Frederick L. Hemke, DMA(néFred LeRoy Hemke Jr.; July 11, 1935 – April 17, 2019) was an American virtuoso classical saxophonist and influential professor of saxophone at Northwestern University. Hemke helped to increase the popularity of classical saxophone, particularly among leading American composers. He contributed to raise the recognition of the classical saxophone in solo, chamber, and major orchestral repertoire throughout the world. For half a century, from 1962 to 2012, Hemke was a full-time faculty music educator at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music. In 2002, Hemke was named Associate Dean Emeritus of the School of Music.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Hemke retired from Northwestern University in 2012. From the start of his career in the early 1960s, building on the achievements of earlier influential American teachers of classical saxophone — including those of Larry Teal, Joseph Allard, Cecil Leeson, Sigurd Raschèr, and Vincent Abato — Hemke helped build American saxophone repertoire through composers that included Muczynski, Creston, Stein, Heiden, and Karlins.[9][10] Journalist and author Michael Segell, in his 2005 book, The Devil's Horn, called Hemke "The Dean of Saxophone Education in America."[11][12] Hemke died on April 17, 2019.[13]
In primary and secondary school, until the start of college, Hemke studied saxophone with Eddie Schmidt, a jobbing teacher, band director in Milwaukee, and a close friend of Ralph Joseph Hermann (1914–1994) — musician, composer, songwriter, and music publisher. Hemke was highly influenced by Schmidt's recording of Marcel Mule — and also of his recordings of Al Gallodoro, and Freddy Gardner. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Hemke studied with Jay Morton, teacher of woodwinds. Hemke did not have a formal saxophone teacher at Eastman, but while there, studied reeds with clarinetist Stanley Hasty (1920–2011), flute repertoire with Joseph Mariano (1911–2007), and oboe repertoire with Robert Sprenkle (1914–1988).[14][15]
Teaching career
Hemke taught saxophone at Northwestern'sSchool of Music for fifty years. He began in 1962 as a teaching associate. In 1964 he became an assistant professor and was appointed chairman of the newly formed Winds and Percussion Instruments Department. In 1967 Hemke was elevated to associate professor; on September 1, 1975, Full Professor; and on September 1, 1991, chairman of the Department of Music Performance Studies at the School of Music. Hemke served as senior associate dean for administration in the School of Music from 1995 to 2001. In 2002, Hemke was named the Louis and Elsie Snydacker Eckstein Professor of Music and also named associate dean emeritus of the School of Music. He retired from full-time teaching in 2012. As a music educator in higher education, Hemke has taught hundreds of saxophonists, many of whom have flourished as performing artists and music educators of international rank.[1] From 2013 until his death, Hemke served as artistic director and taught during summers at the Frederick L. Hemke Saxophone Institute, located at Snow Pond Center for the Arts in Sidney, ME.[16]
Hemke was an internationally acclaimed saxophone artist. Hemke has appeared extensively as a solo artist and has given master classes and lectures in the United States, Canada, Scandinavia, and the Far East. He performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and many other orchestras. He premiered several works for saxophone, including Allan Pettersson's Symphony No. 16 (February 24, 1983)[17] and James Di Pasquale's Sonata for tenor saxophone. Di Pasquale, a prolific composer, had studied saxophone with Hemke and Sigurd Rascher.
Selected performances
Hemke made his New York debut on April 16, 1962, at the Town Hall, a storied concert venue that had its first-ever classical saxophone performance on February 5, 1937 — by Cecil Leeson. Hemke performed compositions by Pascal, Lantier, Rueff, Hartley, and Stein and arrangements by Mule of Bach and Leclair.[18]
Premier, February 27, 2014, Augusta Read Thomas, Hemke Concerto, Prisms of Light, for solo alto saxophone and orchestra
In a traditional modern saxophone quartet — B♭ soprano, E♭ alto, B♭ tenor, and E♭ baritone saxophone — repertoire and popularity for solo classical was, and still is, dominated by B♭ soprano and E♭ alto saxophone. Bucking the trend, Hemke spent time focusing on the B♭ tenor as a classical solo instrument, as evidenced by the release of his 1971 solo album, Music for Tenor Saxophone. In orchestral music, the tenor is known as one of the three saxophone voices in Ravel'sBoléro — originally performed by two saxophonists, one on E♭ sopranino and one on tenor doubling on B♭ soprano. Recordings by tenor saxophone virtuoso James Houlik and others notwithstanding, classical tenor saxophone recordings make up a small portion of the classical saxophone repertoire and discography universe.
