on 2/8/03 11:34 AM, Dr. Carole Nowicke, Applied Health Science at
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>>
>> On Sun, 1 Dec 2002, Anne Megenity wrote:
>>
>>> Believe he was first chair in the Detroit Symphony in the 40s.
>
> Funny, he's come up again... I did tape an interview with Joseph
> Skrzynski, Robert C. Jones, and Harold Hall from the DSO. They talked
> about Hellstein as having been a hockey player, and that he held his golf
> club like a hockey stick and had a weird swing.
>
> What none of them agree on, however, is how to spell "Hellstein." I have
> "Halstein," "Helstien," and "Helstein." Anyone have an authoritative
> print source? I want the transcript to be correct.
>
> This interview was to gather some anecdotal information about tubist Oscar
> LaGasse' for a memorial article.
According to an article that I referenced in my Michigan State
University DMA dissertation _A Horn of A Different Color_, Francis Hellstein
was also Principal Horn of the Detroit Symphony during the late 1930's. He
taught Julius Watkins horn while he was in high school. He helped prepare
Watkins for a career as a horn soloist, but Watkins came to the assumption
that there was "little" solos repertoire for the horn, so he turned to jazz
to furnish him the solos opportunities that he craved. (Tom Varner, "Julius
Watkins, Jazz Pioneer," _The Horn Call_ XIX, no. 1, October 1988, page 21).
Since Watkins was born on October 10, 1921, he would have been in high
school during the years from about 1935 or 1936 through 1938 or 1939.
Obviously, Hellstein's (the way Varner spelled the name) tenure as principal
horn of the DSO dates at least from that decade. LaGasse also told me, when
he still taught some tuba students at Wayne State, where I was an
undergraduate (1990-92), that Hellstein also loved jazz and frequented some
of the clubs in Detroit, which were primarily African-American at that time.
I do not know if he tried to play jazz himself, but perhaps Paul Ganson, who
is the historian for the Detroit Symphony-Orchestra Hall, might give you
some information or lead you to someone who would know. Hope this
information is of some interest and that the print source is sufficiently
authoritative.
Sincerely,
Ellen Manthe
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