Fiedler: miserly maestro

Press, 12 July 1979, Page 7

Fiedler: miserly maestro

NZPA-Reuter Boston Arthur Fiedler, the mustachioed maestro of the Boston Pops Orchestra who made classical music popular for audiences that may not have known the difference between a baton and a bassoon, has died. He was 84.

Fiedler, who died of heart failure at his suburban Brookline home near Boston, popularised light classical music and his audiences demanded and received just that — Ravel’s “Bolero,” Strauss’s “Blue Danube Waltz,” and Tchaikovsky’s

“1812 Overture” complete with the roar of cannon and peal of church bells. Stars of the pop-music

world vied with each other to appear with the silverhaired conductor while purists criticised him for providing “pap,” or watereddown versions of fine music.

Fans thought of him as a Santa Claus character, but those who knew him better often called him the “beloved grouch.”

He was not only irritated easily, but also had a reputation of being a notorious skinflint even though he was reputed to be a multimillionaire, having sold some 50 million records.

His spacious Brookline home had a large number of theadbare pieces, including a sofa covered with an old blanket. In a television interview,

Fiedler revealed a dislike of the masses.

“I think a great number of people are bores really, and this adulation (they hold for me is) just words.”

Fiedler was born in Boston to a Viennese family of musicians. His father, uncle, and cousin all played for the Boston Symphony Orchestra — and they ail earned pittances.

His father’s poverty was used by critics to explain Fiedler’s commerical attitude to classical music and even his apparent irreverence for the form.

Among his biggest regrets, he said, was not having appeared on the same stage as Elvis Presley and Liberace.