Edward A. Lefebre (1835*-1911)
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EDWARD A. LEFEBRE (1835*-1911): PREEMINENT SAXOPHONIST OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY by JAMES RUSSELL NOYES Submitted to The Manhattan School of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts and approved by ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ May 2000 *Original title = (1834-1911). See Post-Addendum, page 288. Dedicated to my parents, for teaching me the true meaning of love and generosity. ABSTRACT As the saxophone continues to play an ever- increasing role in music throughout the world, interest has begun to shift to its earlier traditions and legacies. The life of Aldophe Sax, his struggle to develop and promote the saxophone, and his nineteenth- century European legacy has been well documented. Much research has also been devoted to the post World War I saxophone “craze,” largely an American phenomenon. It had previously been thought that the saxophone lay relatively “dormant” in the late 1800s and early 1900s, only emerging in the 1920s as an integral part of jazz music and in symphonic works of Gershwin, Kodaly, Milhaud, Prokoffiev, and Ravel, among others. The career of Edward A. Lefebre, spanning from the mid-1850s to his death in 1911, provided an important and direct link between Aldophe Sax and the nineteenth- century European orchestral tradition, and the saxophone’s eventual widespread popularity, mass appeal, and world-wide acceptance in the twentieth century. Lefebre’s monumental efforts to popularize the saxophone were initially felt in Europe and Africa, and Lefebre eventually became a significant part of the musical ii fabric of America from the time he joined Patrick S. Gilmore’s 22nd Regiment Band in 1873, to his last public solo and quartet performances in 1909. Lefebre was associated with bandleaders Patrick S. Gilmore and John Philip Sousa, instrument manufacturer C. G. Conn, composer Harry Rowe Shelley, and music publisher Carl Fischer, all icons of the era. In fact, Lefebre himself was also an icon, the “Saxophone King.” In a comprehensive examination of Lefebre’s life and career, this study will present Lefebre’s legacy as one of the most meaningful and substantial in the history of the saxophone. Thesis advisor: Dr. Paul Cohen iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT...............................................ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.......................................vi PREFACE..............................................viii TIME LINE: LEFEBRE’S PROFESSIONAL CAREER.............xiii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION.............................1 CHAPTER II ADOLPHE SAX AND THE BIRTH OF THE SAXOPHONE, c.1840-1857..............5 CHAPTER III LEFEBRE’S MISSION BEGINS, c.1855-1873...16 South Africa............................18 F. J. Weygand and Company...............18 Parepa Rosa English Opera Company.......22 CHAPTER IV LEFEBRE THE “SAXOPHONE KING,” 1873-1894..........................27 Gilmore.................................27 New York Saxophone Quartette Club.......29 European Tour...........................38 Caryl Florio............................43 Lyceum Concert Club.....................52 Lefebre Benefit Concert of 1883.........65 Deafness................................69 Death of Gilmore........................81 Sousa...................................90 Blakely Correspondence.................101 CHAPTER V LEFEBRE’S MISSION IS ACCOMPLISHED, 1888-1911.........................118 Carl Fischer...........................118 C. G. Conn.............................122 Elkhart, Indiana.......................131 Conn Conservatory......................135 Freelance: Conn Wonder Quartet, Elks, Trumpet Notes Band................138 Lefebre Saxophone Quartette............146 Florio Correspondence..................152 CHAPTER VI CONCLUSION.............................188 iv APPENDIX A PERFORMANCES...........................194 Solo...................................194 Chamber................................197 Variations with Band...................198 APPENDIX B PUBLICATIONS...........................199 Solos..................................199 Duets..................................203 Quartets...............................203 APPENDIX C PROGRAMS, PHOTOS, AND LETTERS..........204 Gilmore Programs, 1874-1892............204 Gilmore’s Saxophone Section, c.1889....212 Florio’s Introduction, Theme and Variations, 1879..................213 Florio’s Saxophone Quartet, 1879, Soprano Saxophone Part............214 Cover of Musical Courier, 1884.........219 Lefebre’s Benefit Concert, 1893........220 Letter to Blakely, 12 Feb. 1894........221 C. G. Conn Poster, c.1896..............224 Conn Conservatory Certificate, Issued to Will Yeglea, 1897.......225 Letter, Trumpet Notes Band, 1897.......226 