Remembering Don Voegeli...

Don deserves to be much better known. Millions of people have heard his music -- he wrote the theme music used by All Things Considered on National Public Radio -- but few people know his hame.
Don Voegeli lived a life in music, from his parents encouraging him to learn and enjoy music, to his middle and high school days in the University of Wisconsin Summer Music Clinics, to his 41 years working for Wisconsin Public Radio. During the 1950s and 1960s, Don wrote many jingles for companies such as the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company and Continental Airlines, and he worked with some of the best people in the business. In 1971, he wrote the first theme music for All Things Considered. In 1974, he wrote a second theme, which is still used today. This booklet details Don's amazingly broad musical interests and talents, including his big band orchestra, children's songs for WHA's Let's Sing and electronic music in the 1970s. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives is proud to be the home of Don Voegeli's papers, including images and sound recordings.
This CD set is a true labor of love by Don's son Jim Voegeli. Jim has poured countless hours into finding recordings of his father's work, making sure he had the best versions available and getting those versions professionally digitized. Jim's notes for the CD set are a moving tribute to his father, the man and the musician.
Don Voegeli overcame a great deal of adversity in his life, but I think we can safely assume that music provided solace and comfort in the hard times, as well as much joy in the good times.
We all owe a large debt to Jim Voegeli for resurrecting his father's work so we can all enjoy the amazing talent of Don Voegeli.
-- David Null, Director, UW-Madison Archives.

This four-CD compilation was undertaken to preserve the music of my late father, Don Voegeli, whose career at the University of Wisconsin spanned nearly five decades. It is part of a new collection of materials at the UW-Madison Archives. Its title, Beautiful and Lovely, is the name of a children's song Don wrote about the beauty of nature and life for the radio series, Let's Sing.
My father was a prolific composer and performer. In addition to writing songs, he created music for public radio and television, theater, advertising, and educational and promotional films. He is perhaps best known for composing the theme of National Public Radio's All Things Considered, but he was also a UW professor, led a big band in the 1940s, served many roles as station WHA (the home of Wisconsin Public Radio), and wrote music and many jingles for commercials in the 1950s and 1960s. He played piano right up until his death in 2009 at the age of 89.
Three years after my father's death we discovered that many recordings of his music had been destroyed and those that remained were in analog form, perilously aging on old cassettes, reel-to-reel tapes, phonograph records and 16mm films. To preserve his music, we undertook the project of locating, researching, digitizing and restoring the recordings. This took thousands of hours and the help of many people over the course of three and one-half years.
Dad wrote all the music, lyrics and arrangements on these CDs, and also played all keyboard instruments, xylophone, accordion and synthesizers, except where noted in the track listings. On some tracks he performed everything, including all percussion. In some of the jingles, he directed rather than performed. These sessions required large ensembles and were recorded before multi-track recording was available. Everything had to be done correctly in a single take!
We hope you enjoy what you hear as much as we have enjoyed rediscovering and preserving this music.
-- Jim Voegeli

Special track notes:
Disc 2:
Tracks 29-42 are more examples of buttons or bridges from the 1970s used by public stations in programs and on All Things Considered.

Disc 3:
Tracks 29-33 are unknown TV beds, most likely for 7up or Oscar Meyer foods, with control room slates, ca. 1958.
Tracks 40-43 are unknown themes or interludes for WHA productions from the 1950s and early 1960s.
Tracks 45-50 are for Prange's stores, all recorded in Chicago on 7/13/1962.

Disc 4:
Tracks 11-26 are examples of some of the oldest jingles from 1953-1957.
Tracks 33-36 original purpose is unknown, possibly for film, ca. 1960.