Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's official obituary:
January 25, 1999
Robert Shaw, Music Director Emeritus and Conductor Laureate of the
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, died at 2:05 AM today at the age of 82.
He was at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, on Saturday to
see the play Endgame, which was his son Thomas's senior directing
and acting project, when he suffered a massive stroke.
Renowned as America's greatest conductor of choral music, Mr. Shaw
came to Atlanta in 1967 to become Music Director and Conductor of
the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. During his 21 years in that capacity,
the ASO grew from a part-time, part-year regional ensemble to become
a full-time, year- round orchestra, recognized internationally for
its excellence. He led it on tours across the United States, including
a 1971 Carnegie Hall debut that became the first of many ASO appearances
in that prestigious space. He took the ASO and its Chorus to Washington
in 1977 to perform at the Inaugural Concert for President-elect Jimmy
Carter, and he led both ensembles on an acclaimed concert tour of
Europe in 1988.
The 200-voice Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and the smaller ASO
Chamber Chorus were his creations. Both were trained to the perfection
he demanded and continue to be an important part of the ASO's musical
programs -- at home in Atlanta on a regular basis and occasionally
on tour as well. The excellence of the ASO Chorus under his direction
has been recognized by six Grammy awards for Best Choral performance
and by the Georgia Governor's Award in the Arts.
Retirement as the ASO's Music Director in 1988 did not bring any
lessening of Mr. Shaw's musical activities. As he cut back on
his ASO conducting appearances, he was freed to accept more guest
engagements and to focus on realizing a cherished dream, the Robert
Shaw Choral Institute. Concentrating, for the first time in 21 years,
on choral literature without orchestral accompaniment, he conducted
a landmark series of summer festivals in the south of France (and
more recently in Greenville, South Carolina) and made a number of
recordings with his Robert Shaw Festival Singers. In Atlanta his
Robert Shaw Chamber Singers gave an acclaimed series of concerts at
Spivey Hall and also made recordings.
Another remarkable development of recent years was Mr. Shaw's
association with New York's Carnegie Hall, whose annual Robert Shaw
Choral Workshops drew choral directors and singers from across the
nation for week-long sessions of preparation and study, culminating
in performances received with both acclaim and affection. His many
other Carnegie Hall concerts included a performance of Handel's
Messiah on the 250th anniversary of the work's premiere and, on his
own 80th birthday, performances of Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with the
Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus, the ASO Chorus and other choral
groups. With singers both on stage and ranged around the hall in
two tiers of box seats, the number of performers came close to equaling
that of the audience.
Robert Lawson Shaw was born in Red Bluff, California, on April 30,
1916. As he liked to remind listeners at his frequent speaking
engagements, he came from a line of evangelical preachers, and the
family often sang gospel hymns around his mother's piano. Destined
for the ministry himself, he majored in religion and philosophy at
Pomona College. He was also a student conductor of the college's
glee club, which brought him to the attention of radio entertainer
Fred Waring. Waring brought the young Shaw to New York and assigned
him to form and conduct the Fred Waring Glee Club in weekly broadcasts.
Finding his Waring-related activities dealing almost exclusively
with popular music, Mr. Shaw began looking for a classical outlet.
In 1941 he formed the Collegiate Chorale, an all-volunteer chorus.
Quickly noticed for its high standards and its racially integrated
membership ("a melting pot that sings"), the group not only sang
traditional masterpieces, but also worked with living composers,
presenting premiere performances of many new works. The Chorale
eventually came to the notice of Arturo Toscanini, revered conductor
of the NBC Symphony, who invited it to perform Beethoven's Symphony
No. 9 with his orchestra. After attending a Shaw rehearsal, Toscanini
remarked, "I have at last found the maestro I have been looking for."
In 1949 he formed the Robert Shaw Chorale, which for two decades
reigned as America's premier touring choral group and was sent by
the U.S. State Department to 30 countries in Europe, the Soviet Union,
the Middle East, and Latin America. The Shaw Chorale began recording
as the chorus for opera recordings and then branched out with numerous
LP records of its own, in music ranging from Broadway and folk
favorites to the great milestones of the classical choral literature.
With these recordings, Mr. Shaw won the first four of his 14 Grammy
awards. During this period, he also worked to perfect his orchestral
conducting, serving as Music Director of the San Diego Symphony for
four years and then as Associate Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra,
working closely with George Szell for eleven years before accepting
his appointment with the Atlanta Symphony.
Throughout his career, Mr. Shaw received abundant recognition for
his work. His honors include degrees and citations from 40 U.S.
colleges and universities, England's Gramophone Award, a Gold Record
for the first RCA classical recording to sell more than a million
copies, four ASCAP Awards for service to contemporary music, the
first Guggenheim Fellowship ever awarded to a conductor, the Alice
M. Ditson Award for service to contemporary music, the George Peabody
Medal for outstanding contributions to music in America, and the Gold
Baton Award of the American Symphony Orchestra League for distinguished
service to music and the arts.
He was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the National Council
on the Arts, and he was a 1991 recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors,
the nation's highest honor to artists "who, through a lifetime of
accomplishment, have enriched American life by their achievement in
the performing arts." The following year he was awarded the National
Medal of Arts in a White House ceremony. He was the 1993 recipient
of the Conductors' Guild Theodore Thomas Award, in recognition of
outstanding life achievement in conducting as well as his contributions
to the education and training of young conductors. In 1997, the
French government awarded him its medal as "Officier des Arts et des
Lettres."
Last September, Mr. Shaw was Guest Artistic Director at the Kennedy
Center for the National Symphony Orchestra's two-week Beethoven
Festival, leading performances of the Missa solemnis, Choral Fantasy
and Ninth Symphony. Immediately thereafter, he was called to step
in for the ailing Seiji Ozawa to conduct the Ninth Symphony for the
gala opening concert of the Boston Symphony's season. In October he
was inducted in the American Classical Music Hall of Fame.
Mr. Shaw is survived by his sister, Mrs. Harrison Price of San Pedro,
California; his brother, John Shaw of Baldwin Park, California; his
children, Dr. Johanna Shaw of Providence, Rhode Island, and Nantucket,
Massachusetts; Peter Thain Shaw of Portland, Oregon; John Thaddeus
Shaw of Lathrop, California; Thomas Lawson Shaw of Atlanta and Yale
University; and stepson Alexander Crawford Hitz of Atlanta and New
York City.
There will be a private graveside service, and the family will receive
friends and well-wishers on Thursday afternoon, January 28, from 4:00
to 6:00 PM, at H. M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill. The ASO will host
a public celebration of his life and legacy in Atlanta Symphony Hall
this Friday at 2:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, the family requests
memorial contributions to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and/or
Carnegie Hall.
Janos Gereben <[log in to unmask]>
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