Sarah Caldwell: The First Woman to Conduct the ASO
How an unusual concert brought the signature dramatic flair of “Music’s Wonder Woman” to Atlanta Symphony Hall
by James Paulk
In November of 1976, Sarah Caldwell became the first woman to conduct the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, leading an imaginative program which garnered rave reviews.
The invitation had come from ASO Music Director Robert Shaw, an admirer of Caldwell with whom he had worked at Tanglewood. Shaw was a champion of women musicians, recruiting them as principals at a time when that was rare.
Prodigiously talented, Caldwell was the first American woman to achieve major success as a conductor, not least at the Opera Company of Boston, which she founded and where her bold programming brought her considerable notice.
When the ASO’s 1976–77 season was announced, it was Caldwell’s upcoming appearance that made the headline of the Atlanta Constitution. She was making the news often at that time; she had just become the second woman to guest conduct the New York Philharmonic and the first to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera. Her picture appeared on the cover of TIME magazine, where she was dubbed “Music’s Wonder Woman.”
Her concert with the ASO sold out its run. A newspaper columnist described the experience as “watching a cosmic force lift the musicians out of mere competency into passion and brilliance.”
Caldwell’s program opened with Schubert’s Symphony №5 “played at its stylish best,” according to one review. That was followed by Elliott Carter’s Symphony №1, a rarity then and now.
Then came the pièce de resistance: Berlioz’ Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale. Originally written for a 200-piece military marching band, it was later revised to a more symphonic version featuring strings in the final movement.
The front part of the Atlanta Symphony Hall stage can be lowered to become an orchestra pit, and Caldwell placed the strings in the pit, then used the elevator to bring them up as they began playing, like the “Mighty Mo” organ at the Fox Theatre. “Sarah never did anything that wasn’t ultimately theatrical,” commented William Fred Scott, her young assistant at the time, who conducted the pit musicians. In later years, Scott would go on to become ASO’s Associate Conductor and Atlanta Opera’s Artistic Director.
Caldwell had long championed Berlioz’ works and conducted U.S. premieres of several of his operas. This symphony ends with an eight-bar brass fanfare, which, a reviewer noted, Sarah conducted “with precisely the same movements that a drum major uses to conduct a marching band.” It brought down the house.
