 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2003-05-27 16:52
Ignatius Gennusa passed away last week at the age of 82. He was well known for his line of clarinet mouthpieces, was first clarinetist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for a number of years, and was a highly-respected clarinet teacher at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore for some 40 years.
It is my understanding that his mouthpiece company has been purchased by Mr. Ben Redwine, clarinetist with the U.S. Naval Academy Band in Annapolis, Maryland.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2003-05-27 17:02
Sad news. I met him a number of years ago when I went with a friend to get a mouthpiece. We spent quite a bit of time with him at his home, and listened to tapes of his playing, heard great stories, thoughts on reeds, etc. It was a wonderful day. I have also heard great things from people who studied with him.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2003-05-27 18:07
Ignatius Genussa was one of the great players. He was known for his glorious tone, which carried easily over a full orchestra, and even in his 70s, he had a dazzling technique.
He was also one of the great characters -- Iggy, to anyone who had known him for more than 30 seconds. He had an endless fund of funny stories and knew everything and everybody.
He was substitute principal in Chicago for a year, and you can hear him in the famous monaural recording of Pictures at an Exhibition conducted by Rafael Kubelik.
I was fortunate enough to take a lesson from him at the Clarinet Congress in Lexington several years ago. Once you figured out his method, it was crystal clear.
A tremendous loss.
Ken Shaw
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Author: John J. Moses
Date: 2003-05-28 03:09
A great loss for us all, good man Iggy, and a great player.
I loved his suitcase full of mouthpieces, his mouthpieces!
He will be missed.
JJM
Légère Artist
Clark W. Fobes Artist
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Author: Barbara Douglas
Date: 2019-08-23 18:10
I was a student of Mr. Gennusa when I was in high school in the late 1970s and took lessons at his home in Glen Rock, PA. I knew that he had been first clarinet with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra but don't believe I had any idea of his prior career. Mr. Gennusa was a delight to study with; he was kind, patient and upbeat. Fond memories.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2019-08-24 17:20
I wonder why this reappeared at this time? I played with him in the BSO for several years. Although I was the bass clarinet player I played second with him now and then as well. To say he was a characters is an understatement. When he retired from Peabody I filled that position in 1992. I can fill a book with Iggy stories and have told many of them over the years. He was a natural player with many "strange" ideas about reeds etc. I learned a lot by listening to him play.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2019-08-24 22:17
Oh Ed, by all means WRITE that book!
I'll reserve my copy now
...........Paul Aviles
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Author: Ken Lagace
Date: 2019-08-24 22:49
Ed, I know a great flute player who's very successful business is helping authors publish. Contact me off-line. I am local to you.
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2019-08-25 02:22
Was Iggy the teacher who recommended playing long tones while alarm clocks were going off?
Freelance woodwind performer
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2019-08-25 17:17
Sorry folks, I said I could I didn't say I would write a book. Lots of little stories but not nearly enough to fill a book. I'll consider an article and post it. Let me think about it.
Arnoldstang, I never heard of that one but I can confirm that when we were warming up in the mens locker rooms at the Lyric theatre where we played when he was in the orchestra he would open to door to the bathroom and run all the hot water faucets while he "warmed" up. He claimed it took the upper partiials out of the sound. He would also frequently but his swab in the bell and warm up that way for a minute or two.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Ken Lagace
Date: 2019-08-25 17:47
Come on Ed P, there is a great book about Opperman by by Denise A. Gainey who searched for former students to add to the information she had gained from working with him.
https://internationalmusician.org/kalmen-opperman/
It would be a great project for you and the clarinet world, and my friend who is a fine musician and now is actually in Europe having master classes with the greatest European flute players.
Sounds like a great match.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2019-08-26 16:09
Richard, you must mean when he put a bunch of clarinets together? I heard of it but didn't remember seeing it. I might have though, I've seen to much. :-)
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2019-08-28 11:55
I was lucky to study with iggie for 7 years and he got me deep into mouthpieces. We did play with the extended clarinet as described above. What a blast. He was also kind to his students. In the summers I often was short on money and my lesson fees were to pick him up cigarettes. His fee for lessons. He never turned me away.
He was a double lip player and started playing in the 3rd grade and his father was a very good musician. His wife also played the violin in the Baltimore Symphony. This was part of his contract, that his wife had to be in the orchestra along with him. As all of you can see he was indeed a special man. Giving me free lessons and only playing in an orchestra if his wife was also in the orchestra with him.
Eddie Palanker must have had some interesting experiences sitting next to Iggie!
Iggie also played with the NBC Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the National Symphony and Bob Marcellus was also in this symphony, the Navy Band with Tony Gigliotti during WWll, and in the summer months he did some solo work such as the CD's I have. He was also a Bonade student and a Curtis student. Marcellus then went to Cleveland.
