{"id":12911,"date":"2026-03-21T01:04:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T05:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/?p=12911"},"modified":"2026-03-24T12:56:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T16:56:05","slug":"mar21-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/2026\/03\/mar21-27\/","title":{"rendered":"March 21st-27th: Marian McPartland’s first visit to Eastman"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1774370141369{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”]Published on March 21, 2022<\/em><\/p>\n

Back to This Week at Eastman<\/a><\/div>\n

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Fifty-one years ago this week, on March 23rd, 1971, renowned jazz pianist Marian McPartland played a swingin\u2019 session at the Eastman School of Music, marking her first documented visit to the school.[1]<\/a>\u00a0<\/sup> A renowned performer, Ms. McPartland (1918-2013) had discovered jazz through radio programs and recordings while studying music in her native England.\u00a0 Like so many of her compatriots she fulfilled national service during World War II, playing for the troops in Europe; indeed, she had landed at Omaha Beach just one month after D-Day in 1944 together with the first United Service Organizations (USO) performers who landed to perform for the liberating troops in France.\u00a0 That same year she met American jazz cornetist Jimmy McPartland (1907-1991); they were married and then moved to the United States in 1946.\u00a0 Quite apart from her prowess as a performer in her own right, Ms. McPartland won admiration for having been a pioneering woman in jazz, predominantly a man\u2019s world.\u00a0 Her career has been amply covered in countless sources appearing in print, online, and over broadcast media.\u00a0 For more than thirty years she hosted her own National Public Radio-based program Piano Jazz. <\/em>\u00a0In March, 2018 the Eastman School celebrated Ms. McPartland\u2019s centennial with a huge evening of jazz in Kodak Hall.\u00a0 For a local perspective on Marian McPartland\u2019s career, I recommend reading Dan Gross\u2019 engaging interview (2018) with Eastman School faculty members Harold Danko (now retired) and Jeff Campbell on the Eastman School website<\/a>.\u00a0 Ms. McPartland generously left her professional papers to the Sibley Music Library, where the Marian McPartland Collection resides in the Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections.<\/p>\n

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Marian McPartland performs on piano before an audience of Eastman School students and faculty members. The session took place in the old orchestra rehearsal space that was in the Annex A. R1176-1A, R1176-4A, R1176-2A.
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[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner content_placement=”top”][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text css=””]I have commented previously in \u201cThis Week at Eastman\u201d (entry for the week of October 25th-31st<\/a>) on Marian McPartland\u2019s Eastman School visit in 1972, when Professor Ray Wright invited her to teach piano improvisation while she was fulfilling a six-week engagement at a Rochester venue.\u00a0 Later this summer, I will have occasion to comment on Ms. McPartland\u2019s guest appearance in the Eastman School\u2019s 1971 Arranger\u2019s Holiday, which was her first of two Arranger\u2019s Holiday appearances.\u00a0 Prior to those two visits, Ms. McPartland made her first documented visit to the Eastman School in March, 1971; with those 1971 and 1972 visits she began a relationship with the Eastman School that would last for the rest of her life.\u00a0 In 2002 the University of Rochester recognized her with an honorary doctoral degree.<\/p>\n

