Wayne Barlow
![](/files/original/f93b0dbdcd34808afda4db5d8a32d7f1.jpeg)
Title
Creator
Date
Rights
Biographical Text
Interviewer
Interviewee
Transcription
Ruth Watanabe: [1] All right. We started to talk about your career as a church organist, and you said that you began at Immanuel Baptist Church?
Wayne Barlow: I grew up as youngster in the church, and having studies in organ later on, and about time I was in high school, and when I was a student at Eastman, then I also studied organ with the then-organist at Immanuel, who was Mrs. William Vaughn. [2]
RW: Oh, really?
WB: Yes. I’ve known the Vaughns a long time. They-they went to the church.
RW: I knew that you were very friendly with them.
WB: Yeah. When Elizabeth and Bill went down to Oak Ridge to—when Bill was associated with the Oak Ridge division of Kodak, I simply became the organist at Immanuel, having studied with Elizabeth anyway, and already familiar with the service. At that time, I was not directing the choir. I was only the organist. For several years I did that, until World War I—until World War II came along, and then I’d had to really drop everything, really.
RW: You went to work in some defense industry?
WB: I went to work at Stromberg-Carlson. [3]
RW: Oh, is that where you were?
WB: I kept teaching here, and I arranged my schedule so that I could do both.
RW: No, I remember when I was in your class in [AT], [4] you were going out to—you were working in the defense industry.
WB: Yeah. I’ve had several of those jobs—
RW: Oh, did you?
WB: - from Stromberg’s to—I did machinist work in their defense plans [laughter]. It was great fun. After that, I went back. The next job I had was out at one of the Methodist churches on Lake Avenue. [5] Can’t remember which one. Then I went to St. Thomas Episcopal Church. [6] My religious preference has always been towards the—shut it off [laughter].
[Recorder turned off and on.]
I was just saying that after my experience with the Baptist church and the Methodist church, I had some acquaintance with the more structured type of service represented by the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church. There was an opening for organist and choir director at St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church on Highland Avenue, and I went over and talked to the director there, and he said I looked like a—certainly a possibility, and he also said that in that church, music committees were illegal, so he hired me on the spot.
I stayed at St. Thomas for 29 years as organist and choir director, and that was really an experience. It’s something I will never—cherish that experience all my life. It was such a joy to be able to conduct from the console, do exactly the kind of music I wanted to do and the choir wanted to do, and—
RW: Now, what about your own compositions for the church?
WB: Well, I was actually really involved with church activity, church music at St. Thomas. Concordia Publishing Company approached me along sometime in the ‘50 or the ‘60s, I guess, to do a complete series of what—choral voluntaries they called them, for the church year. I never finished the entire set, but I did four volumes of organ pieces for the church year for Concordia. They were lots of fun to do, and I think they’re rather widely used, not only in the Lutheran church, but other churches as well, still.
RW: Yes. You just answered my question. I was always of the opinion that Concordia was a Lutheran— [7]
WB: Yeah, yep.
RW: - publishing house.
WB: From St. Thomas, I went briefly to Christ Church in Rochester [8] for about three years. When I retired from Eastman, I decided on having where I could keep choirs together for 30 or more years, I would just retire from that, as well, although I had a substitute, in a sense, of course, but—
RW: Well, now, who succeeded you at Immanuel Baptist? Did Wallace Gray— [9]
WB: Wallace Gray, yes.
RW: - succeed you?
WB: Yes, Wallace Gray was there for many years, too. I think he succeeded, yeah. No, wait a minute. Wait a minute. The Vaughns came back from Oak Ridge—
RW: Oh, did they?
WB: - and then Mrs. Vaughn started playing there again. Then I think Wallace succeeded her after she—
RW: Oh, I see, after she—
WB: - retired.
RW: - retired?
WB: Yeah.
RW: I see. Well, Blair Cosman [10] also played—
WB: Blair?
RW: - at Christ Church didn’t he?
WB: He played at Christ Church too, and Lyndol Mitchell [11] for a time was choir director there.
RW: I didn’t know that.
WB: Yeah, yeah. One of my published pieces of service music was dedicated to Lyndol Mitchell. It was a community service, for the Episcopal service.
RW: Well, that’s very interesting.
WB: That’s a part of my musical activity that I have enjoyed very, very much, and I still keep in close touch with.
RW: All right. Now, you have been, for a long time, an active Rotarian?
WB: Yes, about 50 years by now, and—
RW: Is that so?
WB: - a couple years, back in the ‘30s. Dave Harvard, [12] who was one of the world’s greatest song leaders, got me to start playing. At that time, there was always a little singing after lunch for the Rotarians. I’ve stuck with that also all my life. I still go down every Tuesday and play tune or two with the singing.
RW: Oh, good.
WB: It’s something I always enjoyed, because it got me out of the relatively narrow environment of the music school, where nothing but music was talked about—
RW: Yes that’s true, yes, true, true.
WB: - so it was always nice to get out and—
RW: Yeah, that’s nice.
WB: - see what some of the other—rest of the world is doing.
RW: Now, we’ve mentioned, off and on, your compositions. Would you say something about some of your—let’s start with the very, very, very famous one that practically went out of print just a little while ago,—
[Laughter]
RW: - Winter’s Passed.
WB: No, that didn’t go out of print. I told you what happened in that.
RW: Well, what did happen?
WB: Well, somebody—Kilmer [13] told me that some friend of his in California, who’s an oboist, had wanted to get six copies of Winter’s Passed [14]—
RW: Oh, I see. Yes, you did say something.
WB: - and for some reason, he couldn’t lay hands on ‘em, because nobody could—they ordered them and they didn’t get them. I got—and he was concerned, and why he, this friend of his, couldn’t get the music, and I was concerned, so I had called Arthur Cohn [15] on the phone, they had published it. He said he’d see to it that I got some kind of answer. Well, I got answered the next day that it was not out of print, but they had run outta stock. They had somehow let their stock run too low, and they had to quick print some more. That’s all that happened to that.
That’s true, that piece has been—I think every oboist in the country—
RW: Every oboist in the country—
WB: - since I wrote the piece—
RW: - has played it.
WB: - knows that piece, and plus, played it.
RW: It’s interesting because that was one of the Eastman School publications.
WB: Yeah, it’s one of the early ones.
RW: One of the very early ones.
WB: I wrote that in California, when I was out there, [16] and my wife [17] was going to the University of California, Southern California.
RW: She was an English major, and did—
WB: English major.
RW: - her work under Dr. Alison Daw. [18]
WB: That’s right, that’s right. While she was out there, I was back in the apartment writing music. This is one of the pieces I wrote out there.
RW: Did you have a particular oboist in mind?
WB: No. Well, I wrote it actually for—to come back and to give something to Bob Sprenkle [19] to play, which he did. Of course, he played beautifully and later recorded it, too.
RW: Yes, and recorded it. [20]
WB: Kilmer, the present oboist, has played it all over.
RW: Oh, yes. Well, it got played in many, many different programs that I’ve attended.
WB: For awhile, when it was available on records, I think even as far back as 78 recordings, every once in awhile I’d hear it on the radio, commercial radio. Later on, I’d hear it as a background music for TV programs that are laid in Appalachia.
RW: In Appalachia?
WB: Appalachia, yeah [laughter], being based on two Appalachian folk songs. [21]
RW: Yes. Well, I can understand that.
WB: Yeah.
RW: Well, tell me some of the other things. You wrote a piece for Bob, your son? [22]
WB: Oh, yeah, “Images for Harp and Orchestra.” [23]
RW: Yeah, for harp and orchestra.
WB: I wrote this as a graduation present for him.
RW: Oh, was that what it was?
WB: Yeah. It was originally written for full orchestra. It seemed to me that with an instrument like the harp it might be a better way to slightly lighter accompaniment, so I reduced it. I made a version for chamber orchestra. I called it harp and instruments which can be done with single instruments over a little string section. In that form, it’s done rather well. We had a chance to appear together.
RW: Well, you appeared together here.
WB: Here, yes, at—he came down—Dick Bales [24] at the National Gallery of Art played it, and Bob came down to play the harp part, and I came down to listen [laughter].
RW: Dick Bales just retired not too long ago. Was he a classmate? He-he was in the ’30s—
WB: Yes, he was back there in ’30s too, yeah. Of course, the city of Washington just gave him this recognition for years of work there in the gallery. At the time Bob played that piece, I occupied with the harp piece I wrote, the chamber symphony that Dale Bales did also at the same program.
RW: Oh, yes. Oh, I didn’t realize.
WB: Sinfonia da Camera [25]
RW: All right. Now, tell us more about some of your other works.
WB: Well, as I said, I’ve written almost everything but opera. I like choral work. I’ve done a number of choral pieces.
RW: Yes, you have.
WB: Most of them in the religious category; a cantata; an oratorio; lots of chamber music, from piano pieces through trios, quartet. [26]
RW: You know you have a whole list of things that were played in the festivals?
WB: Yeah, I bet.
RW: Well, there really is one that I have here, the suite from the ballet False Faces.
WB: False Faces, right.
RW: That was done in 1936? [27]
WB: Thirty-six, yeah. I think that was my—that could have been my—
RW: Was that your Master’s thesis?
WB: - Master’s thesis, yeah. I think it was, as a matter of fact.
RW: Next one after that—no, it’s not the next one after that—they played the symphony, yeah, the same year, apparently?
WB: Mm-hmm.
RW: Next year after that, it was—oh, Zion in Exile. [28]
WB: That was my doctoral thesis.
RW: That was your doctoral thesis?
WB: Yeah, yeah, a choral piece.
RW: All right. Now, what gave you the inspiration for that?
WB: Well, it’s a sign of my—
RW: It’s a very strange kind of question to ask, but I get very curious about why people write things, and—
WB: Well, as I tell you it’s—
RW: - it comes from doing years and years of program notes [laughter].
WB: Well, it’s certainly because of my association with the church, from very early age, that I did the biblical literatures, always been a favorite of mine, yeah.
RW: It had been—yes.
WB: It’s so dramatic. It can be put together in very dramatic ways. That particular story has always appealed to me. It’s just been followed up with a commission from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester that, for the centennial, their anniversary celebration of the centennial year of the diocese here, I wrote a cantata for them there on the Pentecost story.
