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Roger Wagner
Roger Wagner
Roger Wagner
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Key Information

Roger Wagner, KCSG (January 16, 1914 – September 17, 1992) was an American choral musician, administrator and educator. In 1946 he founded the Roger Wagner Chorale, which became one of America's premier vocal ensembles. He also founded the Los Angeles Master Chorale, one of the three original resident companies of the Los Angeles Music Center, in 1964.

Early life

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Wagner was born in Le Puy, France, on January 16, 1914, and died on September 17, 1992, in Dijon, France.[1] His younger brother was actor and voiceover artist Jack Wagner. Roger Wagner was immersed in music from his youngest years. His father was an organist of the cathedral in Dijon, France and subsequently in Los Angeles, after emigrating to the United States in 1921. At the age of 12, Roger assumed his first musical position in his own right, serving as organist at St. Ambrose Church in West Hollywood.[2]

Education

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Wagner returned to France in 1931 to complete his musical studies, earning his degree from the College of Montmorency while studying with Marcel Dupré. He then served in the French army, during which time, he qualified as a member of the French decathlon team for the 1936 Summer Olympics.

Roger Wagner Chorale

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Main article: Roger Wagner Chorale

In 1937, Wagner joined the MGM chorus in Hollywood and was subsequently appointed music director of St. Joseph's Church in Los Angeles, where he established an outstanding choir of men and boys, including a young Paul Salamunovich. In 1945, Roger Wagner became the supervisor of young choruses for the City of Los Angeles, most notably the "Los Angeles Concert Youth Chorus." It was from a madrigal group of twelve of these singers that the soon world-renowned Roger Wagner Chorale was born in 1946.

In 1964, on completion of the Los Angeles Music Center, Wagner and representatives of the Junior Chamber of Commerce formed a resident choral ensemble, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, which became a resident company of the Music Center alongside the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Credits include performance with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra in the Presidential Inaugural at the Kennedy Center in 1973 and a tour of the Soviet Union as a United States State Department "cultural ambassador" in 1974. Wagner served as the chorale's music director for 22 years until he was named music director laureate.[3]

The chorale's 1951 recording of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina's "Pope Marcellus Mass" was selected by the Library of Congress as a 2010 addition to the National Recording Registry, which selects recordings annually that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[4]

Services to education

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Roger Wagner also made a significant contribution to education and church music serving 32 years on the faculty of UCLA where he continued as professor emeritus until his death. He was also distinguished professor of choral music at Pepperdine University.[5] In addition to his renowned choral work at St. Joseph's Church, Wagner served as music director at St. Charles Borromeo Church (North Hollywood) from 1942 to 1949, succeeded by his protege, Paul Salamunovich, who also eventually succeed him as conductor of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Wagner founded the Roger Wagner Center for Choral Studies at California State University, Los Angeles.[6]

Awards

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Numerous honors and awards were earned by Roger Wagner during his lifetime including a Doctor of Music degree from the University of Montreal on the masses of Josquin des Prez and honorary doctorates from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, and St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin. For his contribution to sacred music, Pope Paul VI honored Wagner with the title Knight Commander in the Order of St. Gregory, and the Archbishop of Naples presented him with the Order of St. Bridgette. The 1990 Western Division American Choral Directors Association Convention in Fresno, California, was dedicated to Roger Wagner for his outstanding contribution to choral art.

The world's leading conductors and musicians, among them Eugene Ormandy, Leopold Stokowski, Bruno Walter, Otto Klemperer, Serge Koussevitsky, hailed Wagner's incomparable genius in the field of choral music. His vocal arrangements are published by Lawson-Gould and released by Warner Bros.

A large, painted portrait of Wagner hangs in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Roger Wagner also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, on the north side of the 7000 block of Hollywood Boulevard.[7]

Wagner's view

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"Following one of our performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, a well-known local critic asked me, "What is this hypnotic power you wield over your singers? And why did you form the Chorale?" The first question is indeed flattering; however, just the opposite is true. Singers hypnotize me, especially when they are good. The second question can best be answered, I think, by telling something about the Chorale. Every Monday evening 200 singers converge on the Chorale studios to do one thing...sing.