Carl Fischer’s “Celebrated Solos For the Saxophone,” c.1900........227 Lefebre’s Wonder Quartette, 1901.......228 Letter to Florio, 26 Nov. 1902.........229 Lefebre’s 1903 Conn Saxophone..........232 Lefebre Saxophone Quartet, Des Moines Register Ad, 1903......233 Lefebre’s Los Angeles Saxophone Quartette, 1909.........234 APPENDIX D SAXOPHONISTS WITH 22ND REGIMENT BAND....235 APPENDIX E LEFEBRE FAMILY HISTORY.................236 ADDENDUM LEFEBRE AND BESSIE MECKLEM.............239 BIBLIOGRAPHY..........................................243 INDEX.................................................252 LEFEBRE’S LAST BAND, SAXOPHONE SYMPOSIUM 26 (2001)....255 POST-ADDENDUM LEFEBRE’S BIRTH RECORD.................288 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Paul Cohen for his enlightened guidance and unwavering support of my research efforts. Special mention must be given to Dr. Margaret Downie Banks and her staff at America’s Shrine to Music Museum, Vermillion, SD. Without the assistance of Dr. Banks, I may never have realized Lefebre’s true significance. The bulk of the C. G. Conn Truth articles, and thus much of Lefebre’s career between 1892-1905, come from the archives at ASMM. Dr. Banks’ own research efforts on my behalf, including the Elkhart Truth, the Trumpet Notes Band Archives, and the Julius Stenberg scrapbook, were both thoughtful and generous. I would like to thank the following individuals for providing information from their own private collections, all of which has proved invaluable: Frank Cipolla, Buffalo, NY; Paul Cohen, Teaneck, NJ; Steve Dillon, Woodbridge, NJ; Barry Furrer, Bound Brook, NJ; The Lefebre Family, St. Petersburg, FL, and West Islip, NY; Kathleen Maxwell, Valencia, CA; Betsy G. Miller, Columbia, SC; and Fred Williams, Philadelphia, PA. vi I would also like to thank George Bosiwick and the entire staff at the Library for the Performing Arts and the staff in Special Collections at the New York Public Library. Thanks to everyone at the following institutions: Academy of Arts and Letters, Brooklyn Library, Library of Congress, National Archives, New York Historical Society, Rutgers University Library, and the University of Iowa Library. Thanks to Dave Anderson, Jeff Langford, Gary Morgan, Ruth Mueller-Maerki, and Marcel P. van Rootselaar for technical assistance. This project made me realize the tremendously important and crucial role of our libraries and museums, as well as private collectors, in preserving our cultural heritage. vii PREFACE In the fall of 1997, while enrolled in my first semester at the Manhattan School of Music, I settled on “The History of the Classical Saxophone Quartet” as my doctoral thesis topic. Such a broad topic was ripe with possibilities, and I didn’t hesitate in getting started. With the help of my teacher, Dr. Paul Cohen, I secured an interview with the premier classical saxophone quartet of our generation, the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet. The members of the RSQ were generous with their discussion about their music, their philosophies, and their thirty- year history. As summer of 1998 arrived, I looked for a way to continue my research. Knowing that Edward A. Lefebre was the leader of the New York Saxophone Quartette Club, one of the earliest American saxophone quartets (1873-85), Dr. Cohen encouraged me to try and answer, “Whatever happened to Lefebre’s stuff?” The thought of locating an old trunk of Lefebre’s music and personal belongings was enticing, so I traveled to Brooklyn, Lefebre’s American hometown, and began digging. With no record of a will, the only lead was an obituary from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle which provided the first clues to Lefebre’s rather extensive career, including his years in South Africa, viii and as soloist with Gilmore and Sousa, but nothing of his quartet. At the New York City Public Library, I began scanning issues of the Musical Courier. To my astonishment, E. A. Lefebre’s name appeared with great regularity, and while none of the articles mentioned the New York Saxophone Quartette Club, they mentioned numerous solo engagements, performances with the Gilmore Band, the Lyceum Concert Club, and a Lefebre Benefit Concert in 1883. A subsequent trip to America’s Shrine to Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota, revealed Lefebre to be no ordinary saxophonist, but a man of intense drive and motivation. Here, with the help of curator, Dr. Margaret Downie Banks, I uncovered a wealth of information on Lefebre as a consultant to C. G. Conn, as a teacher at the Conn Conservatory, as leader of the Lefebre Saxophone Quartette, and as a solo performer. I returned from South Dakota realizing I had a new dissertation topic: the career of Edward A. Lefebre, and his mission to popularize the saxophone. Having narrowed my focus, I was able to pinpoint specific