Eugene Ormandy, born Jenő Blau, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and violinist. He was born on November 18, 1899, and passed away on March 12, 1985. He is most famous for his work with the Philadelphia Orchestra as its music director. Ormandy worked with the orchestra for 44 years, the longest time any conductor has spent with an American orchestra. He recorded many musical pieces with the orchestra and also conducted European orchestras as a guest. His achievements include three gold records and two Grammy Awards. He was known for his skill in conducting and for helping shape the sound of orchestras.
Early life
Ormandy was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, as Jenő Blau. His parents were Jewish: Benjamin Blau, a dentist and amateur violinist, and Rozália Berger. He showed musical talent early in life. He began learning the violin from his father at the age of three and a half. By the age of five, he was skilled enough to join the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music, becoming the youngest student ever admitted. In 1909, he became a student of Jenő Hubay. In 1915, he passed final exams in chamber music and violin. From 1917, he performed tours in Hungary and Germany, including serving as concertmaster of the Berlin Blüthner Orchestra. In 1918, he briefly taught violin at his former university. From 1917 to 1920, he also earned a degree in philosophy. He moved to the United States in 1921 after being promised opportunities by a questionable manager.
Before 1918, he used the stage name "Eugen Blau" in public performances, as "Eugen" was the German version of "Jenő." Around 1919, after the Austro-Hungarian Empire ended, he used "Jenő B. Ormándy." When he arrived in America in 1921, he used "Jeno Blau," but by 1925, he was known as "Eugene Ormandy." The origin of his surname "Ormandy" is unclear. Ideas that it came from his middle name or his mother’s name are not supported by evidence. His father changed his surname to "Ormándi" on March 22, 1937, shortly before moving to the United States.
Arthur Judson, a leading manager of American classical music in the 1930s, first heard Ormandy when he conducted (as a freelancer) for a dance performance at Carnegie Hall by Isadora Duncan. Judson later said, "I came to see a dancer and instead heard a conductor."
Career
In 1931, with Judson's help, Ormandy took over from the unavailable Arturo Toscanini to lead the Philadelphia Orchestra. This opportunity led to his appointment as musical director of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, a role he held from 1931 to 1936. During this time, he became well-known in the United States through his recordings, including the first versions on disc of Kodály's Háry János suite and Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht. In 1936, he returned to Philadelphia as a joint conductor with Leopold Stokowski. After two years, he became the orchestra's sole music director, a position he held for 42 years (1938–1980), before stepping down to become its conductor laureate. Ormandy led the Philadelphia Orchestra on many national and international tours and conducted as a guest with other orchestras in Europe, Australia, South America, and East Asia. He improved upon what Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians described as "Stokowski's voluptuous 'Philadelphia Sound'" by adding more polish and precision. Despite this, some critics hesitated to recognize him as a great conductor, as noted by Harold C. Schonberg in a 1967 study. Some believed he was superficial, and Toscanini once said he was "an ideal conductor of Johann Strauss," a similar remark also being attributed to Igor Stravinsky. Donald Peck, principal flute of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, reported that a fellow flutist was impressed when Ormandy conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, calling it the greatest performance he had ever heard. Kenneth Woods, a conductor, ranked Ormandy 14th in a list of the "Real Top 20 of Conducting," stating that Schonberg described Ormandy as "an excellent technician with a technicolored approach." Grove noted that Ormandy may have emphasized the late-Romantic and early 20th-century repertoire, which highlighted the rich sound he could produce in works by composers like Debussy, Ravel, Richard Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Schonberg observed that Ormandy performed few works by Haydn or Mozart and approached Beethoven's music with caution. While he conducted less new music than his predecessor, Stokowski, he still included it in his programs, premiering works such as Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances (dedicated to him and the orchestra), Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 3, Britten's Diversions for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra, and music by Ginastera, Hindemith, Martinů, Milhaud, Villa-Lobos, and Webern. He also performed works by American composers, including premieres by Samuel Barber, David Diamond, Walter Piston, Ned Rorem, William Schuman, Roger Sessions, and Virgil Thomson. Schonberg concluded his study by saying, "Ormandy does not conduct with the overwhelming personality of a Furtwängler, or with the ferocity and clarity of a Toscanini, or with the immense knowledge and classicism of a Szell. But he has carved out an area for himself, and within it he is secure, a perfect workman and a sensitive interpreter. And it is an area that takes in a great deal more than Strauss waltzes." In 1980, at age 80, Ormandy retired as chief conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra but continued to appear as its conductor laureate. His final concert was with his Philadelphia colleagues at Carnegie Hall on January 10, 1984. His tenure as chief conductor and later laureate was the longest unbroken association between a conductor and a major American orchestra. He died of pneumonia at his home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 12, 1985, at the age of 85.
