Well for those of you who care to keep track of such things, this July 4th is the 80th anniversary of pops concerts on Boston’s Esplanade.
You notice I say Pops concerts, not Boston Pops concerts. This is because, while the first Pops concert on the Esplanade, with Arthur Fiedler conducting, took place on July 4, 1929, that was not a Boston Pops event. It was Arthur Fiedler cooking the whole thing up on his own, and hiring a freelance band.
The reason I mention this is, and I always feel that it’s important to emphasize this, innovation comes from individuals. It does not come from committees, processes, or structures. Committees, processes, and structures can be designed to help or hinder, but for the most part, the most amazing advances in any field you care to name tend to come from individuals.
By the way, Arthur Fiedler became the conductor of the Boston Pops in 1930, due in no small part to the fact that he was staging these very successful independent events, as well as making numerous recordings.
Lots of people have great ideas. Acting on those ideas despite the resistance, i.e. fear of infinitely imaginable bad consequences, likelihood of failure, etc . . . are really what make the difference between innovators and imitators. There are literally thousands and thousands of conductors out there, yet even tho Arthur has been dead for 30 years, no one has come close to him in terms of sales.
His Bicentennial concert (which I played, btw), is still in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest audience at a classical music concert. And it was a real classical concert too– we played the entire Tchaikovsky B Flat Piano Concerto that night.
By the way, concerts on the 4th in Boston have not been rained out for 40 years, so despite the awful cold rainy weather we’ve been having, most likely it will be clear and dry for the concert. The musicians, who would love to get a rainout and get paid without working, refer to this as “Arthur’s Curse.”
–jl