The first few mouthpieces I made from the Babbitt Company went to Iggie who fell in love with them and he called me at 4AM California time, 7AM Pennsylvania time and played over the phone. His excitement for music in general was so contagious. I felt the need to give Iggie a few mouthpieces as he gave me free lessons.
When he was in his early 60's the New York Met invited him to join. A personal invitation. No audition needed. He turned it down. I don't know why.
I do have a few of his recordings. The Copland Concerto and a few other recordings. Are there any people out there who can redo, remaster these older recordings so his true sound can be heard? This has held me back for years. His sound is perhaps the very best in the world, however these recordings are not up to par as they were badly recorded. My goal is to make a website just about Iggie's performances. Free to the public to hear and enjoy.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2019-08-29 03:39
So Bob,
Re-master kinda implies that you have pristine master tapes (or some such sources) and wish to rebalance or re-EQ individual parts to present a different finished product.
That said, I know what you mean. If you have a really good playback medium and analog to digital conversion (and can make "wav" files), send me a short example (through We Transfer or Google Drive) and I'd love to take a crack at it!
.............Paul Aviles
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2019-08-29 05:00
Paul, thank you for responding. What I have are CD's. I'd be happy to send them to you. Please contact me at savagesax@aol.com and give me your address and I'll send you the 4 or 5 CD collection I have. Missing is the Mozart Concerto with the Baltimore Sym and I tried really hard to find it, including writing to the Baltimore Sym. It was an amazing recording.
Many thanks!
Bob
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2019-08-29 16:14
Bob, I joined the BSO in 1963, to the best of my memory Iggy never performed, certianally never recorded, the Mozart or the Copland with the BSO after I arrived. Back in those day we rearlly recorded at all, and of course not on CDs. Who did he do those recordings with? First time I ever heard of them, same as the Met story but that was before I came.
I do have to make a correction though, I really don't believe his contract involved having his wife play. That may have been an agreement when he was hired but I don't think it was in his contract, I really doubt that. What I do know happened was when they fired his wife for cause, she was a bit of an alcoholic and was a problem at times in the section because of it, Commisiona, the conductor, fired her and Iggy threatened to quit if he did so Commisiona said OK quit. He didn't like Iggy for a number of reasons but mostly he didn't follow his directions often and it bothered him that Iggy was always playing with his mouthpiece and reeds and not paying attention, which was actually true. Commission was a pain in the butt though.
Our second player then, Gordy Miller, said Iggy thought the community would protest to keep him and they wouldn't allow him to leave. Gordy said he thought to much of himself. That was not a slur on his playing only his feeling of self importance. For sure Iggy was a character and a very natural player. He hated playing contempory music. I can't say I blamed him with some of it.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2019-08-29 22:48
Hello Eddie,
Yes you are correct! The recordings I have are either with the York Symphony or the Peabody Institute of Music. As for the Mozart Concerto it surely was with the BSO. But perhaps it wasn't him??? Eddie, do you remember if the BSO recorded the Mozart Concerto with another clarinetist? Thanks my friend!
Yes she did hit the bottle a bit. So did Iggie. Vodka seemed to be the choice for them. But I don't want to get into the politics of that mess. As for the Met this was after he left the BSO, he was either 59 or 60 yrs old. I don't know the age when he left the BSO. 57 maybe? You may know!
Yes Iggie did have some weird ideas and was always messing with mouthpieces and reeds. I'm sure this would bother most conductors. At Peabody Conservatory he left early one day because he felt sick due to not being able to find a playable reed. He was that intense. At the same time when taking some lessons with Bob Marcellus he would settle for a reed and just play through an average reed and still sound amazing. 2 different schools.
Thank you for posting!
Paul, I'll get the CD's out to you within 2 weeks. Thank you.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
Post Edited (2019-08-29 23:24)
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2019-08-30 01:28
Looking forward to it. I'll copy them into my files and send them back stat.
...................Paul Aviles
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Author: Ed
Date: 2019-08-30 02:35
I have heard some recordings of Iggy years ago and would be interested in hearing these. I am hoping someone will post these somewhere.