RW: I see. Good enough. Now, has that been published?
WB: That’s not been published, although it’s [inaudible] here and there.
RW: I see here that one year they did Winter’s Passed as a ballet?
WB: Yeah, Thelma Biracree put it— [29]
RW: Oh, Thelma Biracree did that?
WB: Choreographed it, yeah. [30]
RW: I see. All right, now tell me about the Madrigal for a Bright Morning. [31] I remember that—
WB: Well, the—
RW: - one with a great deal of joy.
WB: Really?
RW: Yes.
WB: This was published by J. Fischer, J. Fischer. I think I got that—this was written for the Morningside Choir college series. They got me to write that. The words were by the English—John R. Slater [32] at the U of R. The words are by John R. Slater, who was—
RW: Now, Slater really—
WB: Yeah.
RW: - did an awful lot of writing of texts for various and sundry composers.
WB: Yeah. Well, it’s a lovely poem, and I enjoyed it.
RW: Yes, I remember that.
WB: Yeah. It’s a—
RW: I remember that—
WB: - piece for acapella glee club.
RW: - because here, that was played during the festival season of 1943. Isn’t that strange? I keep thinking—I was talking with Burrill Phillips [33] yesterday, and I kept thinking that something happened in 1944 because I was so very much aware of that piece of music. Well, I think the same thing applies to the Madrigal for a Bright Morning because I was very much aware of it. In my memory, the first year I was here passed. I don’t really have great memories of that, except that the music must have made quite an impression upon me.
WB: Well, I’m glad it impressed you. [Laughter]
RW: Yeah. Well, I’m glad, too. All right. Now, tell me about the Nocturne for chamber orchestra. [34]
WB: That one, I don’t really remember. I don’t know. I wrote that for WHAM.
RW: Oh, did you?
WB: It was in their commission series, that they commissioned a number of us to write pieces for, when WHAM radio had its own orchestra. [35] I mean, this goes way back, you see.
RW: Who had that orchestra?
WB: Nobody had—no radio station has an orchestra anymore, but they actually had a live orchestra that played it, real live music.
RW: I remember when I first came, they did have a live orchestra.
WB: Yep.
RW: Who was the conductor of that? Was that [inaudible]?
WB: No, not [inaudible].
RW: No?
WB: I remember him well, but I think I—I just can’t think of the name. Yeah. It was written for that group.
RW: It was written for that group?
WB: Mm-hmm, yeah, yeah.
RW: Siverson? [36]
WB: Siverson, Siverson, that’s the one. That’s the one.
RW: Siverson had a son who was in— [37]
WB: Yes.
RW: - one of my early classes.
WB: That’s right, yes.
RW: Yes. Now, The 23rd Psalm?
WB: 23rd Psalm was— [38]
RW: I remember that very well, too.
WB: This was done in Eastman, too. I think Genhart [39] conducted that.
RW: Yeah, Genhart did, and it—
WB: Yeah.
RW: - was given twice. My recollections come from the first time, which was 1947.
WB: This is the orchestral version of an anthem, of the church anthem, which I wrote for—again, for J. Fischer.
RW: Oh, really?
WB: It was published as a piece for organ and church choir. It was widely, widely used, but I decided to do an orchestral version for accompaniment, and then do the thing with chorus, and actually, it worked out pretty well.
RW: I should think so. Yeah. I remember a large presentation, so—
WB: It was.
RW: - it had to be the full orchestra.
WB: Yeah, it was. It’s a wonderful text.
RW: Yes, it is.
WB: [inaudible]
RW: It is. It’s a beautiful text. [40] Tell me about your compositions for organ.
WB: Well, these mainly constitute the work I did for Concordia. They’re almost all contained in that group, although from time to time—not only did I have these four volumes exclusively devoted to Barlow, from time to time—I’m still in their stable, but they—they’re still giving me assignments to do. They—
RW: Yeah, that’s great.
WB: They bring out little volumes of music for organists with limited technical skill, and a lot of us always contributing to these volumes they keep putting out for church use.
RW: I seem to remember some collections they did for manuals only.
WB: Yeah, yeah, sure.
RW: That was one of—
WB: One’s called “The Parish Organist,” I think.
RW: “The Parish Organist”?
WB: Yeah, yeah.
RW: That’s right. I was trying to think of that the other day.
WB: I’m still writing these things.
RW: Are you?
WB: Yeah, every so often.
RW: Yeah, good enough.
WB: I got a—
RW: What about the genesis of the Elegy—
WB: Well, this was—
RW: - for Viola and Orchestra”? [41]
WB: Okay. This was a piece for—I wrote for Francis Tursi. [42]
RW: Oh, did you? I wondered about that.
WB: It was originally for piano and viola. There’s a recording of that, been recorded, too. I thought that, well, here’s a piece which I wrote at—it’s not a bad piece. I’ll just write an orchestral accompaniment to go with it, and he played it here. That’s the second piece I’ve really transcribed from the original to orchestra.
RW: You do a lotta transcription of your own music, or do you—
WB: Not a lot.
RW: Not a lot?
WB: On occasion I do.
RW: I know Howard Hanson has so many different arrangements—
WB: Yeah, yeah. Well, it’s a temptation.
RW: - of one piece.
WB: Big temptation. Lately I—I’ve never been too much interested in band music; wasn’t. I was down at that visiting composer at the Brevard Music Center. [43] They had several bands down there, so I thought I might just as well try my hand at the band piece and ship them—
RW: You did?
WB: As long as I’m down there and they’re gonna play it, I might as well write one, which I did. I was really quite pleased with part of it. I didn’t really finish it all down there. They played part of it. I came home and then played the rest of it, and then the director, who’s conducting—or conduct the band at the University of Toledo, he did the complete piece after I made the complete—completed it for him.
Then he sent me a tape, and I realized that I don’t know quite as much about band as I thought I did, because a lot of it—or not a lot of it, but some of the parts were not as clear as they could be. The balance was false, and it was just something I have to get used to. I have, since that time—and as a matter of fact, I’m just finishing up now—I’ve made extensive revisions of this piece, and they’re gonna play it again in 1986 down there in Brevard for the 50th anniversary of the camp, along with— [44]
RW: It’s-it’s been 50 years at—
WB: - other composers who have written—
RW: - Brevard?
WB: Yeah, yeah.
RW: Oh, my goodness.
WB: Yeah, 50 years, Brevard. He’s gonna have—
RW: Interesting.
WB: - a program around, this band director, of other pieces that we’ve all written for him. I’ll probably go down here.
RW: That’s very interesting. Very, very nice. All right. Now, do you have anything else that you wanna talk about while I start thinking about what else I’m going to ask you?
WB: Let me think. I have a list here of all the commissions I ever had. Well, I’ll skip those.
RW: Why don’t you—why don’t you read some of those over? What was the first commission that you got?
WB: Well, the first commission, I think it was probably the Nocturne for radio. [45] Well, here’s one by member of Edward Benjamin [46] and the “Quiet Music” Man.
RW: Yes, the Quiet Music Man.
WB: - music man.
RW: - music man.
WB: I wrote a piece for him.
RW: Oh, did you?
WB: Yeah, called Vistas. It was premiered by the Indianapolis Symphony back in 1968. The Rochester University—the University of Rochester Glee Club commissioned a piece for male chorus called “Diversify the Abyss.” [47] It was a poem by then-faculty member out there teaching poetry, Hyam Plutzik. [48]
RW: Oh, for Hyam Plutzik?
WB: Yeah.
RW: Oh, my goodness.
WB: It’s on a piece that I—
RW: That’s interesting.
WB: - piece by him. I wrote a fairly large piece for the combined choirs of Buffalo, New York, who needed a piece written for them. We took piece for a chorus and brass and organ called We All Believe in One True God, [49] which that’s been done around. Oh, I did a piece for—a piece for Yarbrough and Cowan, [50] the—
RW: Oh, yes, the two piano—
WB: - the dual pianists. They teach down in Alabama. [51] Did you know that—
RW: Well he was here—
WB: - that piece had never been done in Rochester? Just been done in—all over, but not in Rochester, some reason.
RW: No. Cowan was here.
WB: Yeah, but he was—they played out in Nazareth.
RW: Oh, did they play—that’s right, they did.
WB: Yeah.
RW: They did play at Nazareth.
WB: He was gonna do it out there, except they didn’t—he said they didn’t have time to work it up again. They premiered it out there, down in Alabama.
RW: Now, Yarbrough never did come here, did she?
WB: No. I think he did, but not she.
RW: He did, but not she?
WB: Not she, yeah. I got to know them quite well down there in Brevard, [52] because they have a summer home right there in [inaudible].
RW: Oh, I see. Oh, that’s nice.
WB: Oh, yes, I wrote a saxophone concerto for the East Stroudsburg Pennsylvania High School band, [53] and then the Eastman School for its 50th anniversary. I commissioned Soundscapes for Orchestra and Tape, which was done in ’71. I wrote an overture for Alfred University called Hampton Beach. [54] It was the opening of one of their buildings down in there. The Augusta, Georgia Symphony commissioned a piece for chorus, soloist and orchestra for the bicentennial of the United States; piece called Voices of Faith, [55] the text of which was taken from revolutionary literature and poetry.
RW: Well, there are quite a few that have never been played here, that they’ve been played—
WB: Yeah, that’s true. They’re actually—
RW: - many other places.
WB: Yeah, yeah. MTNA [56] commissioned an electronic music piece called Soundprints in Concrete. [57] One of the last was the New York State Music Teachers Association; [58] I wrote a piece for harp and viola called Intermezzo. [59] It was done down there at one of the conventions. That’s been played around, too.
RW: Now, in all of your teaching, you must have had a lot of talented people. Would you care to name some of them? Did Jean Ivey [60] study electronic music with you?
WB: Yes, she did, yeah. Well, not much—
RW: She’s done very, very well.
WB: She didn’t study here. She took her PhD at the University of Toronto.
RW: Yes, she took her PhD at the University of—
WB: Then worked at—
RW: - Toronto.
WB: [inaudible]
RW: I know that she worked at—
WB: She had been here summers since—
RW: Yeah, she—
WB: - and I wrote one of her pieces using our facility. Forget what piece that was.
