Andre Kostelanetz

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Andre Kostelanetz (Russian: Абрам Наумович Костелянец, December 22, 1901 – January 13, 1980) was a Russian-born American popular orchestral music conductor and arranger who was one of the major exponents of popular orchestra music.

Contents
1 Biography
2 Personal life
3 Death
4 Discography (partial)
5 References
6 Bibliography
7 External links

## Biography

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Avram Naumovich Kostelyanetz was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia to a prominent Jewish family. He was a cousin of physicist Lew Kowarski.[1][2][3] His father, Nachman Yokhelevich (Naum Ignatyevich) Kostelyanetz was active on St. Petersburg stock exchange; his maternal grandfather, Aizik Yevelevich Dymshitz, was a wealthy merchant and industrialist, engaged in timber production. Kostelanetz escaped in 1922 after the Russian Revolution.[4]

He arrived in the United States that year, and in the 1920s, conducted concerts for radio. In the 1930s, he began his own weekly show on CBS, Andre Kostelanetz Presents. Kostelanetz was known for arranging and recording light classical music pieces for mass audiences, as well as orchestral versions of songs and Broadway show tunes. He made numerous recordings over the course of his career, which had sales of over 50 million and became staples of beautiful music radio stations. For many years, he conducted the New York Philharmonic in pops concerts and recordings, in which they were billed as Andre Kostelanetz and His Orchestra.[citation needed]

Andre Kostelanetz may be best known to modern audiences for a series of easy listening instrumental albums on Columbia Records from the 1940s until 1980. Kostelanetz actually started making this music before there was a genre called "easy listening"[citation needed]. He continued until after some of his contemporaries, including Mantovani, had stopped recording.

Outside the United States, one of his best known works was an orchestral arrangement of the tune "With a Song in my Heart", which was the signature tune of a long-running BBC radio program, at first called Forces Favourites, then Family Favourites, and finally Two Way Family Favourites.

He commissioned many works, including Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait, Jerome Kern's Portrait of Mark Twain, William Schuman's New England Triptych, Paul Creston's Frontiers, Ferde Grofé's Hudson River Suite, Virgil Thomson's musical portraits of Fiorello La Guardia and Dorothy Thompson, Alan Hovhaness's Floating World, and Ezra Laderman's Magic Prison. William Walton dedicated his Capriccio burlesco to Kostelanetz, who conducted the first performance and made the first recording, both with the New York Philharmonic.[5]

His last concert was A Night in Old Vienna with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra at that city's War Memorial Opera House on December 31, 1979.[6][7]

## Personal life

His first wife was actress/singer Sarah Loy; they were married from 1923 to 1937, when the marriage was dissolved. He was then married to soprano Lily Pons from 1938 to 1958, when the marriage was dissolved. They owned a home in Palm Springs, California which was built in 1955.[8] In 1960 he married Sara Gene Orcutt; the marriage lasted several years.[9]

His brother Boris Kostelanetz (1911–2006) was a prominent tax defense lawyer.[10]

## Death

He died of pneumonia in Haiti on January 13, 1980, aged 78.[11]

