The Boy and the Birds by: Frederick W. Hager arr: Herbert L. Clarke

Original Copyright: 1919

By: Carl Fischer

BandMusic PDF Library

El Kahir Shrine Collection

Music Preservation Team: Tom Pechnik, Senior Archivist; Mary Philips; Wayne Dydo; Bill Park, Director; Marcus Neiman, Program Notes

North Royalton, Ohio www.bandmusicpdf.org

Hag

er, F

red

W.

D

OB

: D

ecem

ber 3

1, 1

874

(New

Milf

ord,

P

enns

ylva

nia)

DO

D:

unkn

own

Fred

eric

k W

. Hag

er w

as b

orn

at N

ew M

ilfor

d, P

enns

ylva

nia,

on

Dec

embe

r 31,

187

4. H

is fa

ther

was

lead

er o

f the

tow

n ba

nd a

nd ta

ught

hi

m to

pla

y th

e vi

olin

at a

n ea

rly a

ge.

In 1

881,

the

fam

ily m

oved

to N

ew

York

City

, whe

re F

red

stud

ied

viol

in p

rivat

ely

and

even

tual

ly b

ecam

e on

e of

the

mos

t pro

min

ent v

iolin

ists

in N

ew Y

ork

City

. H

e w

on a

sc

hola

rshi

p to

the

Nat

iona

l Con

serv

ator

y of

Mus

ic a

nd la

ter p

laye

d w

ith W

alte

r Dam

rosc

h’s

Orc

hest

ra.

Afte

r rej

ectin

g an

offe

r for

mem

bers

hip

in V

icto

r Her

bert’

s O

rche

stra

in P

ittsb

urgh

, Hag

er e

mba

rked

up

on a

con

duct

ing

care

er a

nd b

ecam

e a

very

bus

y or

ches

tral c

ondu

ctor

in N

ew Y

ork

City

. In

189

6,

he b

egan

con

duct

ing

band

s as

wel

l, an

d hi

s be

st b

and

was

boo

ked

for a

ll th

e po

litic

al e

vent

s in

the

Bro

nx a

nd p

laye

d an

ext

ensi

ve s

umm

er c

once

rt sc

hedu

le.

Pho

nogr

aph

com

pani

es a

t tha

t tim

e w

ere

expe

rienc

ing

diffi

culty

in re

cord

ing

an a

uthe

ntic

vio

lin to

ne,

and

afte

r res

earc

hing

the

phon

ogra

ph re

cord

ing

devi

ce h

e ov

erca

me

the

hand

icap

and

was

re

cogn

ized

as

one

of th

e fe

w m

en c

apab

le o

f pro

duci

ng g

ood

viol

in re

cord

ings

. H

e w

as s

oloi

st w

ith

lead

ing

com

pani

es, i

nclu

ding

Col

umbi

a (tw

o ye

ars)

, Zon

opho

ne (s

ix y

ears

) and

Edi

son

(two

year

s),

and

then

dire

cted

bot

h ba

nd a

nd o

rche

stra

l rec

ordi

ngs

for v

ario

us c

ompa

nies

.

Hag

er d

evot

ed s

ix y

ears

to th

e pu

blis

hing

bus

ines

s bu

t alw

ays

had

the

desi

re to

retu

rn to

the

reco

rdin

g bu

sine

ss a

nd b

egan

man

agin

g va

rious

reco

rdin

g co

mpa

nies

in 1

910.

In

1920

, he

was

re

side

nt m

anag

er o

f the

reco

rdin

g de

partm

ent o

f the

Gen

eral

Pho

nogr

aph

Cor

pora

tion

of N

ew Y

ork

City

and

was

resp

onsi

ble

for a

ll th

e re

cord

ings

issu

ed b

y th

e co

mpa

ny.

Hag

er c

ompo

sed

or a

rran

ged

over

500

wor

ks fo

r ban

d an

d or

ches

tra, t

he m

ost f

amou

s of

whi

ch w

ere

Laug

hing

Wat

er a

nd T

he B

oy a

nd th

e B

irds.