They sing choral masterworks, large and small, and find the experience good. School teachers, salesmen, housewives, executives, factory workers, students, professional musicians and others from all walks of life and from distances up to a hundred miles, come with one aim of trying to produce fine choral singing. Each has had some musical training, can read music and loves to sing. To them the Chorale is an ideal, as it is to me, and they dedicate themselves to it with an almost unbelievable devotion. Several have changed or even left jobs that continually interfered with rehearsals. This sort of thing naturally calls for whatever best I have to offer. It would be presumptuous of me to assume that these intelligent people make such sacrifices out of deference to me alone. The main attraction I have stated above. But aside from the quality of the music we perform and unceasing drive toward perfection, we work hard, accomplish a good deal but manage to have a little fun along the way. We have many beliefs in common. We believe music should become a living expression of human emotions and creeds. When we rehearse great works we feel we are truly living through a great experience. We are not concerned with political affiliations or social questions; our interests are purely musical. The Chorale is a heterogeneous mixture of races, colors and creeds whose members lose sight of any differences in a common endeavor. And one thing in which we unanimously concur is the right of self-expression and of the dignity of individuals who make sincere efforts to raise choral art to the highest possible level."

References

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Roger Wagner

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Roger Wagner is a French-born American choral conductor known for founding the Roger Wagner Chorale in 1946 and co-founding the Los Angeles Master Chorale in 1964, both of which became leading ensembles that elevated professional standards in choral performance and interpretation across the United States and internationally. His distinctive approach emphasized rich, blended sonorities and expressive depth, particularly in Medieval and Renaissance repertoire, while also championing contemporary works through his studies with composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg. Born on January 16, 1914, in Le Puy, France, Wagner immigrated to the United States with his family at age seven and grew up in Los Angeles, where he began his musical career early as a church choral director and organist. He pursued advanced studies in organ with Marcel Dupré in France and conducting with figures including Otto Klemperer and Bruno Walter, while also studying composition and orchestration with notable teachers in California. Over his career, he held key academic positions, including head of the music department at Marymount College and faculty roles at the University of California, where he mentored generations of singers and conductors from 1959 to 1981. The Roger Wagner Chorale toured extensively across continents and produced numerous acclaimed recordings, establishing Wagner's reputation as a leading authority on early music and an advocate for professionalizing choral singing with disciplined ensembles comparable to orchestral standards. He served as music director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale until 1986, after which he continued leading the Roger Wagner Chorale and remained active in conducting until his death from cancer on September 17, 1992, in Dijon, France, at age 78. His legacy endures through the ongoing influence of his ensembles and the Roger Wagner Center for Choral Studies, which honors his contributions to choral artistry, education, and performance.

Early life and education

Birth and family background

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Immigration to the United States

Roger Wagner immigrated to the United States with his family in 1921, at the age of seven. The family settled in Los Angeles, California, where his father assumed the position of organist at St. Brendan's Church. Prior to the emigration, his father had served as organist at the Cathedral of Dijon in France. This move established the Wagner family in Southern California following the father's professional appointment.

Musical training and early positions

Roger Wagner received his earliest musical instruction at home from his father, an organist at the Cathedral of Dijon in France and later in Los Angeles churches after the family's immigration. At the age of 12, he took on his first independent role, serving as organist and directing the choir on Sunday mornings at St. Ambrose Church in West Hollywood. Initially intending to enter the priesthood, Wagner shifted his career path toward music at age 17. He returned to France in 1932 for advanced studies, spending five years focused on organ performance, composition, and church music research. During this period he earned a degree in music from the College of Montmorency and studied organ with the renowned Marcel Dupré. While pursuing his studies in France, Wagner served in the French Army.