RW: I think she considers herself to be an Eastman person. She’s constantly writing to us and letting us know when her works are being performed, and occasionally she comes up here to visit—
WB: She took her Master’s degree here.
RW: - here. Yes. Now, what were some of the other students that you had? That’s an impossible question.
WB: It really is, I mean [laughter] I need overnight to think about all this. I’ll come back and answer that someday.
RW: All right. You can come back and—
WB: [Laughter]
RW: - answer that one someday. What I would like to do sometime is to trace what Mac [61] used to call the teacher-pupil lineage, to find out which of our outstanding composers have studied what with whom. It makes it a very, very—it makes an interesting study.
WB: Yeah.
RW: The Europeans seem to be so much more conscious of that than we are. For instance, when I was talking with Dora Landow, [62] she was tracing the lineage of a tradition of piano-playing that her father enjoyed through his teacher, who was a friend and pupil of Franz Liszt, [63] and so on. It’s very interesting to trace certain stylistic tendencies on the part of a performer, but even more so, what would be stylistic inheritances, wouldn’t there, from one composer to another?
WB: Well, certainly, the Hanson influence on his pupils, I think, is fairly strong.
RW: Yes, I think so, too, but a number of our young composers have named you as one of their mentors.
WB: Yeah.
RW: And so, I would be very much interested in whom you taught, and how you influenced the younger composers.
WB: Give me some time to think about that, and then I will.
RW: Yes, I wish you would think about that, and then we can fill that in.
WB: My bio has a section here called “Other Activities.” It’s amazing.
RW: Oh, yes. I was reading those other activity.
WB: Well, I wrote a textbook, you know, once; Foundations of Music. [64]
RW: Foundations of Music.
WB: That went far and wide, that book; used, I think, pretty widely. I find myself taught at class out there at the U of R,—
RW: Yes, I remember. I remember that.
WB: - an evening class for a long time. This was the outgrowth of that experience. I have made my—I have occasionally written articles that appear in the various journals, music journal. Had a couple on the state of music composition and choral [cross talk 0:27:34].
RW: I remember one that you wrote about the problem of vanguardism, and you said something to the effect that, were these contemporary composers writing for other people like themselves— [65]
WB: [Laughter] Yeah, yeah. I’m not the first one to suggest that. [Laughter]
RW: No. Yeah, I thought that was a good article.
WB: Yeah, I had a—
RW: I thought that was a good article. I remember reading it to one of my classes, but I don’t remember to what class I was reading it.
WB: I wrote to two people—two articles on the state of music composition for the music journal, and then I wrote a piece for the choral journal on church music, [66] and the MENC journal on electronic music. [67] I’ve been a consultant on rebuilding a pipe organ somewhere. [Laughter]
RW: Oh, where?
WB: It’s St. John’s Church in Sodus, New York. [68] Oh, yeah. There are two music encyclopedias that have articles by me. One is on church music, but which I wrote in conjunction with Al Bixel, Dr. Bixel. [69]
RW: Yes, I remember that. Was that for—
WB: That was for—
RW: - the new group?
WB: - the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Music, the Dutton Book. [70]
RW: Oh, that’s the encyclopedia?
WB: - book.
RW: Yes, all right.
WB: Then the other one is Musical Acoustics for the revision of Thompson’s International Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians. [71] I’ve mentioned my—the Exxon Foundation Project, I guess. I was named Musician of the Year by Rochester Alumni Chapter Mu Phi Epsilon. [72]
RW: Oh, I remember that very well, because I had to write the citation.
WB: [Laughter] That’s right, you did.
RW: [Laughter]
WB: It’s hanging on my wall.
RW: Yes, exactly.
WB: Yeah, yeah.
RW: Well, Dr. Hanson wrote my citation.
WB: Really?
RW: It’s not hanging on my wall, but it’s right behind that picture there.
WB: The only other thing that occurs to me is I was made an honorary member of Iota Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. [73]
RW: Phi Beta Kappa?
WB: Yeah, and I was—
RW: You were president?
WB: - chapter of a—president of the chapter, local chapter, for a year. That was fun. That’s about all I can think of.
RW: Well, that’s very, very nice. Thank you very much. I’m going to—I’m going to listen to these tapes, and I’m sure that after you’ve gone, I’ll think of other questions that I should have asked you, but I’m particularly anxious in having you come back and letting us know about some of your students—
WB: Yeah. I will do that.
RW: - because I think that’s rather important in the history of a school like this.
WB: Yeah, suppose it is.
RW: In the Leipzig Conservatory [74] and some of the other conservatories, you can certainly trace where one teacher has influenced a student who has gone out to influence someone else, and so on and so on through the generations. We haven’t been in existence long enough to have generations and generations of composers influenced. I think Hanson’s influence on young composers was so very visible, but there certainly were other people who influenced the students to a great, great degree. I would be interested in what your perception is of that [inaudible].
WB: Yeah. Well, I’ll come up with some names, I’m sure.
RW: Yes, all right. I’m gonna turn this off because there are still many, many feet of tape left, and then perhaps we could finish off this—
WB: Good.
RW: - reel then.
WB: Great.
RW: Thank you very much.
[Recorder turned off and on]
The beginnings of Graduate Studies, the Eastman School.
WB: I became, actually, actively involved with graduate work at the school in 1947. I was appointed Executive Secretary of the Graduate Committee, which was exactly what the word entailed, in that it was an active administrative type of control over graduate [inaudible] committee, and I once—
RW: Was that at the Eastman School, or was that the all-University committee?
WB: Well, of course, as soon as that happened, I was automatically a member of the Graduate Committee of the University. Then I went through two more titles: Director of Graduate Studies, and Dean for Graduate Research and Associate Dean for Graduate Research Studies.
RW: Yes, I remember that title.
WB: Yeah, yeah. Before I was formally settling down as Dean of Graduate Studies in 1973, which I—post I held since I was retired in ’78. For the entire period from ’47 to ’78, I was also a member of the University graduate committee, representing the Eastman School of Music. I was always grateful for this opportunity to operate both in the teaching aspect of this work of the school and the administration. [75]
I spent—as I say, this time from ’47 to ’78 as a member of the University Graduate Committee, and spent my share of time putting out grassfires, I think, that erupted every time some new member of the University faculty came on the University Graduate Committee and then would wonder out loud what on Earth he was doing down here accepting a musical piece as a—
RW: As a dissertation?
WB: - as a dissertation for the PhD degree. That never did die down. It—cuz always somebody who’d come on to the committee that heard about this before. [76]
RW: Yes. Now, if you began as early as 1947 to be active in the Graduate Studies, you must have been in on the ground floor in initiating the Doctor of Musical Arts—
WB: Yeah.
RW: - program?
WB: That’s the next thing I was gonna say. As I say, we put out grassfires, but when this came along, that was a conflagration out there, and then that—
RW: I’m sure it was. Paul Henry Lang [77] and Dr. Hanson carried on a—
WB: Yeah, yeah.
RW: - an argument by way of the New York press.
WB: Yeah. Those were interesting times. Then, we must say that Howard Hanson is an immensely persuasive man.
RW: Yes, he is.
WB: Of course, he carried the thing.
RW: Well, where—how did the concept of the Doctor of Musical Arts begin? Were you in on the formulating the concept? [78]
WB: Not really. I think—
RW: - concept?
WB: - that this was Hanson’s ideas, Hanson’s—
RW: It was Hanson’s idea?
WB: - concept, yeah. I don’t think it was anybody else’s idea.
RW: Really?
WB: No.
RW: It was very interesting, because I know that Eastman was one of the very first schools to have—
WB: Yeah.
RW: - that degree.
WB: Yeah. Yeah. It turned out to be an amazingly—I dunno—perceptive jump into the future, I think—
RW: Yes, it really was.
WB: - in musical education, and certainly, obviously filled a niche that was needed, because they were all the time getting a shoe on the wrong foot and trying to make academic people out of performers.
RW: Yes, indeed.
WB: It certainly took some persuasion.
RW: I’m sure it took a lot of persuasion. I remember Dr. Hanson saying that there should be a top degree, a top-level degree, for a practicing musician,—
WB: Right, right.
RW: - either a composer or a performer or conductor or whatever. I think that he used the analogy of people in science who took their doctorates in their own particular field, and there was no reason why the musician could not take a degree in his particular field.
WB: Yeah. The stumbling block for these people, these academic types on the University graduate council is the fact that there is nothing in their immediate environment out there which even remotely resembles what a pianist or violinist or a singer does now.
RW: That’s right. That’s right.
WB: Even though, frequently, in Chemistry, the area of concentration would be just as narrow as anything that happens down here—
RW: Yes, of course, of course.
WB: - but they could never quite see that.
RW: No. I know that they couldn’t see that. What were some of the arguments that were presented to you by these new members of the Graduate Committee in—?
WB: Well, it was just—I don’t—I have a fuzzy history, fuzzy memory, about most of this, but, in general, it was just simply a matter of something that they had never heard of, and if they had never heard of this, it couldn’t be good. I mean, that’s the impression I had. There was simply something just was done that hadn’t been done before, and there we were doing it. It certainly couldn’t be right.
RW: That’s very interesting, because when the DMA program was proposed here, I remember the big furor that went up on the part of certain members of the faculty even here. I remember people with PhDs who said that they would never countenance a DMA as being a degree that would be equivalent to theirs.
WB: Oh, yeah, I know there’s a lotta people.
RW: There were a lotta—
WB: Even here, that’s—you’re right. You’re right.
RW: Oh, they were a lot of people.
WB: Yeah.
RW: There were a lot of people, and a lot of people here were on the faculty for a long, long time.
WB: The way we reacted to that was to impose some requirements that were kind of like the PhD. We required a written paper equivalent to a dissertation, so just give it some kind of academic respectability.
RW: Yes, I remember that, too. Well, the DMA has evolved into something—
WB: Along with some languages, I remember too, at the beginning.
RW: In the beginning, yes, but I doubt very much whether a language requirement is important right now.
WB: No, it is—
RW: - right now.
WB: - is no longer, right.
RW: Course, trying to pass the language exams and passing the qualifyings were the two big hurdles in getting a doctorate, but I think the PhDs among the faculty members resented the fact that somebody who was going to be called a doctor didn’t have to go through all that. Of course, lots of people took years and years to generate their dissertations.
