Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra Principal Musicians

  With Brief Biographical Remarks

    Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in Powell Hall

Principal Musicians of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra

A Chronological Listing of the Musicians of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra

Organization of the Saint Louis Symphony

The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra began its life in 1880, primarily as a choral and orchestral group.  It was founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the "Saint Louis Choral Society" ¹.  In the 1881–1882 season, the Saint Louis Choral Society was comprised of 31 orchestra musicians and 80 chorus members¹.  By 1913, the Saint Louis Symphony had 75 permanent musicians (including one woman) ².

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Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra Music Directors

1880-1894  Joseph Otten

Joseph Otten was born in the Netherlands. 

1894-1907  Alfred Ernst

Alfred Ernst was born in Magdeburg, Germany on June 3, 1866.  He emigrated to the US, in the summer of 1893, first to New York City and then in 1894 to Saint Louis. 

1907-1921  Max Wilhelm Zach

Max Zach in 1910

Max Zach was born August 31, 1864 in a city then called by the Austrians 'Lemberg' during the first partition of Poland (called Lvov by the Poles).  Today, following the movement of the Polish boarders by Russia, the city is called Lviv, and is part of the Ukraine.  Zach came to the U.S. in 1886 to join Wilhelm Gericke at the Boston Symphony.  Zach was Principal viola of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1886-1907.  During his time in Boston, Max Zach also conducted the Boston Pops Orchestra 1896-1902 and 1906-1907.  During these Boston years, Zach played in with The Adamowski Quartet, with Timothée Adamowski (1858-1943), violin, A Moldauer, second violin, Max Zach, viola, and Joseph Adamowski (1862-1930), cello.  Timothée Adamowski also conducted the Boston Pops Orchestra before Zach in 1891-1894 and between Zach's first and second conducting period with the Pops, 1903-07.  Max Zach left the Boston Symphony in 1907 to conduct the newly renamed Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.  During 1907-1921, Max Zach was the third conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony.  Zach is said to have not only expanded the Saint Louis Symphony season, but gradually increased the quality of musicians and the content of programs.  Max Zach died in Saint Louis February 3, 1921, age only 56 from an infection subsequent to a tooth extraction, at a time when antibiotics did not yet exiSaint

1921-1927  Rudolph Ganz

Rudolph Ganz was born in Zurich, Switzerland on February 24, 1877.  He studied first at the Zurich Conservatory in both piano and cello.  Ganz then went to Lausanne to further study piano with uncle, Carl Eschmann-Dumur.  Ganz went on to the Strasbourg Conservatory, at that time still within Germany, studying with of Fritz Blumer.  Rudolph Ganz then went to Berlin studying in 1899 piano and composition with Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924) and composition with Heinrich Urban (1837-1901).  In July 1900, Rudolph Ganz married an American concert singer, Mary Forrest.  Ganz was by then a recognized piano virtuoso, and he was recruited to become head of the piano department of the Chicago Musical College (which is now the Chicago College of Performing Arts, part of Roosevelt University).  Some 1920 acoustic piano records of works of Chopin made for Pathé Frères survive and show Ganz's piano virtuosity.  After Chicago, Rudolph Ganz became conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony for six seasons 1921-1927.  After Saint Louis, although Rudolph Ganz turned primarily to teaching and coaching, he continued to guest conduct, particularly of children's concerts in Chicago and New York into the 1940s.

  Rudolph Ganz conducting a children's concert

Rudolph Ganz was throughout his career an advocate of new music.  Maurice Ravel sufficiently admired his interpretation of Ravel's music that he dedicated Scarbo, the third section of Gaspard de la Nuit (1908), and a particularly difficult piano piece to Ganz.  After Saint Louis, he returned to Chicago where he taught at the Chicago Musical College, beginning in 1928.  He became President of the Chicago Musical College serving as its head 1934-1958.  Rudolph Ganz died in Chicago on August 2, 1972 at aged 95 after a long and varied career.

