# Glazunov Society of America



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

So guys, I've finally done it. I've got my Masters of Music in Flute Performance, and I'm done with school forever, unless I'm called back for something else otherwise. I'm having some non-musical job prospects now, which I'll do as I'm continuing to audition to orchestras. I'm going to be okay, financially. But now that school is finally over with, I have a dream.

I want to revive the Glazunov Society of America.

It was run by President Donald Venturini who wrote one of the first English-language biographies of him in 1992. He died in 2001 and the little society disbanded, which is really unfortunate. I looked up elsewhere online that there are many people who were in that society that wished it continued, but alas no one stood up to the plate.

I have an interest in also connecting with the European counterpart, the Glazunov Foundation based in Munich. See link: http://www.stiftungsarchive.de/archive/1788 But for the last 4-5 years or so, their website has been offline, which is very disconcerting.  Does this mean they disbanded too? Is there seriously no one who will pay the price for the domain anymore? There are so many unique societies for rare composers that are alive and well. Perhaps they too are in danger of what happened to the Glazunov Society.

The original Society which lasted through the second half of the 20th century, focused on commissioning new albums of his music. They succeeded through a lot of lobbying! They put their stamp of approval on the ones they felt kept to the spirit of his style. And now today there is so much to choose from that perhaps recordings aren't an issue anymore. But what I'm considering is, what will be the new step?

Getting him performed in concert halls, plain and simple. Giving audiences a good first impression of how wonderful his music is, helping people know about it. In all honesty, Glazunov thrives on public radio because of all the recordings that have been made of him. Almost all his music has been recorded, thanks to Naxos, and there are lots of better alternatives such as from Svetlanov's Anthology of Russian Symphonic Music. I hear Glazunov's music basically every week on public radio, stations from different countries even. Now when the public has heard his name and his music long enough on radio, they may be eager to hear something live, something more than the Violin Concerto. I'm thinking the Seasons, his Symphonies, Raymonda, those major orchestral works he accomplished. Perhaps even his tone poems like Stenka Razin and Lyric Poem which are sorely unknown but on par with the other Russian tone poems.

A second goal is the translation of primary and secondary sources out of Russian into English. There have been numerous biographies and articles written about Glazunov over the decades, but hardly anyone knows about them. A magnificent 800-page one was published in 2004 by Oleg Kunitsyn. There has been so much research done already! It just needs to get out there. I will hopefully achieve some projects in translating texts, notably Glazunov's own writings and letters.

With these 2 objectives in mind, I really just have one question: how on earth do you make a dead composer society??  :lol: It's probably not something many on this forum have any experience with, but, shoot me up with ideas. I have a performance degree, but am only an amateur musicologist.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Unfortunately, I myself do not have any experience in creating a composer society. But I can refer you to Gregor Tassie, who created one of Myaskovsky or even Igor Prokhorov (Boris Tchaikovsky). The latter happens to be on Facebook so you can reach him there. 

Good luck (and congrats).
:tiphat:


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

“how on earth do you make a dead composer society??”
Stop and think for a moment. What other composer societies already exist? Reference the Elgar, Bruckner, or Furtwangler Society and contact them. There are expenses involved and it’s usually not a one person operation. Don’t underestimate the work involved.
:wave:


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I belonged to the Franz Schmidt society for many years until they decided to close up last year. Their mission was accomplished, the society, largely funded by the Austrian government and the Musikverein, had employees (well, one) who was at the mandatory pensioning age and that was that. They published many volumes on the composer's music, sponsored publications and concerts, dealt with editing existing scores and now it's gone.

So how do you make a society? You identify your mission: why do you want this group to exist? What is its purpose? Is there some compelling reason for this group to be needed? Then you advertise like crazy and hope you get enough interest from other fans and go from there. The Glazunov society used to advertise monthly in Gramophone magazine, Elgar, too. 

Are these societies artifacts of the past? The Gustav Mahler Society seems to be hanging in there, but not sure what they do anymore. In many ways, this website fulfills the needs of a lot of people: bringing music lovers together to discuss what they are passionate about.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

mbhaub said:


> So how do you make a society? You identify your mission: why do you want this group to exist? What is its purpose? Is there some compelling reason for this group to be needed? Then you advertise like crazy and hope you get enough interest from other fans and go from there. The Glazunov society used to advertise monthly in Gramophone magazine, Elgar, too.


See what I posted above, I have 2 major goals


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## haydnguy (Oct 13, 2008)

Congratulations!:tiphat:


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Good idea, and best of luck in this endeavor . Some people say I look a lot like Glazunov !


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