Goldman, Edwin Franko

American composer and conductor of military bands.

Edwin Franko Goldman (1878-1956), a founder of the American Bandmasters Association and its first president, was a composer, scholar, and prominent conductor. In 1911 he formed his own band which began a summer concert series, later know as the Guggenhiem Memorial Concert Series, in New York City in 1918; this tradition continued under other directors including Goldman's son, Richard Franko Goldman, who led the band from 1956-1979. Goldman championed the performance of neglected band music and gave the American premieres of a number of important works, including commissioned pieces from many contemporary composers including Ottorino Respighi, Percy Grainger, Morton Gould, and Virgil Thomson.

Edwin Franko Goldman (1878-1956) was an American composer and conductor for military bands. As an avocation, he was also a collector of autographs, letters, photographs, and musical scores of many musical celebrities from his lifetime and before. In May 1954 he donated his collection to University of Michigan band director William Revelli for use by the band. The "Edwin Franko Goldman Room" in Harris Hall at the University of Michigan was dedicated to display the collection.

Edwin Franko Goldman (1878-1956), a founder of the American Bandmasters Association, was born in Louisville, Kentucky on 1 January 1878. Taken to New York to study music, he was eventually enrolled at the National Conservatory where he studied cornet and was a composition student of Antonín Dvořák. From 1899 to 1909 Goldman was solo cornetist with the Metropolitan Opera orchestra. In 1911 he formed his own band which began a summer concert series in New York City in 1918 and was later renamed the Guggenheim Memorial Concert Series; this tradition continued under other directors including Goldman's son, Richard Franko Goldman, who led the band from 1956-1979. The band ceased operations in 2005.

Goldman championed the performance of neglected band music and gave the American premieres of a number of important works, including Berlioz's Symphonie funebre et triomphale . Goldman believed strongly in the need for new music to enrich the repertoire of the band, and commissioned many contemporary composers including Ottorino Respighi, Percy Grainger, Morton Gould, and Virgil Thomson to write for the medium. He composed over one-hundred marches including On the Mall (1923), and wrote several books, including The Goldman Band System (1935).

In addition to being a founder, Goldman was the American Bandmasters Association's first president, and second honorary life president. He died on 21 February 1956 in New York, leaving behind an unpublished autobiography, Facing the Music, the manuscript of which is in the Library of Congress.