1931-1958  Vladimir Golschmann

Vladimir Golschmann was born in Paris on December 16, 1893.  Early in his career, Golschmann was helped by the composer Erik Satie (1866-1925) and Satie's wealthy student Albert Verley (1867-1959).  With Verley's support, Vladimir Golschmann in 1919 organized the Concerts Golschmann in Paris where, among other genre, he championed the music of "Les Six" (Georges Auric 1899-1983, Louis Durey 1888-1979, Arthur Honegger 1892-1955, Darius Milhaud 1892-1974, Francis Poulenc 1899-1963 and Germaine Tailleferre 1892-1983), as well as Satie and even Verley.  In 1920, Golschmann gave the premier of Milhaud's Le boeuf sur le toit.  After conducting the Paris orchestras, Golschmann's first US conducting engagements were of the Ballets suédois US tour in 1923, and the New York Symphony in 1924.  After four seasons of guest conductors following the departure of Rudolph Ganz, followed by the onset of the Great Depression, the Saint Louis Symphony was in a fragile condition.  Then, in the 1931-1932 season, Vladimir Golschmann was named conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony.  No one, including Golschmann anticipated it at the time, but Golschmann was to preside for 27 seasons in Saint Louis, most of that time with one year contracts.  However, during the 1930s, Golschmann was not able to institute the many changes he wished to strengthen the orchestra: expansion of the season, added musicians, a pension fund for the orchestra, higher pay.  In fact, in 1931, the musicians were compelled to accept a 10% pay cut ⁵, and the season was only 23 weeks.  The effect of a shorter season and lower pay meant that Golschmann had to compensate for the departure of musicians to the better-paid orchestras throughout his tenure.  However, during this time, Golschmann's programming was varied and interesting, and his conducting stimulating.  However, by the late 1940s and into the 1950s, critics claimed his conducting became careless and routine.  Golschmann concluded his 27 year tenure in Saint Louis at the end of the 1956-1957 season.  Golschmann remained in the US, becoming a citizen in 1957.  The next season, Golschmann went on to Oklahoma, where he was conductor of the Tulsa Symphony 1958-1961.  In the 1960s, Vladimir Golschmann made a series of successful recordings with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, particularly of the Khachaturian Gayaneh, Kabalevsky Comedians and Enesco Rumanian Rhapsodies.   Vladimir Golschmann succeeded Saul Caston as conductor of the Denver Symphony 1964-1970.  Vladimir Golschmann died in New York City on March 1, 1972.

1958-1962  Edouard van Remoortel

  Édouard van Remoortel rehearsing in Saint Louis

Édouard van Remoortel was born in Brussels, Belgium on May 30, 1926.  As a cello student in Brussels he prepared with Jean Charlier for the entrance examination for the Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles.  Entering the conservatoire, van Remoortel followed rather conducting, studying with Antonio Guarnieri (1880-1925), Alceo Galliera (1910-1996), and Josef Krips.  Following the Conservatoire, beginning in 1951, Édouard van Remoortel was conductor of the Orchestre National de Belgique.  Van Remoortal went on in the 1950s to conduct a number of European orchestras, including the Mozarteum of Salzbourg - Austria, as well as other orchestras around the world.  Édouard van Remoortel was appointed Music Director of the Saint Louis Symphony in the 1958-1959 season succeeding Vladimir Golschmann.  Van Remoortel was initially well-received and his first concerts went well.  However, the relationship with the orchestra had deteriorated.  Katherine Gladney Wells in her book Symphony and Song: The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra ⁶ wrote:

"...Perhaps...because he was not nearly as experienced ...as the Board had assumed, he got into serious trouble early in the season...He had originally intended to fire forty-two of the eighty-five musicians of the orchestra. He narrowed it down to between fifteen and seventeen. The tension increased to the point that the Orchestra refused to play at a rehearsal..." ⁶.

