Howard Boatwright
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Howard (Leake, Jr.) Boatwright (Newport News, Virginia, March 16, 1918 – Syracuse, New York, February 20, 1999) was an American composer, violinist and musicologist.[1]
Biography
He studied the violin with Israel Feldman in Norfolk, Virginia, and made his début at New York Town Hall in 1942. He was assistant professor of violin at the University of Texas, Austin, from 1943 to 1945. He then studied music theory and composition at Yale University (BM 1947, MM 1948), where he met Paul Hindemith, with whom he studied the viola d’amore. Hindemith urged him to stay at Yale to teach as assistant professor in music theory.
He planned to become a violinist instead of a composer, but began writing music in 1941 as a way to court the soprano Helen Strassburger. They were married in 1943 and performed and recorded new music, standard vocal works, and early music together for many years. Helen Boatwright continued to have a distinguished career as a teacher and performer, sometimes in collaboration with her husband and sometimes independently. The couple had three children: a daughter Alice and two sons, Howard III and David Alexander.
Boatwright became the music director at St Thomas’s Church, New Haven, Connecticut, in 1949, a position he held until 1964. It was there that he established a reputation as a pioneer in the performance of early choral music. While in New Haven he also served as conductor of the Yale University Orchestra from 1952 to 1960, and he was the concertmaster of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra from 1950 until 1962.
In 1964 he became the dean of the school of music at Syracuse University, and from 1971 he also served as a professor of music in composition and theory. At Syracuse, he transformed the music school, making it an important center for composition and the performance of new music by presenting festivals and establishing an electronic music studio. He also introduced non-Western music to the curriculum, and expanded its early music programs by acquiring collections of antique instruments. From 1969 to 1988, when he stopped teaching, he also directed a summer music program in Switzerland.
He was a Fulbright lecturer in India during the year 1959–60 and received a Fulbright grant to study in Romania, 1971–2. A pioneering scholar of Charles Ives, he was elected to the board of directors of the Charles Ives Society in 1975. Indeed, he demonstrated an unusually wide breadth of erudition as a scholar, publishing writings on music theory, ethnomusicology, Charles Ives, and Paul Hindemith.
Music
Boatwright’s musical compositions are full of chromaticism, although “adhering to traditional classical structures and by using rugged harmonies to support arching, shapely themes, he invariably created pieces with an appealing clarity, directness and emotional resonance”.
He initially concentrated on sacred choral music, but later added secular works for chorus and solo songs with piano or instruments, and instrumental works. The most notable of his instrumental works are the Quartet for clarinet and strings, which received an award from the Society for the Publication of American Music in 1962; the Symphony; and his Second String Quartet.
His earliest choral works are modal, and he “revived the modalities of early church music, using modern harmonies and linear counterpoint”. The subsequent chamber works were influenced by Hindemith’s middle-period style. In 1966 Boatwright started to develop a style he referred to as ‘dodecaphonic, though not serial’, where he appropriated the total of chromatic resources while still exercising control over harmony, all within the context of a layered, contrapuntal approach. This technique (described in his book Chromaticism) is demonstrated in his Second Quartet, a work both consistent in style and impressive in its ability to project a wide variety of moods.
Most of his songs were inspired by his wife’s “clear-voiced soprano”. “Though his refined, intelligent, atonal songs require advanced musicianship, the natural declamation and pliant, expressive vocal lines make them gratifying to sing.” His compiled set of Five Early Songs are highlighted by Carmen et al., requiring “an intelligent singer with good technique and musicianship.” Clifton referred to his songs titled From Joy to Fire as “an effective cycle of five brief songs”.
Howard Boatwright
Violinist, Composer and Professor, 80
Obituary by Allan Kozinn, Feb. 24, 1999
Howard Boatwright, a prolific composer who was also a concert violinist, a musicologist and the author of a widely used music theory textbook, died on Saturday at Crouse Memorial Hospital in Syracuse. He was 80 and lived in Fayetteville, N.Y.
The cause was heart failure, said John Harvith, a spokesman for Syracuse University, where Mr. Boatwright was the dean of the music school from 1964 to 1971, before becoming a professor of composition and theory at the university.
Mr. Boatwright’s works were often rigorously chromatic, but by adhering to traditional classical structures and by using rugged harmonies to support arching, shapely themes, he invariably created pieces with an appealing clarity, directness and emotional resonance. Recordings of several of his works, most notably the vital String Quartet No. 2 (1975), have been released by CRI Records, and the label recently reissued them on a CD compilation (CRI 775).
He published about 100 works, including a Symphony (1976), Variations for Small Orchestra (1949), a Serenade for Strings and Winds (1952), a Clarinet Sonata (1980), about 20 choral works and 50 songs.
