UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #476
DVORAK, FLORENCE MARIE

DVORAK, Florence Marie (1911- )
Undergraduate Student; Wife of Raymond E. Dvorak (Professor of Music and Director of University Band, #34)
At UW: 1929-1934

Interviewed: 1994	
Series: School of Music
Interviewer: Richard Lehman
Length: 1 hour, 31 minutes

Meeting Husband Raymond Dvorak; Coming to UW; UW prior to WWII; Music Department; Charles O’Neill and Carl Bricken; Husband’s position on women in band; Status of female professors in Music Department; Guest conductors; Husband’s work after retirement; His accident and subsequent conducting style.

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:05	FMD tells the story of how she met her husband, Raymond Dvorak.  She originally applied to the UW School of Journalism, but her piano teacher, Idele Strehlow, convinced her to apply to the School of Music instead.

00:02:10	FMD discusses UW during the period prior to World War II.  Many students in the School of Music, particularly female students, were forced to leave school because of financial troubles.

00:04:30	The UW School of Music had a competitor school—the Wheeler School of Music, which was not associated with the UW.  Alternative music schools were needed because UW did not offer music courses until the 1920s.  The other schools were conservatory programs, offering music and elocution.

00:06:17	FMD enrolled in the Public School of Music program.  Haresfoot played every year during spring recess.  Dr. Charles Mills, a faculty member, came from England and was a fine organist.  FMD studied organ under Irene Eastman.  During this time, music teachers were expected to participate in extra-curricular activities, such as directing church choirs.  FMD tells a story about playing the organ at a conference.

00:11:00	FMD was Ray Dvorak’s organist at their church.  Some UW choirs were accompanied by the organ.  FMD sang in two different university choirs.  She relates an anecdote about the 20th year anniversary celebration for Dr. Mills.  In his keynote speech, Dean Sellery implied that the musicians were prima donnas until Dr. Mills took over the School of Music.  Dr. Mills died in 1937.

00:16:17	Dr. Charles O’Neill, who was a theorist as well as a musician, succeeded Mills on a temporary basis.  He had previously conducted the UW clinic bands.   Carl Bricken was later hired on a permanent basis as Mills’ successor.  

00:19:15	FMD shares a story about RD’s sister Helen studying violin in Czechoslovakia.

00:23:56	Bricken was very critical of the UW faculty.  FMD relates the details of Florence Bergendahl’s forced resignation. 

00:28:55	Many students favored O’Neill over Bricken and wanted O’Neill to retain his faculty position, but they were not aware of the politics behind the appointment.  Bricken was difficult to get along with.

00:31:20	Before World War II, FMD was forced to quit her job at Lowell School after she married RD, as the School Board felt there were not enough jobs available for men.

00:36:18	FMD was never one of her husband’s students.  Bricken unexpectedly left the University at the end of a semester. 

00:41:41	FMD tells a story about RD’s first rehearsal with the marching band.  The band used to give their professors a “skyrocket” if they liked them.

00:43:20	RD did not take women in his band in the beginning of his career.  His reasons for this included:  his belief that a woman could not match a man’s step, which would interfere with the band’s cadence; that women are more apt to be sick, which would result in absenteeism; and that women would not like to march in muddy stadium fields.

00:45:55	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:45:56	RD believed that a woman could not “fill” a horn.  Orien Dalley formed a woman’s band.  In 1939, women were integrated into RD’s band.  RD had assumed that the women’s band would take care of some of the “chores,” such as playing for Swing Out, but that was not the case.

00:49:30	RD taught all of the band instruments.  Later, he gave women the opportunity to play in his band, but they had to audition.  FMD discusses a few of the first women in the men’s band. 

00:52:55	The female professors at UW were not promoted.  Many women never reached a higher position than assistant professor.  FMD discusses SAI, the professional musical fraternity for women.  

00:54:40	FMD believes that RD did not enlist in the armed services during WWII because he was worried about her.  RD had been in WWI as a freshman in college in 1918.

00:57:24	While the female professors at UW were not promoted, they were still greatly respected by their students.  Helene Stratmann-Thomas held a Bachelor of Science degree and worked in business for a few years before she returned to school and obtained a Bachelor of Music.  She taught music history. 

01:03:24	There had been another Florence Hunt (FMD’s maiden name) who flunked out of school, so FMD did not receive very positive attention when she first arrived at UW.     

01:04:28	RD was a very generous man and often brought staff and students home.  He brought many guest conductors to the band.  FMD tells a story about RD and Percy Grainger picking FMD’s son up from nursery school.  

01:06:49	FMD describes RD’s interactions with the composer Pietro Yon.

01:11:05	Lucien Caillet was the chief arranger for the Philadelphia Philharmonic.  The ABA gave him an honorary membership.  He also worked for a music company in Kenosha, and during that period, RD invited him to UW as a guest conductor for the band.  

01:13:05	Percy Grainger, Glen Baynum from Northwestern, and Karl King, who wrote a march for each of the Big Ten schools, all guest conducted RD’s band.

01:14:55	After retirement, RD worked on editing the Sousa marches and chairing the committee to get Sousa into the Hall of Fame for Great Americans.  FMD discusses “flag swinging” in 1937.  RD’s photographs and films, such as the film RD made of the 1953 Rose Bowl, were damaged in the fire at the Bureau of Audio-Visual Instruction.  The salvaged materials were stored at the Historical Society.   

01:18:25	When RD’s band had guest conductors, they would perform in the Memorial Union Theater.  RD carried on the traditions of Palm Sunday band concerts and special sight-read band numbers.  FMD describes his style as he approached the podium.  

01:22:14	FMD discusses RD’s conducting style after his accident.  Instead of switching arms, he learned how to conduct with his artificial hand.  During his first concert after the accident, he surprised the audience by playing an entire Bach prelude using only his left hand.

01:27:00	RD’s band played a concert for the first national radio broadcast on NBC, as well as for weekly radio broadcasts.  He organized a summer band in honor of the territorial centennial of Wisconsin.  RD’s accident was on April 13, 1948, and he went back to work in September of 1950.  FMD describes the kindness she received while RD was in the hospital after the accident.  She discusses the circumstances of the accident.  

01:31:22	End of side.  End of tape.

END