## Discography (partial)

It should be noted that many of the early LP releases were actually re-releases of albums released earlier on 78 rpm records. Musical Comedy Favorites, for example, was released as Volume 1 (album M-430) in late 1940 for songs 1 through 8, and Volume 2 (M-502) in 1941 for the remaining 8 songs on the second side of the LP.
Music of Sigmund Romberg,1946, Columbia Masterworks MM635
The Music of Victor Herbert, Columbia Masterworks M-415
Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a, 1956, Columbia Long Playing CL 730
Music of Irving Berlin, 1950, Columbia Masterworks MM/ML-4314
The Music of Stephen Foster, 1941, 3 LP Set, Columbia Masterworks M-442 78's
The Music of Chopin, 1949, Columbia Masterworks MM-840
Waltzes of Johann Strauss, 1948, Columbia Masterworks ML-2011 10" album
Music of Cole Porter, 1948, Columbia Masterworks ML-2014
Music of George Gershwin, 1948, Columbia Masterworks 2026
Mississippi Suite, 1948, Columbia Masterworks ML-2046 10" album
Invitation to the Waltz, 1948, Columbia Masterworks ML-2069 10" album
Swan Lake, Columbia Masterworks ML-4308 1950
An American in Paris, Columbia Masterworks ML-4455 1951
Black Magic, 1955, Columbia CL 712
Prokofiev, Peter and the Wolf & Saint-Seans, Carnival of the Animals, 1955, Columbia CL 720
Music of Vincent Youmans, 1955, Columbia CL 734
Verdi: Aida, 1955, Columbia CL 755
Bravo!, 1955, Columbia CL 758
Vienna Nights, 1955, Columbia CL 769
Music of Fritz Kreisler, Music of Sigmund Romberg, 1955, Columbia CL 771
You and the Night and the Music, 1955, Columbia CL 772
Musical Comedy Favorites, 1955, Columbia CL 775
Music of Jerome Kern, 1955, Columbia CL 776
The Lure of the Tropics, 1955, Columbia CL 780
Stardust, 1955, Columbia CL 781
Kostelanetz Conducts..., 1955, Columbia CL 786
An American In Paris/Rhapsody In Blue, 1955, Columbia CL 795
La Boheme for Orchestra, 1955, Columbia CL 797
Clair de Lune and Popular Favorites, 1955, Columbia CL 798
La Traviata, 1955 Columbia CL 799
The Sleeping Beauty, 1956, Columbia CL 804
Strauss Waltzes, 1956, Columbia CL 805
Calendar Girl, 1956, Columbia CL 811
Bolero!, 1956, Columbia CL 833
The Very Thought of You, 1956, Columbia CL 843
Music of Chopin, 1956, Columbia CL 862
Cafe Continental, 1956, Columbia CL 863
Beautiful Dreamer: Music of Stephen Foster, 1956, Columbia CL 864
Broadway Spectacular, 1956, Columbia CL 865
Madame Butterfly, 1956, Columbia CL 869
Tender Is the Night, 1956, Columbia CL 886
The Lure of Spain, 1957, Columbia CL 943
Rigoletto, 1957, Columbia CL 970
The Romantic Music of Rachmaninoff, 1957, Columbia CL 1001
The Lure of France, 1958, Columbia CL 1054/CS 8111
The Columbia Album of Richard Rodgers, Vol. 1, 1958, Columbia CL 1068
The Columbia Album of Richard Rodgers, Vol. 2, 1958, Columbia CL 1069
Blues Opera, 1958, Columbia CL 1099
Encore!, 1958, Columbia CL 1135/CS 8008
Theatre Party, 1958, Columbia CL 1199/CS 8026
The Romantic Music of Tchaikovsky, Vol. 1, 1958, Columbia CL 1208
The Romantic Music of Tchaikovsky, Vol. 2, 1958, Columbia CL 1209
Romantic Arias for Orchestra, 1959, Columbia CL 1263
Flower Drum Song, 1959, Columbia CL 1280/CS 8095
Great Waltzes, 1959, Columbia CL 1321
The Lure of Paradise, 1959, Columbia CL 1335/CS 8144
Strauss Waltzes, 1959, Columbia CL 1354/CS 8162
Gypsy Passion, 1960, Columbia CL 1431/CS 8228
Joy to the World, 1960, Columbia CL 1528/CS 8328
The Unsinkable Molly Brown, 1960, Columbia CL 1576/CS 8376
Kostelanetz Favorites Columbia ML 4065
The Nutcracker Suite, 1961, Columbia Masterworks 6264
The New Wonderland of Sound, 1961, Columbia CL 1657/CS 8457
Star Spangled Marches, 1962, Columbia CL 1718/CS 8518
Broadway's Greatest Hits, 1962, Columbia CL 1827/CS 8627
Fire and Jealousy, Columbia CL 1898/CS 8698
Music from "Mr. President", 1962, Columbia CL 1921/CS 8721
World Favorite Romantic Concertos for Piano & Orchestra, 1963, Columbia Masterworks ML 5876/MS 6476
Wonderland of Sound, 1963, Columbia-CL-1938
Wonderland of Golden Hits, 1963, Columbia CL 2039/CS 8839
Wonderland of Christmas, 1963, Columbia CL 2068/CS 8868
Kostelanetz in Wonderland: Golden Encores, 1963, Columbia CL 2078/CS 8878
New York Wonderland, 1964, Columbia CL 2138/CS 8938
I Wish You Love, 1964, Columbia CL 2185/CS 8985
New Orleans Wonderland, 1964, Columbia CL 2250/CS 9050
The Romantic Strings of Andre Kostelanetz, 1965, Columbia Masterworks ML 6119/MS 6711
Wishing You a Merry Christmas, 1965, Columbia Masterworks ML 6179/MS 6779
Romantic Waltzes by Tchaikovsky, 1965, Columbia Masterworks MS 6824
Warsaw Concerto, 1966, Columbia Masterworks ML 6226/MS 6826 (reissue of 1963 ML 5876/MS 6476)
Today's Golden Hits, 1966, Columbia CS 9334
The Shadow of Your Smile, 1966, Columbia CS 13285
Exotic Nights, 1967, Columbia CS 9381
The Kostelanetz Sound of Today, 1967, Columbia CS 9409
Scarborough Fair, 1968, Columbia CS 9623
For the Young at Heart, 1968, Columbia CS 9691
Traces, 1969, Columbia CS 9823
Andre Kostelanetz Conducts Puccini's "La Boheme" for Orchestra, 1969, Columbia Masterworks MS 7219
Greatest Hits of the '60s, 1970, Columbia CS 9973
I'll Never Fall In Love Again, 1970, Columbia CS 9998
Everything Is Beautiful, 1970, Columbia 30037
Sunset, 1970, Columbia Masterworks 30075
And God Created Great Whales (Hovhaness), 1971, Columbia 30390
Love Story, 1971, Columbia 30501
For All We Know, 1971, Columbia 30672
Plays Chicago, 1971, Columbia 31002
Plays Cole Porter, 1972, Columbia 31491
Love Theme From "The Godfather", 1972, Harmony 31500
Last Tango In Paris, 1973, Columbia 32187
Moon River, 1973, Columbia 32243
Plays Great Hits of Today, 1973, Columbia 32415
The Way We Were, 1974, Columbia 32578
Plays Michel Legrand's Greatest Hits, 1974, Columbia 32580
Plays Gershwin, 1974, Columbia 32825
Musical Reflections of Broadway And Hollywood, 1974, Columbia 33061
Plays "Murder on the Orient Express", 1975, Columbia 33437
Never Can Say Goodbye, 1975, Columbia 33550
I'm Easy, 1976, Columbia 34157
Dance With Me, 1976, Columbia 34352
Plays Broadway's Greatest Hits, 1977, Columbia 34864
You Light Up My Life, 1978, Columbia 35328
Theme From "Superman", 1979, Columbia 35781
Various Themes, 1980, Columbia 36382
Andre Kostelanetz & His Orchestra: "Carmen" LP #693cl735 Columbia 1950 U.S.A.

