Fred Hemke, DMA (né Frederick Leroy Hemke Jr.; July 11, 1935 – April 17, 2019) was an American virtuoso classical saxophonist and influential professor of saxophone at Northwestern University. Hemke helped raise the popularity of classical saxophone, particularly among leading American composers and helped raise the recognition of classical saxophone in solo, chamber, and major orchestral repertoire. For a half century, from 1962 to 2012, Hemke was a full-time faculty music educator at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music. In 2002, Hemke was named Associate Dean Emeritus of the School of Music.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Hemke retired from Northwestern University in 2012. From the start of his career in the early 1960s, building on the achievements of earlier influential American teachers of classical saxophone — including those of Larry Teal, Joseph Allard, Cecil Leeson, Sigurd Raschèr, and Vincent Abato — Hemke, and a handful of peer American saxophonists — including Eugene Rousseau and Donald Sinta — helped build American saxophone repertoire through composers that included Muczynski, Creston, Stein, Heiden, and Karlins.[9][10] Journalist and author Michael Segell, in his 2005 book, The Devil's Horn, called Hemke "The Dean of Saxophone Education in America."[11][12] Hemke died on April 17, 2019.[13]

Formal education

From 1955 to 1956, Hemke studied saxophone with Marcel Mule at the Paris Conservatoire National de Musique et de Declamation, earning in 1956 the Premier Prix diploma.[lower-alpha 1] Hemke holds the distinction of being the first American saxophonist to earn a Premier Prix diploma from the Paris Conservatory. In 1958, Hemke earned a Bachelor of Science degree in music education from University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. In 1962, he earned a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music. In 1975, Hemke earned an A.Mus.D. degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.[1]

In primary and secondary school, until the start of college, Hemke studied saxophone with Eddie Schmidt, a jobbing teacher, band director in Milwaukee, and a close friend of Ralph Joseph Hermann (1914–1994) — musician, composer, songwriter, and music publisher. Hemke was highly influenced by Schmidt's recording of Marcel Mule — and also of his recordings of Al Gallodoro, and Freddy Gardner. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Hemke studied with Jay Morton, teacher of woodwinds. Hemke did not have a formal saxophone teacher at Eastman, but while there, studied reeds with clarinetist Stanley Hasty (1920–2011), flute repertoire with Joseph Mariano (1911–2007), and oboe repertoire with Robert Sprenkle (1914–1988).[14][15]

Teaching career

Hemke taught saxophone at Northwestern's School of Music for fifty years. He began in 1962 as a teaching associate. In 1964 he became an assistant professor and was appointed chairman of the newly formed Winds and Percussion Instruments Department. In 1967 Hemke was elevated to associate professor; on September 1, 1975, Full Professor; and on September 1, 1991, chairman of the Department of Music Performance Studies at the School of Music. Hemke served as senior associate dean for administration in the School of Music from 1995 to 2001. In 2002, Hemke was named the Louis and Elsie Snydacker Eckstein Professor of Music and also named associate dean emeritus of the School of Music. He retired from full-time teaching in 2012. As a music educator in higher education, Hemke has taught hundreds of saxophonists, many of whom have flourished as performing artists and music educators of international rank.[1] From 2013 until his death, Hemke served as artistic director and taught during summers at the Frederick L. Hemke Saxophone Institute, located at Snow Pond Center for the Arts in Sidney, ME.[16]

This section may require copy editing for long unsourced list of former students. (October 2022)

Selected former students:

• Steven Jordheim
  Professor of Saxophone
  Lawrence University

Other positions

Hemke was well known as the designer of a line of reeds which bear the trademark "Frederick L. Hemke Reeds." Rico Reeds began making the brand in 1982. Hemke was an artist-clinician for The Selmer Company,[lower-alpha 2] the North American distributor of saxophones made in France by the Paris firm, Henri Selmer Paris. In 1979 Hemke was host for the Sixth World Saxophone Congress held at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.