An American Federation of Musicians (AFM) contract among Ms. McPartland\u2019s personal paper, signed on October 6th, 1970, indicates that Ms. McPartland and her trio colleagues had been booked for a month-long engagement (March 2nd through 28th) at the Monticello Restaurant at the Rowntowner Motel in Rochester, an establishment formerly located on Jefferson Road in Henrietta.\u00a0 The trio would receive $ 1400 in cash at the end of each week, and would have Mondays off.\u00a0 Accompanying Ms. McPartland to Rochester were drummer Joe Corsello and substitute bass player Rick Petrone (her regular bass player, Mike Moore, had stayed home in NYC for family reasons).\u00a0 No record is extant of the Eastman School\u2019s initial outreach to Ms. McPartland, but it is documented that on the afternoon of Sunday, March 21st, Director Walter Hendl and Mrs. Hendl hosted an informal birthday party for her at their home, Hutchison House, 930 East Avenue.\u00a0 A cake was duly presented to Ms. McPartland, and there was live music; Ms. McPartland played solo for a time, and then played two-piano riffs with Mr. Hendl and then with Margaret Sparrazza of Rochester.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 (At this time I have no information on Ms. Sparrazza except for one online source indicating that she passed in 2006.)\u00a0 Some photos from the occasion, taken by Louis Ouzer, are displayed here.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”top” gap=”10″][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1774370510513{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_images_carousel images=”12967,12968,12969″ img_size=”medium” css=”.vc_custom_1647624943308{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;}”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1774370519248{padding-top: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_empty_space height=”22px” css=”.vc_custom_1647625869748{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”12970″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border” border_color=”black” onclick=”link_image” css=”.vc_custom_1647625231981{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_empty_space height=”42px” css=”.vc_custom_1647625718355{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1647625769143{margin-right: -15px !important;margin-left: -15px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-right: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;padding-left: 30px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}”]<\/p>\n

\u25ba An informal birthday party for Marian McPartland on Sunday, March 21st, 1971, hosted by Eastman School Director Walter Hendl and Mrs. Hendl at their home, Hutchison House.
\nR1178-14, R1178-18, R1178-19, R1178-20<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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On Tuesday, March 23rd, Ms. McPartland and her trio colleagues came to the Eastman School to play for students and faculty members in the orchestra rehearsal hall that was in the old Annex A building.\u00a0 (That building was torn down in the mid-1970s during extensive renovations to the school\u2019s physical plant.\u00a0 One sign of its former existence is visible on the Eastman Theater\u2019s Swan Street-facing exterior wall, where a boarded-up entry\/exit signifies where an over-the-street walkway once connected the Eastman Theater to Annex A.)\u00a0 Director Hendl introduced Ms. McPartland to the assembled audience by saying, \u201cHere\u2019s one the greats, and she\u2019s all yours for the next hour.\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Much of what we know today of that swingin\u2019 session comes from an article printed in the now-defunct Rochester Times-Union. <\/em>[4]<\/a>\u00a0 The trio played for a time and Ms. McPartland also played solo, during which she took requests from listeners.\u00a0 Professor Warren Benson (composition; served 1967-93) requested \u201cYesterday\u201d by Paul McCartney and John Lennon; Ms. McPartland obliged him with a rendition that joined the song with the song \u201cYesterdays\u201d by Jerome Kern.\u00a0 Faculty member Chuck Mangione joined Ms. McPartland on his flugelhorn for an improvisation on the song \u201cGreen Dolphin Street\u201d by Bronislav Kaper and Ned Washington.\u00a0 Thereafter Mr. Mangione, Director of the Eastman Jazz Ensemble (1968-72), invited several EJE members to take part: vibraphonist Ted Piltzecker, BM \u201972;\u00a0 drummer Ted Moore, BM \u201973; pianist Joe Galante; flugelhornist Joe Mosello, BM \u201971;\u00a0 flutist Gordy Johnson, BM \u201974; and trombonist Bill Reichenbach, BM \u201971.\u00a0 The group jammed on the number \u201cComin\u2019 home, baby\u201d for approximately fifteen minutes.\u00a0 For the conclusion to the session, Ms. McPartland was joined by Director Hendl for some two-piano improvising\u2014Mr. Hendl on grand piano, Ms. McPartland on spinet and then on electric piano\u2014improvising on the time-honored standards \u201cEmbraceable you\u201d, \u201cBegin the Beguine\u201d, \u201cAll the things you are\u201d, \u201cTea for two\u201d; and \u201cStardust\u201d.\u00a0 In preparation for the session, the two had practiced together following the Sunday afternoon birthday party at Hutchison House.<\/p>\n

