It has been more than sixty years since Izler Solomon was fired from the Columbus Philharmonic while en route to Israel to conduct the Israel Symphony Orchestra, yet his name is still magic among many local musicians. From 1941 to 1949, Solomon served as musical director of The Columbus Philharmonic, the predecessor to The Columbus Symphony Orchestra. American born and trained, he was a concert violinist by the age of seven and a member of the faculty at Michigan State College in his late ‘teens. A founding member of the Lansing Civic Orchestra, he became its conductor at 21. Five years later, he had joined the WPA, for whom he directed the Illinois Symphony, championing American composers and establishing a national reputation for himself. After three years, he was chosen to be guest conductor of the NBC Orchestra, and soon found himself in demand throughout the country. It was at this point that he came to Columbus.
Solomon’s impact was immediate and impressive. In his autobiography (Private I), Howard Rose, a member of the orchestra, wrote, “The local audiences readily accepted him as evidenced by their fullest support. Through the war years the orchestra functioned on a semi-professional basis. In 1946, with much help from Local 103 of the Musicians Federation, it became fully professional with a twenty-week season.” However, Rose went on to say that, “Four years after the war, the nearly-great orchestra that Solomon had developed suddenly collapsed when the angels withdrew their support. The budget had soared from $180,000 the first season to $248,000 for what would have been the fourth. Those who were financing the deficit said no, and this fine orchestra folded in the middle of the summer.”
Not surprisingly, Solomon landed on his feet. He was conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony for some twenty years and also had a career in Hollywood. From the ashes of the Columbus Philharmonic, the Columbus Little Symphony rose and within a few years evolved into the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.
Last year, I stumbled across a recording of the Philharmonic entitled Tequila. I will quote from the liner notes:
The COLUMBUS PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, in less than a decade, rose from the status of a semi-professional orchestra to that of one of the ten best professional symphonies in the country. Much of its recent eminence can be attributed to the leadership of its brilliant young conductor, Izler Solomon. In particular, it has led in the performance of works by native composers – in 1947 it received Musical America’s second-place award for the percentage of American works played by the nation’s 3 leading orchestras; while, in 1948, it tied for first place.
Apparently, the Philharmonic made several other recordings, but I have not, yet, tracked them down. One in particular consists of Arthur Schnabel playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58 and is highly regarded by people who are better judges of such matters than I am. But what I really would like to find is a transcription of the 1948 radio program in which Solomon recounts the history of the Columbus Philharmonic and concludes by thanking the people of Columbus.