Needless to say, although the issue of the firings was eventually compromised, with a few leaving (Principal oboe Alfred Genovese and Assistant Principal viola Edward Ormond went to George Szell's Cleveland Orchestra at higher pay) and others on probation, this was not an auspicious beginning for Édouard van Remoortel's tenure in Saint Louis.  He had a three year contract as Music Director in Saint Louis, and in the fourth season, the Orchestra Association had not yet identified a replacement for van Remoortel, although they were actively looking.   So Édouard van Remoortel conducted a fourth season, although he was contracted to conduct only ten programs that season, and ended up conducting only seven of the ten.  This was the end of the tenure of Édouard van Remoortel, and in the following season, 1962-1963, the Music Director position in Saint Louis remained open.  Meanwhile, Édouard van Remoortel had been appointed conductor of the Orchestre National de l’Opéra de Monte-Carlo where he served 1964-1970.  In his later years, van Remoortel was an occasional guest conductor in Europe and Mexico.  Édouard van Remoortel died young in Paris on May 16, 1977, just before his fifty-first birthday)

1963-1968  Eleazar de Carvalho

Eleazar de Carvalho was born in the State of Ceará in the northeast of Brazil on June 28, 1912.  He studied at the Instituto Rio Branco, usually an entrance to the diplomatic service, and at the Conservatory of the University of Rio de Janeiro.  Following World War 2, de Carvalho also attended the Berkshire Music Center in Massachusetts in the summer of 1946 studying conducting with Serge Koussevitzky.  By 1950, de Carvalho had graduated from the University of Brazil with a doctorate in music, and his Performer's Certificate in conducting and composition.  As to his conducting career, Eleazar de Carvalho was conductor of the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira in Rio de Janiero in 1951.  He appeared with the Saint Louis Orchestra first in the 1950-1951 season.  de Carvalho was appointed Music Director conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony in the 1963-1964 season, and was said to be the choice of both the Board and of the musicians ³.  de Carvalho said that he intended to introduce new music as well as the favorite classics.  Surprisingly, he is said to have given the Saint Louis premier of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps (!) ³.  Perhaps this was the Saint Louis premier of the 1929 revised edition of Le Sacre, since it is hard to believe that this 1913 work had not previously been performed in Saint Louis.  In any case Eleazar de Carvalho introduced new works by William Schuman, Peter Mennin, Villa-Lobos, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Elliott Carter, Krzysztof Penderecki, and others, with a few complaints, but generally with praise ⁴.   After Saint Louis, Eleazar de Carvalho guest-conducted most of the leading world orchestras.  In Brazil, Eleazar de Carvalho was conductor of the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo for twenty-four seasons, 1972-1996.  In teaching, Eleazar de Carvalho was active at Hofstra University - New York and at the Juilliard School.  In 1987, de Carvalho joined the music faculty of Yale University. de Carvalho also conducted the Symphony Orchestra of Paraíba, Brazil with whom he made in 1988 a fine recording of Convergencias by Marlos Nobre (1939- ), recorded on the Delos label.  Eleazar de Carvalho died in São Paulo, Brazil on September 12, 1996.

1968-1975  Walter Susskind

Walter Susskind was

1975-1979  Jerzy Semkow

Jerzy Semkow was

1979-1996  Leonard Slatkin

Leonard Slatkin was

1996-2002  Hans Vonk

Hans Vonk was

2004-present  David Robertson

David Robertson was born in Santa Monica, California.   

Titles of First Chair Musicians

Note:  Today, except for the concertmaster (sometimes called the 'Leader' in Europe), the usual title for the first or leading instrument of an orchestral section is 'Principal', as in 'Principal Flute'.  However, in earlier years and in some orchestra sections, the first chair musician may have been referred to as 'Solo', or 'First'. 

In the profiles below, for consistency and clarity, I usually use the title 'Principal', even if the title was not yet used at that time.