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Marian McPartland jams with Eastman School faculty member Chuck Mangione on his flugelhorn during the session on March 23rd, 1971.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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Marian McPartland with Walter Hendl in conversation with Professor Donald Hunsberger and with two Eastman School students following the swingin\u2019 session on March 23rd, 1971.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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Another visitor to Eastman at this time was Ms. McPartland\u2019s close friend, composer-author Alec Wilder (1907-1980), a sometime student of the Eastman School and composer of many popular numbers.\u00a0 The Rochester press had reported\u00a0 that Ms. McPartland and her trio colleagues had been working on Mr. Wilder\u2019s \u201cJazz Waltz for a friend\u201d which he had composed expressly for Ms. McPartland; Mr. Wilder had made the journey to Rochester specially to hear her.[5]<\/a>\u00a0 Some shots by photographer Louis Ouzer, capturing Director Hendl visiting with Ms. McPartland and Mr. Wilder in the Director\u2019s Studio, are displayed here.<\/p>\n

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There was yet a further aspect to Ms. McPartland\u2019s time in Rochester, reflecting one of her most deep-seated interests.\u00a0 Marian McPartland was active in outreach to elementary schools and junior high schools, seeking to connect with students and to acquaint them with jazz.\u00a0 The Rochester press had reported in 1970 that a visit by Ms. McPartland to Rochester\u2019s World of Inquiry School, 46 Moran Street, had had a profound influence on her.[6]<\/a>\u00a0 On that occasion, during her trio\u2019s month-long March, 1970 engagement at the Monticello Restaurant, Ms. McPartland had visited the school one day on her own; she returned the next day with her trio colleagues to perform for the students.\u00a0 On the following day, she and her colleague bass player Mike Moore visited with students in their classrooms.\u00a0 Ms. McPartland described it as a \u201cunique experience\u201d to see how well students of varying levels of intelligence worked together at the World of Inquiry School, and also to see how innovatively the school was run.\u00a0 She was quoted in the press as having said, \u201cIf I had children, I\u2019d love to have them go to that school.\u201d\u00a0 After her 1970 experience at the World of Inquiry School, Ms. McPartland had been moved to elect a music therapy course at New York University in the fall of 1970 so as to gain more ideas to use during school visits.\u00a0 When returning to Rochester in March, 1971, Ms. McPartland made a return visit to the World of Inquiry School together with her trio colleagues; several photos from that visit are displayed here.<\/p>\n

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Whether it had been Director Hendl\u2019s own decision to invite Marian McPartland to the Eastman School, or whether he had received the suggestion from his faculty, one thing is certain. Mr. Hendl was intent on enabling Eastman School students\u2019 contact with the greats (e.g. \u201cStravinsky Week\u201d in March, 1966, featured in \u201cThis Week at Eastman\u201d in the entry of March 7th\/11th). Further, it was during Mr. Hendl\u2019s administration that the department of Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media (such was its original name) had been founded, and also the Eastman Jazz Ensemble (debut in 1967), the Eastman Jazz Lab Band (debut in 1968), and the Eastman Studio Orchestra (debut in 1970). By the early 1970s Jazz had finally come into its own at the Eastman School of Music, and in Marian McPartland, Eastman Jazz would have a very close friend, indeed.<\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a> In characterizing the session thus, I am borrowing the terminology used in Notes from Eastman, <\/em>issue of July, 1971, page 5.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> \u201cThe lady is blithe spirit.\u201d\u00a0 Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, <\/em>March 28, 1971.\u00a0 Rochester Scrapbook February-March 1971, page 132.\u00a0 Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections, Sibley Music Library.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Ibid. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> \u201cMarian digs Walter\u201d by Cliff Smith.\u00a0 Rochester Times-Union, <\/em>March 24, 1971.\u00a0 Marian McPartland Collection, box 118, folder 4; also Rochester Scrapbook February-March 1971, pages 124-125. Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections, Sibley Music Library.<\/span><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> \u201cJazz pianist has a shock on arrival\u201d by Cliff Smith.\u00a0 Rochester Times-Union, <\/em>March 6, 1971.\u00a0 Marian McPartland Collection, box 121, press book 2; and, Rochester Scrapbook February-March 1971, page 62.\u00a0 Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections, Sibley Music Library.<\/span><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a>\u00a0 \u201cRochester kids still inspire her\u201d by Cliff Smith.\u00a0 Rochester Times-Union, <\/em>August 22, 1970-.\u00a0 Marian McPartland Collection, box 118, folder 4.\u00a0 Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections, Sibley Music Library.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Forty-nine years ago this week, Eastman Opera Theater mounted a production of K<\/em>\u00e1tja Kabanov\u00e1 <\/em>\u00a0by Leos Jan\u00e1\u010dek, marking the Eastman School\u2019s first and only production of this opera to date. \u00a0The production was double-cast and was sung in English in the Eastman Theater.\u00a0 The director was Professor Leonard Treash, who served as the Eastman School\u2019s director of opera from 1947 until his retirement in 1976.<\/p>\n

