(We are grateful to the New York
Philharmonic [who supplied information to the New York Times]
for permission to reprint. The article appeared on September 10,
1985. The officers and membership extend their sympathy to Mrs.
Gom
berg. Editors.)
Will Crutchfield
Harold Gomberg, the principal
oboist of the New York Philharmonic from 1943 to 1977, died of
a heart attack Saturday, September 7, in Capri, where he had lived
since his retirement. He was 68 years old.
Mr. Gomberg made many recordings, both in solos with the Philharmonic and on his own, the best-known being The Baroque Oboe. He helped introduce lavish embellishment in Baroque music at a time when few mainstream instrumentalists did so. For many years he also taught at the Juilliard School, and at the invitation of Pierre Boulez, the Philharmonic's music director at the time of his retirement, Mr. Gomberg gave seminars at the Ircam, Mr. Boulez's center for contemporary music in France.
Studied at Curtis Institute
Among his fellow players Mr.
Gomberg enjoyed a reputation as a sharp critic of conductors,
but he cherished recollections of his experiences playing under
Bruno Walter, Fritz Reiner, Arturo Toscanini and Pierre Monteux.
His many solo appearances with the Philharmonic included a partnership
with the violinist Isaac Stern in a Bach concerto and performances
of various works of Mozart and Bach.
The composer Samuel Barber was working on a concerto for Mr. Gomberg at the time of his death in 1981. The oboist played a movement from the unfinished work, orchestrated by Charles Turner, at a series of Philharmonic concerts in December of that year. "Harold, to me, was always the paragon of American oboe playing," Mr. Mehta recalled yesterday, "even as a student in India I had heard about him. He was really the finest exponent of the Tabuteau school. I just hired a student of Harold's as first oboe in Israel."
Mr. Gomberg was born in Malden, Mass. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music under the great French oboist Marcel Tabuteau. Four of his six siblings also graduated from Curtis, and his brother Ralph, also an oboist, plays with the Boston Symphony. Mr. Gomberg began his orchestral career in 1934 as principal oboist of the National Symphony in Washington, and also held positions with the Toronto Symphony and the St. Louis Symphony before coming to the Philharmonic in 1943.
In addition to his musical career, Gomberg was an avid painter who exhibited from time to time for more than 30 years.
He is survived by his wife, the harpist and composer Margret Brill.