ARTHUR FIEDLER
December 17, 1894-July 10, 1979
THE BOSTON POPS MAESTRO
IN HIS SYMPHONY HALL OFFICE
BOSTON, MASSASCHUSETTS
Arthur Fiedler was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 17, 1894, and died at home in Brookline, Massachusetts, next door to Boston, on July 10, 1979.
These bare facts conceal a far more peripatetic and complicated existence, and so does the quick summary of his accomplishments. For over half a century he led the Boston Pops Orchestra, with enormous success and acclaim. But -- like a beauty who wishes to be known for his/her brains? -- apparently he hungered for more: acknowledgment of his musicianship and his gravitas.
His daughter, Johanna Fiedler, wrote of his story (and hers) in ARTHUR FIEDLER: Papa, the Pops and Me (1994). The New York Times in its obituary called Arthur Fiedler "grandfatherly," and said that he "projected a jolly, unsnobbish image." Perhaps so, but that there was more to him was clear already from the time I spent photographing him.
