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FIFTEEN is a youthful age for serious thoughts of college. But the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, about to open its fifteenth season to an accompaniment of enlarging esteem, is making an imprint on several campuses. Its home is in the Connecticut Valley, within twenty-five miles of Mount Holyoke, Smith, Amherst and the University of Massachusetts. These colleges have been the orchestra’s partners in music for several seasons. Now the orchestra, conducted for the last three years by Robert Staffanson, is growing acquainted with Boston University and Harvard. And during the 1956-57 season it taped thirteen programs that broadcast by WFUV, Fordham University’s FM broadcasting station.
Mr. Staffanson, the conductor, comes from Billings, Mont. He is 35 years old. The eighty men and women of the orchestra-professional musicians all-live in cities and towns across two states. But limited rehearsal time doesn’t blunt their capabilities in playing together or shackle the scope of the programming. Last season, for instance, their efforts ranged from Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis” to a concert version of Puccini’s “La Bohème.”
Foundation Stone
Harmony with colleges is considered a foundation stone for the ambitious organization’s growth: In a strengthened relationship with colleges and graduate schools of music, Mr. Staffanson foresees opportunities to increase the orchestra’s number of resident musicians. At its birth the orchestra had a valued associate in the New England Conservatory of Music, which, by providing it with so many musicians, was an assistant of merit through the formative years. The Hartt College of Music in Hartford, thirty miles away, has also been a helpful neighbor. It, too has provided playing personnel.
The orchestra could boast of campus associations by the time it was five years old. Undergraduate glee clubs and choruses were invited to sing with the orchestra and the symphony chorus, a volunteer unit. Smith, Mount Holyoke, Amherst and Harvard groups shared these experiences from season to season in presentations of Verdi’s Te Deum, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Vivaldi’s “Gloria” and the Berlioz Requiem.
Having musicians in the orchestra who were part-time or full-time members of college staffs led to concerts played in halls of Smith, Mount Holyoke and the University of Massachusetts. The relationship with the state university resulted in the group’s being designated “orchestra in residence.”
Tour Coming Up
In March, 1957, the Springfield Orchestra went on its first “tour” It went to Atlantic City to play for the Eastern Division of the Music Educators National Conference. There it was heard by educators from fifteen states. Last season it did not leave Massachusetts, but next season it will play two concerts in Keene, N. H., and it is planning a modest New England-wide tour.
A week before each subscription concert last season the conductor invited the public to a talk on the music to be played. Colleagues from colleges gave one talk. Julius Herford participated. Marlyn Crittenden, concertmistress, gave a soloist demonstration. Samuel Barber spoke of his “Medea” and Carlisle Floyd came to introduce the condensed concert version of his opera “Susannah.” Altogether there were sixteen concerts. This season there will again be six subscription concerts, and the children’s concerts and programs out of town will bring the total to nineteen concerts.
Mr. Staffanson is exploring avenues of closer cooperation with graduate schools of music. One proposal being discussed is that students working for advanced degrees have their study schedules concentrated within three days a week, permitting half of their time for uninterrupted orchestra work and teaching in Springfield. This would benefit Springfield, the orchestra and the students. It would also help the students ease their financial burdens.