WB: Oh, absolutely, sure, yeah.
RW: You don’t have too many ABDs [79] when it comes to DMA people. You have mostly—
WB: No, no, that’s right, that’s right, yeah, yeah. [Laughter]
RW: You have a lot of ABDs in theory and musicology, and music education. I suppose it was a certain amount of resentment on their part. DMA seemed to be a much easier degree to get. What they didn’t realize is that it was not—it was easier in some ways, but getting a DMA here now, for example, requires a tremendous amount of talent that just had to be—
WB: Course it does.
RW: - developed over years and years and years.
WB: Course it does.
RW: You take the DMA candidate in organ, for example. Those students have been playing for years, and they have to do all these recitals and so on. The number of hours and days and weeks spent in getting a lecture recital ready, or a DMA type of recital ready, cannot be equated on the same terms as writing a dissertation. I think that, mostly, that is accepted right now, but I still remember the terrific furor that was—now, what kind of difficulty, if any, did Eastman School have in selling this program, or was it such a natural thing that people seemed to gravitate towards—
WB: Well, of course, in all these years I was involved, I was actively chairing the Eastman School Graduate Committee, and of course, this is where the exploratory discussions took place, so then I—Howard Hanson frequently came in and joined the discussion on all this. It seemed very natural at the time, but this was something which I remember encouraged me to question the thing, since it seemed such a natural development, and ought to happen.
RW: It seemed to me to be a natural development, also. I was not one of the people who protested it. Some of my very good friends certainly protested it.
WB: I don’t recall any real opposition in the Eastman Graduate Committee. There may have been some on the faculty. Yeah, I know there were on the faculty.
RW: These were not people who were on the Graduate Committee at all, but there were a number of people who had earned PhDs, and they were extremely resentful.
WB: Yeah.
RW: Now, when you received your doctorate, it was a PhD?
WB: It was a PhD, right.
RW: What did you have to do in the way of fulfilling requirements for the PhD in that case?
WB: Well, you know—
RW: You had to write a composition?
WB: Yeah, I wrote a composition. That was an oratorio, as a matter of fact. Harold Gleason [80] took care of the research requirements in things like Musicology, although I didn’t take a formal Musicology course, but he put me—he wrote out a series of projects that I had to fulfill—
RW: That you had to fulfill? I see.
WB: - as in a kind of private way. Then, of course, I had to stand the qualifying examination on all these things, and then write the dissertation. That happened in ’37.
RW: Suppose that a DMA had been available at that time.
WB: That would not have been for me.
RW: It would not have been for you?
WB: No.
RW: Now, why?
WB: Because I was not interested in performing. I’m really not a performer, although I’ve played organ all my life. I’ve been a church organist, choir director, but—
RW: You know they have been giving DMAs in composition, haven’t they?
WB: Yes, that’s true. That’s true. At some point—
RW: I think that was what I meant,—
WB: Ah, yeah, yeah.
RW: - that somewhere along the line we’ve had some fine composers getting DMAs.
WB: That’s right. You’re absolutely right, yeah. I forget—as a matter of fact, my memory is such that I can’t even remember when that development took place, but sometime along, but, certainly after, I guess—after the DMA concept took hold, it was recognized that this might be an appropriate degree for a composer, as well, yeah.
RW: Yes. I remember that. I remember Dr. Hanson saying something about that, but I don’t remember when it was, either.
WB: Well, you—
RW: I can’t really pinpoint that.
WB: All you have to do is sit down with all the catalogs and [laughter] find—
RW: Well, yes, yes, that’s true. I remember, also, there were a certain number of schools who simultaneously were supposed to start the DMA program, and my recollection is that Ray Kendall [81] was one of the ones in NASM who were in favor of that. I think Michigan was the first university that started that, because we jumped the gun. I understand that five or six schools, all members of NASM, [82] had agreed to offer the DMA simultaneously, but Ray Kendall was—
WB: [Laughter]
RW: - the impatient type.
WB: Chafing at the bit.
RW: He apparently jumped the gun on that. I don’t remember that Dr. Hanson was particularly perturbed about that. He laughed about it and said, “Oh, well.” It was very funny, but Will Gay Bottje was the first one to have gotten a DMA, as I recall. I think his degree was in 1956. I may be wrong, but— [83]
WB: Yeah. No, you’re right—
RW: - I’ll have to check that out.
WB: - because I’ve been trying to think of his name since yesterday when I knew I was coming down here, because Will Gay Bottje appreciated me as a holder of the fellowship in—at the University of Utrecht. He was there the year before I was, yeah, doing the same thing I was in the electronic music studio. I came along in ’55. He was there in ’54, ’55. [84]
RW: I think a daughter of his graduated from here. [85]
WB: I mean, excuse me, ’64.
RW: Sixty-four? I see.
WB: ’63, ’64 he was there. I was there ’64, ’65.
RW: Now, would you explain how the Graduate Committee University-wide functioned, and how the Eastman School Graduate Committee functioned? What was the University committee? What went on? Not individual cases, but—
WB: Well, the—
RW: - was there a decision about—
WB: All the departments at that—would have to have their lists of graduates for advanced degrees approved by the University Graduate Committee. Now, there was actually very little direct supervision on the part of the University Graduate Committee of what any of the schools were doing in their various departments.
RW: Oh, I see. This was more like a council, then?
WB: Just a rubber stamp.
RW: I see. That’s the reason why—
WB: What was interesting, that there always had to be an outside examiner on finals and on qualifying examinations. We always had somebody come down.
RW: Come down? Then some of you people went up there?
WB: Then we always would send people to it—for their finals, and particularly in Chemistry or Physics or whatever. That was fun, too.
RW: Yes, that would be fun.
WB: Except I can remember one occasion when we—we were in a finals in either composition or theory—I think it was theory--final PhD. We got some—one of the members from the University mathematics department, it seems to me—I could be wrong—but this man decided that he would take exception to the use of the word “theory,” cuz he said, “This is not theory. This isn’t—a theory is a postulate which you make, and then you have to go ahead and prove. Now, what you’re doing here is not theory, but”—well, he kept this guy waiting out in the hall while he expounded on this aspect.
RW: Isn’t that interesting?
WB: Then we the poor guy—I mean [inaudible] he was a saint. [Laughter]
RW: He was just about ready to faint. I should say so.
WB: Things like that would happen and so forth.
RW: When you became the head of the Graduate Department and became an administrator as well as a member of the teaching faculty, you took over after Dr. Larson, [86] Wayne Larson?
WB: Yeah, Will Larson, yeah.
RW: Now, how long had he been the Director of Graduate Studies? Was he the first director—?
WB: I believe he must have been the first one, because I cannot remember any other individual that had that responsibility.
RW: When I came in 1942, he was the head of the Graduate Department, and all the—
WB: Right.
RW: - dissertations and theses had to be turned into his office.
WB: That’s right.
RW: He was the one person who did that?
WB: That’s right. I succeeded him in 1947.
RW: In ’47?
WB: Mm-hmm.
RW: As I remember, though—as I remember, when you took over the administration and the Graduate Department, a lot of things were changed for the better. Let me elucidate a little bit. When I started typing dissertations and theses, I always had to deal with Dr. Larson’s office, and he had a certain set method by which you were supposed to put the dissertation on paper.
WB: Yeah, he had his own orthodoxy. [Laughter]
RW: He had his own orthodoxy, and any number of times the students would come back in horror. They had typed—many of the students then were trying to type their own theses because they thought it was going to be a saving of money. Perhaps it was, but lots of them got bounced back, because there was not enough room left on the left-hand margin,—
WB: Yeah, yeah.
RW: - not enough room left on the right-hand margin, the footnotes were not numbered correctly, or the form was not correct, or whatever. Now, do you recall when the thesis manual came into being? Was that already there at the time that you came? Because, see, by the time you took over the Graduate Department, the musicologists had one kind of a style manual, and the theorists, because of the nature of their dissertations, had another. Music Education always had a style manual of its own, and that was the style manual that everybody had to follow, clear back in 1942.
WB: I’ve seen it. This is hazy in my memory, but I do believe that there was this confusion about style for the dissertations that you mentioned. I think it was after I became Executive Secretary of the Committee that we tried to pull this all together. I think it did improve.
RW: Oh, there was a decided improvement.
WB: Yeah.
RW: That there really was a decided improvement. Now, what did you do first when you became the Secretary of Graduate—?
WB: [Laughter] What’d I do first?
RW: Yes. I wondered. I—
WB: I think I probably sat down and I read the minutes.
[Laughter]
RW: Well, that’s good. As I recall, though, it was while—during your tenure that there was a distinction made between graduate research studies and graduate applied studies.
WB: I wish I could give you the date on this. It can be ferreted out easily enough. All I remember was that it was after Dr. Selhorst [87] had come, and I’m sorry that I cannot really fill you in, in any great detail, about this, but all of—I do know that all of a sudden, Howard Hanson was quite adamant in believing that graduate work at the Eastman School of Music should be divided on a rather rigid basis between what he called performance and—what was the other one?
RW: Research?
WB: Research, research, yeah.
RW: I remember that you—when—after you stopped being secretary, you became an associate dean before you became dean.
WB: That’s right, that’s right. It was—
RW: You were associate dean in charge of graduate research—
WB: For graduate research, research studies, that’s right.
RW: - studies.
WB: Now, this was the avenue that took you through the Master Arts degree and the—
RW: The PhD?
WB: - PhD degree. That’s right.
RW: Then the associate dean for applied—no. I don’t remember exactly what the terminology was.
WB: Graduate—isn’t that funny? That was Selhorst, of course, dean of—associate dean for—associate dean for—What was it? Professional studies? No?
RW: No, because it wasn’t professional. I’ve been trying to think of this, and eventually, when I get back to looking at the catalogs, we’ll be able—
WB: Yeah, we’ll have to fill this in.
RW: - to ferret that out.
WB: Isn’t that funny, now?
RW: Am I correct in assuming that it was after the DMA came in that this distinction was made? Because I remember distinctly that Gene Selhorst was in charge of the DMA candidates—
WB: Right, right.
RW: - and you had all the PhD candidates.
WB: Right.
