{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/iiif/6688g8g314/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Wilmer Wise oral history, 2002 April 24"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/008/original/peabody-institute.logo.large.horizontal.blue.cropped.png?1549570058","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":[" Wilmer Wise (1936-2015) was a trumpeter. He was the first Black musician of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (1965-1970) and the Peabody Conservatory faculty. Wise moved from Baltimore to New York in 1970 and performed regularly with classical ensembles and on recordings. In this telephone interview by Glenn Quader, Wise discusses his studies at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, his time in Baltimore with the BSO, and his career in New York. (Abstract)"," Low audio level on source media. (Physical Description)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":[" 2002-04-24 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":[" Wise, Wilmer (Interviewee)"," Quader, Glenn (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":[" English (Primary)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["audio/mp3"]}},{"label":{"en":["Publisher"]},"value":{"en":["Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["The collection is open for use. Contact peabodyarchives@lists.jhu.edu for more information."]}},{"label":{"en":["Source Metadata URI"]},"value":{"en":["https://aspace.library.jhu.edu/repositories/4/archival_objects/215402"]}}],"summary":{"en":[" Wilmer Wise (1936-2015) was a trumpeter. He was the first Black musician of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (1965-1970) and the Peabody Conservatory faculty. Wise moved from Baltimore to New York in 1970 and performed regularly with classical ensembles and on recordings. In this telephone interview by Glenn Quader, Wise discusses his studies at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, his time in Baltimore with the BSO, and his career in New York."," Low audio level on source media."]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["The collection is open for use. Contact peabodyarchives@lists.jhu.edu for more information."]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/008/original/peabody-institute.logo.large.horizontal.blue.cropped.png?1549570058","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/117/524/small/wise_photoshop.jpg?1651088305","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - pims0091_WiseW_01.mp3"]},"duration":1293.0351,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/117/524/small/wise_photoshop.jpg?1651088305","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-peabody.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/117/524/original/pims0091_WiseW_01.mp3?1624271031","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":1293.0351,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524/transcript/35152","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Wise_OHMS_20220113 [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524/transcript/35152/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"QUADER: I'm speaking with Wilmer Wise. He's now a resident of New York, and was\nan instrumental person here, no pun intended, in Baltimore. What I'd like to do\nis ask you first what was your first real involvement in here in Baltimore?\n\nWISE: I joined the Baltimore Symphony in 1965. I was the first black musician to\noccupy a chair in the Baltimore Symphony. I also at the same time became an\nadjunct professor at Morgan State College - University now.\n\nQUADER: And that was teaching the trumpet?\n\nWISE: Teaching the trumpet.\n\nQUADER: And how long were you with the Baltimore Symphony?\n\nWISE: From the years of 1965 to 1970, through the five seasons.\n\nQUADER: I remember the last time we spoke, you mentioned a few musicians. If you wouldn't mind, tell me how they were involved with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra or the music scene here in Baltimore. There is a friend of yours who\nstudied at Peabody -- Andre Watts.\n\nWISE: Yes. In fact, interestingly enough, I participated in one of Andre's very\nfirst concerts in Philadelphia. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524#t=0.0,120.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524/transcript/35152/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Andre was fourteen years old, and he played the\nShostakovich piano concerto, and that has a trumpet solo also. So that was my\nfirst encounter with Andre. And I might add that I got better reviews than he did!\n\nQUADER: Oh really.\n\nWISE: Even though it was a rave, it was an absolute rave for both of us.\n\nQUADER: That's fantastic. So he was fourteen at the time. And also, let's see,\nthere was another person, Henry Scott.\n\nWISE: Henry Scott was the second black musician in the Baltimore Symphony. Henry\nhas since gone on to conduct orchestras around Philadelphia, and he's also a\nmember of the Philadelphia Orchestra.