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Concertmasters of the Saint Louis Symphony

1931-1941  Scipione G. Guidi

Scipione Guidi was born in Venice, Italy on July 17, 1884.  He studied at the Royal Conservatory of Milan, where he also taught.  Relocating to London, Guidi formed the Guido Trio, and subsequently relocated to New York City.  Scipione Guidi had a full orchestral career as a Concertmaster.  From 1919-1921, he was Concertmaster of the National Symphony Orchestra of New York, which was absorbed into the New York Philharmonic in 1921.  Unlike most National Symphony musicians, who were not retained, Scipione Guidi was appointed as New York Philharmonic Concertmaster.  Guidi continued at this post for a decade 1921-1931 under Mengelberg and Toscanini, among others.  During this period, what we now call the "New York Philharmonic" merged with the New York Symphony, and the orchestra was transformed from the "Philharmonic Society of New York" to the "Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York".  During all these changes from the National Symphony to the Philharmonic Society to the Philharmonic-Symphony Society, Scipione Guidi continued to lead the orchestra as Concertmaster.  One of Guidi's famous performances in New York was the December 11-13, 1928 recording of Strauss's Ein Heldenleben with the great horn Bruno Jaenicke, and conducted by Willem Mengelberg.  This legendary recording is still admired today.  In 1931, Scipione Guidi resigned from the New York Philharmonic and relocated to Saint Louis.  He was appointed Concertmaster of the Saint Louis Symphony by Vladimir Golschmann.  Golschmann and Guidi became friends, socializing with their wives outside the concert hall.  However, this came to an end on stage, during a rehearsal.  The relationship between these two musicians had become progressively frayed, and it seems to have boiled over during this rehearsal, leading to Guidi's immediate dismissal by Golschmann.  Scipione Guidi then relocated to the Los Angeles area, where he became a successful sessions musician in the Hollywood studios.  He also became conductor and soloist with the Glendale Symphony in suburban Los Angeles.  Scipione Guidi died in Los Angeles, California on July 7, 1966.

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Principal Cellos of the Saint Louis Symphony

1912-about 1942  Hugo Max Steindel

  Max Steindel in 1913

Max Steindel was born in Gladbach in the west of Germany on December 3, 1891.  He came from a musical family, with his grandfather Albin Steindel being Director of Music in his hometown of Zwickau ⁵³, near Leipzig, and his uncle Bruno Steindel being Principal cello of the Chicago Symphony 1891-1918.  Max Steindel became in the 1912-1913 season Principal cello of the Saint Louis Symphony.  Max Steindel served in the US Army during World War 1.  Max Steindel was Principal cellist with the Saint Louis Symphony for more than forty seasons.  While Edouard Van Remoortel was the Saint Louis Symphony Music Director 1958-1962: "....Van Remoortel inadvertently shared the limelight, in a way, with Max Steindel, veteran principal cellist and personnel manager of the Orchestra. Steindel had then been with the Orchestra for forty-two years, and was an exceedingly colorful and well-loved member of the organization. He was interviewed and featured in an article by Clarissa Start in the Saint Louis Post Dispatch in July (1958?), an article that discussed his wit, his talents as a raconteur and as a perennial trouble shooter, as well as his being a capital cello player. (He was also very fond of food, particularly soup.) In the fall, Steindel was given the 'Page One Civic Award' and referred to as the dean of Saint Louis musicians. All of this was subsidiary to what Van Remoortel was involved in, but is was a happy bit of news which served the interests of the Orchestra as well." Max Steindel was also an important teacher for Samuel Mayes, later Principal cello of the Boston Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra.nbsp; Before Samuel Mayes went to the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, his mother recalled: " He [Steindel] was very important in Sammy Mayes' early development so that he came to Curtis at 12 years with an already enviable technique ".  Max Steindel died in Saint Louis in May, 1964.

1967-1968  Richard Sher

Richard Sher was born in 1948.  