RW: At the faculty meetings when the degrees were voted on at the end of the year, you did the presentation for the PhDs, and Gene did the presentation for the DMAs and—
WB: Yep.
RW: - the MMs. I suppose that’s where the division came. [88]
WB: It seems to me that he was graduate dean for—associate dean for graduate professional studies, but I could be wrong about that.
RW: Yes, maybe you’re right. That sounds right the way you say it now.
WB: Yeah.
RW: I remember your title very well because I was working in your department.
WB: Yeah. Well, it always seemed to some of us, and frankly, to me too, that this was a very artificial division in musical studies. I would think that the composer any less professional than a singer or a pianist or a musicologist is any less professional. [Laughter] Then I was—
RW: Yes, that’s right.
WB: - kinda fought with that—we thought was a kind of artificial division.
RW: There might be the same concept now, that it is an artificial division, because—I don’t think we want the vacuum cleaner.
WB: [Laughter] No.
RW: At least we have an audible proof that things get vacuumed. I don’t think that there is this feeling of division anymore, because Jon Engberg [89] now is in charge of—
WB: Yeah.
RW: - Graduate Studies, however—
WB: Now, when I became Dean of Graduate Studies, it seems to me that that division just—
RW: That became—just disappeared.
WB: - ended at that time, right, right.
RW: That must have been after the death of Gene Selhorst. [90]
WB: Yeah, it was.
RW: What was Verne Thompson’s position then? For a while he was Secretary. [91]
WB: He was tied up with the Music Literature Department.
RW: He had a title as secretary. You were associate dean, and Gene was associate dean, and I think Verne—didn’t Verne serve as a secretary to the Graduate Committee, to both of you?
WB: Yes, he did, as a matter of fact. That’s right, that’s right.
RW: Then, after Selhorst’s death, he remained on the Graduate Committee, and then things started to evolve, and that’s about the time that I lost track of which way the Graduate Department was going, because then, very soon thereafter, you became dean.
WB: I would have to go back then and then read the minutes of the Graduate Committee to really remember what went on. I don’t—you’d think I would remember, but [laughter] I really don’t.
RW: No, I don’t see how people can remember all these things. With regard to the library, I could not tell you during which years such-and-such a position was created.
WB: Sure, sure.
RW: I can remember distinctly whom we chose to take certain positions, but I couldn’t tell you in chronological order, and yet I was very much involved, and fighting like crazy, and all this sort of thing, and we were just so full of enthusiasm and energy about that time, but I think once a thing is accomplished, you don’t remember.
WB: It seemed to me—all I can remember is that after the creation of the post of graduate dean—dean of graduate studies—that everything was pulled together, and then—which, to me, was the proper way to do things without this artificial division.
RW: Well, that’s very, very interesting. Now, you had a secretary, Shirley, Shirley Kurtz.
WB: Shirley Kurtz, yeah. She was with me for a couple of decades, and I—
RW: That’s interesting, because I don’t remember any other secretary.
WB: No? Well, there was an assortment of pretty young things [laughter] before—
RW: Oh, were there?
WB: - Shirley, but Shirley was a professional if there ever was one. I just would like to go on record as saying that she’s just—was the greatest of secretaries as far as I’m concerned.
RW: Any time I wanted to know anything about what went on with the Graduate Committee or whatever, or what the deadlines were, I would call Shirley and—
WB: Yeah.
RW: - she would always give me this information. When we started Pi Kappa Lambda, [92] she was the one that got the list of the PhD candidates and so on. She was a big help.
WB: Yeah. If you asked her something, she almost always knew the answer.
RW: Yes, and he—she did.
WB: If she didn’t know it, she could find it out in two minutes. It was just amazing.
RW: Yeah, that’s really amazing.
WB: She was the real liaison between graduate work at Eastman and the Graduate Department at the University. She was always on the phone with Hilda Porter, who held a job as a secretary to the Graduate Dean, whoever it happened to be out there. Shirley Spragg, [93] of course for many years, so she was always on the phone to Hilda keeping things straight.
RW: Now, when you were the Dean, it was Spragg, wasn’t it?
WB: Spragg, right, right, although I outlived a lot of Graduate Deans, my word. Don’t ask me to recite all their names, but, my gosh, maybe I’ll sit down and tell you who they were when [laughter] I can—
RW: Riker became head of Graduate Studies up there for awhile.
WB: Paul Gross [94] was one of the Graduate Deans. He—
RW: I don’t remember what Dr. Riker’s name was. Remember there were two Rikers on the university—
WB: Yes, I remember, yeah.
RW: - with Charles [95] and a Riker [96] up at the campus. Well, I think the—that’s—that gives a good idea of what went on in Graduate Studies. I wanted to ask you something else, and it goes as follows: You have gone to a lot of other college campuses, and you went to Denmark to talk about contemporary music and so on. What sort of thing did you do when you went on these junkets?
WB: Well, I’m gonna leave you my latest bio, which lists in detail absolutely every place I’ve ever been—
RW: Oh, my.
WB: - as a visiting composer, as a clinician, as a lecturer, and a member of a panel talking about this and that and the other thing. For example, I was once on a panel down in the Poconos, talking with a convention of Jewish cantors, talking about contemporary music.
RW: How interesting.
WB: [Laughter] That was great fun.
RW: Yes. Now, what would you talk about under those circumstances?
WB: Well, what kind of music was appropriate for the church. It didn’t make a difference really whether it’s Jewish or Catholic or Protestant, whatever. There were two of us on that. The two of us talked back and forth.
RW: Oh, did you?
WB: We had lots of fun. We got wonderful meals down there—
RW: Yes, indeed. I suppose you did, yeah.
WB: - in the Catskills. I had said Poconos. It was in the Catskills. Well, along about—as a matter of fact, my career as a lecturer and visiting composer and [inaudible], they started really back in 1952, and then there are entries right up here to after I retired. I mean, I’m still doing this—
RW: Yes, I imagine so.
WB: - to some extent, but I remember—I mean, the 1973 was a banner year. I had lectures or visiting composer jobs at Baylor University, Northern Arizona State University, Mary Washington College in Virginia,—
RW: Ooh, Virginia?
WB: - Augusta College, where I was called a visiting scholar, Winthrop College in South Carolina, University of South Alabama, Pensacola Junior College, Convention—I was a National Association of Schools in Music in Denver, Mars Hill College in North Carolina, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Texas Christian University, Texas Tech University, East Texas State University, where I was a guest composer, lecturer and clinician. That covers 1973. [Laughter].
RW: Now, what do you mean by being a clinician?
WB: Well, this involves talking to students, partly, who have—composers or theory major or something of the sort, but it’s to get at the nitty-gritty of the business of producing music, as well as teaching, problems like that.
RW: Now, what would the students do? Would they come to you and—
WB: They come—well, it’s a mass meeting, question-and-answer kind of thing.
RW: Oh, is that it?
WB: Yeah, yeah, panel discussions and—they’re lots of fun to carry these on, because the students always have lots of questions. They’re never very shy—
RW: They’re full of—yeah, so that’s a good thing.
WB: - [laughter] asking questions.
RW: Now, through the years, have you noticed a difference in the student attitude or in talent or numbers?
WB: Are you talking about the Eastman School—
RW: No, about—
WB: - or generally? In general?
RW: Generally, as you’ve gone from one—
WB: Yeah, yeah.
RW: - institution to another.
WB: I’ve always been impressed with the general attitude of the students, wherever I’ve been. Now, my experience has been all kinds of different college, as you got by that list. I mean, some of them were pure and simple arts colleges with very tiny music departments, perhaps, and no really—no degree in music perhaps, even, to real music departments of important types.
It’s interesting that even the small schools provided a—without a musical—without a degree in music, if they had competent music instructors, and most of them did—these instructors were able to instill in these Arts majors—I mean, there were always Arts majors, double-Arts majors—that some of the kinds of information and attitudes and ambitions that even music majors have in larger departments. I’ve always been very impressed with what a wonderful job the music teachers over the country are doing, regardless of the setting that they’re in.
Many, many of the schools I went to, of course, are—we had alumni teaching. I mean, you can hardly go anywhere, of course, without running into alumni, but—and this is certainly due partly to the wonderful job, the preparation, that we do here at the Eastman School.
RW: Yes. I was looking through a compilation of 1963 last night, and it gave a list of schools of music, and the departments of music.
WB: Oh, yes, yes, yes.
RW: There was not a—
[End of Audio]
[1] Interviewer Ruth Watanabe earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in both English literature and music at the University of Southern California. She completed doctoral work in musicology at the Eastman School of Music. Her career at Eastman began while she was in graduate school, during which she worked at the Sibley Music Library, beginning in 1944. She became head librarian at Sibley in 1947, and served in that position until June of 1984. A noted bibliographer, author, and past president of the American Music Library Association, Ms. Watanabe is also the namesake of the special collections division of the Sibley Music Library (“The Spirit of Meliora: Ruth T. Watanabe.” Robert Freeman. University of Rochester Library Bulletin 37 (1984) [RBSC]: 30 November 2015).
[2] William S. Vaughn, Former President and Chairman of the Board of Kodak, and trustee emeritus of the University of Rochester, who has contributed an interview to the Living History Project, and his wife, Elizabeth. Elizabeth, whose father was a pastor, played in churches growing up and completed her formal training with four years of musical study in Europe. She became the organist at the Immanuel Baptist when her predecessor moved to Denver, Colorado. John R. Slater, then a University of Rochester professor of English, chaired Immanuel’s music committee and conducted Mrs. Vaughn’s audition. Soon after becoming the regular organist at Immanuel, Mrs. Vaughn became the personal house organist for George Eastman (“William S. Vaughn.” Living History Project. Web. 7 April 2017. http://livinghistory.lib.rochester.edu/).
[3] Stromberg-Carlson formed in 1894 as a telephone manufacturer. Beginning in the 1920s, the company produced radios, and the radios would gradually surpass the telephones as the company’s signature product. In 1955, Stromberg-Carlson merged with General Dynamics, and again manufactured solely telephones. The Stromberg Carlson Telephone Manufacturing Company was located at 100 Carlson Road in Rochester (“Antique Stromberg-Carlson Radios.” Market Street Media. 2007-2017. Web. 14 April 2017. http://www.collectorsweekly.com/radios/stromberg; Rochester City Directory 1940. 989. Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County. Digital Collections. City Directory Collection. Web. http://www3.libraryweb.org/research.aspx?id=512461).