Choral career beginnings

Work in Hollywood and church choirs

Roger Wagner began his professional musical career in Hollywood after returning to Los Angeles in the mid-1930s, joining the MGM studio chorus in 1937 where he sang in film soundtracks and worked on productions featuring artists such as Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. His involvement in the film industry focused on choral singing and ensemble work rather than original composition for motion pictures. Soon afterward, Wagner was appointed organist and music director at St. Joseph’s Church in downtown Los Angeles, a position he held for three decades, during which he established an outstanding men and boys choir known for its high standards and performance quality. From 1942 to 1949, he served as music director at St. Charles Borromeo Church in North Hollywood, leading its choral program before being succeeded in the role by Paul Salamunovich in 1949. In 1945, Wagner was selected as supervisor of young choruses for the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Music, where he coordinated citywide youth choral activities and assembled talented singers from various groups into the Los Angeles Concert Youth Chorus. This work with young voices laid groundwork for his later selection of a madrigal group that would lead to the founding of his professional chorale.

Founding of the Roger Wagner Chorale

The Roger Wagner Chorale was founded in 1946 by choral conductor Roger Wagner. It originated from a select madrigal group of twelve singers drawn from the Los Angeles Concert Youth Chorus, a youth ensemble Wagner supervised as part of his role overseeing young choruses for the City of Los Angeles beginning in 1945. This small madrigal ensemble marked the establishment of the Roger Wagner Chorale, which rapidly developed into one of America's premier vocal ensembles.

Leadership of major ensembles

Development of the Roger Wagner Chorale

The Roger Wagner Chorale developed under Roger Wagner's direction into one of America's premier vocal ensembles, renowned for its disciplined sound, rhythmic precision, tonal opulence, and expansive repertoire that encompassed madrigals, Renaissance polyphony, sacred choral works, and contemporary premieres. The group's growth was marked by its emergence as a professional touring ensemble of high-caliber singers capable of consistent excellence across diverse repertoire and venues, establishing Roger Wagner as a pioneering figure in the rise of professional choruses in North America. The chorale achieved significant recognition through its recordings, most notably the 1951 performance of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina's Pope Marcellus Mass, which was inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2010 for its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance. This early Capitol Records release demonstrated the ensemble's ability to convey the rich beauty of Palestrina's 1562 mass with exceptional clarity and expressiveness, contributing to the chorale's international prominence. Roger Wagner's own choral arrangements, including settings of traditional carols such as "He Is Born" and "All Through the Night," were published by Lawson-Gould, extending the influence of his interpretive style to other performing groups.

Founding and direction of the Los Angeles Master Chorale

Roger Wagner founded the Los Angeles Master Chorale in 1964 as a founding resident company of the Los Angeles Music Center. He established the ensemble in collaboration with Z. Wayne Griffin and the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce to create a professional choral group capable of performing with major orchestras and presenting independent concerts. Wagner served as music director for 22 years, from 1964 until 1986, during which time the chorale also maintained a close association with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Under Wagner's leadership, the chorale achieved several high-profile milestones. In January 1973, he shared the podium with Eugene Ormandy to conduct the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale at the Kennedy Center during a Presidential Inaugural concert. In 1974, the ensemble toured the Soviet Union as a United States State Department cultural ambassador under Wagner's direction. After stepping down in 1986, Wagner was named music director laureate of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. His protégé Paul Salamunovich, who had long been associated with Wagner's choral work, later succeeded him as music director.

Academic and educational contributions

Teaching positions and institutions

Roger Wagner held prominent teaching positions at several Southern California institutions, where he influenced choral education and trained numerous musicians and conductors. He served on the faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1959 to 1981 (approximately 22 years), teaching choral conducting and related subjects. Later in his career, Wagner joined Pepperdine University as Distinguished Professor of Choral Music, where he also conducted the Seaver College Singers. He founded the Roger Wagner Center for Choral Studies (also known as the Roger Wagner Choral Institute and Center for Choral Studies) at California State University, Los Angeles, serving as its president and founding director to preserve archival materials and advance choral studies.