He intended to become a violinist not a composer but began writing music in 1941 as a way to court Helen Strassburger, a soprano. They married in 1943 and performed and recorded new music, standard repertory and early music together for many years. The first songs he wrote for his wife were not performed until November, when she sang them in a recital in Syracuse.
Mr. Boatwright was born in Newport News, Va., and began studying the violin when he was 10. He worked with a single teacher, Israel Feldman, until 1942, when Mr. Boatwright played a New York debut recital at Town Hall. The next year, he joined the faculty of the University of Texas in Austin, and in 1946 he went to Yale University to study composition with Paul Hindemith.
After Mr. Boatwright completed his master’s degree, Hindemith recommended him for a faculty position at Yale, which he held until 1964. Mr. Boatwright also conducted the Yale Symphony, was concertmaster of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and first violinist of the Yale String Quartet. As a member of Hindemith’s Collegium Musicum, he took up early instruments for performances of Baroque works, and as the director of music at St. Thomas Church in New Haven he presented programs of Baroque rarities.
By the time he left Yale to become dean of the Syracuse University School of Music in 1964, Mr. Boatwright had published his ”Introduction to the Theory of Music” (1956) and two books on Indian music, ”Indian Classical Music and the Western Listener” and ”A Handbook on Staff Notation for Indian Music,” that he wrote after a year in Bombay as a Fulbright lecturer. His most recent book was the 1994 ”Chromaticism: Theory and Practice.”
In Syracuse Mr. Boatwright transformed the music school, making it an important center of composition and new-music performance by presenting festivals and establishing an electronic music studio. He also introduced non-Western music to the curriculum and expanded its early-music programs by acquiring collections of antique instruments. From 1969 to 1988, when he stopped teaching, he also directed a summer music program in Switzerland.
Besides his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Alice Karth Boatwright of San Francisco; two sons, Howard 3d, of Fayetteville, N.Y., and David Alexander, of Northampton, Mass., and a brother, Paul Mabry Boatwright, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Helen Boatwright
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Helen Strassburger Boatwright (November 17, 1916 – December 1, 2010) was an American soprano who specialized in the performance of American song, recorded the first full-length album of songs by composer Charles Ives and had a career that spanned more than five decades.
Early life and career
Born as Helena Johanna Strassburger in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, she was the youngest of six children in a large German American family. After high school, she studied with Anna Shram Irvin and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Oberlin College. Her operatic debut was as Anna in a production of Otto Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor at Tanglewood.
During her career, she worked with many important figures in the world of music, including conductors Leopold Stokowski, Erich Leinsdorf, Seiji Ozawa and Zubin Mehta. She also performed with Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood in the 1940s, sang opposite tenor Mario Lanza in his operatic stage debut, and performed for President John F. Kennedy in the East Room of the White House in 1963. In 1954, she became the first person to record a full-length album of Ives’ songs, 24 Songs, with pianist John Kirkpatrick. She also studied with composer Normand Lockwood. Another particular favorite composer of hers was Hugo Wolf. She knew his songs intimately, and in her later years she nearly always included a set or even an entire half of a recital of his work.
She met her future husband, violinist Howard Boatwright (who died in 1999), in Los Angeles in 1941 when they were to perform in a National Federation of Music Clubs competition. They married two years later, on June 25, 1943, and had three children. They performed together throughout their married life in North America, Europe, and India. Many of her husband’s compositions for voice were written for her. Other notable orchestral and choral groups she sang with were Paul Hindemith’s Collegium Musicum, Alfred Mann’s Cantata Singers, and Johannes Somary’s Amor Artis Chorale.
Later career
In 1964, her husband Howard became the dean of the Syracuse University School of Music and she joined him teaching there. In 1969 the Boatwrights established a university-sponsored summer program, L’École Hindemith in Vevey, Switzerland. They taught and performed there every summer until 1988. She was a professor of voice at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester from 1972 to 1979, and was a guest professor at Cornell University and the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University. She also gave master-classes at Glimmerglass Opera, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of North Carolina and Washington University.
In 2003, Syracuse University presented Boatwright with an honorary doctor of music degree. Boatwright continued to study music and teach, and in 2006, she celebrated her 90th birthday with a standing-room only concert at St. David’s Episcopal Church in DeWitt, New York.[3]
Death
Boatwright died on December 1, 2010, aged 94, in Jamesville, New York. Her achievements were honored during the 2011 Grammy Awards.
Helen Boatwright (1916 – 2010)
https://www.revolvy.com/page/Helen-Boatwright?cr=1
Obituary
Helen Strassburger Boatwright (November 17, 1916 – December 1, 2010) was an American soprano who specialized in the performance of American song, recorded the first full-length album of songs by composer Charles Ives and had a career that spanned more than five decades.