[4] Approximate phrase. May refer to a course, such as “advanced theory.”
[5] Presumably Lake Avenue United Methodist Church, located at 4409 Lake Avenue (“Rochester: Lake Avenue UMC.” The Upper New York Conference of the United Methodist Church. 2017. Web. 27 March 2017. http://www.unyumc.org/resources/church/rochester-lake-avenue-umc).
[6] Founded in 1889 and located at 2000 Highland Avenue (“History and Legacy of St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church.” St. Thomas’ Church of Rochester, New York. 2017. Web. 27 March 2017. http://stthomasrochester.org/who-we-are/our-mission/history1). Official website: http://stthomasrochester.org/. Barlow was the organist for St. Thomas Episcopal Church from 1946 to 1976 (“Wayne Barlow Collection,” Eastman School of Music Archives. Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections Sibley Music Library. 7 September 2001. Web. 10 April 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/files/2015/06/Wayne-Barlow-Collection.pdf).
[7] Concordia Publishing House is a subsidiary of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, to which all of its published materials are submitted for review. Current catalog records credit Barlow for contributing to four volumes: The Parish Organist, Part 11; The Parish Organist, Part 12; and Preludes for the Hymns in Worship Supplement (1969) Vol. 1: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany in both print and downloadable file formats (“About CPH.” Concordia Publishing House. 2017. Web. 27 March 2017. https://www.cph.org/t-about-dr.aspx; “Products.” Concordia Publishing House. 2017. Web. 27 March 2017. http://search.cph.org/search#w=Wayne%20Barlow).
[8] Located at 141 East Avenue, Christ Church is an Episcopal communion with an active music mission and ongoing affiliation with the Eastman School of Music (ESM). In partnership with ESM, Christ Church helped to build the Craighead-Saunders organ, named for ESM organ professors emeritus David Craighead and Russell Saunders. Christ Church also maintains a traditional choir, Schola Cantorum, conducts compline services, and houses a popular music string band made up of Church members. Barlow served as church organist from 1976 to 1978 (“Our Community.” Christ Church Rochester. 2017. Web. 27 March 2017. http://www.christchurchrochester.org/our-community; “Wayne Barlow Collection,” Eastman School of Music Archives. Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections Sibley Music Library. 7 September 2001. Web. 10 April 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/files/2015/06/Wayne-Barlow-Collection.pdf).
[9] Instructor of piano in the preparatory department at ESM from 1941 to 1976 (Lenti, Serving 299).
[10] Blair Cosman (MA ESM, 1941) taught piano at ESM from 1945 to 1982. He also played organ to accompany commencement on multiple occasions (Vincent A. Lenti. Serving a Great and Nobel Art: Howard Hanson and the Eastman School of Music. Rochester: Meliora Press, 2009. 302; University of Rochester commencement programs, [RBSC]: Web. http://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/commencement).
[11] Professor of music theory, 1952 to 1963 (Lenti, Serving 297).
[12] Not identified.
[13] Richard Kilmer, professor of oboe at ESM, has been principal oboist with the Lake Placid Sinfonietta, the Oklahoma City Symphony, and the Aspen Festival Orchestra. He joined the ESM faculty in 1982, and has received two major teaching awards during his tenure: The Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching (1985) and, from Yale University, the Gustave Stoeckel Excellence in Teaching Award (2006) (“Richard Kilmer.” Eastman School of Music. 2017. Web. 14 April 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/faculty/killmer_richard/).
[14] “The Winter’s Passed,” a piece for oboe and strings, later revised for oboe and piano, published by the Eastman School of Music in 1940 (“The Winter’s Passed: For Oboe and Strings.” Google Books. Web. 27 March 2017. https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Winter_s_Passed.html?id=S1RsnQEACAAJ).
[15] Arthur Cohn did more than perhaps any other American to promote twentieth-century classical music. He published several foundational books on the subject, including the award winning Recorded Classical Music: A Critical Guide to Compositions and Performances (1981). A composer in his own right, Mr. Cohn published the compositions of several contemporary composers, both at home and abroad, going so far as to smuggle scores of Shostakovich’s thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth symphonies into America. A violinist trained at the Combs Conservatory and the Juilliard School, he formed the Dorian Quartet and Stringart Quartet, both of them dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music (“Arthur Cohn, 87, Versatile Composer, Conductor, and Author.” Allan Kozinn. New York Times 18 February 1998. Web. 27 March 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/18/arts/arthur-cohn-87-versatile-composer-conductor-and-author.html).
[16] Barlow studied with Arnold Schoenberg in 1935, while Schoenberg was on the faculty at the University of Southern California (“Wayne Barlow Collection,” Eastman School of Music Archives. Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections Sibley Music Library. 7 September 2001. Web. 27 March 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/files/2015/06/Wayne-Barlow-Collection.pdf).
[17] Helen Barlow died in 2001 (ibid).
[18] Not identified. Approximate spelling.
[19] Robert Sprenkle (BM 1936) taught oboe at ESM from 1937 to 1982 and served as principal oboist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra during that time. He authored The Art of Oboe Playing, a revered text of oboe pedagogy (Lenti, Serving 304; "Robert Sprenkle." Eastman School of Music. 1999-2016. Web. 12 May 2016. http://www.esm.rochester.edu/about/portraits/sprenkle/).
[20] Sprenkle performed the oboe part on Barlow’s composition for a recording made by Howard Hanson and the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra in 1953, American Music for Solo Winds and Strings (“American Music for Solo Winds and Strings.” Apple, Inc. 2016. Web. 27 March 2017. https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/american-music-for-solo-winds/id520130030; Lenti, Serving 329)
[21] “A Poor Wayfaring Stranger” and “Black is the Color of my True Love’s Hair” (“Wayne Barlow: 100 Years.” Antonie. Classical Music Diary. 15 August 2012. Web. 14 April 2017. http://mldd.blogspot.com/2012/08/wayne-barlow-100-years.html).
[22] Robert Barlow (BM 1961) studied harp at ESM. The Robert Wayne Barlow Award for Excellence in Harp Performance is named in his honor (“Wayne Barlow Collection.” Eastman School of Music Archives, Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections Sibley Music Library. 7 September 2001. Web. 27 March 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/files/2015/06/Wayne-Barlow-Collection.pdf).
[23] Images for harp and orchestra was published in 1961 (“Barlow, Wayne Brewster.” Dictionary of American Classical Composers. 2nd ed. Neil Butterworth. New York: Routledge, 2005. 28. Google Books. Web. 3 April 2017). Images for harp and instruments was published in 1963 (“Wayne Barlow Collection.” Eastman School of Music Archives, Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections, Sibley Music Library. 7-26. 7 September 2001. Web. 5 April 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/files/2015/06/Wayne-Barlow-Collection.pdf).
[24] Richard Bales (BM 1936) was the first director of the National Gallery Orchestra (NGO) in Washington, DC. In his over 30 years as director, Bales instituted the American Music Festival modelled on Howard Hanson’s Rochester based festival. The Washington, DC, American Music Festival remains a paramount venue for the performance of American composers’ works. While conductor of the NGO, Bales promoted American musical culture through his role as the radio host of the National Gallery Orchestra’s Sunday evening concert series. Though primarily known as a conductor, Bales’ composed notable works on American themes, including the triptych “The Republic” “The Union” and “The Confederacy” (“Conductor, Composer Richard Bales Dies at 83.” Bart Barnes. Washington Post 27 June 1998. Web; “Maestro of the East Garden Court.” Paul Hume. Washington Post 1 April 1979. Web. 24 April 2017).
[25] Published in 1962 (“Wayne Barlow Collection.” “Inventory.” Eastman School of Music Archives, Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections, Sibley Music Library. 7-26. 7 September 2001. Web. 5 April 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/files/2015/06/Wayne-Barlow-Collection.pdf).
[26] For a complete list of Barlow’s compositions, see (“Wayne Barlow Collection.” “Inventory.” Eastman School of Music Archives, Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections, Sibley Music Library. 7-26. 7 September 2001. Web. 5 April 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/files/2015/06/Wayne-Barlow-Collection.pdf).
[27] Both the inventory of the Wayne Barlow collection, cited above, and the Baker’s Dictionary of Musicians list the copyright for False Faces as 1935; unless otherwise noted, both sources have been used to confirm all copyright dates cited in these notes. Any discrepancy will be noted.
[28] A cantata, published in 1937 (ibid).
[29] Thelma Biracree Schnepel was born in Rochester and danced with the Eastman Theatre Ballet before becoming one of the original members of Martha Graham’s dance company in 1926. A loyal member of the Rochester dance community, she performed at the Eastman sponsored Festival of American Music for over twenty years. She also taught ballet in Rochester and formed the Mercury Ballet Company of Rochester, prior to moving to Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1967 (“Thelma Biracree, 93, a Choreographer.” New York Times 25 May 1997. Web. 29 June 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/25/nyregion/thelma-biracree-93-a-choreographer.html).
[30] The Democrat and Chronicle reports a performance of Barlow’s Winter’s Passed, in addition to other works composed by men associated with ESM, as part of the Festival of American Music scheduled for April of 1942 (Democrat and Chronicle 26 April 1942. 59. Web. 3 April 2017. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/136238530/).
[31] Published by J. Fischer, New York, in 1942 (worldcat.org).
[32] Dr. John Rothwell Slater was a popular English professor who came to UR in 1905 and chaired the department from 1908 to 1942, when he retired. Slater wrote the inscriptions found on the facade of Rush Rhees Library and played the chimes, which were located in the Rush Rhees tower prior to the introduction of the carillon. His papers are available in Rush Rhees Library Rare Books and Special Collections.
[33] Burrill Phillips received undergraduate (1932) and graduate (1933) degrees from ESM. He went on to teach composition at Eastman (1933-1949), the University of Illinois (1949-1964), Juilliard (1968-1969), and Cornell University (1972-1973). His compositions include Americana inspired works such as Selections from McGuffey’s Readers and The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (Arthur J. May. History of the University of Rochester, 1850-1962. 2005. [RBSC]: Web; Phillips, Burrill. Interview with Bruce Duffie. 1986. Web. 18 Nov. 2015. http://www.bruceduffie.com/burrillphillips.html).
