Stamp of the Month: November 2024

Eugene Ormandy

USA 12.9.1997

The Hungarian-born American conductor and violinist Eugene Ormandy (born Jenő Blau) was born on November 18, 1899 in Budapest. He died on March 12, 1985 in Philadelphia. November 2024 will mark the 125th anniversary of his birth.
 
Ormandy graduated from the Budapest Royal Academy, where he studied violin with Jenö Hubay, at age 14. By age 17 he was a professor of violin, undertaking concert tours throughout Central Europe. Lured to New York City by the prospect of a U.S. tour, he instead ended up playing the violin in the orchestra of the Capitol Theatre,

accompanying silent films. In 1924 he stood in for the regular conductor and thereupon chose conducting as his career. He began conducting light classics for radio and appearing at summer concerts, which led to a position as deputy for Arturo Toscanini during a major concert series of the Philadelphia Orchestra. A contract with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra ensued, and he remained there from 1931 to 1936, gaining national prominence with a series of recordings. He returned to the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1936 to share the conductorship with Leopold Stokowski. In 1938 Ormandy was made principal conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, a post that he held until he retired in 1980. Ormandy, who was identified with the Late Romantic and early 20th-century repertoire, shaped the orchestra’s sound by developing the lush, velvety string colour that became its trademark.
 

The video shows Eugene Ormandy conducting “his” Philadelphia Orchestra and the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia Chorus. The recording of Gustav Holst’s suite “The Planets” op.32 was made in 1977 as part of a project for German television.