Famed Clarinetist dies

[alicia-w]

As a clarinetist myself, I found this to be sad.

David Weber, a clarinetist, who was one of the last remaining links to the pioneers of American woodwind-playing and went on to become a master teacher, died on Monday at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan. He was 92.

His son Michael Weber announced the death. He had continued giving lessons until June.

Mr. Weber played for conductors like Toscanini, Stokowski and Leinsdorf. His students occupy chairs in orchestras around the country, including the Milwaukee Symphony, the Dallas Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra. Benny Goodman took lessons (but never paid and took his best reeds, Mr. Weber once said), and so did the jazz clarinetist Kenny Davern.

But his most profound influence may have been on the sound of the instrument.

Mr. Weber's great gift, and his constant goal for students, was beauty of tone. His sound was full, rich, resonant and pure.

"It had a unique bell-like quality, that kind of clarity," said Jon Manasse, a soloist and principal clarinetist of American Ballet Theater. "The resonance of the sound, when it was correct, was enough to communicate the music without adding special effects or gimmicks."

As recounted by Mr. Manasse, Stokowski once called Mr. Weber over and said: "You, sir. Your tone, it's like a dove cooing."

Mr. Weber himself, in an article in The Clarinet, described good tone this way: "Think of colors: it's got to be gold, silver, blue velvet. You have to reach out and touch it."

Mr. Weber was a dogmatic teacher but deeply devoted to his students, and did not suffer fools gladly. He had a reputation for being contentious, standing up to conductors and sometimes alienating colleagues. He once argued with the conductor Bruno Walter, who tried to make peace by giving an inscribed copy of his book about Mahler.

"I don't think it succeeded," his son Michael said. "My father never spoke well of Bruno Walter in my hearing." His survivors also include another son, Robert, and his wife, Dorothy.

David Weber was born on Dec. 18, 1913, in Vilnius, Lithuania, and moved with his family to Detroit. He took up the clarinet and studied with a member of the Detroit Symphony. One day he arrived for a lesson and was sent home; his teacher had committed suicide. The incident was searing, he told The Clarinet.

He went to New York to study with Simeon Bellison, the Russian principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, who along with Daniel Bonade of France — another Weber teacher — helped establish modern clarinet-playing in the United States.

In the late 1930's, he auditioned for Toscanini and was immediately brought into the NBC Symphony. He also had stints with the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, CBS Symphony and Symphony of the Air, the NBC Symphony's successor. He was principal clarinet of the New York City Ballet Orchestra from 1964 until 1986, when he retired from performance, and taught at the Juilliard School.