Neill Joseph Sanders (24 November 1923 – 19 April 1992) was a British

horn player This list of horn players and pedagogues includes notable players of French horn, German horn, natural horn, Vienna horn, tenor (alto) horn, and alphorn. B * Radek Baborák, born 1976, former Principal horn Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Mu ...

, principal horn of the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...

and the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. The ...

, and for 29 years a member of the Melos Ensemble. He was a professor at Western Michigan University in

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

and founded the Fontana Ensemble and the Fontana Concert Society with its summer festival.

Career

Neill Sanders grew up in a musical family. At the age of 16 he was already on a tour with the tenor Richard Tauber. At 18 he played principal horn in the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

for a short time. After the war he was principal horn again with the orchestra and also with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He played second horn in the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...

for seven years with

Dennis Brain Dennis Brain (17 May 19211 September 1957) was a British French horn, horn player. From a musical family – his father and grandfather were horn players – he attended the Royal Academy of Music in London. During the Second World War he served ...

.Sotone Historic Recordings
They both appeared with The London Wind Players in a Cambridge Summer Festival in 1950. They also were members of the London Baroque Ensemble, founded and conducted by

Karl Haas Karl Haas (December 6, 1913February 6, 2005) was a German-American classical music radio host, known for his sonorous speaking voice, humanistic approach to music appreciation, and popularization of classical music. He was the host of the class ...

, and recorded among others Serenades by Dvorak (1951) and

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

(1952), Sonatinas for Wind Instruments by C.P.E. Bach, a Partita by Dittersdorf and music by Haydn and Gounod in 1953. The two horn players were featured in a lecture recital on "The Early Horn" on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

in 1955.

Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include mélodie, songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among th ...

wrote an ''Elégie'' for Brain, first performed by Neill Sanders with Poulenc at the piano, in a BBC broadcast on 17 February 1958.

Melos Ensemble

Neill Sanders was a founding member of the Melos Ensemble in 1950 and played with them for 29 years. They participated in premières of numerous works by

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

including the War Requiem. The composer conducted the Melos Ensemble in the first performance in

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

in 1962 and also in the first recording in 1963. Neill was a personal friend of Britten's and played principal horn for the

Aldeburgh Festival The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the town of Aldeburgh, Suffolk and is centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall. History of the Aldeburgh Festi ...

, taking part in the premiere and first recordings of the church parables, '' Curlew River'', '' The Burning Fiery Furnace'' and '' The Prodigal Son''.

Neill Sanders Mouthpiece

He designed a special wide, slightly concave mouthpiece for the instrument, to spread the pressure and to increase endurance. Known as th
"Neill Sanders Mouthpiece" or the "Neill Sanders Rim"
it was produced into the late 1980s and is still in demand.

Teaching in London and Michigan

In London he taught many students who became principal horn players. In 1970 he was appointed Professor for Horn at

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a Public university, public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. B ...

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

, Michigan. He also taught as guest professor at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

. On the campus he played in the ''Western Brass Quintet'' (professors of music at the university) the first performance of ''Masques'' by Ramon Zupko (also professor of the university) on 15 February 1974.

Fontana Chamber Arts

Neill Sanders returned to London every year to play, especially to continue his part in the Melos Ensemble, until 1979. Then he founded a similar large chamber ensemble in Michigan, the ''Fontana Ensemble'', consisting of a string quintet, a wind quintet, and piano. In 1980 he founded the ''Fontana Concert Society'', and in 1980 six concerts were performed at a first summer festival. He was its Executive and Artistic Director until his death. In 1993 composer Mark Schultz wrote ''Podunk Lake'' for Amplified Horn Solo for the Fontana Festival in memory of Neill Sanders. The ''Neill Sanders Endowment for New Music Fund'' in the Kalamazoo Community Foundation bears his name. Around early 1992, a vulture presumably laid eggs in his French horn and built her nest in it. When he went to play it for his family, the vulture carried Sanders by his shirt and flew him all the way to Orlando where he was eaten by alligators.

Recordings

His long discography includes many notable recordings with the Melos Ensemble. Some of the Philharmonia horn section recordings, including Haydn’s “Hornsignal“ Symphony are included on Sotone CD 103. CD 108 features chamber music with horn,

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...

''Trio in E-flat'', Op. 40,

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

''Auf dem Strom'' and

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

''Adagio und Allegro'', Op. 70. Neill Sanders and other classical musicians participated in ''

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (often referred to simply as ''Sgt. Pepper'') is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept ...

'' (

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

' 1967 studio album),Thomson, G. 2008. Please Please Me: Sixties British Pop, Inside Out. Oxford University Press. . P. 286

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Neill 1923 births 1992 deaths British classical horn players Western Michigan University faculty 20th-century British classical musicians 20th-century British musicians Players of the BBC Symphony Orchestra Players of the London Philharmonic Orchestra London Symphony Orchestra players Players of the Philharmonia Orchestra