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Principal Violas of the Saint Louis Symphony

1978-   Thomas A. Dumm

Thomas Dumm was born on March 15, 1940.  Thomas Dumm studied at Ohio State University, and the Curtis Institute Class of 1959, the same class as violinists Jaime Laredo and Jerome Rosen.  Rochester Philharmonic Principal viola, Baltimore Symphony Principal viola.  During summers, Dumm was Principal viola of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra Principal viola for more than thirty years, Chautauqua String Quartet In summers, Thomas Dumm was Principal viola of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.  He was in the viola section of the Cleveland Orchestra 1961-1967.

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Principal Oboes of the Saint Louis Symphony

Harold Gomberg after Curtis joined the National Symphony Orchestra as Principal oboe at age 17. He then became Principal in Toronto and Saint Louis. He joined the New York Philharmonic in 1943 until his retirement in 1977.

1911-1914   Adolph Bertram

Adolph Bertram was born in Germany in August, 1870.  He came to the U.S. in 1889.  In Chicago, Adolph Bertram was second oboe of the Chicago Symphony (at that time the "Chicago Orchestra") , under Theodore Thomas 1893-1896.  By 1900, Adolph Bertram was Principal oboe in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, where he remained at least until 1910.  For the 1911-1912 initial San Francisco Symphony season, Henry Hadley brought Adolph Bertram with him as Principal oboe.  Bertram remained Principal oboe for three seasons 1911-1914.  Adolph Bertram also was Principal oboe in the orchestra of the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.  In 1919-1922 Adolph Bertram moved to Saint Louis, where he was Principal oboe and sometimes English horn in the Saint Louis Symphony under Max Zach and Rudolf Ganz ³⁷.  Adolph Bertram seems to have died young, prior to 1930.

1956-1959  Alfred J. Genovese

Alfred Genovese was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 25, 1931. His father was also a musician.  At age 16, Genovese began study with John Minsker who had previously been English horn with the Philadelphia Orchestra.  Admitted to the Curtis Institute, Alfred Genovese was one of the last oboe students of Marcel Tabuteau.  Upon graduation from Curtis in the Class of 1953, Genovese became an oboe with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for three seasons 1953-1956.  Alfred Genovese then went to the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra where he was Principal oboe under Vladimir Golschmann and Edouard van Remoortel 1956-1959.   In the 1959-1960 season, Genovese went to the Cleveland Orchestra as Principal oboe briefly for one season under George Szell.  This was the single season in which Marc Lifschey was away from Cleveland during his long Cleveland tenure 1950-1959 and 1960-1965.  In this 1959-1960 season, Lifschey was Principal oboe of the Metropolitan Opera.  Upon his return to Cleveland, Alfred Genovese replaced him as Principal oboe of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in the 1960-1961 season.  Alfred Genovese remained at the Metropolitan Opera for 17 seasons 1960-1977.  In the 1977-1978 season, with the departure of Jack Holmes from Boston, Alfred Genovese left the Metropolitan Opera to take the third oboe chair (Associate Principal oboe) of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  Wayne Rapier moved up to the second chair (Assistant Principal) of the Boston Symphony oboes.  Upon the retirement of Ralph Gomberg at the end of the 1986-1987 season, Alfred Genovese took the first chair oboe position.  In the Boston Symphony programs for the 1987-1990 seasons, Alfred Genovese was listed as "Acting Principal oboe" He was then confirmed in the first chair position and is now deservedly listed as Principal oboe 1987-1998.  Alfred Genovese was a regular at the Marlboro Music Festival in the summers from at least 1955 into the 1980s.  He was also a New York freelance session musician in the early 1970s at the time he was with the Metropolitan Opera.  He he has taught oboe at the New England Conservatory of Music, and the Manhattan School of Music.  Alfred Genovese retired from the Boston Symphony at the end of the 1997-1998 season.

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Principal Bassoons of the Saint Louis Symphony

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Principal Clarinets of the Saint Louis Symphony

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Principal Flutes of the Saint Louis Symphony

1895   Leopold Broeckaert (1895 listed as soloist)

1896   Charles Molé

1897-1902   Wm. Baumgaertel

1902-1904 1906-1910  Leopold Broeckaert

Leopold Broeckaert was born in Belgium in 1867 of Flemish parents.  Broeckaert came to the U.S. in 1892 at age 25.  By 1920, Broeckaert had left the Saint Louis Symphony and was teaching music.