## References

1.Jump up ^ Евгений К (2013-12-14). "Tonkosti zhizni - Письмо от Коварской Евгении Львовны". Kovarski.ru. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
2.Jump up ^ "Oral History Transcript — Dr. Lew Kowarski". Aip.org. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
3.Jump up ^ "Robert Farnon Society". Rfsoc.org.uk. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
4.Jump up ^ Cross, Lucy. "Andre Kostelanetz". Masterworksbroadway.com. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
5.Jump up ^ Liner notes from Musical Evenings: Andre Koselanetz, mfp Classics, CFP 4074
6.Jump up ^ "Andre Kostelanetz Papers Donated to Library of Congress - News Releases (Library of Congress)". Loc.gov. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
7.Jump up ^ "Andre Kostelanetz". Andre Kostelanetz. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
8.Jump up ^ Meeks, Eric G. (2012). The Best Guide Ever to Palm Springs Celebrity Homes. Horatio Limburger Oglethorpe. p. 282. ISBN 978-1479328598.
9.Jump up ^ Profile, masterworksbroadway.com; accessed October 3, 2015.
10.Jump up ^ "Boris Kostelanetz, 94, Tax Defense Lawyer for the Notable, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
11.Jump up ^ Profile, findagrave.com; accessed October 3, 2015.

## Bibliography

James H. North (2011). Andre Kostelanetz on Records and on the Air: A Discography and Radio Log. Lanham, Toronto, Plymouth, UK: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 978-0-8108-7732-0.
Andre Kostelanetz in collaboration with Gloria Hammond (1981). Echoes: Memoirs of Andre Kostelanetz. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 0-15-127392-8.

## External links

Biography portal
Andre Kostelanetz at Find a Grave