William Otto Miessner (May 26, 1880 - May 27, 1967) was an American composer and music educator. Most of his life was spent in the midwest, particularly Indiana and Wisconsin.
Life and career
Born in
Huntingburg, Indiana, Miessner was the son of Charles Miessner and Mary Miessner (née Reutepohler) and the older brother of
Benjamin Franklin Miessner. He graduated from Huntingburg High School in 1898.
He earned a
diploma from the
Cincinnati Conservatory of Music
The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music was a conservatory, part of a girls' finishing school, founded in 1867 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It merged with the College of Music of Cincinnati in 1955, forming the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, wh ...
, where he studied music theory with A. J. Gantvoort, piano with Frederick Hoffman, and singing with Adolph Devin-Duvivier. He later pursued further studies in New York with
Frederick Bristol (singing), A. J. Goodrich (harmony and counterpoint), and
Edgar Stillman Kelley
Edgar Stillman Kelley (April 14, 1857 – November 12, 1944) was an American composer, conductor, teacher, and writer on music. He is sometimes associated with the Indianist movement in American music.
Life
Kelley was of New England stock, his ...
(composition).
He also studied voice in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, taking lessons in 1910 with
Alexander Heinemann.
He then taught music from 1900 until 1904 at a school in
Boonville, Indiana
Boonville is a city in Boon Township, Warrick County, Indiana, United States. The population was 6,246 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Warrick County.
History
Boonville was founded in 1818 and named for Jesse Boon, father ...
, before going to
Connersville
Connersville is a city in Fayette County, east central Indiana, United States, east by southeast of Indianapolis. The population was 13,481 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of and the largest and only incorporated town in F ...
to teach elementary and
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
music; he stayed there from 1905 until 1909. Miessner has been quoted as saying that "The idle mind is the devil’s workshop. But this is my workshop and I’ll not tolerate an idle mind as long as there’s excitement in music."
One day in 1906, Miessner met three students in the street; they had been suspended from school earlier in the day due to misbehavior. The three were watching a
minstrel show
The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century.
Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spec ...
, keeping time with their hands while listening. Miessner made a deal with the three boys: he would get them reinstated in school if they, in exchange, would learn to play instruments in a school band which he was at the time planning to form. They agreed; Miessner, for his part, encouraged them to practice by promising them a public concert and uniforms in the
school colors
School colors (also known as university colors or college colors) are the colors chosen by a school as part of its brand identity, used on building signage, web pages, branded apparel, and the uniforms of sports teams. They can promote connectio ...
. The experiment was a success, and Connersville High School became possessed of the first
public high school band in the United States.
Miessner received a great deal of exposure for his work in starting the band, which was chosen to perform at a convention of the Northern and Southern Indiana Teacher's Association in 1908. This performance received a notice in ''School Music'', at the time a national publication for music educators, and Miessner's name was made.
Miessner went on to serve in a number of teaching and administrative positions during the remainder of his career. He was the director of the music schools of
Milwaukee State Teachers College from 1914 until 1922, and from 1911 until 1924 taught at summer sessions at
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
. He founded the Miessner Institute of Music in
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...
in 1924. In the early 1930s he worked with his brother, Benjamin, to invent an instrument called a
rhythmicon
The Rhythmicon—also known as the Polyrhythmophone—was an electro-mechanical musical instrument designed and built by Leon Theremin for composer Henry Cowell, intended to reveal connections between rhythms, pitches and the harmonic series. I ...
. Unfortunately for them,
Léon Theremin
Leon Theremin (born Lev Sergeyevich Termen rus, Лев Сергеевич Термéн, p=ˈlʲef sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvʲɪtɕ tɨrˈmʲen; – 3 November 1993) was a Russian and Soviet inventor, most famous for his invention of the theremin, one o ...
had already developed a similar instrument with the same name.
In 1936 he became head of the Department of Music Education at the
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...
, where he headed the graduate studies program and remained until 1945. In addition, he co-edited music textbooks for
Silver Burdett
Silver Burdett was an American primary education textbook publishing imprint owned by Pearson Education, which is a division of media conglomerate Pearson PLC.
History
Silver Burdett first formed as a company in 1888 when Frank W. Burdett purcha ...
for forty years and served ten years as president of the Miessner Piano Company in Milwaukee. He also received many honors for his work as an educator, including honorary
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
s from the Cincinnati Conservatory and
Chicago Musical College
Chicago Musical College is a division of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.
History
Founding
Dr. Florenz Ziegfeld Sr (1841–1923), founded the college in 1867 as the Chicago Academy of Music. The institution h ...
. He was a life member of the Music Educators National Conference, whose president he was from 1923 until 1924; he was also a member of
Phi Delta Kappa
PDK International (also known as PDK or Phi Delta Kappa International) is a US professional organization for educators. Its main office is in Arlington, Virginia. It was founded on January 24, 1906.
Membership
Currently, membership consists o ...
,
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America (colloquially known as Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Mu Alpha, or simply Sinfonia) () is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music. The fraternity is open to men "w ...
, and
Pi Kappa Lambda.
While in Boonville, he also served as a music director for a number of local organizations, including the
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
church.
In 1986 he was inducted into the Music Educators National Conference Hall of Fame.
Upon his retirement, Miessner returned to Connersville. Upon learning that no music teacher could be found for some of the local schools, he obtained an emergency permit that allowed him to return to teaching for three years, beginning in 1956. He was then told that he would have to take a beginners' course in teaching to retain his permit; feeling that his experience as a teacher should exempt him from such work, he declined. He died in Connersville in 1967.
Miessner is primarily remembered as an educator, but he wrote music as well. Most of his music was composed for
choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
, but he also wrote
song
A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...
s as well as some pieces for
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
.
He also wrote pedagogical works for beginning
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
ists and
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
s, and compiled teaching materials about
symphonic music and American songs.
Notes and references
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miessner, W. Otto
1880 births
1967 deaths
American male composers
American composers
American music educators
University of Kansas faculty
Northwestern University faculty
University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music alumni
People from Huntingburg, Indiana
People from Connersville, Indiana
Musicians from Indiana
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee faculty
People from Boonville, Indiana
20th-century American male musicians