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2019-08-30 10:10
Ed, lets see what Paul can do with the CD's. If he has luck I will make a website or youtube for Iggie. People can comment and if they knew Iggie they surely can post there. I recently had lunch with Steve Barta, the former Baltimore Sym principal who lives near me here in California. He has great stories about teaching with Iggie at Peabody. So I hope the quality will be good enough and everyone can post their comments and relationships about him. Could be a lot of fun and very interesting.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2019-08-30 17:07
Bob, to the best of my knowledge the BSO never recorded the Mozart Conceto with anyone. I can't remember exactly when Iggy left. I came in in 1963 and I believe I played with him for about 5 years, more or less. Frank Cohen took Iggies place and after him Steve Barta. It's been said that Iggy regretted quitting when he dwas id. so young. I think he expected to get lots of playing gigs everywhere but there wasn't many opportunities available. I'd really be surprised if he was offered the Met without at least a trial, he's reputation as a great player was well known but so was his personality. We got along fine but he hated when I'd cross my legs at rehearsals when I wasn't playing. :-) One day when I was playing second and the conductor was working with the strings he "uncrossed" my legs. Usually I sat at the other end of the section either doubling back than or of course, playing bass. I've met several of his students over the years that claimed he spent their whole lesson with him looking for a reed. The interesting thing about him and reeds in the BSO is that once he found "the reed" he'd use it for all rehearsals and concerts for several weeks, as much as three weeks in my memory and he would be in a good mood. I could tell when that changed because his tone would begin to get a little thinner and that's when he's begin playing with new reeds and being distracted at times until he found that "perfect reed" again. Once he did he would rarely take the reed off the mouthpiece, at least on stage. He left the reed on when he packed up and ran water over and through it before warming up. I assume he took it off and cleaned it later. I tried doing that with clarinet but always preferred rotating my clarnet reeds but I did adapt that method on my bass. Found the "perfect reed", but at home and used it for all rehearsals and concerts leaving it on the MP, loosening the ligature, and running water in and over it before warm up. Yes, after playing I did take it off, clean the MP and replace it back on. Worked great for me, i own that to Iggy.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2019-08-30 23:17
Ed, you've written so much about the time he would spend searching for the perfect reed. Did he make any adjustments to his reeds as he searched, or did he just keep searching until he found one that played well out of the box?
Karl
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2019-08-30 23:46
While we wait for Eddie to answer I'll respond to what I know about his reeds. Iggie always put his mouthpiece in his suit pocket with the excellent reed. He NEVER took the great reeds off of the mouthpiece. A Chedeville. I have the Chediville he used in the 1960's. I agree that he did spend a lot of time sometimes looking for good reeds at my lessons. But this was uncommon as I was usually prepared with my own reeds. Sometimes though he would be looking for a reed for himself. With good reeds Iggie was simply incredible. Steve Barta took lessons from Harold Wright and Bob Marcellus. Steve felt Gennusa had the best sound when he worked with him at Peabody. This is surely one heck of a compliment not to be taken lightly. Also Eddie gave him a wonderful compliment.
I have to credit Fred Ormand for teaching me about reeds from my Interlochen high school days. I didn't learn too much about reeds from Iggie. But I surely learned a lot about mouthpiece facings. Iggie was pretty much a Vandoren man, always looking for that special reed.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2019-08-31 04:31
To Answer Karls question, I really don't know because he didn't during rehearsals that I can recall but he might have at home, I just don't know. My opinion was probably not but I can't be sure. `None of his students I've heard ever sounded like him, no one did, but I can say the same for Wright and Marculles. Not that they didn't sound good though. Of course all my students sound fantastic, just like me. :-)
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2019-09-02 17:33
I need to add one of my favorite Iggy stories because I was sitting right next to him when this happened. After the concert, or rehearsals, can't remember which, he didn't swab out his clarinet, and as usual never his mouthpiece. He just put them all in the case. I said, Iggy, aren't you going to swab out, he said no, all the molecules are perfectly lined up and I don't want to desturb them. True story.
Another one that I was not present at the time was at Peabody. I alway heard about this in Baltimore but it was confirmed for a trombone friend whose studio we shared at Peabody that used to be Iggy's. My friend told me he was in the court yard that our window over looked when he heard some students yell, Gennusa is throwing reeds again and they ran under his studio window to collect them as they flew out onto the yard floor. Apparently it happened a few times. :-)
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: David Lentz
Date: 2021-02-02 08:31
I studied with Iggy at Peabody 1972-74. I spend many lessons listening to him trying reeds, but I often felt like I learned as much listening to him play as if we had been working on a piece together. One thing I don't think I saw mentioned before - when he wan't satisfied with his reed, he frequently would take it off the mouthpiece and start filing inside the mouthpiece! At that time I think he was using a copy of his old Chedville, but it completely blew me away that he should do that. There was a rumor he had accidentally melted a mouthpiece by sticking it on a lit candle to soften the rubber. I don't know about that one. At that point in my studies I had a pretty solid technical foundation from previous teachers and we worked some on recital pieces but mostly orchestral excerpts. He would coach me through them, which was really terrific. One day we were working on the opening of Don Juan and when I finally got it then way he wanted it, he ran across the room pointing at me with his eyes bulging. Almost scared me off the chair! Another time I mentioned to him how much I liked listening to Robert Marcellus and he said, "Yeah, Bobby learned a lot from me."
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