James "Jim" Bryan Erb (January 25, 1926 – November 11, 2014) was an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchest ...

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

, and conductor. The founding conductor of the

Richmond Symphony The Richmond Symphony is based in Richmond, Virginia and is the largest performing arts organization in Central Virginia and one of the nation's leading regional orchestras. The organization includes a full-time orchestra with more than 70 musicians ...

Chorus, Erb led that chorus from 1971 to 2007 while also directing chorus activities at the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

, where he was for a while chair of the music department. Erb is most broadly known for his arrangement of the folk song " Shenandoah", and among musicologists of the Renaissance for his work on the magnificats of

Orlando di Lasso Orlande de Lassus ( various other names; probably – 14 June 1594) was a composer of the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school, Lassus stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Pale ...

published by

Bärenreiter Bärenreiter (Bärenreiter-Verlag) is a German classical music publishing house based in Kassel. The firm was founded by Karl Vötterle (1903–1975) in Augsburg in 1923, and moved to Kassel in 1927, where it still has its headquarters; it al ...

Career

Erb was born in

La Junta, Colorado La Junta is a home rule municipality in , the county seat of, and the most populous municipality of Otero County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,322 at the 2020 United States Census. La Junta is located on the Arkansas ...

. After serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

during

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Erb completed his undergraduate education in music at

Colorado College Colorado College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approxi ...

. He also studied at the

University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817. With a student body of over three thousa ...

. He later earned a masters in voice at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

and a doctorate from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

. He began teaching music at a junior high school in

Cheyenne, Wyoming Cheyenne ( or ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming, as well as the county seat of Laramie County, with 65,132 residents, per the 2020 US Census. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne metropolitan statistic ...

. Beginning in 1954 he taught music and conducted the choirs and glee clubs at the

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, where he taught until his retirement in 1994. While teaching at Richmond, he was a three-time winner of the University's Distinguished Educator Award. It was during this period that he composed his arrangement of the folk tune " Shenandoah", for a tour of Europe by the University of Richmond Choir. In addition to the Richmond Symphony Chorus, Erb also conducted the group Chorus of Alumni and Friends of the University of Richmond (CAFUR), which was originally associated with the University of Richmond. CAFUR's final concert was in 1994 with the singing of Rachmaninoff's

Vespers Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic (both Latin and Eastern), Lutheran, and Anglican liturgies. The word for this fixed prayer time comes from the Latin , mea ...

. In 2014, he died at the age of 88 in Richmond.

Works

Erb's published arrangements include sources from classical, liturgical, and folk music. Among the better known arrangements is Erb's version of "Shenandoah", called "one of the classic arrangements sung by high school and college choirs across the country." The arrangement has been performed by numerous choirs, including the

Virginia Glee Club The Virginia Glee Club is a men's chorus based at the University of Virginia. It performs both traditional and contemporary vocal works typically in TTBB arrangements. Founded in 1871, the Glee Club is the university's oldest musical organization ...

(who commissioned the

TTBB In musical choral notation, TTBB denotes a four-part lower-voice choir. Its configuration is Tenor 1, Tenor 2, Bass 1 (Baritone), Bass 2. The Tanunda Liedertafel employs this method of notation in their music. Typically (but not always) the 1s ...

version), the Chanticleer ensemble in an arrangement that combines it with the Marshall Bartholomew version, and the

Mormon Tabernacle Choir The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is an American choir, acting as part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It has performed in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for ...

, whose performance of it appeared on the soundtrack to the 1995 film '' Nixon''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Erb, James 1926 births 2014 deaths Colorado College alumni University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna alumni Indiana University alumni Harvard University alumni University of Richmond faculty American male composers 20th-century American composers American choral conductors American male conductors (music) People from La Junta, Colorado 20th-century American musicologists 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American composers 21st-century American musicologists 21st-century American conductors (music) 21st-century American male musicians Classical musicians from Colorado