Performing career

Hemke was an internationally acclaimed saxophone artist. Hemke has appeared extensively as a solo artist and has given master classes and lectures in the United States, Canada, Scandinavia, and the Far East. He performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and many other orchestras. He premiered several works for saxophone, including Allan Pettersson's Symphony No. 16 (February 24, 1983)[17] and James Di Pasquale's Sonata for tenor saxophone. Di Pasquale, a prolific composer, had studied saxophone with Hemke and Sigurd Rascher.

Selected performances

• Hemke made his New York debut on April 16, 1962, at the Town Hall, a storied concert venue that had its first-ever classical saxophone performance on February 5, 1937 — by Cecil Leeson. Hemke performed compositions by Pascal, Lantier, Rueff, Hartley, and Stein and arrangements by Mule of Bach and Leclair.[18]
• Premier, February 27, 2014, Augusta Read Thomas, Hemke Concerto, Prisms of Light, for solo alto saxophone and orchestra

1. "Illuminations" (sample at 1:14 on YouTube)
2. "Sunrise Ballad"
3. "Chasing Radiance"
4. "Solar Rings"

Hemke, saxophone, with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, William Boughton conducting

Recorded at Woolsey Hall, New Haven, Connecticut, February 27, 2014[19]

Commissioned as a retirement gift to Fred Hemke by current and former students; the composer, Thomas, had been Hemke's colleague at Northwestern

From the album, A Portrait of Augusta Read Thomas, Nimbus Records (CD) (2014); OCLC 889352260

Advocacy for B♭ tenor saxophone

In a traditional modern saxophone quartet — B♭ soprano, E♭ alto, B♭ tenor, and E♭ baritone saxophone — repertoire and popularity for solo classical was, and still is, dominated by B♭ soprano and E♭ alto saxophone. Bucking the trend, Hemke spent time focusing on the B♭ tenor as a classical solo instrument, as evidenced by the release of his 1971 solo album, Music for Tenor Saxophone. In orchestral music, the tenor is known as one of the three saxophone voices in Ravel's Boléro — originally performed by two saxophonists, one on E♭ sopranino and one on tenor doubling on B♭ soprano. Recordings by tenor saxophone virtuoso James Houlik and others notwithstanding, classical tenor saxophone recordings make up a small portion of the classical saxophone repertoire and discography universe.

Selected discography

Selected publications

Educational publications

• The Early History of the Saxophone (DMA dissertation), by Hemke, University of Wisconsin (1975); OCLC 19033726 (all editions), OCLC 65652818 (all editions)

The dissertation explores in depth the saxophone's history and gradual acceptance in the realm of symphonic music

• On Reading Music: An Information Processing Analysis, by Gilbert Koreb Krulee (born 1924) & Hemke (1980); OCLC 30499976

The Selmer Series, Elkhart, Indiana

• "Teacher's Guide to the Saxophone," by Hemke, Elkhart, Indiana: Selmer[lower-alpha 2] (1977); OCLC 6549827
• The Orchestral Saxophone, by Hemke & Walker L Smith, Elkhart, Indiana: Selmer (1975); OCLC 9051582
• A Comprehensive Listing of Saxophone Literature, by Hemke, Elkhart, Indiana: Selmer (1975); OCLC 2987346

Commissions and dedications

• "Music for Tenor Saxophone and Piano," by M. William Karlins (1969, ©1972); OCLC 1951589, 70345764
• Symphony No. 16, for orchestra with bravura alto saxophone, by Allan Pettersson, commissioned by Hemke (1979, ©1989); OCLC 36855336
• The Dream Net, 1974, revised 1978, by Warren Benson, commissioned by Hemke, dedicated to Alec Wilder, premiered by Hemke May 23, 1975, with the Eckstein Quartet, Lutken Hall, Northwestern University; OCLC 9579996
• "Wind Rose", by Warren Benson (1966), commissioned by Hemke and the Northwestern University Saxophone, dedicated to Hemke and the Northwestern University Saxophone Quartet on their tour of Asia, Spring, 1966; OCLC 2992504, 157036679, 435949517
• Little Suite, by Walter Hartley, for Hemke, for baritone saxophone and piano (1974); OCLC 51963415, 5377209
• 5 Etudes for Alto Saxophone, by Robert Lemay (fr), Courlay: Éditions Fuzeau

