Boston Pops Orchestra

For decades on end, the Boston Pops ranked among America’s most beloved orchestras. Concerts, tours, and a steady stream of albums carried classical works, marches, and current pop songs to vast audiences, resulting in more recordings than any other ensemble during the twentieth century. Their catalog effectively became the standard American reference for both classical and popular music. Rather than austere or difficult repertoire, the orchestra stressed melody and immediate appeal, an approach first mapped out by Henry Lee Higginson when he established its prototype in 1885. Local audiences embraced the group for the opening thirty years of the new century, yet national recognition arrived only after Arthur Fiedler assumed the podium in 1930. Across the following half-century he refined an inviting, approachable style that mixed familiar classics with current hits, marches, and selections from film and Broadway scores. When John Williams succeeded him in 1980, the ensemble already enjoyed worldwide renown; Williams kept the sound timely by regularly introducing fresh material. He remained until 1995, at which point Keith Lockhart took the baton. Through all three leadership eras the orchestra’s essential character stayed consistent, sustaining its appeal despite evolving musical fashions.

Higginson, founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, had unknowingly created the Pops formula years earlier. On July 11, 1885, he presented the first Music Hall Promenade Concert, billing it as “light music of the best class.” Drawing from Viennese garden concerts he had known as a student, he also adopted the structure Benjamin Bilse had used in Berlin: a buoyant opener, the program’s weightiest piece in the middle, and a lighter closing number, plus a medley of popular melodies. Both the sequencing and the medley practice became the Boston Pops template. Higginson continued directing the Boston Symphony Orchestra into the early twentieth century; although his programs initially favored European classics, he gradually added works by emerging American composers, giving John Philip Sousa and Victor Herbert valuable exposure. In 1900 the Promenade Orchestra formally separated from the Boston Symphony and adopted the name Boston Pops.

Leadership then passed to Adolf Neuendorff, a Boston Symphony member who preserved Higginson’s model. He inaugurated a line of European-born conductors that guided the Pops through the early 1900s. Neuendorff’s relatively brief tenure was followed by others drawn from the Symphony’s ranks—Timothee Adamowski, Max Zach, Gustav Strube, and Agide Jacchia among them. In 1927 the Italian composer-pianist Alfred Casella arrived. Though his two-year term proved short, it clarified the ensemble’s limits: Casella treated the Pops as a standard symphony orchestra, programming complete symphonies and contemporary avant-garde scores. Listeners accustomed to lighter fare voiced immediate discontent, prompting the Boston Symphony to allow his contract to lapse in 1929 and appoint thirty-five-year-old violist Arthur Fiedler. Fiedler had earlier sought the post after Jacchia’s departure, only to lose out to Casella; during the intervening period he had organized his own Fiedler Sinfonietta and launched the Esplanade Concerts, which were later absorbed into the Boston Symphony’s activities and became a lasting local tradition.

Fiedler’s tenure began in 1930. As the first American-born conductor of the Pops, he assembled the eclectic mix that defined the orchestra: traditional and modern classical pieces alongside jazz, opera, film and Broadway excerpts, and current pop successes. He introduced new works without hesitation—his debut program included “Strike Up the Band” and a Ravel Bolero barely a year old—and deliberately broadened the repertory beyond European light classics. Recognizing the importance of recordings, he taped forty selections for RCA Victor in July 1935, among them Jacob Gade’s then-recent “Jalousie.” Released as a single, it sold more than a million copies, marking the first major hit for an orchestral record and the first RCA Victor single to reach that mark. The Boston Pops Orchestra name itself became official with these releases, chosen by the label for its crisp appeal.

Combined with relentless touring, the recordings elevated the Pops to national prominence. Far from resting on that success, Fiedler kept introducing new, predominantly American composers and soloists while shrewdly promoting the orchestra through broadcasts and media. Local radio began in 1952; national syndication followed a decade later and continued until 1992. In 1969 the concerts reached American Public Television as Evening at Pops, eventually reaching millions domestically and abroad. By the 1970s the Boston Pops stood as the world’s most popular orchestra, a status underscored by the triumphant Fourth of July concert during the 1976 American Bicentennial.

Fiedler’s blend of talent, innovation, and promotion secured the ensemble’s preeminent position until his death on July 10, 1979. Associate conductor Harry Ellis Dickson completed the 1979 season alongside guest conductors while the Boston Symphony searched for a permanent replacement. In January 1980 the position went to John Williams, already celebrated for scores to Jaws and Star Wars yet grounded in classical training, jazz piano, and pop arranging. Though new to conducting, Williams brought both musical judgment and the celebrity needed to attract fresh listeners.

While continuing to compose for films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Williams focused on the orchestra itself. He refreshed the repertory with newly commissioned works and symphonic arrangements of film scores, sustained the radio and television broadcasts, maintained an active touring schedule, and oversaw albums on Philips and Sony Classical. On Christmas 1991 he announced his retirement at the close of the 1993 season, after which he would assume the title of Laureate Conductor and serve as Music Adviser. By the time of his departure the Boston Symphony had already selected thirty-five-year-old Keith Lockhart, previously conductor of the Pittsburgh Civic Orchestra, as successor. Lockhart upheld the ensemble’s demanding pace, leading hundreds of concerts, producing several RCA Victor recordings, and appearing on PBS and A&E. Attendance reached record levels in his first season. Popularity persisted into the new century, evidenced by 1998’s The Celtic Album and 2000’s The Latin Album, both mirroring shifting mainstream tastes. In 2005 the album America, a collection of patriotic and traditional American folk songs, reached number 13 on the Billboard Classical Albums chart. Later highlights under Lockhart included the baseball-themed The Red Sox Album (2009), A Boston Pops Christmas: Live from Symphony Hall (recorded 2011–2012, released 2013), and 2017’s Lights! Camera...Music! Six Decades of John Williams.