NY Phil 1948-49; John Ware's first season (3rd, asst. 1st)

errata

Early April 1949: John Ware is finishing his first NY Phil season as Tpt3 and “assistant first,” Wm. Vacchiano being principal.

NY Phil Personnel Manager memo to Managing Director: “It was brought to my attention that Mr. Ware, third trumpet, has played first trumpet 26 times to relieve Mr. Vacchiano, and at the request of Mr. Vacchiano, Mr. Ware did not get any remuneration although his contract called for $10 [extra; almost $130 today] each time he would play first trumpet. I think it would be fair if you could see your want to compensate Mr. Ware somewhat. Any amount will be welcome and appreciated by Mr. Ware.”

John Ware eventually got a $150 bonus [almost $2k today] but he arguably should have gotten $260 [about $3300 today]. Is/was it typical for a top-tier “Assistant First” (not a “co-principal”) player to relieve the principal player this frequently during a concert season?

Irving · Heavyweight Member Joined: 11 Feb 2003 Posts: 1888

Sounds very strange to me. Since when do the musicians have control over the money? Since never. Why would Vacchiano have even cared if Ware got paid extra? What doesn't sound strange is that the management tried to stiff John Ware out of extra pay. That sounds completely normal. It seems like the personnel manager wanted to blame Vacchiano for the fact that he didn't get paid extra for playing lst trumpet. The management could have paid him extra regardless. John Ware probably didn't want to rock the boat (at first) since he was just starting out, and getting fired back then was easy back then.

tubbs831 · Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2023 9:23 am Post subject: John Ware

It is a shame that John Ware does not get the respect he deserves as one of the New York Philharmonic’s principal trumpets. Check out the playing toward the end of this Boulez performance of Copland’s Orchestral Variations. I’ve never heard it played better:

https://youtu.be/Vt1BqlwNElU?si=JmQ-H9uh1Fny8wnG