\n\nQUADER: And he's a bassist correct?\n\nWISE: He's a bassist.\n\nQUADER: Great. Let's see. Who else do I have here? Karl Hampton Porter.\n\nWISE: Karl Hampton Porter was a student at Peabody, and I don't know if he graduated Peabody, but he came to the Baltimore Orchestra as a conductor of children's concerts. And Karl Porter conducted children's concerts with the\nBaltimore Symphony.\n\nQUADER: And, of course, James DePriest.\n\nWISE: Jimmy was a friend from high school. We were in the all-senior high school\norchestra together in Philadelphia, and we did lots of interesting things. Jimmy\nwas a drummer, and Jimmy also was interested in all kinds of music even then.\nAnd we did some of the very first performances in Philadelphia of works of\nGunther Schuller. His brass symphony in fact was premiered by an orchestra out\nat the University of Penn, an all-brass orchestra, and Jimmy conducted that. And\nJimmy, I believe, is a Wharton School graduate also, which is odd for a musician.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524#t=120.0,240.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524/transcript/35152/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"QUADER: Is that a business school?\n\nWISE: Yes.\n\nQUADER: That's what I thought. Well, he's obviously doing okay too nowadays.\n\nWISE: He certainly is.\n\nQUADER: And you also mentioned that you were the first black Peabody faculty member.\n\nWISE: Yes. That was a surprise to me because I grew up in Philadelphia, and in\nPhiladelphia, you know, I guess things moved along a bit more rapidly than they\ndid in Baltimore.\n\nA friend I had dinner with last night, Ken Adams, who was born in Baltimore, and\nI think he studied at Peabody for a while, and he also studied at Howard. We\nwere talking last night, and I mentioned that I was really surprised. I had no\nidea that I was the first Black there. And he told me that a big cheer that went\nup in the Black community. I didn't know I was a part of it. But he said that\nthey were just so pleased and proud because of my involvement with the Peabody Conservatory.\n\nQUADER: That's great. Well, you had also mentioned the fact that when you got\nthe job there it wasn't as big a deal as it was with the Baltimore Symphony. Correct?\n\nWISE: That's correct. The Baltimore Symphony I guess had a history of -- they\nwere, I guess, looking for a black musician for a number of years, and I just\nhappened to be at the right place at the right time. It was a marriage, in a\nway, made in heaven because I really wanted to play in an orchestra. The\nPhiladelphia Orchestra was what I always aspired to play in. I had this solo a\nfew years earlier with the orchestra. I played the Haydn Concerto in one of\ntheir concerts, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524#t=240.0,360.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524/transcript/35152/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"but the musicians were nowhere close to retirement age. So, and\nthat's the problem with every musician that plays an instrument and you want to\ngo to a specific orchestra. You look around, and the player who's occupying the\nchair is darn near the same age you are. You can forget about it.\n\nQUADER: I think right now in Baltimore the first trumpet player that they've\njust recently acquired is about maybe early thirties, and he's supposed to be\nincredible But now, if I can toot your own horn for you, you mentioned you had\nperformed the Haydn Concerto with the Philadelphia, and I should add that that's\ntwenty years before Wynton [Marsalis] did it.\n\nWISE: Oh yeah. In fact, to tell the truth, I played a concert with -- not a\nconcert, a series of recordings -- with Leonard Bernstein, and he asked me, how\ndid Wynton, he's a fine player, you're a fine player. What happened? I had to\nremind him that twenty years ago there were no trumpet soloists -- or at least\nin 1965. The Haydn Trumpet Concerto was a big deal then.\n\nQUADER: Absolutely.\n\nWISE: Now, I mean, trumpet players are playing flute concertos, oboe concertos.\nYou name it, and there are trumpet soloists. At that period there was Maurice\nAndre and maybe Helmut Wobisch [1912-1980]. Now we have at least a dozen young,\ngifted trumpeters that are actually doing quite well with career, careers!\n\nQUADER: Yeah, and the soloist route nowadays is a lot more difficult, because\nconcerts just are ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524#t=360.0,480.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524/transcript/35152/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"not--from what I hear at least, and actually for myself it's\nimportant because I'm doing conducting, so I have to think about this. The\nprogramming is becoming thinner and thinner, and money is disappearing, and jobs\nare disappearing too. And that's part of the reason that I keep my playing jobs\nup, is, I need to cover in a pinch, of course.