Gunther Schuller facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller in 2008
Background information
Born	(1925-11-22)November 22, 1925 Queens
Died	June 21, 2015(2015-06-21) (aged 89)
Genres	Jazz, classical, third stream
Occupation(s)	President of the New England Conservatory
Instruments	French horn, flute
Associated acts	Modern Jazz Society, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Gunther Alexander Schuller (born November 22, 1925 – died June 21, 2015) was a very talented American musician. He was a composer, conductor, and played the French horn. He was also an author, historian, teacher, publisher, and jazz musician. Schuller was known for combining different music styles.

Gunther Schuller's Life and Music

Early Life and Musical Start

Gunther Schuller was born in Queens, New York City. His parents were from Germany. His father, Arthur E. Schuller, was a violinist with the famous New York Philharmonic orchestra.

Gunther studied at the Saint Thomas Choir School. He became very good at playing the French horn and the flute. When he was only 15, he started playing the horn professionally. He played with the American Ballet Theatre in 1943.

After that, he became the main horn player for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra from 1943 to 1945. Then he joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York. He stayed there until 1959. Even though he was a high school dropout, he was a professional musician. He never got a degree from a college. He started his jazz career by recording music with the famous jazz trumpeter Miles Davis in 1949 and 1950.

Combining Music Styles

In 1955, Schuller and jazz pianist John Lewis started the Modern Jazz Society. This group wanted to explore new kinds of music. It later became known as the Jazz and Classical Music Society.

In 1957, while teaching at Brandeis University, Schuller came up with the term "Third Stream". This term describes music that mixes ideas from classical music and jazz. He really believed in this style. He wrote many pieces that combined these two worlds. Some of his works include Transformation (1957) and Concertino (1959). He also wrote an opera called The Visitation in 1966. Later, he helped arrange Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha for a big performance in 1975.

A Career Full of Achievements

In 1959, Gunther Schuller mostly stopped performing. He wanted to focus on writing music, teaching, and writing books. He conducted orchestras all over the world. He also studied and recorded jazz with famous musicians like Dizzy Gillespie and John Lewis. Schuller wrote more than 190 original musical pieces in many different styles.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Schuller was the president of the New England Conservatory. There, he started The New England Ragtime Ensemble. During this time, he also worked at the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home in Tanglewood. He directed new music activities and was the artistic director of the Tanglewood Music Center. He also created the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Schuller started his own music publishing companies, Margun Music and Gun-Mar. He also started a record label called GM Recordings.

Schuller was also the editor-in-chief for Jazz Masterworks Editions. He was a co-director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra in Washington, D.C. He helped finish and perform a huge musical work by Charles Mingus called Epitaph in 1989. He also wrote two important books about the history of jazz: Early Jazz (1968) and The Swing Era (1991).

Many students learned from Gunther Schuller. Some of them include Irwin Swack, Ralph Patt, and Oliver Knussen.

Later Years and Legacy

From 1993 until he passed away, Schuller was the Artistic Director for the Northwest Bach Festival in Spokane, Washington state. Each year, this festival featured music by J.S. Bach and other composers. At the 2010 festival, Schuller conducted Bach's Mass in B minor.

Schuller had a long connection with Spokane. He was the Music Director for the Spokane Symphony from 1984 to 1985. He also often returned as a guest conductor.

In 2005, the Boston Symphony, New England Conservatory, and Harvard University held a festival of Schuller's music called "I Hear America." A musician named Bruce Brubaker said, "Gunther Schuller is a key witness to American musical culture." In 2009, his orchestral work Where the Word Ends was performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

In 2011, Schuller published the first part of his autobiography, Gunther Schuller: A Life in Pursuit of Music and Beauty. In 2012, he created a new arrangement called the Treemonisha suite from Joplin's opera. It was performed in London in 2013.

Gunther Schuller died on June 21, 2015, in Boston. He passed away from problems related to leukemia. He was married to Marjorie Black, a singer and pianist, and they had two sons, George and Edwin. His wife passed away in 1992. His sons and brother Edgar survived him.

Awards and Honors

Gunther Schuller received many important awards for his contributions to music:

• Ditson Conductor's Award, 1970
• Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance, for Joplin: The Red Back Book, 1974
• Grammy Award for Best Album Notes, for Footlifters, 1976
• First place, Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards, 1987
• William Schuman Award for lifetime achievement, Columbia University, 1988
• MacArthur Foundation Genius grant, 1991
• Lifetime achievement award, DownBeat magazine, 1993
• Lifetime achievement award, BMI Foundation, 1994
• Pulitzer Prize for "Of Reminiscences and Reflections", 1994
• Festival of his music performed by Boston Symphony and New England Conservatory, 2005
• Edward MacDowell Medal, MacDowell Colony, 2015

Discography

Gunther Schuller was involved in many recordings. Here are some examples of his work:

As an arranger

• He arranged music for jazz artists like John Lewis and Joe Lovano.

As a conductor

• He conducted albums for groups like the Modern Jazz Quartet and the New England Ragtime Ensemble.
• He also conducted for famous musicians like Dizzy Gillespie and Charles Mingus.

As a sideman (playing an instrument on someone else's album)

• He played horn on recordings with Miles Davis, including Birth of the Cool.
• He also played with Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Mathis, and Frank Sinatra.

Books

Gunther Schuller wrote several books about music:

• Musings: The Musical Worlds of Gunther Schuller. (1986)
• Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development. (1968) – A book about the early history of jazz.
• The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930–1945. (1991) – Another book about jazz history.
• The Compleat Conductor. (1998) – A book about conducting music.
• Horn Technique. (1962) – A book about playing the French horn.
• Gunther Schuller: A Life in Pursuit of Music and Beauty. (2011) – His autobiography.

See also

In Spanish: Gunther Schuller para niños