Grover Schiltz refused to be bound by the narrow routine of life as an orchestral musician, even if that orchestra happened to be the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
The CSO’s longtime principal English horn and oboist shared his diverse interests with his beloved wife Beverly, a double bass player who worked as a music librarian. The Schiltzes bred show dogs, including Pembroke Welsh corgis and dachshunds, producing numerous champions over the years.
They also were avid collectors of nomadic rugs, corkscrews and ceramics who traveled the world in pursuit of their hobbies. In addition, Schiltz was an avid photographer, gourmet cook, and an active board member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Alumni Assn. Even so, he reserved his greatest passion for music.
Schiltz, 80, died of natural causes Thursday at their home in Lake Forest, according to his wife.
I have students who play out of books that were edited by Voxman. One had asked me who he was and I hadn’t a clue. But he died Tuesday at the age of 99, and there is an article … and now I know …
Voxman, a native of Centerville, earned his bachelor’s degree at the UI in chemical engineering in 1933. But he paid for his education by teaching clarinet lessons to high school students, and received his master’s of arts degree in 1934, UI officials said. He taught music at Iowa City High before joining the UI School of Music faculty in the late 1930s.
He was known to clarinetists and other musicians worldwide through his numerous compilations and editions for wind instruments and bibliographies of wind instrument literature, UI officials said. Voxman wrote hundreds of instruction method books used to teach music around the world.’
I just read that Montserrat Figueras
Dear friends of Salvatore Licitra,
Here is to announce with great sadness that the wonderful Italian tenor Salvatore Licitra, 43, died today, September 5, 2011 of his severe injuries at Garibaldi Hospital in Catania, Italy.
He suffered head and chest injuries during an accident while riding a scooter on August 27, 2011 in the city of Modica near Ragusa. He was flown to the hospital in Catania where he had surgery. He was in a coma from the time the accident happened. He passed away this morning leaving behind his beloved parents, his brother and many other family members.
The hospital will hold a press conference on September 6, 2011 at 10:30 am at the Sala Dusmet at the hospital.
I’m sorry to have to report that the composer, Ketzel, has died. As you can see by the dates above, she was only 19.
Oh yes, she was also a cat.
Ketzel (“cat” in Yiddish) was a one-hit wonder among composers — she never wrote another piece. And her career was launched only because she launched herself onto the keyboard of Professor Cotel’s Baldwin grand one morning in 1996.
He was playing a prelude and fugue from “The Well-Tempered Clavier” by Bach, as he did every morning — he worked his way through a different prelude and fugue each day, as a kind of warmup exercise.
On the morning in question, Ketzel leapt onto the piano, landing in the treble. She worked her way down to the bass. Professor Cotel was startled, but grabbed a pencil and started transcribing. He was impressed by the “structural elegance” of what he heard, Ms. Cheskis-Cotel said. “He said, ‘This piece has a beginning, a middle and an end. How can this be? It’s written by a cat.’”
I LOVE this paragraph:
We gave the piece serious consideration because it was quite well written,” Guy Livingstone, one of the judges, said in 1997. “It reminded us of Anton Webern. If Webern had a cat, this is what Webern’s cat would have written.”
I just read that Roland Petit died today. Just this past year Ballet San Jose did his Carmen once again.
Here he is, doing the Carmen Pas de deux with his partner and wife Zizi Jeanmaire:
And here is another work of his (only a portion), “Le Jeune Homme et la Mort”, danced by Zizi Jeanmaire and Rudolf Nuryev:
… and I’m embarrassed to say I knew neither name. I read these here:
Another link to Romantic Bohemia is gone: Czech violinist Josef Suk has died at age 81 after a long illness. He was Dvorak’s great-grandson and the grandson of composer Josef Suk.
Canadian composer Malcolm Forsyth has passed away at age 74 after suffering from pancreatic cancer. Born in South Africa, he went on to win three Junos for classical composition.
Josef Suk:
Malcolm Forsyth:
There have been some losses recently, but this one hits much closer to home and hurts my heart greatly.
A dear friend of ours — and the one who actually got Dan and me together — has died. Phil was a great guy. He played bass trombone in the San Jose Symphony and then in Symphony Silicon Valley. He was probably the most cheerful man I’ve ever met. Even when he told me he had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma he was upbeat and positive. When his symptoms got worse he still somehow managed to smile and joke around. I will miss him.
Ah, dear dear Phil. You will be missed. (If I find a large photo I’ll put that up. For now this will have to do.)
My heart goes out to his family. How difficult to lose this man, and far too soon, too.
I just read that Bruce Haynes has died via the IDRS forum and Facebook. I have no more information at this point. A sad loss, to be sure.
I’m very sorry to hear that composer Peter Lieberson died today.
links to other reports:
Read what WQXR
dramma per musica
Sequenza 21
NY Times
Below are compositions sung by his wife, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who died in 2006:
I just read that composer Daniel Catan has died.
LA opera premiered “Il Postino” just last year.
Lee Hoiby, a composer of operas and songs that balance unabashed lyricism and careful craftsmanship, died Monday in New York. He was 85.
There’s a good article on Alfred Genovese here. Do check it out!
“I just take the music and see what I want to do,’’ he told the Globe in 1998. “It is always evolving. I never say, ‘OK, here it is.’ A week will go by, and I will feel differently about a certain something or other.’’
I just read on Facebook that oboist Alfred Genovese has died.
I read that the James Bond composer, John Barry, has died here.