Selected discography
Solo recordings
Contest Music for Saxophone, Lapider Records M 249-04, distributed by H. & A. Selmer, Elkhart (LP) (1962)[c]
Recorded twice. Once in 1976 after World Premier and again 1978, after second live performance series before Solti and his exacting standards would allow release. Medinah Temple, Chicago
"Wind Rose", by Warren Benson (1966), commissioned by Hemke and the Northwestern University Saxophone, dedicated to Hemke and the Northwestern University Saxophone Quartet on their tour of Asia, Spring, 1966; OCLC2992504, 157036679, 435949517
Symphony for Saxophone and Wind Band, by Gerald Eugene Kemner (1932–2006) (composed around 1962 for Hemke)
Music editions
Hemke has edited works for saxophone solos and saxophone ensembles, twenty-five of which are part of the Frederick Hemke Saxophone Series published by the Southern Music Company.[j]
Awards and honors
1956
Premiere Prix[a][22] du Saxophone, Paris Conservatory; Hemke was the first American to win a First Prize from the Conservatory; his achievement inspired other American saxophonist to work towards First Prize diplomas at the Paris Conservatory, and other well-known European conservatories known for classical saxophone, including the Royal Conservatory of Brussels
Hemke had been a primary design consultant for the S-80 mouthpiece manufactured by Henri Selmer Paris. For alto saxophone, Hemke uses a custom version of the S-80. The mouthpiece is metal with a square chamber.
The Selmer Mark VII E♭ alto and B♭ tenor saxophones, introduced in 1974, were designed in consultation with Hemke.
^ abA First Prize from the Paris Conservatory, in any musical discipline, is an internationally recognized distinction. A First Prize in saxophone from the Paris Conservatory under Marcel Mule holds a unique distinction because of Mule's unprecedented level of virtuosity, his influence in building the saxophone family of instruments in orchestral repertoire, and his role in developing a new generation of highly influential performing artists.Mule'sleverage from his American First Prize protégé, Hemke, greatly helped transform classical saxophone in America, a country that led the world in the use of saxophones. When Hemke began teaching saxophone in 1962 at Northwestern University, few American universities and conservatories had full-time saxophone-only faculty members. The role was typically filled by other orchestral woodwind experts who doubled on saxophone. By 1970, many reputable music institutions of higher learning had a dedicated saxophone professor. As of 2014, most major universities, and all comprehensive music institutions of higher learning, have a least one dedicated saxophone instructor.
^ abThe alpha matrix prefix "XCTV" was an imprint of Columbia Custom Records of Columbia Records. The prefix was designated for LPmono. The matrix numbers XCTV-87627 (side A) and XCTV-87628 (side B) were handwritten on the stamper and appear in the runout areas of both sides of this particular pressing.
^ abBrewster Records was a label with a mailing address of 1822 Monroe Street, Evanston, Illinois. It was founded in 1967 by Charles Brewster Hawes, PhD (born 1945), who was also its chief engineer. Other engineers included James S. Hill and Robert E. Diehl. All three were saxophone students at Northwestern University
^ abcThe acronym EnF (for EnF Records) reflects the initials of the first names of Elizabeth and Fred. Elizabeth is Fred's daughter.
^From the liner notes for the CD cataloged under OCLC45586363.
^The alpha matrix prefix "ZAL" indicates that the record is a London-based Decca 12-inch 33-1⁄3 rpm stereo record ("Decca/London Phase Four Recordings — Part V: Decoding the Inner Groove Information," The Absolute Sound, Vol. 11, No. 42, July–August 1986, pps. 181, 182; ISSN0097-1138)
^Southern Music Company, the former San Antonio based sheet music retailer and wholesaler founded in 1937, sold its sheet music assets in 2012 to Lauren Keiser Music Publishing of Maryland Heights, Missouri, and became known as Southern Music LLC. The sheet music is published and distributed by the Hal Leonard Corporation.
