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John Donald Robb
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John Donald Robb
John Donald Robb (June 12, 1892 – January 6, 1989) was an American composer, ethnomusicologist, arts administrator, and attorney.
A symphony concert in his hometown of Minneapolis when he was a pre-teen inspired Robb to pursue a career as a composer. He began studying cello, and then pipe organ. While pursuing an undergraduate degree in English literature at Yale University, Robb continued his music education, including a course taught by Horatio Parker. Despite his passion for music, Robb turned to a career in the law. He attended both the University of Minnesota Law School and Harvard Law School.
Robb worked as an international bond lawyer in New York City, but also learned music. During a 1935–36 leave of absence from his law firm, he studied composition with Nadia Boulanger at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France. It was her encouragement that gave him the confidence to pursue his dream of being a composer. Throughout his life, he made time to study composition; his teachers included Horatio Parker, Darius Milhaud, Roy Harris, Paul Hindemith, and Nadia Boulanger.
In 1941, after 18 years as a lawyer, Robb left his New York law practice to become a professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. One of his first achievements was to establish the University of New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, which continued to thrive in 2013. He played a major role in building the college's Department of Music. Among the many composition students, he influenced are Halim El-Dabh and John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Robb served as Dean of the university's College of Fine Arts from 1942 to 1957. He became known as Dean Robb, a title that stayed with him for the rest of his life. In 1986, he received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the University of New Mexico.
Not long after arriving in New Mexico, Robb became enamored of the Hispanic and indigenous cultures, in particular their distinctive music. On many weekends, he and his wife, Harriet, would travel to the rural communities that dotted the state. Sometimes Robb had fixed appointments, but other times, they simply happened upon community gatherings. With permission of the performers, Robb would use his Wollensak wire recorder, hooked up to his car battery, to record the musicians' impromptu performances. "From the offices in the UNM Music Department to the dance hall across the street from the Rainbow Bar in Cuba, New Mexico, Robb recorded anyone willing to spend the time singing and playing for him". This effort would ultimately result in nearly 3,000 field recordings of traditional music from the American Southwest, Nepal, and South America, which form the core of the John Donald Robb Archive of Southwestern Music at the University of New Mexico.
Robb's commitment to preserving traditional songs resulted in him using them as inspiration for his own works. His regional opera, Little Jo, written in 1947–48, drew from Hispanic folk music. Another work, Joy Comes to Deadhorse, also illustrates Robb's fascination with the aesthetics of the Southwest. Set on two adjoining ranches in the Southwest, Joy Comes to Deadhorse centers around an Anglo-Hispanic couple who fall in love despite opposition from their fathers. Due to lackluster reception, Robb began an unsuccessful collaboration with Tom Jones, a young unknown lyricist at the time. After several years of conflicting interest, Robb agreed to relinquish his rights to the work to Jones, who reworked it with Harvey Schmidt into a non-Hispanic version. The result was The Fantasticks, which ran for 42 years at the Sullivan Theater in New York for a total of 17,162 performances.
Robb composed a large body of music, including two operas, symphonic and chamber music, and electronic music. His orchestral works have been played by many major orchestras in the United States and abroad under conductors, such as Hans Lange, Maurice Bonney, Maurice Abravanel, Leonard Slatkin, Gilberto Orellano, Yoshimi Takeda, Guillermo Figueroa, James Richards, and Franz Vote.
Robb was in his 70s when he discovered an entirely new medium for his musical compositions. In the summer of 1965, he attended a seminar hosted by Robert Moog in upstate New York to learn more about the revolutionary new instrument which came to be known as the Moog synthesizer. Shortly thereafter, he became one of the first to purchase the synthesizer and set about to create a new body of electronic music. In all, Robb composed more than 65 electronic works.
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John Donald Robb
John Donald Robb (June 12, 1892 – January 6, 1989) was an American composer, ethnomusicologist, arts administrator, and attorney.
A symphony concert in his hometown of Minneapolis when he was a pre-teen inspired Robb to pursue a career as a composer. He began studying cello, and then pipe organ. While pursuing an undergraduate degree in English literature at Yale University, Robb continued his music education, including a course taught by Horatio Parker. Despite his passion for music, Robb turned to a career in the law. He attended both the University of Minnesota Law School and Harvard Law School.
Robb worked as an international bond lawyer in New York City, but also learned music. During a 1935–36 leave of absence from his law firm, he studied composition with Nadia Boulanger at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France. It was her encouragement that gave him the confidence to pursue his dream of being a composer. Throughout his life, he made time to study composition; his teachers included Horatio Parker, Darius Milhaud, Roy Harris, Paul Hindemith, and Nadia Boulanger.
In 1941, after 18 years as a lawyer, Robb left his New York law practice to become a professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. One of his first achievements was to establish the University of New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, which continued to thrive in 2013. He played a major role in building the college's Department of Music. Among the many composition students, he influenced are Halim El-Dabh and John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Robb served as Dean of the university's College of Fine Arts from 1942 to 1957. He became known as Dean Robb, a title that stayed with him for the rest of his life. In 1986, he received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the University of New Mexico.
Not long after arriving in New Mexico, Robb became enamored of the Hispanic and indigenous cultures, in particular their distinctive music. On many weekends, he and his wife, Harriet, would travel to the rural communities that dotted the state. Sometimes Robb had fixed appointments, but other times, they simply happened upon community gatherings. With permission of the performers, Robb would use his Wollensak wire recorder, hooked up to his car battery, to record the musicians' impromptu performances. "From the offices in the UNM Music Department to the dance hall across the street from the Rainbow Bar in Cuba, New Mexico, Robb recorded anyone willing to spend the time singing and playing for him". This effort would ultimately result in nearly 3,000 field recordings of traditional music from the American Southwest, Nepal, and South America, which form the core of the John Donald Robb Archive of Southwestern Music at the University of New Mexico.
Robb's commitment to preserving traditional songs resulted in him using them as inspiration for his own works. His regional opera, Little Jo, written in 1947–48, drew from Hispanic folk music. Another work, Joy Comes to Deadhorse, also illustrates Robb's fascination with the aesthetics of the Southwest. Set on two adjoining ranches in the Southwest, Joy Comes to Deadhorse centers around an Anglo-Hispanic couple who fall in love despite opposition from their fathers. Due to lackluster reception, Robb began an unsuccessful collaboration with Tom Jones, a young unknown lyricist at the time. After several years of conflicting interest, Robb agreed to relinquish his rights to the work to Jones, who reworked it with Harvey Schmidt into a non-Hispanic version. The result was The Fantasticks, which ran for 42 years at the Sullivan Theater in New York for a total of 17,162 performances.
Robb composed a large body of music, including two operas, symphonic and chamber music, and electronic music. His orchestral works have been played by many major orchestras in the United States and abroad under conductors, such as Hans Lange, Maurice Bonney, Maurice Abravanel, Leonard Slatkin, Gilberto Orellano, Yoshimi Takeda, Guillermo Figueroa, James Richards, and Franz Vote.
Robb was in his 70s when he discovered an entirely new medium for his musical compositions. In the summer of 1965, he attended a seminar hosted by Robert Moog in upstate New York to learn more about the revolutionary new instrument which came to be known as the Moog synthesizer. Shortly thereafter, he became one of the first to purchase the synthesizer and set about to create a new body of electronic music. In all, Robb composed more than 65 electronic works.