1904-1906 1912-1931  John F. Kiburz

John Kiburz was born in January 13, 1876 in Saint Louis, Missouri of a Swiss father and Missouri mother.  As well as playing trumpet in the Saint Louis Symphony, Kiburz played in the orchestra of the Statler Hotel in Saint Louis, as musicians of that era needed to do if they were to approach full-time employment.

1932-1946  Laurent Torno

1946-1956  Albert Tipton (1946 - 1956 (to Detroit)

1958-1965  Israel Borouchoff

1969-1999  Jacob Berg Jacob Berg studied at the Curtis Institute Class of 1953. 

2000-current  Mark Sparks

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Principal Horns of the Saint Louis Symphony

1934-1936  James Stagliano  (Co-Principal horn with Willem Valkenier 1947-1950)

James Stagliano was born in Italy on January 7, 1912.  His family emigrated to the US in 1920, when he was 8 years old, perhaps because his uncle Albert J. Stagliano was already established in Detroit.  In Italy, James Stagliano first learned piano, and studied with his father, a trumpet player.  Unfortunately, Stagliano's father died when James was young.  In Detroit, James Stagliano studied French horn with his uncle Albert J. Stagliano.  Albert Stagliano in the early 1920s played on the staff orchestra of the pioneering Detroit radio station WWJ.  Albert Stagliano was later Principal horn of the Detroit Symphony 1929-1936 ¹²⁷, Principal horn of the Cleveland Orchestra 1936-1937, horn with Toscanini's NBC Symphony 1937-late 1940s.  Uncle Albert continued to aid James Stagliano who in 1928, at age only 16, was an extra of the Detroit Symphony.  In the 1930-1931 season, James Stagliano joined the Detroit Symphony as Assistant Principal horn on the first stand, next to his uncle Albert.  James Stagliano and his Wagnerian soprano wife ¹⁶³ Inez Gorman then moved to Saint Louis where James was appointed Saint Louis Symphony Principal horn in about 1934-1936 under Vladimir Golschmann.  In the 1936-1937 season, James Stagliano moved to California to play under Otto Klemperer in the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.  James Stagliano remained in Los Angeles until 1944.  He was also a session musician in the the Hollywood studios, particularly at Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Brothers including Gone With the Wind.  James Stagliano moved from Los Angeles to play in the Cleveland Orchestra under Erich Leinsdorf's brief tenure in 1944.  In 1946, following the departure of Philip Farkas, James Stagliano was selected by Koussevitzky to become Co-Principal horn with Willem Valkenier, beginning in the 1946-1947 season.  Willem Valkenier was listed first, with James Stagliano, second, so presumably Stagliano usually sat in the second chair, next to his stand partner Valkenier.   This Co-Principal arrangement continued under Charles Munich until Valkenier's retirement at the end of the 1949-1950 season.  James Stagliano was Principal or Co-Principal horn in Boston for twenty-seven seasons, 1946-1973. 

While in Boston, James Stagliano helped found Boston Records for which he and Boston Symphony colleagues recorded a number of innovative works (such as Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings).  With Sarah Caldwell, Stagliano was active with the Opera Company of Boston.  Stagliano is said to have used, primarily, a double horn from Gebr. Alexander (Mainz, Germany).  Horn colleagues also remarked that "Jimmy" Stagliano used his Assistant horn, Charles Yancich often to reduce his orchestral load, which gave Yancich added exposure ¹²⁷.   James Stagliano was not particularly active as a teacher, but his relaxed style and effective playing of high registers of the horn influenced many other players.  He also had an active sense of humor, and had a reputation as something of a bon vivant, which many appreciated.  Milan Yancich tells the story ¹²⁷ of "Jimmy" Stagliano undergoing a triple coronary bypass operation.  Just before anesthesia, the surgeon informed Stagliano that, although this is a very intensive and difficult procedure, that he had done it many times, and not to worry.  Stagliano replied: "...Doctor, until you have to play Oberon, you don't know what worry means...".  James Stagliano died in Boynton Beach (near Boca Raton), Florida on April 11, 1987.