Early life and career
Born as Helena Johanna Strassburger in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, she was the youngest of six children in a large German American family. After high school, she studied with Anna Shram Irvin and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Oberlin College. Her operatic debut was as Anna in a production of Otto Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor at Tanglewood.
During her career, she worked with many important figures in the world of music, including conductors Leopold Stokowski, Erich Leinsdorf, Seiji Ozawa and Zubin Mehta. She also performed with Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood in the 1940s, sang opposite tenor Mario Lanza in his operatic stage debut, and performed for President John F. Kennedy in the East Room of the White House in 1963. In 1954, she became the first person to record a full-length album of Ives’ songs, 24 Songs, with pianist John Kirkpatrick. She also studied with composer Normand Lockwood. Another particular favorite composer of hers was Hugo Wolf. She knew his songs intimately, and in her later years she nearly always included a set or even an entire half of a recital of his work.
She met her future husband, violinist Howard Boatwright (who died in 1999), in Los Angeles in 1941 when they were to perform in a National Federation of Music Clubs competition. They married two years later, on June 25, 1943, and had three children. They performed together throughout their married life in North America, Europe, and India. Many of her husband’s compositions for voice were written for her. Other notable orchestral and choral groups she sang with were Paul Hindemith’s Collegium Musicum, Alfred Mann’s Cantata Singers, and Johannes Somary’s Amor Artis Chorale.
Later career
In 1964, her husband Howard became the dean of the Syracuse University School of Music and she joined him teaching there. In 1969 the Boatwrights established a university-sponsored summer program, L’École Hindemith in Vevey, Switzerland. They taught and performed there every summer until 1988. She was a professor of voice at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester from 1972 to 1979, and was a guest professor at Cornell University and the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University. She also gave master-classes at Glimmerglass Opera, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of North Carolina and Washington University.
In 2003, Syracuse University presented Boatwright with an honorary doctor of music degree. Boatwright continued to study music and teach, and in 2006, she celebrated her 90th birthday with a standing-room only concert at St. David’s Episcopal Church in DeWitt, New York.
Death
Boatwright died on December 1, 2010, aged 94, in Jamesville, New York. Her achievements were honored during the 2011 Grammy Awards.
Partial discography
24 Songs/Songs From Emily Dickinson – Composers Recordings (2001)
Handel: Chandos Anthems I-VI – Vanguard (1998)
Hansel and Gretel (1954) – View Video DVD (2001)
Chandos Anthems I-VI – Vanguard SRV-227 SD / SRV-229 (1966)
Music of Franz Tunder – Howard & Helen Boatwright (1954)
Schubert – Mass No. 6 in E-flat major – Decca DL 9422 (195?)
The Happiest Millionaire – Disneyland Ster 5001 (196?)
References
Helen Boatwright biodata profile [see first article below]
ABC News report of death of Helen Boatwright
Inside SU, Thursday, December 2, 2010
Late singer from CNY to be honored at Grammys
External links
Charles Ives, Feldeinsamkeit performed by Helen Boatwright on YouTube
Rehearsal with Steven Heyman
Helen Boatwright (Soprano)
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Boatwright-Helen.htm
Obituary
Born: November 17, 1916 – Sheboygan, Wisconsin, USA
Died: December 1, 2010 – Jamesville, New York, USA
The American soprano and teacher, Helen Boatwright (née Strassburger), grew up in Sheboygan, Wisconsin during the Depression. She began her training with Anna Shram Irving. Later she studied voice with Professor Marion Sims (1892-1980) at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (Ohio), receiving the bachelor degree in music in 1939 and the master’s degree in music in 1943.
Helen Strassburger went on to become a professional oratorio singer. After making her operatic debut as Anna in an English language production of Nicolai’s Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor at the Berkshire Music Center (Tanglewood, Massachusetts), she appeared in opera in Austin (Texas) and San Antonio (Texas) from 1943 to 1945. On June 25, 1943, she married the violinist, conductor and composer Howard Boatwright (1918-1999), with whom she often appeared in concert. Throughout her career Helen Boatwright has won acclaim for her interpretations of the song repertoire of the 20th-century and she devoted much of her career also to early music. Her career as a soprano soloist spanned 50 years. She sang with many orchestras and choral groups in the USA, including Paul Hindemith’s Collegium Musicum, Alfred Mann’s Cantata Singers, and Johannes Somary’s Amor Artis Chorale. She made several recordings; among her notable performances are definitive recordings of the songs of Charles Ives with John Kirkpatrick at the piano.