[34] Published in 1946 (“Barlow, Wayne (Brewster). Baker’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Gale Group. 2001. Web. 3 April 2017. http://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/barlow-wayne-brewster-0).
[35] In a letter to the Rochester Review, former Boston Symphony Orchestra bassist Henry S. Freeman (ESM, Class of 1930) recalls working as a studio musician at WHAM for seven dollars per half hour program. Freeman played on popular musical programs, including Down Melody Lane and Wings of Song. He also accompanied the serials True Stories of the New York State Police, Town Taxi, and with the Arpeako Minstrels, Hank and Herb, and The Eastman Kodak Hour, “the first program on the then Blue Network to originate out of anywhere but New York or Chicago” (Freeman, Henry S. Letter. Rochester Review (Winter 1983): 40. [RBSC]: Web. 13 February 2017.
[36] Charlie Siverson, ESM, Class of 1930. A trombonist, Siverson directed the WHAM studio orchestra (ibid). For the recollections of a performer with the WHAM radio orchestra, see Norbert Klem’s contribution to the Living History Project http://livinghistory.lib.rochester.edu/.
[37] Peter W. Siverson, BM with performer’s certificate in French horn, 1953 (University of Rochester commencement program. 1953. 5. [RBSC]: Web. 12 April 2017. http://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/commencement).
[38] The 23rd Psalm for Chorus and Organ or Orchestra (1944) (“Barlow, Wayne (Brewster). Baker’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Gale Group. 2001. Web. 3 April 2017. http://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/barlow-wayne-brewster-0).
[39] Herman Genhart directed the ESM chorus from 1925 to 1965. He also directed Teutonia Liedertofel, a local German language singing group (“Resources for the History of the Eastman School of Music.” Ronald J. Morgan. Sibley Music Library. 1998. Web. 21 June 2016. http://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/specialcollections/esm-history/).
[40] The text begins, “The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I lack.” For a full text, see: “Psalms, Chapter 23.” United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Web. 3 April 2017. http://www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/23.
[41] Published in 1967 (Baker’s); or 1968 (“Wayne Barlow collection”).
[42] Francis Tursi earned his BM from ESM in both viola performance (1948) and composition (1947), having already completed degrees in both fields at the Curtis Institute. He was instructor of viola at ESM from 1949 to 1985. During his career, he played in several chamber music ensembles, including the Eastman String Quartet, the Kilbourn Quartet, the Eastman Piano Quartet, the Eastman Trio, the Fine Arts Quartet, and the New England Piano Quartet (“Francis Tursi.” Eastman School of Music. 1999-2015. Web. 14 December 2015. http://www.esm.rochester.edu/about/portraits/tursi/).
[43] The Brevard Music Festival takes place annually from June through August in Brevard, North Carolina. The festival allows professional musicians and students from age fourteen through the college level to perform together in a wide array of genres, with a primary focus on classical music. In addition to providing classes for students, the Festival offers dozens of concerts to visitors (“BMC History at a Glance.” Brevard Music Center. Web. 6 March 2017. https://www.brevardmusic.org/about/history/).
[44] Probably Frontiers for Symphony Band (1982) (“Barlow, Wayne (Brewster). Baker’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Gale Group. 2001. Web. 3 April 2017. http://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/barlow-wayne-brewster-0).
[45] Presumably Nocturne for Piano, published in 1933 (“Wayne Barlow Collection,” Eastman School of Music Archives. Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections Sibley Music Library. 7 September 2001. Web. 27 March 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/files/2015/06/Wayne-Barlow-Collection.pdf).
[46] Author of the books Restful and Tranquil Composition (1956) and Restful in Music (1970). According to commencement programs, ESM previously awarded the Edward B. Benjamin award for “Quiet Music” (University of Rochester Rush Rhees Library Voyager Catalogue. Web. 12 April 2017. http://www.library.rochester.edu/).
[47] Originally credited to Hyam Plutzik, Wayne Barlow, and the University of Rochester Men’s Glee Club, Bryn Mawr: Theodore Presser, 1963 (worldcat.org).
[48] Hyam Plutzik published three collections of poetry in his lifetime. He taught at the University of Rochester from 1945 to 1952; that year, he died of cancer. The Plutzik Reading Series, which brings several noted authors to the University of Rochester each year, continues Plutzik’s tradition of holding poetry readings during his time on the faculty (“About Hyam Plutzik.” University of Rochester. The Plutzik Reading Series. 2005-2017. Web. 3 April 2017. http://www.sas.rochester.edu/eng/plutzik/about.html; “A Great Stag, Broad-Antlered: Rediscovering Hyam Plutzik.” Edward Moran and Phillip Witte. The Paris Review 8 May 2012. Web. 3 April 2017. https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/05/08/a-great-stag-broad-antlered-rediscovering-hyam-plutzig/).
[49] Published in 1965 (“Wayne Barlow Collection,” Eastman School of Music Archives. Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections Sibley Music Library. 7 September 2001. Web. 5 April 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/files/2015/06/Wayne-Barlow-Collection.pdf).
[50] Joan Yarbrough and Robert Cowan, who married in 1962, subsequently toured the world as a piano duo, performing up to 300 concerts a year at the peak of their popularity. Both received extensive training as classical pianists. Yarbrough studied at Oberlin Conservatory and the Royal Academy of Music (London) and Cowan studied at Juilliard, ESM (DMA, 1964, and the Royal Academy of Music. Barlow composed Dynamisms for Two Pianos (1967, Baker’s; 1966 “Wayne Barlow collection”) for the duo (“Yarbrough and Cowan Collection.” University of Maryland Libraries. 2016. Web. 5 April 2017. http://www.lib.umd.edu/ipam/collections/yarbrough-and-cowan).
[51] Yarbrough and Cowan were pianists-in-residence at the University of Montevallo, in Montevallo, Alabama (“Yarbrough and Cowan Collection.” University of Maryland Libraries. 2016. Web. 5 April 2017. http://www.lib.umd.edu/ipam/collections/yarbrough-and-cowan).
[52] Both Yarbrough and Cowan taught at the Brevard Music Center, described above at n. 30 (ibid).
[53] Concerto for Saxophone and Band (1970) (“Barlow, Wayne Brewster.” Dictionary of American Classical Composers. 2nd ed. Neil Butterworth. New York: Routledge, 2005. 28. Google Books. Web. 14 April 2017).
[54] Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, used throughout these notes to date the publication of Barlow’s compositions, identifies the copyrights for Soundscapes for Tape and Orchestra and Hampton Beach as 1972 and 1971, respectively. The inventory of the Wayne Barlow collection gives the date for both compositions as 1971.
[55] Composed in 1974 (“Wayne Barlow Collection,” Eastman School of Music Archives. Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections Sibley Music Library. 7 September 2001. Web. 27 March 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/files/2015/06/Wayne-Barlow-Collection.pdf).
[56] Music Teachers National Association. Official Website: http://www.mtna.org/.
[57] Published in 1975 (“Wayne Barlow Collection,” Eastman School of Music Archives. Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections Sibley Music Library. 7 September 2001. Web. 5 April 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/files/2015/06/Wayne-Barlow-Collection.pdf).
[58] New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Official Website: http://www.nyssma.org/.
[59] Published in 1980 (“Wayne Barlow Collection,” Eastman School of Music Archives. Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections Sibley Music Library. 7 September 2001. Web. 27 March 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/files/2015/06/Wayne-Barlow-Collection.pdf).
[60] Ivey (1923-2010) received a Master of Music degree from ESM in 1956, having specialized in composition. During her time at ESM, former ESM student and fellow electronic music composer Vladimir Ussachevsky, among others, sparked her interest in electronic music. After graduating from specialized in electronic music at the University of Toronto. Tabbed to initiate and lead a seminar in electronic music at the Peabody Conservatory in 1968, she became director of the full-fledged program in electronic music there in 1969, and held the directorship until 1989. Ivey’s music reflects her capacious brilliance—she often wrote music based on astronomy, and frequently wrote her own libretto and poetry to accompany her music, or collaborated with poets. She also composed widely for traditional ensembles and chamber groups, and wrote in a range of forms, from the most traditional to the avant-garde. Her many compositions include Testament of Eve (1976), which retells the Fall of Man from Eve’s perspective, Tribute: Martin Luther King (1969), which incorporated Christian spirituals; and Ode for Orchestra (1968), the first work by a woman composer ever performed at the Eastman-Rochester American Music Festival (Contemporary Music Review 16.1-2. Peter Nelson and Nigel Osborne, eds. Special Issue American Women Composers. Ed. Karin Pendle. Gelfand, Janelle Magnuson. “The Pioneering Spirit: Women Composers of the Older Generation.” 5-20., esp. 15-9. Google Books. Web. 5 April 2017. https://books.google.com/).
[61] Allen Irvine McHose, familiarly known as “Mac.” McHose served on the ESM faculty from 1929 to 1967, as a professor of theory and associate director. Dr. McHose spent thirty-five years as an organist and choirmaster of the Brick Presbyterian Church and also served as director of Eastman’s summer music program, during which he launched the popular concert series, Arranger’s Holiday. He published several important works in the field of music theory. For more on McHose, see his interview with The Living History Project (http://livinghistory.lib.rochester.edu/).
[62] Wife of Max Landow, who taught piano at ESM from 1922 to 1949 (Lenti, Serving 301).
[63] Generally regarded as the greatest concert pianist of the nineteenth-century, Listz is now remembered chiefly for his compositions, which include the Hungarian Rhapsodies, Mephisto Waltz, Transcendental Études, and Concerto for Piano, no. 1 and no. 2 (“Franz Listz.” Classical Net. 1995-2017. Web. 5 April 2017. http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/liszt.php).
[64] Foundations of Music New York: Appleton-Century Crofts, 1953 (Rush Rhees Library Voyager Catalogue. Web. 7 April 2017. http://www.library.rochester.edu/).
[65] Possibly “Music in the Twentieth Century.” Music Educators Journal 54.3 (1968): 119-20. Web. JSTOR In this book review, Barlow remarks favorably that the author recognizes “the disturbing unsatisfactory relationship that exists between composers and the society in which they live” (120) (worldcat.org).
