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Leopold Stokowski & The Philadelphia Orchestra
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Leopold Stokowski & The Philadelphia Orchestra · Leopold Stokowski was a British conductor, born in London in 1882 and died in 1977. He studied at the Royal College of Music, first worked as an organist in New York and in 1909 became conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. In 1912 he became head of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He stayed there for a long time, and his name is tied to that orchestra. He also led many other orchestras and founded several himself.
Music and breakthrough
Stokowski was known as a showman. He conducted without a baton, sometimes threw the score on the floor to show that he did not need it, and experimented with light in the concert hall. He also altered the orchestration of works, for example by Bach, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. This drew criticism, but his orchestral arrangements of Bach are famous. He also played a great deal of new music and gave numerous premieres.
Influence
His best-known film work is Disney's Fantasia from 1940, for which he conducted the music. It includes The Sorcerer's Apprentice. In this way he brought classical music to the general public and let the orchestra be heard in the cinema, far beyond the concert hall. He gave concerts until 1975 and made recordings until shortly before his death.
Listening
The Sorcerer's Apprentice · Leopold Stokowski & The Philadelphia Orchestra, 1940