Uncle Sam's Orchestra

Memories of the Seventh Army Symphony
Erscheinungsjahr 1998
ISBN: 978-1-58046-019-4
Verlag: Boydell & Brewer

Buch, Englisch, 222 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 162 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 544 g

A humorous look at the accomplishments of America's Seventh Army Symphony during its 10-year, European tour-of-duty from 1952-1962.

The United States once maintained a symphony orchestra, the Seventh Army Symphony, based in Stuttgart, Germany. Formed in 1952 as a public relations measure, it was intended to demonstrate to the Europeans, and the Germans in particular, that American soldiers were young men of culture capable of appreciating and performing the music of Beethoven, Brahms, and other great composers with feeling and understanding. In this the orchestra was extremely successful, touring repeatedly throughout (West) Germany, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

In spite of the great acclaim and enthusiasm with which it was received throughout Europe, the orchestra encountered difficulty and some outright hostility from the U.S. Army itself, which did not quite know what to do with a symphony orchestra in its midst. Therefore, in addition to paying tribute to the important work the orchestra did inthe field of cultural relations, this book chronicles the many humorous incidents that arose out of the perennial friction between the rather unmilitary orchestra and the "regular Army" personnel with whom it came in direct contact.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Canarina, John

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Militärwesen
• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Musikgattungen Sinfonische Musik & Ensembles
• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Musikwissenschaft Allgemein Einzelne Komponisten und Musiker

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Photographs
Prelude-Beethoven on the Autobahn
Acknowledgments

Messiah in Baumholder
Getting Started
Getting Started Again-Mitropoulos to the Rescue
To Make the General Cry
Getting There is Half the Fun-Part I
All the Comforts of Home
The Dreaded KPD
The Classical Style
Some Publicity at Home
The NATO Tour
The Bears
Danish Blue Cheese
Chronology Resumed
A Greek Odyssey
Getting There is Half the Fun-Part 2
An Inspector Calls
Leaving Can be Fun, Too
The Pick and the Wick
My Own Story
Right on Target
Sex and the Single Symphony
Orchestra Wives and Married Cats
J. Arthur Rank Presents
Henryk Szeryng
Fingers Paganini
Al Capone Lives
Fourth Floor 1, Third Floor 0
Words and Music
The Beginning of the End
Transition
The Middle of the End
Ausfahrt-No One to the Rescue

Postlude-What it all Meant
Appendix I. Personnel of the Seventh Army Symphony
Appendix II. Repertoire of the Seventh Army Symphony
Appendix III. Letter to the Author from General Bruce C. Clarke
Index of Names