Establishment of choral studies programs

Roger Wagner founded the Roger Wagner Center for Choral Studies at California State University, Los Angeles in 1987. The center was legally established that year and formally announced in a public manner shortly thereafter, marking a dedicated institutional commitment to choral music within the university system. The Roger Wagner Center for Choral Studies serves as a resource for the advancement of choral music education, performance, and research in California higher education. It has functioned as a chartered center supporting studies in areas such as choral conducting, repertoire, and related scholarship, including collections of papers and materials associated with Wagner's work. Through its programs and leadership—later including directors such as William Belan—the center has influenced choral music education across California universities by fostering expertise in diverse repertoires and training for conductors and singers. Wagner's establishment of this center represented a key extension of his legacy into academic infrastructure, helping to institutionalize choral studies as a formalized field of study and practice in the region.

Contributions to sacred music and performances

Church music directorships

Roger Wagner held several prominent directorships in Catholic churches in Los Angeles, where he cultivated exceptional choirs dedicated to liturgical and sacred music performance. He served as music director at St. Charles Borromeo Church in North Hollywood from 1942 to 1949. He also maintained a long tenure as music director at St. Joseph’s Church in Los Angeles from 1937 for approximately 30 years, during which he built a renowned choir of men and boys that contributed significantly to sacred music traditions in the region. For his contributions to sacred music, Pope Paul VI honored Wagner with the title of Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (KCSG). He also received the Order of St. Bridget from the Archbishop of Naples. These papal and archiepiscopal recognitions acknowledged his impact on church music.

Notable recordings and performances

The Roger Wagner Chorale's 1951 recording of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina's Pope Marcellus Mass remains one of Wagner's most enduring contributions to choral music. This performance was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2010, where it was recognized as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" to the nation's recorded sound heritage. The Roger Wagner Chorale earned acclaim from leading conductors of the era, including Eugene Ormandy, Leopold Stokowski, Bruno Walter, Otto Klemperer, and Serge Koussevitzky, who hailed Wagner's incomparable genius in the field of choral music. These endorsements underscored the chorale's reputation for stylistic authenticity and expressive depth in early music repertoire.

Film and media involvement

Early Hollywood chorus work

Roger Wagner's involvement in early Hollywood chorus work commenced in the mid-1930s upon his return to Los Angeles from France, where he had pursued advanced studies in organ and composition. He joined the MGM studio chorus, lending his voice to the choral sequences in several motion pictures of the era, including the 1935 film Naughty Marietta, where he performed alongside Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. This studio chorus participation represented his primary direct engagement with the Hollywood film industry during this period, focused exclusively on ensemble singing rather than any primary acting or directing roles. His connections to Hollywood were facilitated by his longstanding foundation in choral singing, rooted in youth experiences within Los Angeles church and choral settings—his family had emigrated there in his childhood, and his father served as a church organist, providing an environment in which Wagner began singing early in life. By the late 1930s, following his MGM work, he transitioned to prominent church music directorships, though his brief studio chorus tenure offered practical exposure to large-scale choral performance in the context of film production.

Choral contributions to films and posthumous uses

Roger Wagner's choral work extended to contributions on film soundtracks, including both direct involvement during his lifetime and later uses of his recordings. In the 1955 film We're No Angels, he is credited as lyricist for the song "Ma France Bien-Aimée," with music composed by G. Martini. This reflected his engagement with vocal music for cinematic purposes. For the 1969 musical Paint Your Wagon, Wagner served as conductor of choral music, directing the chorus on the soundtrack album for numbers including "They Call the Wind Maria," "Hand Me Down That Can o' Beans," and the finale. His role focused on choral direction, complementing the film's ensemble vocal arrangements. Posthumously, a recording conducted by Wagner of the "Waltz & Chorus from Faust, Act II" by Charles Gounod—performed by the Roger Wagner Chorale with the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra—was featured in the 2019 film Jojo Rabbit. This inclusion highlights the enduring use of his choral interpretations in modern cinema.

