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Radio City Music Hall of the Air was a weekly American radio program broadcast on the NBC Blue Network from 1932 through 1942 that featured a range of classical music programming extending from symphonies and other kinds of orchestral works to operas, oratorios, chamber music, choral works and other kinds of classical music literature. The program was usually broadcast live on Sunday afternoons at noon from Radio City Music Hall (RCMH) in front of a live audience in the theatre. Broadcasts featured the RCMH symphony orchestra under conductor Ernö Rapée. The program was typically an hour long, although occasionally the program's running time would be extended to a lengthier time block if they were performing a complete masterwork such as an opera.

History

From 1932 through 1942 the hour-long Radio City Music Hall of the Air radio program was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network.^[1]^[2] The program was usually broadcast live on Sunday afternoons at noon from Radio City Music Hall (RCMH) in programs featuring the RCMH symphony orchestra under conductor Ernö Rapée, but with occasional time deviations to later starting time like 12:15 or 12:30 in the afternoon.^[2] Rapée was director of the program from its inception in December 1932 until the program ceased broadcasting in the autumn of 1942.^[3]

The Radio City Music Hall of the Air program was one of the more prominent "radio symphony series" programs of its era.^[4] It was dedicated to performing classical music masterworks, and featured a wide range of literature from symphonies, concerti, and other orchestral literature to operas, oratorios, chamber works, and choral music.^[5] The program was noted not only for programming music by standard European composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Stravinsky, and Prokofiev, but also featuring American composers at a time when American-made classical music was just beginning to find its foothold in the national and international concert stage. Some American composers who were featured on the program included Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Roy Harris, and Edgar Stillman Kelley.^[5] In 1938 the program was the recipient of a Medal of Merit award from Radio Guide magazine for excellence in radio programming.^[6]

In 1937 the program drew particular acclaim for its ambitious programming of the complete cycle of Jean Sibelius's seven symphonies.^[2] On October 8, 1939, the program presented the world premiere of Eugene Zador's opera Christopher Columbus; a work written by its Jewish composer while fleeing persecution from Nazi Germany by sailing across the Atlantic.^[7] On December 3, 1939, the program featured the United States premiere of Erich Ziesel's "Little Symphony"; a work whose four movements were each based on a different painting by the Austrian artist Roswitha Bitterlich.^[8]

In 1940 The New York Times described the program as the "oldest and longest sustained [program] of its kind in radio"; highlighting the fact the program had employed approximately 10,000 musicians and featured a wide range of top soloists, including sopranos Kirsten Flagstad and Viola Philo; contraltos Edwina Eustis Dick and Bruna Castagna; baritones John Charles Thomas and Robert Weede; violinists Mischa Elman, Jascha Heifetz, and Ossy Renardy; and pianists Josef Hofmann, José Iturbi and Henrietta Schumann.^[5] RCMH impresario Samuel Roxy was credited with discovering the American tenor Jan Peerce who became a regular performer on the program from its earliest broadcasts in 1932.^[9]^[10] The program also regularly featured the Stradivarius Quartet of New York;^[2] an ensemble founded by the violinist Alfred Pochon whose members also included violinist Wolfe Wolfinsohn, violist Nicolas Moldavan, and cellist Gerald Warburg. Also of note were the opportunities afforded to some African-American performers who were at that time barred from the opera stage due to racial prejudice. For example, bass-baritone Lawrence Winters performed in six broadcasts on the program during his early singing career.^[11]

In Rapée's 1945 obituary in The New York Times the paper stated that the pinnacle of his artistic success as a conductor was achieved on the occasion of the 500th broadcast of Radio City Music Hall of the Air program on April 12, 1942, with a masterful performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8.^[3] This performance employed 400 performers; including a chorus of 300 voices.^[12]

References

Citations

^ Young & Young 2007, p. 166.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Dunning 1998, p. 179.
^ ^a ^b "ERNO RAPEE DIES; NOTED MUSICIAN; Head of Orchestra at Radio City Music Hall—Composer of Song Hits in Films Presented Mahler Work Conducted in Europe". The New York Times. June 27, 1945. p. 19.
^ Cox 2024, p. 106.
^ ^a ^b ^c Spiegel, Irving (December 15, 1940). "CONCERTIZING FOR RADIO; Erno Rapee Reviews a Long Career at the 'Mike' With Asides on Navigation". The New York Times.
^ Mitchell, Curtis, ed. (January 15, 1938). "Medal of Merit Awarded to Radio City Music Hall of the Air" (PDF). Radio Guide. 7 (13).
^ Noel Straus (October 9, 1939). "COLUMBUS VOYAGE DEPICTED IN OPERA; Eugene Zador's One-Act Work Has World Premiere Here at the Center Theatre". The New York Times. p. 14.
^ Reed, Peter Hugh (February 1940). "In the Record Grooves". Etude: 84.
^ Pasternak 2002, p. 95.
^ DeLong 1980, p. 101.
^ Lovell, Jr., John (March 1947). "Democracy in a Hit Review". The Crisis: 77.
^ Straus, Noel (April 13, 1942). "ERNO RAPEE LEADS MAHLER'S EIGHTH; Playing of Symphony Marks 500th Program of Radio City Music Hall of the Air 400 PERSONS TAKE PART Chorus of 300, Brass Choir and Seven Vocal Soloists Heard – Last Given Here in 1916". The New York Times.

Bibliography

Cox, Jim (2024). Music Radio: The Great Performers and Programs of the 1920s through Early 1960s. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9781476604510.
DeLong, Thomas A. (1980). The Mighty Music Box: The Golden Age of Musical Radio. Amber Crest Books. ISBN 9780865330009.
Dunning, John (1998). "Radio City Music Hall of the Air". On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 9780195076783.
Pasternak, Velvel (2002). The Jewish Music Companion: Historical Overview, Personalities, Annotated Folksongs. Tara Publications / Hal Leonard Corporation.
Young, William H.; Young, Nancy K. (2007). "Federal Music Project". The Great Depression in America: A Cultural Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9780313088711.