A marble plaque has recently adorned the wall at the entrance to the Gasthof Kaltenböck on St. Valentin’s main square. Here, 70 years ago, the conductors and music club representatives from Opponitz, Ybbsitz, St. Pantaleon, Ernsthofen, Hollenstein and St. Valentin met for the founding conference of the Lower Austrian Brass Band Association. The driving force behind looking beyond the music stands in his own local band was Josef Leeb, who joined the community band of St. Pantaleon-Erla in 1935 at the age of fourteen. The commitment of Leeb, who after the war passed his school leaving certificate at the evening school for workers and enjoyed private training in conducting and flute at the Linz Bruckner Conservatory, culminated in a 40-year chairmanship of the state association he initiated in 1952.
From the “Association of Lower Austrian Brass Bands” brought into being by Leeb, which initially only included the six founding bands from the Amstetten district, the “Association of Lower Austrian Music Bands” and finally the Lower Austrian Brass Band Association (NÖBV), which is known today, emerged. In the four decades under his direction, the NÖBV grew to 454 bands, in which more than 18,000 members played. In 1966, Leeb took over the music and singing club in Haag as Kapellmeister, from which the town band emerged. The St. Valentin town band commemorated the pioneer at a summer festival and a television fair for ORF3.
Source: Nachrichten
