Memphis Composers

JOHANNES SMIT, 1913-1972

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BURNET TUTHILL, 1888-1982

Mr. Burnet Tuthil was born in New York City. He attended the prestigious Horace Mann School, Columbia University, and the Cincinnati College of Music. He played clarinet in the Columbia University orchestra while in high school and later became its conductor.

In 1922 Tuthill became general manager of the Cincinnati Conservatory and entered its Master’s program in 1930. After receiving his degree, he became director of Southwestern College (now Rhodes College) in Memphis as well as Director of Memphis Conservatory which eventually merged with Southwestern. In 1938 he founded the Memphis Symphony which he conducted until 1946. His students included the renowned exploratory musician Moondog.

Tuthill founded the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) in 1924 and served as its secretary until 1959. He also founded the Society for the Publication of American Music (SPAM) in 1919, whose publications are still available from Theodore Presser Company.

Tuthill composed over 100 works for such ensembles as orchestra, chorus, and chamber music in addition to concertos for many instruments.

Tuthill's father, an architect and amateur cellist, designed Carnegie Hall.

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SAM VIVIANO, 1942-

Mr. Sam Viviano received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from The Juilliard School, where he was a scholarship student of Adele Marcus. Before his invitation to join the faculty at Memphis State University in 1980, Viviano taught at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, Middlebury College in Vermont, and was a founding member of The Orpheus Piano Festival at Johnson State College in Vermont.

Viviano gave his New York debut at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1979 and his Washington debut at the Phillips Collection in 1984. The New York Times spoke of his "impeccable control" and "natural affinity for the music's poetic content," while The Washington Post lauded his "total conviction and mastery." In 1986 he played a solo program of 20th-century American music at New York's Merkin Concert Hall, of which The New Yorker cited his “sure fingers and large-scale control." He has since been soloist with the symphony orchestras of Charlotte, St. Petersburg, Tampa, Vermont, and Amsterdam.

In recent years he has done extensive study concerning a natural, healthy approach to the piano with Dorothy Taubman, Edna Golandsky, Sheila Paige, and also with Yoheved Kaplinsky at Juilliard. His artistic output is varied: piano compositions, pedagogy books, teaching aids, musical artwork, CDs, and master classes or other instructional presentations. His piano works are published by PuffinTanz Press. His articles have appeared in Clavier and The American Music Teacher.

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DAVID RUSSELL WILLIAMS

Dr. David Russell Williams joined the faculty of Memphis State University in 1980 and later served as Chair of the Music Department. He received an Artium Baccalaureatus degree in 1954 and a Master's of Arts in composition in 1956 from Columbia University. Following graduation, he was hired as Chief Instructor of hte U.S. Army Band Training School. He became the Music Director at Windham College in 1959. Upon completion of a Doctorate of Musical Arts in composition from Eastman School of Music in 1965, Williams joined the Eastman faculty. In 1980, he joined the faculty at Memphis State University. While a student at Eastman, Williams studied composition with Howard Hanson, Otto Luening, Henry Cowell, and Jack Beeson. He also studied piano and harpischord with Sylvia Marlowe, William Beller, and Orazio Frugoni.

Williams authored several books. He has served as National Secretary for the College Music Society, on the Board of Governors for the National Academy of Recording Sciences, and on the Board of Directors for hte National Association of Schools of Music. He was also president of the Tennessee Association of Music Executives of Colleges and Universities (1986-1987). Williams was an honorary member of the Black Student Association and received the Angel Award in 1984. He received the University of Memphis Distinguished Teaching Award in 1994.

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