1

Cla

rke,

Her

bert

Lin

coln

DO

B:

Sep

tem

ber 1

2, 1

867

(Wob

urn,

M

assa

chus

etts

)

DO

D:

Janu

ary

20, 1

945

(Lon

g B

each

, Cal

iforn

ia)

Her

bert

Linc

oln

Cla

rke,

rega

rded

as

the

grea

test

cor

netis

t of a

ll tim

e, w

as

born

in W

obur

n, M

assa

chus

etts

, on

Sep

tem

ber 1

2, 1

867.

He

was

the

youn

gest

of f

our b

oys,

onl

y on

e of

who

m d

id n

ot fo

llow

a c

aree

r in

mus

ic.

The

Cla

rke

fam

ily m

oved

sev

eral

tim

es d

urin

g H

erbe

rt’s

yout

h, a

nd h

is

fath

er, a

n or

gani

st a

t var

ious

chu

rche

s, e

ncou

rage

d H

erbe

rt an

d hi

s

1 R

ehig

, Will

iam

H.,

Bie

rley,

Pau

l (ed

itor)

. The

enc

yclo

pedi

a of

ban

d m

usic

, Int

egrit

y P

ress

, W

este

rvill

e, O

H. (

2005

), C

D, u

sed

with

per

mis

sion

brot

hers

to s

tudy

mus

ical

inst

rum

ents

. D

espi

te th

is u

rgin

g, h

e di

d no

t wis

h th

em to

ent

er m

usic

as

a ca

reer

.

Whi

le li

ving

in T

oron

to, C

anad

a, H

erbe

rt at

tend

ed a

con

cert

of th

e A

mer

ican

Ban

d of

Pro

vide

nce

(Rho

de Is

land

), co

nduc

ted

by D

.W. R

eeve

s. C

lark

e la

ter w

rote

, “I w

as s

o m

oved

by

the

corn

et s

oloi

st

that

I kn

ew in

tim

e th

at I

too

mus

t pla

y co

rnet

.” H

is d

eter

min

atio

n re

sulte

d in

his

bei

ng a

ccep

ted,

at

the

age

of o

nly

14, a

s a

trum

pet p

laye

r in

the

Que

en’s

Ow

n R

ifle

Reg

imen

t Ban

d - e

ven

thou

gh th

e m

inim

um a

ge w

as 1

8.

One

of t

he g

reat

est i

nflu

ence

s in

Cla

rke’

s lif

e w

as th

e fa

mou

s co

rnet

sol

oist

Wal

ter R

oger

s, w

ho

even

tual

ly b

ecam

e a

clos

e fri

end

and

side

par

tner

in S

ousa

’s B

and.

Cla

rke

rece

ived

tips

from

Rog

ers

but n

ever

took

form

al le

sson

s fro

m h

im --

or a

nyon

e el

se.

At a

ge 2

4, h

e be

cam

e co

rnet

sol

oist

with

G

ilmor

e’s

Ban

d. A

fter t

he d

eath

of G

ilmor

e in

189

2, C

lark

e w

as s

oloi

st fo

r a s

hort

perio

d w

ith th

e ba

nd o

f Elli

s B

rook

s an

d th

en b

ecam

e so

lois

t with

Sou

sa’s

Ban

d in

the

sprin

g of

189

3.

It w

as a

noth

er fa

mou

s so

lois

t, A

rthur

Pry

or, w

ho e

ncou

rage

d C

lark

e to

com

pose

his

ow

n co

rnet

so

los.

Fol

low

ing

the

Sou

sa B

and’

s en

gage

men

t at t

he C

hica

go E

xpos

ition

in 1

893,

Cla

rke

play

ed

with

var

ious

gro

ups,

incl

udin

g th

e re

orga

nize

d bu

t sho

rt-liv

ed G

ilmor

e B

and

whe

n it

was

dire

cted

by

Vic

tor H

erbe

rt. H

e re

turn

ed to

Sou

sa’s

Ban

d in

190

0 an

d re

mai

ned

with

it u

ntil

1917

. H

e ha

d of

ten

told

Sou

sa th

at h

e w

ould

retir

e at

age

50,

sin

ce h

e be

lieve

d th

at c

orne

t sol

oist

s be

gan

to p

erfo

rm le

ss

effe

ctiv

ely

at th

at a

ge.

