Henry Fillmore

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Henry Fillmore (born December 3, 1881 in Cincinnati , † December 7, 1956 in Miami ) was an American composer , trombonist and conductor .

Life

Fillmore was born the oldest of five children to a music publisher. As a child he sang in the church choir, played guitar , violin and flute and a little piano , but soon became enthusiastic about the trombone , which his father rejected as an instrument for street musicians. After attending school and junior college , he briefly studied trombone with Charles Kohlman and composition with John Broekhoven at the Cincinnati Conservatory .

He stopped working in his father's business in 1905 after a falling out with him because of his preference for brass music , which his father disliked. He married a show dancer and was hired as a musician and conductor of the Lemon Brothers Circus . In 1910 he returned to his father's publishing house and was also active as a trombone teacher and musician. With the brass music works, which Fillmore now increasingly wrote, the publisher achieved significant economic success, so that the sacred music, which was the real focus, was gradually abandoned. From 1921 to 1926 he led the Syrian Temple Shrine Band , then he founded his own, extremely successful band. Due to health problems, he retired to Miami in 1938, but was still in charge of the University of Miami wind orchestra , worked as a guest conductor and organized music competitions. After his health had improved, he devoted himself to building the school orchestra in Florida ; he founded dozens of wind bands and was also president of the American Bandmasters Association .

plant

Fillmore was an extremely prolific composer and, along with Karl L. King and John Philip Sousa, was one of the most important march composers in the United States. In addition to 250 of his own works, including 113 marches alone, he composed around 750 arrangements and wrote textbooks and teaching materials for young musicians. He also published his works under the pseudonyms Harold Bennett, Al Hayes, Will Huff, Gus Beans, Ray Hall, Harry Hartley and Henrietta Moore. He became known as Showman Supreme and Father of the "Trombone Smear" ; "Trombone Smears" meant ragtime compositions for trombone. The Rag Lassus Trombone took John Philip Sousa with his band into his permanent repertoire; Fillmore wrote 14 more pieces of the same character, whose titles often refer to each other and which were published as "Trombone Family".

Well-known works (selection)

  • The Circus Bee , march
  • Rolling Thunder , march
  • The Klaxon , march
  • His honor , march
  • King Karl King , march
  • Miss Trombone (A Slippery Rag) , Ragtime
  • Teddy Trombone (A Brother to Miss Trombone) , Ragtime
  • Lassus Trombone (The Cullud Valet to Miss Trombone) , Ragtime
  • Military Escort , March (as Harold Bennett)

literature

  • William H. Rehrig: The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. Composers and Their Music . Ed .: Paul E. Bierley. Volume 1: A – N. Integrity Press, Westerville, Ohio 1991, ISBN 0-918048-08-7 , pp. 238-241 (English).
  • Wolfgang Suppan , Armin Suppan : The brass music lexicon . 5th edition. HeBu-Musikverlag, Kraichtal 2010, ISBN 978-3-9806925-9-5 , p. 252 .

Web links

Commons : Henry Fillmore  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files
personal data
SURNAME Fillmore, Henry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bennet, Harold (pseudonym); Hayes, Al (pseudonym); Huff, Will (pseudonym); Beans, Gus (pseudonym); Hall, Ray (pseudonym); Hartley, Harry (pen name); Moore, Henrietta (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer, trombonist and conductor
DATE OF BIRTH December 3, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Cincinnati
DATE OF DEATH 7th December 1956
Place of death Miami