Alessandro Liberati: Cornetist, Bandleader, Entrepreneur, and Composer (Paper and Lecture-Recital)
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Alessandro Liberati (1847-1927) was a distinguished Italian-American cornet soloist, bandleader, entrepreneur, and composer. Considered one of the era’s best cornetists, he was a featured soloist with first-rate touring bands, including Gilmore’s, Cappa’s, and Sousa’s, and with many regional bands. As a bandleader, he conducted regional groups and established his own touring ensembles, the largest being Liberati’s Concert Band and Grand Opera Company. Often serving as both conductor and manager, he scheduled performances, planned programs, recruited performers, and controlled ensemble finances. He was also recognized as a composer of marches and cornet solos. Known for his exuberant personality, showmanship, and virtuosity, Liberati was a main attraction in every city he visited. An investigation into his early life, musical roles, performing forces, sponsorship, programming, and audience engagement reveals how he became a successful musician and why he should be celebrated today.
Alessandro Liberati and Kansas City in the
Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
(Paper and Poster)
Alessandro Liberati (1847-1927) was a famous Italian-American cornetist, composer, and band leader in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In addition to being a featured member of Patrick Gilmore’s band, he also found success as a cornet soloist and as a conductor. He traveled around the country constantly, but he had an ongoing relationship with Kansas City. Between 1888 and 1910, he performed at many of the city’s amusement parks and was frequently billed as the “World’s Greatest Cornetist.” At each concert, his band presented a wide range of repertoire, including overtures, arias, waltzes, polkas, and many of his own marches and cornet solos. His most popular composition was the Kansas City Star March (1896), which he named after the city’s newspaper. It became a hit across the nation, and Liberati even performed it for President William McKinley in 1899.
Today, Liberati’s music lives on through live performance and recordings, including wax cylinders of Liberati and his band from 1914. Two recordings of the Kansas City Star March have been made in the last thirty-five years, one of which was included in Robert Hoe’s Heritage of the March project. Although Liberati’s legacy has not been preserved like Gilmore’s or Sousa’s, his music is an important part of history and needs to be celebrated.
Alice C. Clement (1872-1963):
Music Education Then and Now (Paper)
Alice C. Clement (1872-1963) was music supervisor of the Rochester, New York public schools from 1904 to 1907. She is considered an early advocate of music appreciation based upon her most notable work, “The Cultivation of Musical Taste in Public Schools” (1906), in which she promoted the use of player pianos and gramophones in schools. Her curriculum and her letter to the superintendent, both published by the Rochester Board of Education, shed light on Clement as a music educator. In this paper, I examine Alice C. Clement’s philosophy, pedagogy, and concerns, and make connections between her educational practices and current trends in music education, including the use of technology, Music Learning Theory, music education as aesthetic education, and comprehensive musicianship.