Arthur Judson (Arthur Leon Judson) was an
American violinist, conductor, and artist manager born (in Dayton, Ohio, USA)
on February 17, 1881. After giving up
his career as a concert violinist, he became the most powerful artist manager
and promoter in U.S. history. One source
has him starting his violin studies at age 8 and another at age 12. Two of his teachers were Max Bendix (famous
for his connection to Theodore Thomas) and Leopold Lichtenberg (teacher at the
National Conservatory in New York, where Antonin Dvorak was the Director from
1891 to 1895.) He graduated from High
School in 1899 but his enthusiasm and ambition were soon evident in the fact
that he became the Director of the music department at Denison University
(Ohio) at age 19. At that University in
1903, he performed the (Richard) Strauss violin sonata, said to be the best violin sonata
ever written. The performance, according
to Judson, marked the U.S. premiere of the work. That claim, however, is debatable, since the
sonata was completed in 1888 and it is unlikely that it would have taken
fifteen years for it to reach the American public. After his stint at Denison (1900-1907), he
went to New York City to establish himself as a concert violinist. By then, he had also been concertmaster of
the orchestra at the Victoria Theatre in Dayton. Since his efforts to make a living as an
artist yielded few results, he went into the magazine business, finding
employment as music critic and advertising manager for the magazine Musical
America. He spent 8 years there. In this capacity, he became very well-known
by artists and administrators around the country. It thus appears that his playing career
lasted about 7 years. In 1915, he was
named manager of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
He was 34 years old. Shortly
thereafter, he created an artist management agency in Philadelphia and in New
York as well. In 1922, he became manager
of the New York Philharmonic. By 1927,
he had launched his own radio network, something called the United Independent
Broadcasters, which was, within a few months, bought by William Paley. Paley renamed it the Columbia Broadcasting
System (CBS.) Judson thus became a major
stockholder in the new company. The
initial intent of Judson’s broadcasting network had simply been to bring artists
which he managed to national attention through various radio programs, but, the end result was something far more significant. He was 46 years old. By 1930, Judson had control of Columbia
Artists Management, and managed the careers of 125 artists and
organizations. Columbia Artists
Management had been created via a merger of one of Judson’s agencies with 7
other management firms. After public
criticism of the conflicts of interest created by his myriad activities, Judson
resigned his position with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1934. Also, because of his monopolistic influence –
by 1935 he controlled two thirds of the concert action around the U.S. – and
the incestuous business structures resulting from his management of orchestras,
radio networks, and artists, he was in 1939 investigated by the federal
government. This resulted in his slowly
restructuring and diversifying his empire, though his considerable influence,
even in the area of orchestral programming, continued unabated for many years
thereafter. It has been said that Judson
stopped representing the conductor Otto Klemperer after Klemperer programmed
one of Mahler’s symphonies for a New York Philharmonic concert, a decision
which Judson disagreed with - I don’t like Mahler either so I would have sided
with Judson. He kept his position with
the New York Philharmonic until 1956. He
was 75 years old. Of course, he was very
wealthy by then. Arthur Judson died (in
New York) on January 28, 1975, at age 93.