Sou

sa c

onte

nded

that

he

was

pla

ying

bet

ter t

han

ever

, to

whi

ch C

lark

e re

plie

d, “T

hen

I’ll q

uit w

hile

I’m

ahe

ad.”

Afte

r ret

iring

from

Sou

sa’s

Ban

d, C

lark

e m

oved

to C

anad

a an

d se

rved

as

cond

ucto

r of t

he A

nglo

-C

anad

ian

Con

cert

Ban

d of

Hun

tsvi

lle, O

ntar

io, f

rom

191

8-19

23.

He

then

dire

cted

the

Long

Bea

ch

(Cal

iforn

ia) M

unic

ipal

Ban

d fro

m 1

923-

1943

. H

e di

ed in

Lon

g B

each

on

Janu

ary

31, 1

945,

and

his

as

hes

wer

e in

terr

ed in

Con

gres

sion

al C

emet

ery

in W

ashi

ngto

n, D

.C.,

just

a fe

w fe

et fr

om th

e gr

ave

of

John

Phi

lip S

ousa

.

It is

est

imat

ed th

at C

lark

e pl

ayed

ove

r 15,

000

solo

s du

ring

his

long

and

act

ive

care

er.

He

trave

led

over

90,

000

mile

s w

ith th

e ba

nds

of G

ilmor

e, S

ousa

, Inn

es, H

erbe

rt, a

nd o

ther

s. H

e m

ade

34 to

urs

of

the

Uni

ted

Sta

tes

and

Can

ada,

four

Eur

opea

n to

urs,

and

one

tour

aro

und

the

wor

ld.

Thro

ugho

ut h

is li

fe, C

lark

e w

as a

ctiv

e w

ith M

ason

ic o

rgan

izat

ions

suc

h as

the

fam

ous

St.

Cec

ile

Lodg

e in

New

Yor

k C

ity.

A d

edic

ated

com

pose

r, au

thor

, con

duct

or, c

orne

tist,

and

teac

her,

Cla

rke

belie

ved

that

cor

net p

layi

ng

shou

ld b

e pl

easu

re ra

ther

than

a c

hore

. A

n ex

ampl

e of

his

ski

ll w

ith th

e co

rnet

is th

e fa

ct th

at h

e co

uld

play

a c

hrom

atic

sca

le o

f thr

ee fu

ll oc

tave

s fo

ur ti

mes

thro

ugh

in o

ne b

reat

h. A

mon

g hi

s m

any

writ

ings

is a

12-

chap

ter c

hron

icle

of t

he S

ousa

Ban

d’s

wor

ld to

ur o

f 191

0-19

11 (M

usic

al M

esse

nger

, Ju

ly, 1

918,

thro

ugh

May

, 191

9).2

Boy

and

the

Bird

s, T

he (c

hara

cter

istic

) was

pub

lishe

d in

191

9 by

Car

l Fis

cher

.

P

rogr

am n

ote

rese

arch

ed b

y M

arcu

s L.

Nei

man

M

edin

a, O

hio

A

dditi

onal

info

rmat

ion

on e

ither

the

com

pose

r or c

ompo

sitio

n w

ould

be

wel

com

ed.

Ple

ase

send

in

form

atio

n to

m

arcu

snei

man

@zo

omin

tern

et.n

et

2 R

ehig

, Will

iam

H.,

Bier

ley,

Pau

l (ed

itor)

. The

enc

yclo

pedi

a of

ban

d m

usic

, Int

egrit

y Pr

ess,

W

este

rvill

e, O

H.

(200

5), CD

, us

ed w

ith p

erm

issi

on.