Leonard Falcone

Leonard Vincent Falcone (Fal-CONE-ee) (April 5, 1899 – May 2, 1985) was an Italian-American musician, conductor, arranger, lecturer, and educator. He was well known as a virtuoso on the baritone horn, having extensively performed, written, and educated on the instrument. Falcone was best known as Director of Bands at Michigan State University from 1927 through 1967. During Falcone's tenure, the Spartan Marching Band expanded from a small ROTC auxiliary band to a large nationally known Big Ten marching band. Scholarship endowments at MSU and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp were established in his honor, as was the Leonard Falcone International Tuba and Euphonium Festival.

Early life and family

Born Leonardo Vincenzo Falcone in Roseto Valfortore, Italy on April 5, 1899. First playing Alto Horn and Violin, Falcone became active in the local town band in Italy. He studied multiple instruments and conducting under Maestro Donatto Donatelli in Naples in his teens. At age 16 Falcone followed his brother Nicholas, who had emigrated in 1912, to the United States. There he enrolled in the University School of Music in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which would eventually become the University of Michigan School of Music, where he met many of his lifelong professional and personal colleagues and friends. Nicholas followed professor Wilfred Wilson as Director of Bands at the school in the 1920s. Nicholas first hired Leonard as a tailor's assistant since he had found work as a tailor and theater clarinet player. Nicholas later hired Leonard again to play trombone at the Ypsilanti Michigan silent movie theater when Nicholas began conducting the pit orchestra. Leonard Falcone proudly became a citizen of his adopted country in 1924.

Leonard married Betty Beryl Cromer (October 29, 1920 – December 5, 2015) of Kalamazoo on December 19, 1948. Beryl, as she was known, met Leonard while playing in one of his summer bands at MSU during her graduate studies. Leonard and Beryl had two children: Mary Beryl (August 6, 1950 – January 18, 2015) and Cecilia (b. May 25, 1952). They also raised their only grandchild Mary Lisa Fulton (b. September 3, 1968). For most of their marriage and until Leonard's death, the Falcone family lived at 519 Charles St. in East Lansing, Michigan.

Michigan State University In 1927 Falcone applied for and was awarded the post of director of bands at Michigan State College. At the time, MSC had roughly 2500 students

Falcone enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on September 23, 1942. He served eight months as a member of the Air Force Band at Maxwell Field, Alabama. He later organized the 388th Air Force Band at Stuttgart, Alabama. In Falcone's absence the MSC band was placed under the temporary directorship of Dale C. Harris. Falcone returned to campus for good on October 1, 1943. Performances by the band at the White House, the New York World's Fair, and televised performances at the Rose Bowl parade in 1954, 1956, and 1965, along with the multiple recordings of both the MSC bands and Falcone on baritone, would bring his name and music at Michigan State onto the national stage.

Artist and teacher

Leonard Falcone toured as a solo artist for decades as well as publishing several solo recordings. Brian Bowman, who acknowledged in an interview studying the recordings instead of studying with the man, was an oft-noted exception. Falcone's students include leading artists such as Roger Behrend, Earle Louder, and many others. In 1941, at the urging of friends and colleagues in southeast Michigan who had formed the predecessor to today's Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association in 1934, Falcone hosted the Band and Orchestra Festival at MSC.

Falcone wrote, lectured extensively, and presented many clinics on band technique and playing. He published lists of Euphonium repertoire and conducted master classes and clinics at music education venues such as the annual midwestern music conference. He enjoyed working with young people at Blue Lake and also often worked with high school groups as both soloist and clinician - rehearsing the groups with whom he would then play.

Falcone's playing, as well as his devotion to teaching and advancing the instrument, led his students to create the Falcone International Tuba and Euphonium Festival, which seeks to give a stage to new talent and future artists on his instrument and Tuba.

Falcone left to the concert band movement a wealth of arrangements of classical orchestral and operatic music that he adapted to the instrumentation and timbre of the band as well as many military marches from cultures around the world adapted to modern western instrumentation. Michigan State University's marching band continues to play its iconic version of the MSU Fight Song, affectionately known to the band as "Falcone Fight". During his tenure at Michigan State University, the fight song was a very dynamic arrangement, ever subject to changes, as can be heard in the various recordings found throughout the University archives. The Spartan Marching Band now recognizes a specific one of his many arrangements as "Falcone Fight". (However, it also plays another variation, "Pregame Fight" arranged by former SMB assistant director, William Moffit, for pregame performance and as an in-game celebration.)

Falcone published many articles, solo literature repertoires, and even a beginning baritone method in two volumes co-authored with Birmingham Michigan teacher Arnold Berndt and published by Belwin. His most enduring publication, however, has been the recordings which live on today in CD and mp3 formats in many places both with and without the permission of Michigan State University.

His legacy to future musicians at Michigan State University has continued via the Leonard Falcone Scholarship, established by the alumni in 1967 and funded by many contributions as well as the proceeds from the legitimate sale of Falcone recordings.

Partial discography

All recordings cited are in the collection of the MSU archives.

Songs of Michigan State College, Recorded Publications Co, Camden New Jersey / RCA Victor, 1955 {Band and Men's Glee Club}

~MSC Fight Song (Lankey / Falcone) ~Spartan Toast (Coleman) ~Michigan State Spartans ~O Clap Your Hands ~The Gallant Seventh (Sousa) ~MSC March (Marsalis / Bibo) ~MSC Shadows (Traynor / Finn) ~Close Beside the Winding Cedar (Amici / Brown)

Michigan State University Band, Volume 1, LPS-1232 Fidelity Sound Recordings, Redwood City California

~MSU Fight Song (Lankey / Falcone) ~Funiculi Funicula (Denza) ~Suite from Carmen (Bizet / Nicholas Falcone) ~Stars and Stripes Forever (Sousa / Hershey Kay) ~All America March (Taylor) ~MSU Shadows (Traynor / Falcone) ~March Electric (Creatore / Falcone) ~Pines of the Appian Way (Respighi) ~La Traviata, Prelude to Act 1 (Verdi / Falcone) ~Gallito (Lope)

Michigan State University Band, Volume 2, LPS-1245 Fidelity Sound Recordings, Redwood City California

~Army of the Nile (Alford) ~Pepita Greus (Chovi) ~Flag of Victory (Von Blon) ~The Black Horse Troop (Sousa) ~Noble Men (Filmore) ~The Gladiator (Sousa) ~Father of Victory (Ganne) ~The Dover Coach (Vinter) ~Puenteareas (Sautullo) ~Moto Perpetuo (Paganini / Nicholas Falcone) ~Inglesina (Dela Cese)

MSU's Leonard Falcone, Published by Michigan State University Spartan Marching Band Alumni in 1967 to raise funds for the Falcone scholarship

Michigan State University Concert Band at Birmingham Groves HS (Michigan) March 21, 1963, unpublished

~Marche Millitaire Frances, (Saint-Saëns) ~Carnival of Venice ~Overture to Italian in Algiers (Rossini) ~Corcoran Cadet March (Sousa) ~March: Nobel Men (Fillmore) ~Pepita Greus (Chovi) ~MSU Shadows and Fight Song together (Traynor / Lankey / Falcone)

Michigan State University Concert Band at Midland HS (Michigan) April 22, 1960, unpublished

~Procession of the Nobles from Milada (Rimsky-Korsakov) ~Mannin Veen (Wood) ~Jabberwocky (Walters)

Leonard Falcone and his Baritone, RE-7001 Golden Crest Records, Huntington Station, New York

~From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific (HL Clarke) ~Estrellita (M Ponce) ~Bourree 1 & 2 form Suite 3 for Cello (JS Bach) ~Beautiful Colorado (J DeLuca) ~Atlantic Zephyrs (G Simons) ~Piece en Forme de Habanera (JB Senaille) ~Morceau Symphonique (A Guilmant)

Leonard Falcone Baritone Horn, RE 7036 Golden Crest Records, Huntington Station, New York

~My Regards (E Llewellyn) ~Una Furtiva Lacrima (G Donizetti / R Harvey) ~Sentimentale (J DeLuca) ~Concert Piece (PV De La Nux) ~Allegro de Concert (E Cools) ~Andante et Allegro (JE Barat) ~Adagio from Concerto for Cello (J Haydn / D Shuman) ~Napoli (H Bellstedt)

Leonard Falcone Baritone Volume II, RE-7016 Golden Crest Records, Huntington Station, New York

~Concerto (G Magnan) ~Tarantella (WH Squire) ~Fantasia Original (Picchi-Mantia) ~Premier Solo de Concert (F Combelle) ~Platera (E Granados / L Falcone) ~Le Cygne (C Saint-Saëns) ~Blue Bells of Scotland (A Pryor)

Michigan State University Presents Leonard Falcone, Baritone Horn Volume IV, MSU-8984 Crest Records, Huntington Station, New York

~From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific (HL Clarke) Penn intercollegiate band, J Dunlop dir.(1962) ~O Solo Mio (DiCapua) ~Serenade (Schubert / Falcone) Penn intercollegiate band, J Dunlop dir. (1962) ~Ave Maria (Bach / Gounod / Falcone) ~Fantasie Original (Picchi-Mantia / Falcone) Royal Canadian Reg. Band, Capt. D Stannard dir. (1967) ~Flower Song from Carmen (Bizet / AA Harding) Pontiac HS Band, D Harris dir.(1958) ~Serenade (E Toselli)

Birmingham Seaholm HS Spring Concert, April 1961, Arnold Berndt directing, Leonard Falcone soloist, unpublished

~From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific (HL Clarke) ~Serenade (Schubert / Falcone) ~Rehearsal of the Schubert Serenade

(This recording is also in the collection of the Birmingham Historical Museum (MI))