Ormandy, Eugene (real name, Jenö Blau)

Ormandy, Eugene (real name, Jenö Blau), outstanding Hungarian-born American conductor; b. Budapest, Nov. 18, 1899; d. Philadelphia, March 12, 1985. He first studied violin at a very early age with his father, and at age 5 he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest. At 9, he became a student of Hubay there, receiving his artist’s diploma at 13. When he was 17 he joined its faculty. He also pursued training in philosophy at the Univ. of Budapest. In 1917 he became concertmaster of the Blüthner Orch. in Germany, and also made tours as a soloist and recitalist. In 1921 he emigrated to the U.S. and in 1927 became a naturalized American citizen. He became a violinist in the pit orch. at the Capitol Theater in N.Y. in 1921, and soon thereafter became its concertmaster. In Sept. 1924 he made his debut as a conductor with the orch., and in 1926 he was named its assoc. music director. He appeared as a guest conductor with the N.Y. Phil, at the Lewisohn Stadium in 1929 and with the Philadelphia Orch. at Robin Hood Dell in 1930. Ormandy first attracted national attention when he substituted for an indisposed Toscanini at a Philadelphia Orch. concert on Oct. 30, 1931. His unqualified success led to his appointment as conductor of the Minneapolis Sym. Orch. in 1931. In 1936 he was invited to serve as assoc. conductor with Stokowski of the Philadelphia Orch. On Sept. 28, 1938, Ormany was formally named music director of the Philadelphia Orch., a position he retained with great distinction until his retirement in 1980. Thereafter he held its title of Conductor Laureate. Ormandy’s 42-year tenure as music director of the Philadelphia Orch. was the longest of any conductor of a major American orch. Under his guidance, the Philadelphia Orch. not only retained its renown from the Stokowski era but actually enhanced its reputation through many tours in North America and abroad, innumerable recordings, and radio and television broadcasts. Between 1937 and 1977 Ormandy led it on 9 transcontinental tours of the U.S. In 1949 he took it to England, in 1955 and 1958 to the Continent. In 1973 he took it to the People’s Republic of China, the first U.S. orch. to visit that nation. Ormany received numerous honors. In 1952 he was made an Officier and in 1958 a Commandeur of the French Légion d’honneur. In 1970 he was awarded the U.S. Medal of Freedom by President Richard M. Nixon. In 1976 Queen Elizabeth II made him an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He also received various doctorates. Ormandy excelled as an interpreter of the Romantic repertoire, in which his mastery of orch. resources was most evident. It was his custom to conduct most of his concerts from memory.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis Mclntire