Awards and honors
In recognition of Ormandy's great influence on American music and the Philadelphia performing arts community, he received the University of Pennsylvania Glee Club Award of Merit on December 15, 1972. In 1976, Queen Elizabeth II honored him with the title of honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE). He also received Yale University's Sanford Medal. In 1977, he was chosen to join the American Philosophical Society. After Ormandy's death, the U.S. Congress and President Ronald Reagan named November 18 as "Eugene Ormandy Appreciation Day," with a ceremony held at the Academy of Music on that date.
Ormandy's collection of 1,400 orchestral scores is now in the University of Pennsylvania's library. The university also has a center named after him at the Otto E. Albecht Music Library.
Marriages
On August 8, 1922, Ormandy married Stephanie Goldner (1896–1962). Stephanie, known as "Steffy," moved to New York in 1921 from Vienna, where she had studied music at the city's Academy of Music. After arriving in New York, she began working at the Capitol Theatre, where Ormandy played the violin. For more than 10 years, she played the harp for the New York Philharmonic, the only woman in the group. Later, she and Ormandy performed together on WABC radio, where Ormandy was a conductor.
In the fall of 1946, the couple separated. Mrs. Ormandy said, "There is no talk now of divorce […] It's just a separation." However, she later filed for divorce, which was finalized on August 4, 1947, due to "extreme mental cruelty." After the divorce, she joined the faculty at the Philadelphia Music Academy and announced plans to return to performing.
On May 15, 1950, Ormandy married Margaret Frances Hiltsch (1909–1998) in a civil ceremony in Philadelphia. A statement from the Philadelphia Orchestra Association described the couple as "family friends for many years." It also noted that Mrs. Ormandy had moved to the United States about 12 years before the marriage and became an American citizen. During the war, she earned a pilot's license to prepare for the WASP training program. However, since the program was canceled, she joined the U.S. Navy and worked at the Naval Air Station in Norfolk, VA., for two years.
The couple remained married until Ormandy's death in 1985.
Recordings
Ormandy started his recording career with the Minneapolis Symphony for RCA Victor in 1934. He made the first recordings in the United States of symphonies by Anton Bruckner (No. 7) and Gustav Mahler (No. 2). He continued working with RCA Victor after becoming music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1938. In 1944, Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra began a 23-year partnership with Columbia Records. His recordings for Columbia include the first recording in the United States of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony and the first ever recording of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony in the version arranged by Deryck Cooke. (Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra performed Mahler’s Tenth Symphony for the first time publicly at the request of Mahler’s wife, Alma.) In 1968, Ormandy and the orchestra returned to RCA Victor, recording for the label until 1981. His recordings of Saint-Saëns’s Symphony No. 3, "Organ," were praised by Fanfare Magazine. The magazine said the 1974 RCA Red Seal recording with organist Virgil Fox was "a beautifully played performance that is better than all other versions of this symphony." A 1980 Telarc recording of the same symphony with Michael Murray is also highly praised.
Under Ormandy’s leadership, the Philadelphia Orchestra earned three gold records and won two Grammy Awards. Ormandy’s first digital recording was a performance of Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra for RCA Red Seal in 1979.