[66] “Of Choral Music for the Church.” The Choral Journal 4.5 (1964): 13-4. (worldcat.org).
[67] Probably “Electronic Music: Challenge to Music Education.” Music Educators Journal 55.3 (1968): 68-9. (worldcat.org).
[68] St. John’s Episcopal Church, located at 54 West Main Street in Sodus, NY. Official site: http://stjohnsodus.org/welcome-to-st-johns/.
[69] Not identified. Approximate spelling.
[70] Probably Dictionary of Contemporary Music, Ed. John Vinton. New York: Dutton, 1974 (worldcat.org).
[71] Oscar Thompson first published the encyclopedia as International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians in 1939. It was last published in a revised edition in 1985 (worldcat.org).
[72] Rochester’s Beta Gamma Mu musical sorority, founded in 1921, gained the recognition of the national organization Mu Phi Epsilon in 1925. It continues to present a “musician of the year” award annually. The specific year of Barlow’s honor could not be determined (Arthur J. May. History of the University of Rochester: 1850-1962. [RBSC]: Web. 2005. 7 April 2017. http://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/university-of-rochester-history).
[73] According to Article 5, Section 3 of the Phi Betta Kappa Iota Chapter bylaws, “honorary members shall be elected to Phi Betta Kappa, on rare occasion and for good reason, by the Executive Board of the Chapter, with election requiring the unanimous concurrence of members present for the meeting” (4) (PHI BETTA KAPPA Iota of New York BY-LAWS.” Web. 7 April 2017. https://www.rochester.edu/College/pbk/assets/pdf/By-Laws_wi_2008Amendments.pdf).
[74] Founded in 1843 by composer and conductor Felix Mendelssohn Bartoldy, this is the oldest conservatory in Germany. Notable alumni include composers Edvard Grieg and Frederick Delius (“The Leipzig Conservatory.” LucindaRiley.com. Web. 14 April 2017. http://thesevensistersseries.com/the-leipzig-conservatory/4590386527).
[75] Barlow was also chair of the composition department of ESM from 1968 to 1973 (“Wayne Barlow.” Eastman School of Music. 2017. Web. 7 April 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/about/portraits/barlow/).
[76] Barlow was the first person in the United States of America to receive a Ph.D. in music composition, when he received his degree in 1937 (ibid).
[77] Paul Lang was a foundational figure in the field of musicology, which he contributed to as both a popular critic, primarily for the New York Herald Tribune, and as a professor at Columbia University. Lang taught at Columbia from 1933 to 1970, and published several notable works, including Music in Western Civilization, a field defining textbook for musicology, and a biography of baroque composer George Frideric Handel. Born in Hungary, Lang was mentored by Zoltan Kodaly and Béla Bartók (“Paul Lang, Musicologist and Critic, is Dead at 90.” Allan Kozinn New York Times 24 September 1991. Web. 7 April 2017).
[78] According to one history of the Eastman School of Music “The Eastman School was the first music school in the country to award the DMA degree. In 1951, thanks in large part to Dr. Hanson’s efforts, the National Association of Schools of Music authorized the DMA as a degree as a professional doctorate in music recognizing doctoral-level work in artistic attainment, with an emphasis on performance and teaching” (The Eastman School of Music: A Brief History. David Peter Coppen. 2001, rev. 2007. Web. 7 April 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/facultystaff/handbook/history/).
[79] “All but Dissertation” refers to those who have completed all requirements for a Ph.D. except for the submission of an approved dissertation.
[80] From 1932 to 1955, Harold Gleason taught organ and headed the graduate programs at ESM. Gleason’s contributions to music in Rochester spanned both academic and popular venues. He was the organist for several local churches, founding director of the David Hochstein Memorial Music School, and author of influential monographs, including Method of Organ Playing (“Harold Gleason.” Eastman School of Music. 1999-2016. http://www.esm.rochester.edu/about/portraits/gleason/).
[81] Kendall joined the USO as music director after having received a Ph.D. in music from Cornell and having taught at Stanford, Whittier College, and Dartmouth. After completing military service, he became Dean of the University of Southern California School of Music in 1948, and retired from USC in 1967. His appointments to the USC faculty included Jascha Heifitz, William Primrose, and Gregor Piatigorsky. After leaving USC, he continued to encourage musical education in greater Los Angeles as executive director of the Young Musicians’ Foundation and president of the Performing Arts Council of the Los Angeles Music Center (“Raymond Kendall, Ex-USC Music Dean, Dead at 70.” Eric Malnic. Los Angeles Times 14 August 1980. JSTOR Web. 18 November 2016).
[82] National Association of Schools of Music. Official website: https://nasm.arts-accredit.org/.
[83] William Gay Bottje did earn the first DMA awarded by ESM in 1955 (The Eastman School of Music: A Brief History. David Peter Coppen. 2001, rev. 2007. Web. 7 April 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/facultystaff/handbook/history/).
[84] Barlow studied electronic music abroad at several universities in the 1960s. In 1963-1964, he studied at the University of Toronto under Myron Schaeffer. The following year, he won a Fulbright Scholarship and continued his study in Brussels, Ghent, and Utrecht (“Wayne Barlow Collection,” Eastman School of Music Archives. Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections Sibley Music Library. 7 September 2001. Web. 5 April 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/files/2015/06/Wayne-Barlow-Collection.pdf).
[85] Marian Laura Bottje BM, 1980, and, as Marian Bottje Drake, MM 1983 (University of Rochester commencement program 1980. 28. University of Rochester commencement program 1983. 29. [RBSC]: Web. 10 April 2017. http://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/commencement).
[86] Dr. Will Larson held a Ph.D. in psychology. He taught public school music at ESM from 1929 to 1954. During most of his tenure, Larson was the sole professor of public school music on the ESM faculty (Vincent A. Lenti. For the Enrichment of Community Life: George Eastman and the Founding of the Eastman School of Music. Rochester: Meliora Press, 2004. Print. 219, 250).
[87] A Professor of music literature at ESM from 1955 to 1972, Eugene Selhorst served as Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) during the 1955-1956 academic year, immediately prior to Barlow’s assumption of that role. After Barlow took over as DGS, Selhorst and Barlow were named associate dean for graduate professional studies and associate dean for graduate research studies, respectively. Each subdivision of graduate studies had its own graduate committee; thus, it seems that the research/performance curriculum bifurcation Barlow describes here can be dated to the 1956-1957 academic year. That same year, the Graduate School was placed under the auspices of the University, and switched its governing structure to a University Council on Graduate Studies, composed of deans and other representatives from Ph.D. granting departments (Lenti, Serving 103; May, History 2005).
[88] Selhorst oversaw the conferral of MM and DMA degrees; Barlow oversaw the conferral of MA and Ph.D. degrees (Lenti, Serving 103).
[89] Jon Engberg was Associate director of academic affairs and associate dean at ESM from 1975 to 1995. A cellist, Engberg earned a BM (1950) MM (1954) and Ph.D. (1970) at ESM. Engberg enjoyed a successful career as an orchestra and chamber cellist before joining the ESM administration. He performed with the RPO and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra early in his career, and then joined the Marines. Along with three fellow musicians from the Marine Band Chamber Orchestra, he formed the American Arts Trio, which became a decorated touring and teaching ensemble, affiliated with West Virginia University (WVU). Mr. Engberg taught at WVU from 1959 to 1975, and was a visiting faculty member at Catholic University and the University of Colorado prior to returning to ESM in 1975 (“Jon Engberg.” Eastman School of Music. 2017. Web. 24 February 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/about/portraits/engberg/).
[90] Selhorst died on February 6, 1972, at age 57 (Lenti, Serving 270).
[91] Verne Thompson (Ph.D. ESM 1955) served as secretary of both the graduate research and graduate professional studies committees. He began his varied musical career as a concert pianist, performing with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, the Musical Arts Trio, and as an accompanist for Marian Anderson, Lauritz Melchior, and others. He joined the ESM faculty in 1948 and retired in 1964. During his tenure, he cofounded the Eastman baroque vocal group Collegium Musicum, which continues to perform today, and authored program notes for RPO concerts as well as journalism for Musical America magazine (ibid. 103-4, 305; “Verne Thompson.” Eastman School of Music. 2017. Web. 10 April 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/about/portraits/thompson/).
[92] This national music honor society was formed in 1916 at Northwestern University, and chartered by the State of Illinois in 1918. Rochester’s Beta Pi chapter began to hold meetings in 1966 (“Pi Kappa Lambda.” Eastman School of Music. 2017. Web. 10 April 2017. https://www.esm.rochester.edu/academic-affairs/pi-kappa-lambda/).
[93] Shirley S.D. Spragg was appointed dean of graduate studies in 1958. His research focused on the psychological dimensions of drug addiction and other behaviors (May, History 2005).
[94] Paul R. Gross, University Professor of Life Sciences, University of Virginia, was a dean at Rochester in the late 1970s. His other academic appointments have included New York University, Brown University, and MIT. Dr. Gross has written several books on science and culture, including Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and its Quarrels with Science (1994) and Creationism’s Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design (2004). (“Paul R. Gross, PhD, ScD.” Institute for Science in Medicine. 2010. Web. 14 April 2017. http://www.scienceinmedicine.org/fellows/Gross.html).
[95] Charles Riker taught English and humanities at ESM from 1930 to 1968. From 1960 to 1968, he headed the school’s minor in the humanities. He also directed the preparatory department (Lenti, Enrichment 108, 145, 303).
[96] William Riker. A professor of political science at the University of Rochester from 1962 to 1993, Riker established Rochester’s department as one of the best in the nation. The William H. Riker Prize in Political Science honors distinguished research in political science and selects winners from a nationwide field; the William H. Riker University Award for Graduate Teaching honors faculty of the University of Rochester (“William H. Riker Papers.” University of Rochester Papers. 1998-2015. Web. 12 April 2017. http://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/2216; “William H. Riker Award for Graduate Teaching.” University of Rochester. 1996-2017. Web. 12 April 2017. https://www.rochester.edu/provost/honorsandawards/williamhrikeruniversityawardforgraduateteaching.html; “The William H. Riker Prize in Political Science.” Web. 12 April 2017. http://www.sas.rochester.edu/psc/news/riker.php).