Walter Hendl, 90; former director of famed Eastman school of music died
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Walter Hendl, former director of the Eastman School of Music and a
conductor, died Tuesday at his home in Erie, Pa., school officials
confirmed. He was 90 years old and had heart and lung disease.
Mr. Hendl headed the Eastman School in Rochester from 1964 to 1972,
but school historian Vince Lenti, a former colleague, said Mr. Hendl's
great talent was conducting. "He was not a true academician, but he
had a lot of really solid accomplishments here," Lenti said.
Mr. Hendl launched Eastman's FM radio concerts, sent the Eastman Wind
Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble on far-flung tours, and organized the
school's 50th anniversary festival in 1971-72.
Martin Bliley, a musician who studied with Mr. Hendl, said he had a
guiding hand in Eastman's electronic, contemporary, and Suzuki music
programs. He hired top faculty including violinist Zvi Zeitlin and the
violin-piano team Carol Glenn and Eugene List.
Mr. Hendl was born Jan. 12, 1917, in West New York, N.J. He won the
New Jersey State Piano Competition in 1936 and entered the Curtis
Institute of Music in Philadelphia the next year. His major
professional breakthrough came in 1941, when the maestro Serge
Koussevitsky trained him as a conductor at the Tanglewood Music
Festival in Lenox, Mass.
Mr. Hendl joined the New York Philharmonic, where he became assistant
conductor in 1945. He went to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as music
director in 1949, touring extensively and premiering works by
composers including Czech master Bohuslav Martinu, Brazilian innovator
Heitor Villa-Lobos, and American musician Virgil Thomson.
After leaving Eastman, he joined the conducting faculty of the
Juilliard School in Manhattan.
Bill Schenley
> of Music and a conductor, died Tuesday at his home
FROM: The Erie Times-News ~
Photo:
http://www.rochester.edu/pr/Review/V68N1/images/inrevHendl.jpg
Walter J. Hendl, age 90, a resident of Erie
died Tuesday April 10, 2007 at his home.
He was born January 12, 1917 in West New York, N.J.
the only child of the late William and Ella Kittel Hendl.
Walter began his piano studies in 1929 with Miss Mabie
in Union City, N.J. and followed up with Clarence Adler
in New York City in 1933.
Walter was also an Eagle Scout and graduated second in
his class at Union City High School in 1934. In 1936 he
won the New Jersey State Piano Competition, and in
1937 was awarded a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of
Music in Philadelphia where he studied with Josef Hofmann
and later with David Saperton.
In 1939 he was accepted as a conducting pupil of
Fritz Reiner. IN the fall of 1942 he enlisted in the Army
and following basic training, he was sent to New Castle
Army Air Base in Delaware where he formed both a
marching band and jazz band known as the "Jive Bombers"
which performed in Wilmington raising money for war
bonds. Following his discharge from the army, Hendl at the
request of the playwrights, Howard Richardson and
William Berney composed and conducted the music for the
play "Dark Of The Moon" which ran for six months on
Broadway.
In 1945, he was appointed assistant conductor of the
New York Philharmonic and was the piano soloist in
many Philharmonic broadcasts and recordings. At the
same time he was also engaged to guest conduct and
perform as piano soloist with the Boston "Pops" Orchestra.
Two weeks after his appointment as assistant conductor of
the New York Philharmonic, he was called upon to
conduct after the sudden illness of Artur Rodzinski.
During his time in New York, he collaborated with a wide
variety of musical personalities, among them Artie Shaw,
who received conducting lessons from Hendl in his
apartment.
In 1947 he also served as guest conductor and pianist for
the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for several months.
In 1949, he was commissioned by the Young People's
Record Guild to compose and conduct records for a
number of children's works including "The Neighbor's Band",
"Little Brass Band" and "Concerto for Toys and Orchestra".
He was appointed Music Director of the Dallas
Symphony Orchestra in 1949 and held that position for
9 years.
In 1950 he conducted numerous concerts in
Rio de Janerio, Buenos Aires, and other Latin American
locations on behalf of Braniff International Airways.
In March of 1951, he took the Dallas Symphony on a
six week 14 state, 45 concert tour of the United States
in 1951 and 1952 he made a series of recordings under
the auspices of the Alice M. Ditson Fund for American
Recording Society in Vienna.
In the summer of 1953, Hendl began a 35 year
association with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra
as Music Director.
Two years later, he conducted the Symphony of the
Air (Formerly of NBC Symphony Orchestra) on a 9
week tour of the Far East. Playing more than 50
concerts in 20 cities including 19 concerts in Japan's major
cities before a live crowd of 60,000 people with millions
more on radio and television.
He was appointed associate conductor of the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner in 1958.
1964 saw Hendl appointed Director of the Eastman
School of Music at the University of Rochester, there
he introduced many new programs including Jazz and
Contemporary, Media, the Suzuki Method for
instructing children, and Electronic Music Studio, and
expanded music performance programs. He brought to
Eastman some of the world's most distinguished
composers, conductors, musicians, educators and critics.
In 1966, Hendl traveled to Moscow as a member of
the jury for the Tchaikowsky Competition and in 1967
was invited to Vienna as a member of the "Committee of
Honor" for the Schubert Competition. Hendl was
appointed to the facility of the Juilliard School of Music
in 1974 as a conductor and teacher and in 1976 was
named Director of Music for the Erie Philharmonic
Orchestra and remained in that position until his retirement
in 1990.
Following that, he began teaching and conducting at
the D'Angelo School of Music at Mercyhurst College
from which he retired in 1993.
On April 15, 2005, Hendl returned to Rochester to guest
conduct the Eastman Philharmonic in a performance of
Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony.
He is survived by his beloved wife of 37 years,
Barbara Heisley Hendl and a daughter, Susan Hendl of
New York City.
There will be no visitation. A Memorial Service will be
announced at a later date in regards to time and location.
Memorials may be made to the Eastman School of
Music, University of Rochester, 26 Gibbs St.,
Rochester NY 14604.
Arrangements by the John J. Quinn Funeral Home.