\n\nWhat finally made you decide that it was time to move on from Baltimore? What\nwas the opportunity that came up for you?\n\nWISE: Well, what happened was I was displeased by some decisions made by the\nmanagement of the Baltimore Symphony. After playing almost a full year as\nprincipal trumpet, they decided that they were going to hear other trumpeters,\nand that's when Donald Tison came in that next season. I played out my final\nyear with the Baltimore Symphony, which is '69-'70. I moved to New York City.\n\nOnce I got to New York City, it was amazing actually. I started working\nimmediately, and I haven't stopped for, gosh, thirty some odd years since I left\nBaltimore. It's been a real rollercoaster. I've played at least a half dozen\nSondheim shows. Recordings, you name, it, I've done it.\n\nSo, and I know as an orchestral player, I would not have been able to have had\nthis rich, varied diet that I have just because I'm in New York City. I play\nevery kind of music imaginable, from Mary J. Blige -- I've done Village People.\nOh, gosh, commercials. The McNeil-Lehrer report. [Hums] ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524#t=480.0,600.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524/transcript/35152/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"We did that in the '70s\nactually, and they're still playing it. It's just mind boggling the\nopportunities that seem to abound.\n\nQUADER: So, and it's every style as you mentioned. Whatever the need, it's there.\n\nWISE: Yes. And all the -- most of the (I won't say all) of the Philip Glass\nmovies, but the bulk of the movies I've been the first trumpet player. The\nmovies with all the unpronounceable names that Glass has done, I was first\ntrumpet on them. I'm just so thrilled to be able to do this kind of work.\n\nQUADER: So moving from Baltimore to New York was not a negative at all?\n\nWISE: No. Not at all!\n\nQUADER: Do you think that the time that you spent here was perhaps a good\nwarm-up for getting out, or for getting involved with a scene with so much more depth.\n\nWISE: It certainly was. Playing in an orchestra is something that I would\nrecommend for every musician because it gives you discipline. Just showing up is\nsomething that most people don't understand.\n\nQUADER: This is true.\n\nWISE: And today you have a bunch of musicians who are playing on Broadway in the\npits that are certainly capable of playing in symphony orchestras, but they\ndon't get that experience anymore and it's really a pity. Though in New York\nCity there are a number of very, very fine orchestras. The recording industry\nhas pretty much disappeared.\n\nQUADER: Oh has it?\n\nWISE: And that's a real pity. Bruno Walter made recordings here, Stravinsky\nrecorded here. Those days are long gone.\n\nQUADER: Would you say it's due to just demand or to the industry itself or what?\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524#t=600.0,720.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524/transcript/35152/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"WISE: The industry itself.\n\nQUADER: The industry has changed so much.\n\nWISE: I think everything has changed. You can literally on the internet hear\nconcerts. Web concerts are not an unusual thing these days and that's sort of frightening.\n\nQUADER: Well, it seems to take the audience out of the concert hall too.\n\nWISE: Yeah, I was just realizing that when I was a kid, if I wanted to hear the\nBoston Symphony Orchestra, I had to troop down to the Academy of Music and hope\nthat the Boston was in town. Now the Philadelphia Orchestra, that was a\ndifferent situation because as a Philadelphian I heard the same concert\nsometimes three or four times in the course of a week. Because of the set-up in\nPhiladelphia, I was able to go to the rehearsals and actually see the orchestra\nand how things actually were put together. That was a plus for being a Philadelphian.\n\nQUADER: Now you also had mentioned the last time that we spoke that you were,\nthat you attended a school called the Settlement Music School.\n\nWISE: Yes.\n\nQUADER: And that was again tied in very tightly with Philadelphia and the\norchestra. Can you explain a little more about how that worked out for you?\n\nWISE: The Settlement Music School was set up by a philanthropist. I believe it\nwas Edward Fleisher. And he funded the school in the poor community, and there I\nmet a gentleman, Arthur Collin, who was a conductor and for a long time, after\nhe left the Settlement Music School, became the, he was the head of serious\nmusic for Boosey \u0026 Hawkes. And he was quite a musicologist, quite a composer, a\nclose friend of [Nicholas] Slonimsky, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524#t=720.0,840.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524/transcript/35152/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"who was a real, another real character. And Arthur\nintroduced me to him, and I was about thirteen years old at the time.