Helen Boatwright taught in New Haven from 1945 to 1964, and in 1965 became adjunct professor of voice at Syracuse University (New York). In 1967 she made her New York recital debut at Town Hall. She was professor of voice at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester (New York) from 1972 to1979, and at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore from 1987 to 1989, and was Professor of Voice in the Summers of 1969-1988. She also gave master-classes at Glimmerglass Opera, University of Massachusetts, University of North Carolina and Washington University (1989).
Children of Howard Boatwright and Helen Strassburger are: Howard Leake Boatwright, Alice Karth Boatwright, and David Alexander Boatwright.
Helen Boatwright
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/8184891/Helen-Boatwright.html
Obituary, 6:24PM GMT 06 Dec 2010
Helen Boatwright, who has died aged 94, was a soprano who championed the performance of American song and in particular the music of Charles Ives, of whose work she recorded the first full-length album.
Her career took her far and wide. She worked with Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood, sang opposite the tenor Mario Lanza in his operatic debut and performed at the White House for President Kennedy.
Helen Boatwright’s repertoire was equally varied. She was as comfortable singing Schoenberg’s Erwartung with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Erich Leinsdorf as she was taking part in Messiah. As one profile noted in 1971, she sang “Handel in Bombay, Haydn in Alaska and Hindemith in Switzerland”.
Indeed, when the German-born composer Paul Hindemith gave a series of workshops and performances at Yale in 1946 to demonstrate the history of Western music from the Middle Ages to the Baroque, Helen Boatwright was his soprano of choice. Accompanied by historic instruments lent by the Metropolitan Museum, she sang a variety of ballads and songs with what was described as “a superb sense of style and impeccable musicianship”.
Many years later Helen Boatwright returned the compliment, running a summer school dedicated to the work of the composer, who died in 1963, in Vevey, Switzerland. The school, which she ran with her husband, the composer-violinist Howard Boatwright, ran from 1969 to 1988, and became a significant part of the musical calendar.
She also championed her husband’s compositions. He had been Professor of Music at Yale and was later appointed dean of the school of music at Syracuse University, New York. His music has been described as “often rigorously chromatic, but… he invariably created pieces with an appealing clarity, directness and emotional resonance”. Many of his 100 or more works were written with his wife in mind.
Her art, in particular her teaching, was about more than just singing. “I don’t want to train singers,” she said in an interview in 1999. “I want to train musicians. I want them to be musicians first. Artists. And it doesn’t have to be opera. There’s a whole world of music out there that should be studied and sung.”
She was born Helen Johanna Strassburger on November 17 1916 at Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the youngest of six children of Gustav and Amalie Strassburger, German immigrants who owned a furniture company. Every evening, after their Bible reading, the family would sing hymns in German in four-part harmony for up to 30 minutes. She studied Music at Oberlin College, Ohio, winning a Fulbright scholarship.
After graduating she sang opera in Texas until 1945. The pioneering Ives album, which features 24 of the composer’s almost 200 songs, was released in 1954 on the Overtone label. Helen Boatwright, who is accompanied by John Kirkpatrick, opens with the composer’s arrangement of Abide with Me and continues with Shall We Gather at the River and Evening.
For much of her married life Helen Boatwright lived in an 1835 Greek Revival house at Fayetteville, New York, where composers such as Bernstein and Aaron Copland would drop by, and where she taught several generations of vocal students. She gained a reputation for toughness with her pupils, pounding her fists on the piano if they failed to deliver their lines in precisely the manner indicated, but afterwards wrapping them in her arms, declaring: “Now, I wasn’t too hard on you, was I?”
Well-known figures would also call for vocal advice. On one occasion she chastised a caller who had an English accent, thinking it was a friend playing a joke; to her embarrassment it turned out to be John Shirley-Quirk, the British baritone, a teacher at Peabody, calling for a serious musical discussion. There were occasional forays to Britain, including a performance of Mozart’s C minor Mass in Southwark Cathedral in 1962 with a choir from Massachusetts Institute of Technology under Klaus Liepmann , but she never really gained a following here other than on disc.
Of Lanza, with whom she sang in The Merry Wives of Windsor in August 1942, she would advise her female colleagues: “Don’t get near him. He’ll take your hand.” And she always refused to reveal what Kennedy whispered in her ear after her concert in the East Room of the White House in 1963.
Helen Boatwright marked her 90th birthday by performing a solo concert in a local church. Typically, the programme was made up largely of music by American composers.
She met her future husband in a lift in Los Angeles in 1941, while they were both performing in a competition; that evening they sat under the stars at the Hollywood Bowl listening to Judy Garland sing. They married two years later.
Helen Boatwright died on December 1. Her husband died in 1999, and she is survived by two sons and a daughter.
