Howard Shanet (9 November 191819 June 2006) was a

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

conductor and composer. He was also a music

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, and the chairman of its music department from 1972–1978.

Biography

Howard Shanet was born on 9 November 1918 in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

,NYT 2006. New York, and started his musical career as a

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

, gaining a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from Columbia in 1939 and a Master's in Musicology in 1941. After military service in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he studied musical composition with

Bohuslav Martinů Bohuslav Jan Martinů (; December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. He bec ...

and

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...

and conducting with

Serge Koussevitzky Sergei Alexandrovich KoussevitzkyKoussevitzky's original Russian forename is usually transliterated into English as either "Sergei" or "Sergey"; however, he himself adopted the French spelling "Serge", using it in his signature. (SeThe Koussevit ...

and

Fritz Stiedry Fritz Stiedry (11 October 18838 August 1968) was an Austrian conductor and composer. Biography Fritz Stiedry was born in Vienna in 1883. While still a law student at the University of Vienna, Stiedry's talent for music was noticed by Gustav Mahl ...

. During the early 1950s, he was conducting assistant to

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

at the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

. In 1953, he joined Columbia's faculty as Professor of Music, later becoming chairman of its music department from 1972–1978. In later years, he was appointed a professor emeritus. As a visiting conductor, he appeared with several major U.S. orchestras, including the

and the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, ...

. He composed music for orchestra, string quartet, and band. He also conducted performances of operas at Columbia, including the world premiere of

Carlos Chávez Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez (13 June 1899 – 2 August 1978) was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by nativ ...

's '' The Visitors''. He was the husband of neurophysiologist Bernice Grafstein Shanet, and the father of film and commercial director Laurence Shanet. Shanet died in Manhattan on June 19, 2006, at age 87.

Publications

In 1956, Shanet wrote the music textbook ''Learn to Read Music''. He wrote ''Philharmonic: A History of New York's Orchestra'' in 1975 and wrote an introduction and historical notes to a compilation of early works on the history of the orchestra called ''Early Histories of the New York Philharmonic''.

References

* NYT 2006
"Howard Shanet, 87, a Conductor and Composer Dies"
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', 22 June 2006

Notes

Archival Sources

Finding aid to the Howard Shanet papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shanet, Howard 1918 births 2006 deaths Musicians from Brooklyn Columbia University faculty American male conductors (music) Jewish American musicians Jewish classical musicians Classical musicians from New York (state) 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni