Eugene Linden was an American

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

. He conducted the first public performance of the Tacoma Philharmonic Orchestra in March 1934 and directed the

Seattle Symphony The Seattle Symphony is an American orchestra based in Seattle, Washington. Since 1998, the orchestra is resident at Benaroya Hall. The orchestra also serves as the accompanying orchestra for the Seattle Opera. History Beginnings The orchestr ...

from 1948 to 1950. He is also credited as founder of the now defunct Northwest Grand Opera Company.

Background

Linden was born to a musical family in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

in 1912. His father was Harry Linden,

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (U.K.) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (or clarinet in a concert band). After the conductor, the concertmaster is the second-most signif ...

of the Chicago opera orchestra, and his mother was a

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist who began playing at age twelve and was musical director at Chicago's La Salle Hotel. Harry's four brothers were also musicians, one of which was Anthony Linden, a

flautist The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

for the

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony (SFS), founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Fra ...

and radio soloist. According to Hilmar Grondahl of the ''Portland Spectator'', Linden led his first orchestra when he was in grade school and knew then of his desire to be a professional conductor. Eugene attended

Jefferson High School This is a list of memorials to Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd president of the United States and the author of the United States Declaration of Independence. Buildings Elementary schools *Jefferson Elementary School, in Cammack Village, Arkansas *Thoma ...

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

, where he was conductor of the band. Under his leadership the ensemble placed first in three state high school contests and placed second in a fourth. In May 1930, he gained attention as conductor when the Jefferson band participated in the national high school band contest in

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. Of the forty-four bands competing, Eugene (then age seventeen) was the only student conductor. He received recognition and recommendation from

John Philip Sousa John Philip Sousa ( ; November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. He is known as "The March King" or the "American March King", to di ...

. Eugene graduated from Jefferson High School in 1930.

Portland Junior Symphony

Linden's conducting career began with the Portland Junior Symphony (PJS), the first youth orchestra in the United States (established in 1924) which later became known as the

Portland Youth Philharmonic The Portland Youth Philharmonic (PYP) is the oldest youth orchestra in the United States, established in 1924 as the Portland Junior Symphony (PJS). Now based in Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon, the orchestra's origin dates back to 1910, when m ...

. Linden played in the orchestra for several seasons before becoming a student conductor to Jacques Gershkovitch. His conducting premiere came when he conducted

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

's '' Egmont'' for PJS. By 1930, Linden was promoted to the position of assistant conductor, though he continued playing flute and

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the s ...

in the orchestra. On April 2, 1932 at age twenty, Linden conducted

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...

's "

Peer Gynt ''Peer Gynt'' (, ) is a five-act (drama), act play (theatre), play in verse (poetry), verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen published in 1876. Written in Norwegian language, Norwegian, it is one of the most widely performed Norwegian pla ...

" Suite No. 2 for the final concert of PJS' eighth season.

Tacoma Philharmonic

In 1933, Linden hitchhiked from Portland to Tacoma, Washington at the age of twenty-one, hoping to establish an orchestra. Three musicians attended the first rehearsal. According to Linden, "No musicians would have been a failure, three was a beginning." Within a few months Linden assembled an ensemble of 65 musicians, with initial rehearsals held at Ted Brown Music Company and the Winthrop Hotel. The basement of the State Armory became the first regular rehearsal space, followed by the Scottish Rite Cathedral. The orchestra was based here until their first concert, held on March 17, 1934 at Jason Lee Intermediate School and attended by 800 guests. The concert's success prompted a second performance at the same venue on June 5. Musicians were not paid during the first two years of the organization's existence. Linden donated his time, commuting from Portland and residing with Belle Hodges Fletcher during his time in Tacoma. The orchestra incorporated and officially adopted the name Tacoma Philharmonic, establishing a constitution and by-laws in the process. The Philharmonic performed for local servicemen often during the 1940s. In 1947, the Tacoma Philharmonic, Olympia orchestra, and

united to create the short-lived Pacific Northwest Symphony Orchestra, with Linden serving as the associate conductor."New Symphony in First Rehearsal," ''The Seattle Times'', 9 November 1947, p. 46. From 1948 to 1950, Linden was also music director of the Seattle Symphony. However, in 1951 the Tacoma Philharmonic's board of directors decided to become a presenting organization. In 1934, Linden was awarded the

Universität Mozarteum Salzburg Mozarteum University Salzburg (German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the “Mozarteum” moniker in Salzburg municipality; the International Mo ...

scholarship, allowing him the opportunity to visit

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

to study under conductors

Bruno Walter Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor, pianist and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French citizen in 1938, and settled in the U ...

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...

and

Felix Weingartner Paul Felix Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg (2 June 1863 – 7 May 1942) was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist. Life and career Weingartner was born in Zara, Dalmatia, Austria-Hungary (now Zadar, Croatia), to Austrian parents. ...

. When asked about Scandinavian composers, Linden admitted to having an appreciation for Kurt Atterberg for being a "little like the Franck only distinctly Nordic". He also complimented Grieg for being "intensely deep" and for combining "personal warmth with an austere coldness that must be a reflection of the Norse country."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linden, Eugene 1912 births American male conductors (music) Jefferson High School (Portland, Oregon) alumni Musicians from Chicago Portland Youth Philharmonic alumni 1983 deaths 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century male musicians