Abe Holzmann

Abe Holzmann

Biography

Abraham "Abe" Holzmann (19 August 1874, New York City – 16 January 1939, East Orange, New Jersey) was an American composer, who is most famous today for his march Blaze Away!

The young Holzmann learned music in Germany, then studied at the New York Conservatory of Music. A review originally published by the New York Herald on Sunday, 13 January 1901 entitled German Composer who Writes American Cakewalk Music describes "[h]is knowledge of bass and counterpoint is thorough, and his standard compositions bear the stamp of harmonic lore, which makes his proclivity for the writing of the popular style of music the more remarkable."

Abe married Isabelle Fishblatt around 1908, and he became the manager of the Orchestra Department at Jerome Remick & Company, music publisher in New York. He was an early member (1923) of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). He earned his livelihood as composer/arranger for Tin Pan Alley publishers, including Leo Feist. He later was advertising manager for the American Federation of Musicians publication, International Musician.

His music was especially revered by ragtime enthusiasts of the time, although he composed marches, waltzes, and other light music.

Works for Winds

• A La Carte
• Blaze Away
• Blaze of Glory
• Bunch o' Blackberries
• Calanthe Waltzes
• First Love Waltz
• Flying Arrow March
• Inauguration March
• Old Faithful March
• Smokey Mokes
• Spirit of Independence (arr. Lampe) (1912)
• Uncle Sammy March (arr. Mesang) (1904/1956)
• Whip, The
• Winning Fight, The
• Yankee Grit March

Resources

• Abe Holzmann, Wikipedia
• Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. "Holzmann, Abe." Accessed 30 June 2014.