\n\nI was able to hear the Philadelphia Orchestra, study with members of the\norchestra, and we had contemporary music festivals in Philadelphia using these\nstudents from the school, and we did works of living composers. At the time, I\nhate to date myself, but [Hector] Villa-Lobos was still alive and that's where I met him.\n\nLet's see, Gail Kubik was one of the people. Edgar Wartenberg, a former member\nof the Budapest String Quartet, was one of the people who we regularly played\nwith. Oh gosh, down memory lane!\n\nWe did a lot of first performances. Richard Yardumian was one of the people that\nwas there. I met Mr. [Vincent] Persichetti for the very first time at the\nSettlement Music School and performed his Hollow Men, a piece for trumpet and\nstring orchestra. I actually became a student, a composition student, of\nPersichetti later on when I was a student at Juilliard.\n\nDuring that period so many musicians were around. The Lonza brothers. One Lonza,\nLouis [violinist], is still in the Philadelphia Orchestra. Joe Lonza was the\n[Assistant Principal] violinist, I think. And the De Pasquales [Gloria De\nPasquale, cellist, and William De Pasquale, violinist, Joseph De Pasquale,\nviolist]. Oh, it was quite a time!\n\nQUADER: So you were with the names and making music with all of them.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524#t=840.0,960.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524/transcript/35152/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"WISE: Yes. As a result, that's my connection into Marlboro also because some of\nthe people playing at the Settlement Music School later in life became\nadministrators of the Marlboro Festival. They invited me to come up also in\n1965, oddly enough. And here's something: just prior to coming into the\nBaltimore Orchestra my first season, I toured Europe with the Music from\nMarlboro. It was the very first Marlboro tour, and we went to all kinds of\nplaces. We were in Israel, France, Italy, Greece -- I'm probably forgetting some\nother countries -- with Mr. [Rudolf] Serkin, and we performed chamber works.\n\nHad the great pleasure to work with Buddy Wright, who is for my money one of the\nall time greatest clarinet players, and John Mack, who was the first oboist for\nthe Cleveland Orchestra\n\nsince '65, I think. And up there I had a chance to perform with Pablo Casals. I\nmet, oh gosh, Luigi Dallapiccola. There were so many people. Oh, [Zoltan]\nKodaly! I actually saw Kodaly!\n\nIt was mind boggling the people who were in and out! [Eugene] Ormandy actually\ncame up there. He didn't conduct. He just came up to hear a concert.\n\nQUADER: Oh boy, it's funny to think of someone like him having the time do that, huh?\n\nWISE: Oh yes. But he was one of a kind, the last of a kind, I guess -- ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524#t=960.0,1080.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524/transcript/35152/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"a\nconductor who actually did almost a full year on the podium. Very, very few\nconductors do that now. If you see your conductor for twenty weeks out of the\nyear, you consider yourself really fortunate.\n\nQUADER: The season's a lot more chopped up, I know, and divided. Right?\n\nWell, that's impressive, I mean growing up and before you even came to\nBaltimore, you were well in the circle and you've been in ever since. It's incredible.\n\nWISE: Really it's quite a life of music.\n\nQUADER: That is fantastic. So you've managed to have one hell of a life, and one\nhell of a life in music. Let's say that there's a kid who's maybe ten, twelve\nyears old who is talented and has the means to get training. What can you tell a\nstudent of that age, a young musician who's interested in moving forward?\n\nWISE: Wow! When I was about that age, I just kept my dream. I always was a\ndreamer, and I went to every concert I could. The kid should keep his dream and,\noh, there are so many opportunities out there for a young talented musician today.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524#t=1080.0,1200.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524/transcript/35152/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"We met the young Russian trumpet player when he was about fourteen years old,\nSergei Nakariakov, and he had Wynton Marsalis in his life. He had a role model.\nAnd that's truly amazing. My generation had no role models, just this incredible\ndream and the belief that things were like \"Field of Dreams.\" If they build it,\nyou know. I always was a dreamer. You've got to, or you'll never, never achieve anything.\n\nQUADER: So you've got to go for the dreams. That's definitely it?\n\nWISE: Yes.\n\nQUADER: Yeah. Well, that's good advice and that's something I've been trying to\ndo myself. I believe it's worth it.\n\nWISE: It certainly is.\n\nQUADER: I do appreciate your time and I apologize for the late hour. Thank you\nvery much. Good night.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44183/file/117524#t=1200.0,1320.0"}]}]}]}