Elliot Forbes (August 20, 1917,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, Massachusetts – January 9, 2006, in Cambridge), known as "El", was an American conductor and

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 ...

noted for his

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

scholarship.

Life and career

Forbes came from a

Boston Brahmin The Boston Brahmins or Boston elite are members of Boston's traditional upper class. They are often associated with Harvard University; Anglicanism; and traditional Anglo-American customs and clothing. Descendants of the earliest English coloni ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

; his father, Edward W. Forbes, was the director of Harvard's

Fogg Art Museum The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

. He attended Harvard, receiving a BA in 1941 and an MA in 1947, both in music; he studied with Walter Piston, and while he was a graduate student, he was assistant conductor of the Harvard Glee Club. From 1947 to 58, he taught at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, but in 1958 he returned to Harvard and remained there for the rest of his life as Fanny Peabody Professor of Music (and, after 1984, Professor Emeritus.) He was the chief conductor of the Harvard Glee Club and Radcliffe Choral Society from 1958 to 1970; his students included Isaiah Jackson, now director of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, and William Christie, founder and director of the European baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants. While conductor, he led both groups on a tour around the world in 1967. Aside from conducting, his scholarly work focused on the life and work of

, particularly his choral music. His edition of '' Thayer's Life of Beethoven'' (1964) has been called "a substantial contribution to Beethoven scholarship." He also wrote two notable volumes of the history of music at Harvard, and edited the Harvard-Radcliffe Choral Music Series. He was on the boards of the New England Conservatory, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was found ...

, whose piano is dedicated in his honor. He received Harvard's Alumni Medal in 1991 and an honorary doctorate in 2003. Right up to his death, he remained an unflagging supporter of undergraduate performers, frequently attending events at which he was the only faculty member present. Forbes was married to Kathleen Brooks Allen. His grandson is musician

Ed Droste Edward Droste (born October 22, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, formerly of the rock band Grizzly Bear. The group began as the solo effort of Droste with the release of 2004's '' Horn of Plenty'', originally released on Kan ...

from Grizzly Bear.

Notable works

*''A Neglected Work in Beethoven's Choral Music: the Funeral Cantata'', Essays on Music in Honor of Archibald Thompson Davison (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1957), 253–61 *Ed.: ''Thayer's Life of Beethoven'' (Princeton, NJ, 1964, 2/1967) *''The Choral Music of Beethoven'', American Choral Review, xi/3 (1968–9) hole issue*''Beethoven as a Choral Composer'', PRMA, xcvii (1970–71), 69–82 *''Beethoven's Choral Music: a Reappraisal'', American Choral Review, xxiv/2–3 (1982), 67–82 *''A History of Music at Harvard'' (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1988–93)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Elliot American male conductors (music) Beethoven scholars Harvard College alumni Princeton University faculty Harvard University faculty 1917 births 2006 deaths Musicians from Cambridge, Massachusetts 20th-century American musicologists 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century German male musicians Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni