MAYNE MILLER / GUNNAR JOHANSEN Edward Collins LP COLLINS HALL CHICAGO

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25

NM/VG radio station stickers/stamps/writing on cover
Edward Collins was born in Joliet, Illinois, the youngest of nine children of Irish•American parents. He was surrounded by musical brothers and sisters whose artistic encouragement exposed his early genius. At the age of thirteen Collins became a pupil of Rudolph Ganz at the Chicago Musical College: There he won the top piano competition award three consecutive years. In 1906 he accompanied Ganz to Berlin and studied piano with Robert Kahn and composition with Bruch and Humperdinck at the Royal High School of Music. Collins wrote his first composition in 1907, and made his concert debut in 1912 in Berlin.  He returned to America in 1912 and went on concert tour with Mme. Ernestine Schumann•Heink. Her accompanist for thirty-five years was Collins's sister Kate Hoffmann. Later, he became assistant conductor at the Century Opera Company, New York, and in 1914 he was an assistant conductor at the Bayreuth Festival. During World War I, Collins served as a Lieutenant and interpreter for the 88th Division in France. He entertained the troops by performing and writing musicals. General John Pershing awarded him a medal for his work, "Who Can Tell."
After his return to the United States, he joined the faculty of the Chicago Musical College. There he met and married voice student Frieda Mayer, daughter of Chicago meat packer, Oscar Mayer. Collins composed orchestral works, piano concerti and oratorio, chamber music, piano pieces and songs. Frederick Stock often invited him to conduct his own orchestral compositions and to appear as soloist with the Chicago Symphony. In 1933 he joined the faculty of the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago. He spent happy summers at Door County, Wisconsin, composing and practicing in a small stone studio which he and Frieda built. His ribald humor among friends, the numerous recitals and spontaneous performances, all testified to his enthusiasm for life and art. His principal works include: Symphony in B Minor; "Set of Four;" Irish Rhapsody; Oratorio,"Hymn to the Earth;" Carnival Piece for Orchestra, "Mardi Gras;" Suite Mignonne for Orchestra; Three Piano Concerti; Tragic Overture for Orchestra; Ballet, Masque of the Red Death;" Trio for Piano, Violin and Violoncello;Sonata for Violin and Piano; numerous songs and piano pieces. 
Side one, The Concert Piece for Piano and Orchestra in A Minor was first performed in 1931 by The Chicago Symphony-Orchestra, conducted by Frederick Stock with Collins as soloist. In the program notes he wrote the following: 
"The Concert Piece, in A Minor, is a large work 'en miniature,' that is - the thematic material undergoes no working over. Consequently,what might have become a broad symphonic work is now condensed and episodic in character. A slow introductory theme soon transforms itself into the main subject of the first (Allegro) section. A lyric idea follows and is spun out at some length, then giving way to a Scherzo Diabolico - the most ambitious section, in that it contains a Trio and a Recapitulation. The cadenza follows the scherzo and summarizes the material up to that point. The orchestra then begins a short transitional section which leads to the entrance of the theme of the last movement, in A major, 31/2-4 time. This section also contains a subsidiary idea and a return, followed by the climax of the work - Andante trionfale - which is a repetition of the early lyrical theme, now fortissimo in the orchestra and accompanied by violent arpeggios and octaves in the piano. This leads to the coda, which is a scurrying xylophone-like version of the 31/2-4 theme. The work, which employs the classical orchestra (to which is added a glockenspiel and triangle), was written in the summer of 1931 at Cedar Lake, Wisconsin." 
The Concert Piece was first performed in 1931 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fredrick Stock, conductor with Collins as soloist. This recording was of the performance in August 1956 by The Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra, Fish Creek, Wisconsin, under the late Dr. Thor Johnson,  Mayne Miller, soloist. 
Side two, performed by pianist Gunnar Johansen, is comprised of the Cowboy's Breakdown, Tango and Four Waltzes Op. 18. This album commemorates the dedication of Collins Hall, American Conservatory of Music, Chicago, May 6,1977. 

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