2000; OCLC 63046841

Revised 2006; OCLC 76879383, 76879383, 658778115, OCLC 878432573, 658778115, 658778164, OCLC 76879388

Commissioned by Jean-François Guay

Homage to Marcel Mule, Jean-Marie Londeix, Eugene Rousseau, Fred Hemke, Daniel Deffayet

Funded in part by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec

• Episode, for saxophone quartet, by Jared Tozier Spears (born 1936), commissioned by Hemke (1969); OCLC 28207501
• Symphony for Saxophone and Wind Band, by Gerald Eugene Kemner (1932–2006) (composed around 1962 for Hemke)

Music editions

• Hemke has edited works for saxophone solos and saxophone ensembles, twenty-five of which are part of the Frederick Hemke Saxophone Series published by the Southern Music Company.[lower-alpha 10]

Awards and honors

Hemke's saxophone and accessories

Hemke had been a primary design consultant for the S-80 mouthpiece manufactured by Henri Selmer Paris. For alto saxophone, Hemke uses a custom version of the S-80. The mouthpiece is metal with a square chamber.

The Selmer Mark VII E♭ alto and B♭ tenor saxophones, introduced in 1974, were designed in consultation with Hemke.

Miscellaneous

• For research, while in grad school at Eastman, Hemke had borrowed from H. & A. Selmer[lower-alpha 2] one of the world's original saxophones made by Adolphe Sax around 1860. On September 17, 1960, a custodian unwittingly stuffed a cardboard box containing the instrument into an incinerator and completely destroyed it. The only other one in existence was in a Paris museum.[26]
• Hemke has been a lifelong visual artist. His works are in the Regenstein Hall of Music at Northwestern University and on the covers of his albums.

Audio samples and videography

• Symphony No. 16 on YouTube, by Allan Pettersson

Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Yuri Ahronovitch conducting, Swedish Society Discofil (1994); OCLC 45586363

• Coefficient on YouTube, by Claudio Gabriele (composed 2005)

For 12 saxophones

North American premier

Northwestern University Saxophone Ensemble, Hemke conducting

• Illustration Analytique Supergelatineuse on YouTube, by Claudio Gabriele (composed 2011)

For 9 saxophones

World premiere, 2008, Pick-Steiger Concert Hall, Evanston, Illinois

Northwestern University Saxophone Ensemble, Hemke conducting

Hemke Legacy Tribute: May 29 – June 3, 1912, Northwestern University

• Hemke's final performance at Northwestern University on YouTube

7:30 pm, May 31, 2012, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, Northwestern University

Songs by Gershwin, arranged by Jonah L. Blum (born 1976)

Northwestern University Chamber Orchestra, Robert Hasty conducting

Scenes from Porgy and Bess

1. "Summertime" (prologue on YouTube)
2. "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" (at 2:30 on YouTube)
3. "I Got Plenty o' Nuttin' " (at 4:42 on YouTube)
4. "Gone, Gone, Gone" (at 6:40 on YouTube)
5. "I Loves You, Porgy" (at 9:00 on YouTube)
6. "Summertime" (epilogue at 11:49 on YouTube)

• Northwestern University Hymn (alma mater), "Hail to Thee Northwestern" on YouTube

(Brahms's Variations on the St. Anthony Chorale by Haydn)

Arranged by Gary S. Bricault (born 1952) at the request of Fred Hemke

Northwestern University Alumni Saxo Orchestra, Stephen Alltop conducting

Performed June 3, 2012, at Northwestern University

105 saxophones: 3 E♭ sopraninos, 23 B♭ sopranos, 35 E♭ altos, 25 B♭ tenors, 12 E♭ baritones, 6 B♭ basses, and 1 E♭ contra bass tubax[lower-alpha 11]

• My Teacher, the Fred Hemke Legacy on YouTube, Eric Howell Music (DVD) (2012); OCLC 853456426

Further reading

• Interview with Frederick Hemke, April 20, 2000

Notes

References