# 3163 - 1997 32c Conductors and Composers: Ferde Grofe, Composer

US #3163
1997 Ferde Grofé – Classical Composers & Conductors
American Music Series

• Pictures composer Ferde Grofé
• Part of the Classical Composers & Conductors set
• The 10^th stamp set in the Legends of American Music series

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  Classical Composers & Conductors
Series:  Legends of American Music
Value:  32¢, First Class Mail Rate
First Day of Issue:  September 12, 1997
First Day City:  Cincinnati, Ohio
Quantity Issued:  86,000,000
Printed by:  Printed for Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd. By Sterling Sommer of Tonawanda, New York
Printing Method:  Offset
Format:  Pane of 20 (Horizontal 4 across, 5 down)
Perforations:  11.1 by 11.0
Tagging:  Phosphored paper

Why the stamp was issued:  To commemorate composer Ferde Grofé, one of the best of the best in American classical music.

About the stamp design:  The stamp pictures a painting of Grofé by artist Burt Silverman (also responsible for the image on the 1997 Raoul Wallenberg stamp).  Art director Howard Paine said he chose Silverman because “He is a mature portrait painter… I didn’t want some glitzy, commercial, airbrush, flashy, tightly rendered kind of art…. Burt’s work is ‘painterly.’  He works in oil, and you can see dabs of color and you see brush strokes and you see the human touch.”

First Day City:  The First Day of Issue Ceremony for the Classical Composers & Conductors stamps was held in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Classical Music Hall of Fame.  The city is also home to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, then the fifth oldest symphony orchestra in the United States.  It is also home to the Cincinnati Opera, the country’s second-oldest opera company.

About the Classical Composers & Conductors set:  Issued to commemorate composers Samuel Barber, Ferde Grofe, Charles Ives, and Louis Moreau Gottschalk, as well as conductors Leopold Stokowsky, Arthur Fiedler, George Szell, and Eugene Ormandy.  They were chosen to represent the best of the best in American classical music.

About the Legends of American Music Series:  The Legends of American Music Series debuted on January 8, 1993, and ran until September 21, 1999.  More than 90 artists are represented from all styles of music:  rock ‘n’ roll, rhythm and blues, country and western, jazz and pop, opera and classical, gospel and folk.  In addition to individual singers and Broadway musicals, subjects include band leaders, classical composers, Hollywood songwriters and composers, conductors, lyricists, and more.  The Legends of American Music Series was a huge advancement for diversity because it honored many Black and female artists.

History the stamp represents:  As a child, Ferde Grofé (1892-1972) studied piano, violin, and harmony with his mother, and viola with his grandfather.  He performed as a violinist with the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra for ten years, and also played piano and violin in theater and dance orchestras.

In 1919, the famous conductor Paul Whiteman, known as the “King of Jazz,” heard Grofé’s arrangement of a popular song and hired him.  The two formed an important association, with Grofé becoming a leading arranger of “symphonic jazz,” to which Whiteman’s name was closely connected.

Grofé furthered his reputation when he scored George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.  Soon after, he completed his first original composition, Broadway at Night.  This was followed by a series of pieces which celebrated the natural beauty of the United States.  His best known work, Grand Canyon Suite, which was performed by legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini, achieved wide popularity.

Other noted Grofé compositions include The Hudson River Suite, Niagara Falls Suite, and World’s Fair Suite.  Appearances as a conductor with many American symphony orchestras and in radio broadcasts further enhanced Grofé’s popularity.