A satirical tragedy in three acts, K\u00e1tja Kabanov\u00e1 <\/em>was composed by Jan\u00e1\u010dek (1854-1928) in 1918-21; it was his sixth opera, and he would compose three more operas after this one.\u00a0 The libretto was by Jan\u00e1\u010dek himself, based on the play \u0413\u0440\u043e\u0437\u0430 (The Storm) by Russian playwright Alexander Ostrovsky (1823-1886). The work of this playwright remains less well-known in the West, although two operas based on plays by him have gained traction in the repertory, those being Katja Kabanova <\/em>and Rimsky-Korsakov\u2019s Snegurochka\u00a0 (The Snow Maiden).\u00a0 <\/em>Ostrovsky wrote prolifically and insightfully regarding the merchant class in pre-Revolutionary Russia, a class into which he himself had been born, and this was the social caste portrayed in the play The Storm.\u00a0 <\/em>In adapting the play for operatic treatment, Jan\u00e1\u010dek compacted the action from the play\u2019s five acts to three while simultaneously preserving intact a substantive extent of the original dialogue.<\/p>\n

The printed program for the 1973 Eastman production did not happen to contain a synopsis; perhaps a synopsis was handed out on the evenings of performances; in any event, the synopsis and libretto are amply available online and in printed sources.\u00a0 For the sake of this entry, the action takes place in a small and isolated town on the banks of the Volga in pre-Revolutionary Russia.\u00a0 The heroine, Katja, is trapped in an essentially loveless marriage to Tichon Ivanich, and Tichon\u2019s mother Kabanicha is a brutal, bitter, and controlling presence.\u00a0 Desiring an escape, Katja falls in love with Boris Grigorjevich, but at the opera\u2019s climax, Katja is overcome with guilt and makes a public confession of her adultery, also naming her lover.\u00a0 Unable to compromise with society\u2019s prevailing demands and unable to live with deception, she drowns herself in the Volga.\u00a0 The opera has been interpreted as a conflict between opposing forces, whether seen as light vs. dark, the older generation vs. a younger generation, and other characterizations along the same lines.<\/p>\n

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In three shots from Act I, we see Boris and his uncle Dikoj; Glasa and Feklusa; and Glasa and Feklusa watching Boris. <\/span><\/p>\n

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In three shots from Act II, we see Varvara (foster-child of Kabanicha) in two shots and Kabanicha in the last shot. <\/span><\/p>\n

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In four shots from Act III, we see the storm that inspired the title of Ostrovsky\u2019s play (first two images) and Kabanicha after Katja\u2019s death (last two images). <\/span><\/p>\n

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The opera was premiered in Brno (the composer\u2019s hometown) in 1921; in 1922 it was produced in Cologne; in 1926 in Berlin; and in 1951, the first English production was staged at Sadler\u2019s Wells.\u00a0 The opera was first produced in New York in 1963.\u00a0 In 1973 there was a new English production by English National Opera (successor company to Sadler\u2019s Wells). For the Eastman production, the director\u2019s annotated score and production notes are extant in the Leonard Treash Collection at the Sibley Music Library, and some instances of Director Treash\u2019s work\u2014one of his sets of notes, some sample stage diagrams, and three pages from his annotated vocal score\u2014are displayed here.<\/p>\n

