Goldman, Richard Franko

Goldman Richard Franko, distinguished American bandmaster, writer on music, teacher, and composer, son of Edwin Franko Goldman; b. N.Y., Dec. 7, 1910; d. Baltimore, Jan. 19, 1980. He graduated from Columbia Univ. in 1931, and later studied composition with Boulanger in Paris. He became an assistant of his father in conducting the Goldman Band in 1937. Upon his father’s death in 1956, he succeeded him as conductor, and continued to conduct the band into the summer of 1979, when ill health forced him to retire and allow the band to dissolve. He taught at the Juilliard School of Music (1947-60), was a visiting prof, at Princeton Univ. (1952-56), and in 1968 he was appointed director of the Peabody Cons, of Music in Baltimore, serving as its president from 1969 to 1977. He was the N.Y. critic for the Musical Quarterly (1948-68) and ed. of the Juilliard Review (1953-58). He wrote many works for various ensembles: A Sentimental Journey for Band (1941), 3 duets for Clarinets (1944), Sonatina for 2 Clarinets (1945), Duo for Tubas (1948), Violin Sonata (1952), etc., as well as many arrangements for band. A progressive musician, Goldman experimented with modern techniques, and his music combined highly advanced harmony with simple procedures accessible to amateurs.

Writings

(all publ. in N.Y unless otherwise given): The Band’s Music (1938); Landmarks of Early American Music, 1760-1800 (1943); The Concert Band (1946); The Wind Band: Its Literature and Technique (Boston, 1961); Harmony in Western Music (1965); D. Klotzman, ed., Richard Franko Goldman: Selected Essays and Reviews, 1948-1968 (1980).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire