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Dale Clevenger (July 2, 1940 – January 5, 2022) was an American musician who was the Principal Horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1966 until his retirement in June, 2013.
Strini, Tom "Clevenger the horn master provides tips aplenty," The Milwaukee Journal, January 16, 1983, page 7, Entertainment section. Retrieved November 8, 2010
Before joining the CSO, he was a member of Leopold Stokowski's American Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony of the Air directed by Alfred Wallenstein. He was also principal horn of the Kansas City Philharmonic. Prior to his death, he taught horn at the Jacobs School of Music in
Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
.


Musical career

He started playing trumpet at age 11 and switched to horn at age 13. Clevenger's father was President of the Chattanooga Opera Association, and he was exposed to live orchestral music at an early age. He attended Chattanooga High School, commonly known as City High School, when the band program was under the leadership of A.R. Casavant, a scholar of marching band history, inventor, and innovator credited with creating Precision Drill. Clevinger's obituary relates that Casavant used to play him recordings of the Chicago Symphony during the school lunch hour. Clevenger received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from
Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...
,
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, in 1962. Clevenger considered Arnold Jacobs and Adolph Herseth, former principal brass instrumentalists of the CSO, to be his mentors. Clevenger performed with many ensembles worldwide, including the Berlin Philharmonic (under Daniel Barenboim). He took part in many music festivals including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Florida Music Festival, Sarasota, Marrowstone Music Festival, Bellingham, Washington, and Affinis Music Festival,
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. He won a Grammy Award for "The Antiphonal
Music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
of Gabrieli," which he recorded with members of the Chicago Symphony brass section, as well as the brass sections of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra. His recording of Mozart's horn concertos was named Record of the Year in
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on the
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an label Hungaroton. He also was a featured soloist in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Grammy-winning Strauss Wind Concertos album, on which he plays Strauss's first horn concerto, as well as Andante for horn and piano in C major with Daniel Barenboim accompanying on piano. In 2003, Clevenger premiered John Williams' Concerto for Horn and Orchestra, a work written for him. In addition to performing, Clevenger was an experienced conductor. He was the Music Director of the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra from 1981 to 1995. He expanded his conducting career with numerous orchestras in North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, recently leading the Orquestra Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon with Daniel Barenboim as soloist. Dale Clevenger was President of the Italian Brass Week and taught at Roosevelt University during his time in Chicago. After retirement from the CSO in 2013, he also taught at the Jacobs School of Music at
Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
.


Personal life and death

Clevenger married Alice Anne Render of
Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...
, also a skilled hornist. The couple had two sons, Mac and Jesse. His wife died in 2011. He also had two children from his first marriage, Michael and Ami. Subsequently, he was married to Giovanna Grassi, an Italian woman, for nine years until his death. He died from complications of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia at a hospital near his residence in Brescia on January 5, 2022, at the age of 81.


Reviews by music critics

Over the years, critics have written of his playing as being "satin smooth (1975)," as having "mellow radiance and gentle flow...despite a few inconsequential fluffs (1978)," and of his "pianissimo trills and daredevil octaves (1981)." He has also been said to have "an unfailing sense of direction in phrasing (1983)", "well drawn legato phrases" despite "regrettable lapses of intonation in the fast ornamental section (1984)" and "smooth control (1991)." In 2010, his horn solos received some negative reviews from music critics at ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' and the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'', with the latter describing his work as "unpredictable horn solos, some firm, others faltering. Flaws in a performance of Mahler's 3rd Symphony on November 1, 2012, were cited in three separate reviews, with the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' calling his performance "saddening".


Discography

* ''The Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli'' (1968) *: The Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Chicago Brass Ensembles *: Richard Burgin, conductor * ''Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings'' *: Robert Tear (tenor), Chicago Symphonic Orchestra *: Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor * ''Mozart: 3rd Horn Concerto K 447'' (1985) *: Dale Clevenger, horn *: Chicago Symphony Orchestra *: Claudio Abbado, conductor * ''Mozart: Four Horn Concertos'' (1996) *: Dale Clevenger, horn *: Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra *: János Rolla, conductor * ''Richard Strauss: Wind Concertos'' (2001) *: Dale Clevenger, horn *: Chicago Symphony Orchestra *: Daniel Barenboim, conductor * ''The Chicago Principal: First Chair Soloist Play Famous Concertos'' (2003) *: Chicago Symphony Orchestra * ''Haydn Horn Concertos'' (2006) *: Dale Clevenger, horn *: Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra *: János Rolla, conductor * ''Richard & Franz Strauss: Horn Concertos'' (2006) *: Steven Gross, horn *: Philharmonia Orchestra of Bratislava *: Dale Clevenger, conductor


References


External links


Faculty profile at Indiana University
* *

by Bruce Duffie, October 16, 2003
Remembering Dale Clevenger
by Frank Villella,
From the Archives
' blog, January 6, 2022 {{DEFAULTSORT:Clevenger, Dale 1940 births 2022 deaths Deaths from cancer in Lombardy Deaths from lymphoma American classical horn players Musicians from Chicago People from Winnetka, Illinois Musicians from Chattanooga, Tennessee Roosevelt University faculty Classical musicians from Illinois Classical musicians from Tennessee Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts alumni Jacobs School of Music faculty