EVENSONG (Dana Suesse) Casper Reardon, Harp

EVENSONG (Ireland, 1300 A.D.) The second movement of the suite Young Man With A Harp (Dana Suesse) Played by Casper Reardon, accompanied by the composer, April 23, 1940. In the 1930s and early 1940s Casper Reardon (1907-1941) was the most sought-after harpist in popular music. A classically trained son of vaudeville artists, he studied with legendary Carlos Salzedo at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Reardon gained stature in the 1920s when he became first harpist of the Cinncinati Orchestra under Fritz Reiner for five years, and head of the harp department at the Cincinnati Conservatory. Some of his pupils persuaded him to explore jazz music, and he quickly fell in love with the music of W.C. Handy, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington and many more. Jazz on the harp was a previously undeveloped field, but his skill at rendering percussive harp landed him a job on WLW radio in Cincinnati until he moved to New York City in 1931. In Manhattan he became busy with radio broadcasts, phonograph recording, vaudeville and cabarets. At first his name did not appear on records (even though he was the star of the 1934 Jack Teagarden record of Junk Man). By 1936 his name appeared on the connoisseur label of Liberty Music Shop, and later the Schirmer label. He was widely known as the swing harpist. In 1939 Reardon had an engagement scheduled with the Philadelphia Symphony. At the suggestion of his record producer (Gus Schirmer, Jr.) Reardon asked contemporary composer Dana Suesse to write something unusual for him to perform. She concocted a three-movement suite that traced the history of the harp, from Thebes (1300 B.C.), through Ireland (1300 A.D.), and finally into the new swing era. Alexander Smallens conducted the concert and the audience could barely stay in their seats during the last swing movement, 20th Century Madrigal. The composer was asked to take several bows along with Mr. Reardon. This led to more symphony performances on the east coast and a performance for President and Mrs. Roosevelt at a Cabinet dinner on March 4, 1940. One evening in March 1941 Reardon was late for a date with Suesse to attend the New York opening of Crazy With The Heat, a show in which he appeared in Boston. He complained about feeling lousy, and stopped for a quick brandy to settle his stomach. A few days later he was taken to the hospital for an exploratory operation and it was discovered that both kidneys were seriously damaged, a condition unusual for someone who seldom drank alcohol. Four or five days later he died on March 8, 1941. He was 33 years old. A funeral was held March 11. On December 19 a memorial program was broadcast on WQXR, featuring a composition composed by Suesse and orchestrated by Robert Russell Bennett. The work was titled "Coronach, a Gaelic word for "A crying together."

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