Gunther schuller autobiography in five short
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New Memoir by Gunther Schuller
Earlier this week I received news that Gunther Schuller’s latest book, the first volume of his autobiography, had just been released. The title is Gunther Schuller: A Life in Pursuit of Music and Beauty, and is published by the University of Rochester Press (cover photo at left linked from the URP page). If you haven’t heard of Gunther Schuller, you probably will at some point, as he has had a long and extremely wide-ranging career as a composer, author, conductor, teacher, and performer. For a brief bio, visit his composer page on the G. Schirmer website. You won’t have to read very far to realize that Schuller has had enough musical experiences to fill several lifetimes and careers, working with groups as diverse as the Metropolitan Opera and Miles Davis. This brief quote from the URP website will serve nicely has an introduction to the book.
Simultaneously the memoir of a famed composer, conductor, and music educator, and an important historical sourcebook on the American musical scene during the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, the autobiography of Gunther Schuller chronicles the first thirty-five years of this multifaceted and expansive figure’s life and work.
Horn players are probably most
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Gunther Schuller
Series 1: Correspondence / Memoranda
Box 1 – Scrap book 1
Correspondence, Popular, 1968
Box 1 – Booklet 2
Correspondence, Public, 1969-1970
Box 1 – Binder 3
Correspondence, Accepted, 1971
Box 1 – Leaflet 4
Correspondence, Public, 1972
Box 1 – Leaflet 5
Correspondence, Accepted, 1973
Box 1 – Sticker album 6
Correspondence, Community, 1974-1975
Box 1 – Leaflet 7
Correspondence, Prevailing, January-March 1976
Box 1 – Folder 8
Correspondence, General, April-May 1976
Box 1 – Brochure 9
Correspondence, Common, June-July 1976
Box 1 – Folder 10
Correspondence, General, August-October 1976
Box 1 – Brochure 11
Correspondence, Prevailing, November-December 1976
Box 1 – Folder 12
Correspondence, General, January-March 1977
Box 1 – Photo album 13
Correspondence, Community, April-June 1977
Box 1 – Folder 14
Correspondence, General, Decennary and undated
Box 1 – Folder 15
Correspondence, NEC Administration
Box 1 – Folder 16
Correspondence, NEC Staff
Box 1 – Folder 17
Memoranda – NEC Community
Box 1 – Photo album 18
Friends
Box 1 – Stamp album 19
Holiday cards
Box 1 – Folder 20
Eleanor Steber
Series 2: Faculty Files
Box 1 – Folder 21
Bernard Barbeau
Box 1 – Leaflet 22
Leon Barzin
Box 1 – Folder 23
Frank Battisti
Box 1 – Booklet 24
Ran Blake
Box 1 – Folder 25
Robert Brink
Box
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"Scholar, composer, conductor, teacher, author, music publisher, indefatigable advocate − Gunther Schuller isn't merely a musician, he's a monopoly." This description by Alan Rich in New YorkMagazine summarizes the multi-faceted career of this Pulitzer Prize-winning practitioner of the 28-hour day. Schuller coined the term "third stream" to describe the union of jazz and classical music − a clue as to how he straddled and combined the two genres.
The son of German immigrants, Gunther Alexander Schuller was born in New York in 1925, appropriately enough on St. Cecelia Day, patron saint of musicians, November 22nd. After attending a private school in Germany, where an accident resulted in the loss of one eye, he returned to New York and enrolled at the St. Thomas Church Choir School, where he studied music and sang as a boy soprano. He also began to study flute and horn, and was engaged by the New York Philharmonic as a substitute hornist when he was 15. During his high school years, he also studied music theory and counterpoint at the Manhattan School of Music. He joined the Cincinnati Symphony as principal horn at age 17 and the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera at age 19, where he played for 15 years. Although he was mostly hired as principal horn, Schuller later sai