The Lost Accord

The eyes and ears of the music world were tuned to Philadelphia, but what they picked up was the confusion of statistics, demands and name-calling, Local 77 of the American Federation of Musicians had no strike fund and no means of beating a public relations drum the size of management’s. They also didn’t have the pull with the press that a rich and influential board of directors did. Whether by design or inadvertance, the papers at first seemed to give better billing and more space to management’s side than labor’s. As the battle dragged on, some radio and television stations carried interviews with orchestra men as well as association stalwarts. But as time went on, the noise raised by the cries of outrage on both sides were deafening rather than enlightening.

The instruments in this unorthodox performance were: The board of the Orchestra Association, usually represented by a lawyer or president Balis (anyone can become a member of the Association by making a $10 contribution); Local 77, usually played by a lawyer or president Lee Herman; the orchestra members themselves, most often spoken for by their representative Fred Batchelder (but sometimes by other militants or the internal enemy, the pro-management boys); and outside individuals and groups (the Friends of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Citizen Sponsors Committee); and Eugene Ormandy.

STICK MAN. To sort out the themes and sub-themes, you have to appreciate the role of Eugene Ormandy in the score. Eugene Ormandy tactfully remained off-stage through the current difficulties. This endeared him to the board and killed him with the orchestra. They have the notion a conductor should stick up for his men. He had a chance to achieve a kind of immortality in their eyes by conducting their October strike fund concert, but he begged off on the grounds it wasn’t part of his contractual responsibility. In the weeks that followed he was never heard from except when he telegraphed the orchestra on October 25th:

"I am deeply distressed and concerned over the turn of events. I plead with you to do all within your power to end the unfortunate impasse and return to the Academy stage so that we can again make music together.
Your friend and colleague,
Ellgene Ormandy"

The next day his "friends" voted to reject the Association’s offer of complete arbitration. That was what Ormandy was asking them to accept, but they couldn’t — not on the Association’s terms which meant they’d have to lose all the ground they’d already gained and give up retroactivity. They couldn’t make music together on those terms.

Many of the men try to defend Ormandy with a self-conscious kind of loyalty. They bend over backward to give him credit, either because they think he’s a good musician, or, if they can’t go that far, then because he’s been able to hire good talent and maintain the polished sound of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Ormandy himself takes credit for that sound, the rich tone recognized all over the world as "the Philadelphia sound."