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Principal Trumpets of the Saint Louis Symphony

1879-1897  No Programs Available

1897-1903  Adolph E. Willbrandt

Adolph Willbrandt was born in Germany in December, 1845.  Willbrandt emigrated to the U.S. in 1870, at age 25.  Willbrandt is listed as a Saint Louis musician in the 1878 city directory.  Adolph Willbrandt seems to have joined the Saint Louis Symphony in about 1889.  He was Principal trumpet for 5 seasons, 1897-1903.  During the 1902-1903, he was apparently co-Principal trumpet with William Leeder.  Adolph Willbrandt was still with the Saint Louis Symphony in 1910, and retired, still living in Saint Louis in 1920.

1902-1903  William E. Leeder

William Leeder was born in Illinois in October, 1863 of Swiss-German parents.  During the 1902-1903, William Leeder was listed as co-Principal trumpet with Adolph Willbrandt.

1903-1904  No Programs Available

1904-1905  Gustav Heim

Gustav Heim was born in Schleusingen, Thüringen, Germany, 150 km East of Frankfurt on May 8, 1879.  Heim studied trumpet first under his father, and then at the local music school in Schleusingen from 1893-1897.  In 1897, Heim was cornet solo of the military band based in Thüringen.  Heim emigrated to the U.S. in 1904 to Saint Louis.  During his career, Heim was first trumpet for an amazing number of leading U.S. orchestras.  Heim started in 1904 with the orchestra of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (also known as the 1904 Saint Louis World Fair). In Saint Louis, Fritz Scheel, conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra heard Gustav Heim play.  As a result, in the 1905-1906 season, Heim became Principal trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra, while his predecessor, Herman Basse returned to the Metropolitan Opera.  Gustav Heim stayed in Philadelphia for one season.  Then, in the 1906-1907 season, Heim moved to the Boston Symphony Orchestra as third trumpet.  In the 1914-1915 season, under Karl Muck, Heim became Principal Trumpet until 1920.  In the 1920 disastrous Boston Symphony musician’s strike, Heim was, along with the Concertmaster Frederic Fradkin, one of the two Orchestra Principals who left the Boston Symphony as a result of the strike.  Heim departed for the Detroit Symphony, where he was Principal trumpet 1920-1921.  George Mager  then took over Heim’s first chair trumpet position with the Boston Symphony.  After moving to Detroit for one season, Gustav Heim then moved to New York, where he was Principal trumpet with the Philharmonic Society for two seasons 1921-1923 under Josef Stransky.  Continuing his movements from orchestra to orchestra, in the 1923-1924 season, Heim moved to the Cleveland Orchestra under Nikolai Sokoloff (1886-1965).  Then, Gustav Heim moved back to New York to join the New York Symphony from 1925-1928 under Walter Damrosch (who had also conducted Heim at the 1904 Saint Louis Fair).  After the merger of the New York Symphony with the New York Philharmonic Society in 1928, Harry Glantz was selected to continue as Principal trumpet of the merged orchestra.  Glanz had previously studied with Heim.  Gustav Heim then joined the American Symphonic Ensemble in New York which was an orchestra without a conductor for the 1929-1930 season.  He was also a regular at the long-lived Worcester Music Festival (Massachusetts) in the summers from 1910-1914, 1916, and 1925 to 1932.  Gustav Heim also taught in New York City, and among his famous students were William Vacchiano.  During most of his career, Gustav Heim played a was a Bb trumpet.  Gustav Heim died relatively young on October 30, 1933 in New York City after a sudden illness, aged only 54.