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Boston Pops Orchestra
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Boston Pops Orchestra · The Boston Pops is an American orchestra from Boston that specialises in light classical and popular music. It was founded in 1885 as an offshoot of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and consists mainly of musicians from that orchestra, although usually not all the principal players take part. Its founder, Henry Lee Higginson, wanted to offer concerts of a lighter kind of music in Boston. The first concert was on 11 July 1885 under Adolf Neuendorff. Until 1900 the performances were called Promenade Concerts.
Music and breakthrough
Before 1930 the orchestra had seventeen conductors. In that year Arthur Fiedler began a fifty-year reign, as the first American-born conductor. He regretted that classical music seemed to be mainly for wealthy concertgoers and took it to a broader audience, including through free concerts at the Hatch Shell along the Charles River. He had the orchestra play both popular music and well-known classics, and so created a new niche for popular symphonic music. The best-known pieces for the orchestra were the colourful novelties of Fiedler's friend Leroy Anderson, such as Sleigh Ride, The Typewriter and The Syncopated Clock. Fiedler also started the annual Holiday Pops in December. In July 1935 the orchestra made its first recordings for RCA Victor, with the first complete recording of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.
Influence
Today the orchestra gives a popular music season in the spring and a Christmas programme in December, under the direction of Keith Lockhart. Every year on 4 July it plays at the Hatch Shell, with Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture and Sousa's The Stars and Stripes Forever. The Boston Pops showed that a symphony orchestra can also reach an audience that listens to pop music.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 1958Boston Tea Party
- 1958Offenbach in America
- 1959Gaîté Parisienne / Gayne Ballet Suite
- 1960Music From Million Dollar Movies
- 1961Liebestraum
- 1963“Jalousie” and Other Favorites in the Latin Flavor
- 1963Star Dust
- 1965Nero Goes "Pops"
- 1966The “Pops” Goes Country
- 1966The Duke At Tanglewood
- 1967Rhapsody in Blue
- 1969Chet Picks On The Pops
- 1970White Christmas
- 1971Arthur Fielder & The Boston Pops Play The Beatles
- 1972Pops Goes Christmas
- 1975Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture / Ravel: Bolero
- 1975Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite / Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite
- 1979Pops Christmas Party
- 1979Saturday Night Fiedler
- 1980Pops in Space
- 1980Pops on the March
- 1980That's Entertainment
- 1982Aisle Seat: Great Film Music
- 1982Suite de El Cascanueces, Suite de Peer Gynt
- 1983On Stage
- 1983Out of This World
- 1983Pops Around the World
- 1984Swing, Swing, Swing
- 1984With a Song in My Heart
- 1986Bernstein by Boston
- 1986The Planets
- 1987A Christmas Festival
- 1987Concerto in F / Rhapsody in Blue
- 1987Digital Jukebox
- 1987Johann Strauss Favorites
- 1987Pops Concert
- 1987Sousa Marches
- 1988Christmas Pops
- 1988Offenbach: Gaîté parisienne / Khachaturian: "Gayne" Suite
- 1988Swan Lake (excerpts)
- 1988The Music of America: John Williams
- 1989Pops Britannia
- 1989Pops by George
- 1989Pops by Gershwin
- 1989Salute to Hollywood
- 1990Capriccio Italien / Capriccio Espagnol
- 1990Capriccio Italien/Capriccio Espagnol
- 1990Music of the Night: Pops on Broadway 1990
- 1990Pops à la Russe
- 1990We Wish You a Merry Christmas
- 1991Classics for Children
- 1991I Love a Parade
- 1991Irish Night at the Pops
- 1992Encore Christmas
- 1992Joy to the World
- 1992The Green Album
- 1993Marches in Hi-Fi
- 1993Night and Day
- 1993Play Million-Dollar Memories
- 1993Pops Roundup
- 1993Rhapsody in Blue / An American in Paris / Concerto in F
- 1993Stars and Stripes / Cakewalk
- 1993Unforgettable
- 1994It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing!
- 1994Music for Stage and Screen
- 1994Piano Concertos nos. 1 & 2 / Totentanz / Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2
- 1994Strauss Family Waltzes
- 1995Williams on Williams: The Classic Spielberg Scores
- 1996Gershwin Concert
- 1996Runnin' Wild
- 1996Summon the Heroes
- 1996Wish Upon a Star: All-Time Children's Favorites
- 1997American Visions
- 1997Romance Classics
- 1997Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
- 1998Holiday Pops
- 1998The Celtic Album
- 1999A Splash of Pops
- 1999Arthur Fiedler and Boston Pops at the Movies
- 1999Cinema Serenade 2: The Golden Age
- 2000Love for Three Oranges / Les Sylphides / Preludes
- 2000The Latin Album
- 2002Carmen Ballet
- 2002Gaîté parisienne
- 2002My Favorite Things: A Richard Rodgers Celebration
- 2004Sleigh Ride
- 2005Hi-Fi Fiedler
- 2005Offenbach: Gaîté parisienne / Rossini-Respighi: La Boutique fantasque
- 2010American Classics
- 2014Pops Goes the Trumpet
- 2014Rhapsody in Blue · An American in Paris
- 2016Arthur Fiedler – Gala Night with the Boston Pops Orchestra (Remastered 2016)
- 2017Lights, Camera... Music! Six Decades of John Williams
- 2019Debut Of Leonard Pennario On RCA Victor Records With Boston Pops/Arthur Fiedler
- 2025Pops Caviar - Arthur Fiedler Boston Pops Orchestra
- ?Capriccio Italien - Capriccio Espagnol
- ?Christmas With Mozart
- ?Fiedler Favorites
- ?More Music From Million Dollar Movies
- ?My Favorite Things
- ?The Nutcracker, Op. 71 (Excerpts)
In School of Rock
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