Production of Katja Kabanova<\/em> in 1973 confirms that Eastman Opera Director Leonard Treash (1909-1996) was in no way slowing down in the years immediately preceding his retirement; rather, he was continuing to steer Eastman Opera to break new ground.\u00a0 Serving three decades altogether, from 1947 until 1976, his third decade at Eastman was marked by such productions as Richard Strauss\u2019 Ariadne auf Naxos <\/em>(1966), Sergei Prokofiev\u2019s The Love for Three Oranges <\/em>(1969), Francis Poulenc\u2019s Dialogues of the Carmelites <\/em>(1969, in its first Eastman production), Richard Strauss\u2019 Die Schweigsame Frau <\/em>(1970), Benjamin Britten\u2019s A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream <\/em>(1972), Verdi\u2019s Falstaff\u00a0 <\/em>(1972 and 1975), Robert Ward\u2019s The Crucible <\/em>(1973), and Britten\u2019s Albert Herring <\/em>(1975, in its first Eastman production).\u00a0 Mr. Treash had richly supported Howard Hanson\u2019s American music initiatives by contributing to the Eastman School\u2019s repertory such operas as Burrill Phillips\u2019 Don\u2019t We All <\/em>and Alberto Bimboni\u2019s In the Name of Culture <\/em>(both 1949), Douglas Moore\u2019s The Devil and Daniel Webster <\/em>(1950), Louis Mennini\u2019s The Well <\/em>\u00a0(1951), George Antheil\u2019s Volpone <\/em>(1954), Ron Nelson\u2019s The Birthday of the Infanta <\/em>(1956 and 1959), Bernard Rogers\u2019 The Nightingale <\/em>(1957), and Dominick Argento\u2019s The Boor <\/em>(1957), which Mr. Argento composed during his years of doctoral study at Eastman.\u00a0 In addition, the only full-length production of Howard Hanson\u2019s opera Merry Mount <\/em>to have been staged at Eastman was directed by Mr. Treash in 1955.<\/p>\n

All in all, the Treash years were a rich time for Eastman Opera.\u00a0 The year 2023 will mark Eastman Opera\u2019s centennial, and I will continue to present on past operatic endeavors at the Eastman School as the centennial year continues.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Score extracts. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Three staging diagrams. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Notes from Director Leonard Treash to cast members of Eastman Opera Theater\u2019s production of Opera\u2019s production K\u00e1tja Kabanov\u00e1. <\/span><\/p>\n

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In this week\u2019s \u201cWeekly Dozen\u201d we recognize one of the earliest chamber music recitals taking place in Kilbourn Hall, this one featuring internationally renowned violinist Arthur Hartmann, who served for one year on the Eastman faculty; the civic memorial service for Mr. George Eastman, which most appropriately was held in the theater bearing his name which he had founded; a performance of opera scenes that also included Eastman Opera’s first-ever production of Gian-Carlo Menotti\u2019s The Medium; <\/em>\u00a0a 1972 chamber music recital that featured the premiere performance of a unique work for string quartet by Jack End, the Eastman School\u2019s pioneer in jazz instruction and first Director of the Eastman Jazz Ensemble (1967-68); and some superlative student performances such as grace the Eastman concert calendar each week of the semester.<\/p>\n

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\u25baMarch 24, 1922<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u25baMarch 20, 1923<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u25baMarch 23, 1923<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u25baMarch 24, 1927<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u25baMarch 23, 1932<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u25baMarch 21, 1933<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u25baMarch 24, 1946<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u25baMarch 25, 1949<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u25baMarch 25, 1950<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u25baMarch 24 and 26, 1953<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u25baMarch 22, 1955<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u25baMarch 21, 1972 <\/strong><\/p>\n

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On March 23rd, 1971, Marian McPartland played a swingin\u2019 session at the Eastman School of Music, marking her first documented visit to the school<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":276,"featured_media":12977,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[25],"coauthors":[3],"class_list":["post-12911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-this-week-at-eastman","tag-march"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/276"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12911"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22904,"href":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12911\/revisions\/22904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12911"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=12911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}