Awards and honors

Roger Wagner was born in Le Puy, Haute-Loire, France, to a French mother and a German-born father who served as an organist and choirmaster at the local cathedral. Roger Wagner's immediate family included his wife, Carol Wagner, with whom he had two children: a daughter, Robin Wagner, and a son, Roger Wagner Jr. He also had a younger brother, Jack Wagner, who was an actor and voiceover artist noted for his long tenure as a narrator for Disneyland attractions, including the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Haunted Mansion. He was survived by two grandchildren. In his later years, Wagner held the title of music director laureate of the Los Angeles Master Chorale after stepping down as its director in 1986 at age 72. He continued leading the Roger Wagner Chorale and pursued new teaching activities following a serious health setback in early 1987, when he collapsed onstage during a concert due to a subdural hematoma above his brain. Although he recovered sufficiently to resume conducting and other work, he faced a prolonged battle with cancer that originated in the prostate gland and eventually spread throughout his body. In 1991, Paul Salamunovich succeeded him as leader of the Roger Wagner Chorale. When his illness became terminal, Wagner chose to return to France several weeks before his death to spend his final days in Dijon, his mother's birthplace. He was accompanied by his longtime friend Donna Hackley. One of his last conversations was with fellow conductor Robert Shaw. Wagner died in Dijon on September 17, 1992, at the age of 78.

References

  1. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-09-18-mn-675-story.html
  2. https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Wagner-Roger.htm
  3. https://www.gentrypublications.com/series/roger-wagner-center-for-choral-studies/
  4. https://acda-publications.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/choral_journals/Mar_1962_Roger_Wagner.pdf
  5. https://media.musicasacra.com/publications/caecilia/caecilia_v89n03_1962.pdf
  6. https://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/19/obituaries/roger-wagner-78-founder-and-leader-of-2-choral-groups.html
  7. https://www.pristineclassical.com/collections/ensemble-roger-wagner-chorale
  8. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-02-01-ca-222-story.html
  9. https://cupresents.org/performance/11225/artist/the-roger-wagner-chorale/
  10. https://iloveoldtimeradio.com/extras/cast-crew/roger-wagner
  11. https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Wagner-Chorale.htm
  12. https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/recording-registry/registry-by-induction-years/2010/
  13. https://chorusamerica.org/conducting-performing/rise-professional-chorus
  14. https://www.alfred.com/he-is-born/p/00-LG00663/
  15. https://www.alfred.com/all-through-the-night/p/00-LG00659/
  16. https://www.laphil.com/musicdb/artists/3213/los-angeles-master-chorale
  17. https://choralnet.org/archives/announcements/los-angeles-master-chorale-music-director-emeritus-paul-salamunovich-dies-at-age-86
  18. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-07-13-we-20599-story.html
  19. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-12-09-ca-18484-story.html
  20. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-07-31-ca-10662-story.html
  21. https://experts.calstatela.edu/expertise/roger-wagner-center-for-choral-studies/
  22. https://idmmei.isme.org/record.php?id=771
  23. https://www.gentrypublications.com/product-category/william-belan-madrigal-series/
  24. https://www.prlog.org/11936077-csula-professor-to-travel-to-costa-rica-as-fulbright-scholar.html
  25. https://experts.calstatela.edu/department/music/
  26. https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/recording-registry/complete-national-recording-registry-listing/
  27. https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/51721
  28. https://www.discogs.com/master/102649-Various-Paint-Your-Wagon-Music-From-The-Soundtrack
  29. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064782/fullcredits/
  30. https://www.tunefind.com/artist/the-roger-wagner-chorale
  31. https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Jojo_Rabbit_(soundtrack)
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