David Randall Fuller, an internationally recognized musicologist was emeritus professor of music, organist and director of the University of Buffalo Organ Performance Program
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David Randall Fuller, Professor emeritus at the University at Buffalo, died on June 19, 2022 at the age of 95. A longtime member of the AMS, he will be remembered for his writings about seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French harpsichord music and as a splendid organist and harpsichordist.
Fuller was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts, where he traced his ancestry to the earliest colonists in Newton and where his musical training began: piano with Wilhelmina Wilde, 1935–1944; harmony with Harry Seaver, 1942; and in Paris, organ with Clendenning Smith, 1942–1943. After graduating from Newton High School and a stint in the Navy, he earned a bachelor's degree in music at Harvard College (1949) and then a master's (1950). Fuller returned to Harvard to earn a PhD in 1965, with a dissertation entitled "Eighteenth-Century French Harpsichord Music," which much later was completely rewritten and expanded with Bruce Gustafson as A Catalogue of French Harpsichord Music, 1699–1780 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990).
Fuller first met William Christie in 1962, then a first-year student at Harvard. They remained friends and collaborators for the rest of Fuller's life, including recording Armand-Louis Couperin's harpsichord duets played on historic harpsichords with knee levers to effect crescendos and decrescendos (1980).
From 1950 to 1953, Fuller began his teaching career in Istanbul, Turkey, at what was then known as Robert College (now Bogaziçi Üniversitesı). He spent the following academic year back in Massachusetts at Bradford Junior College in Haverhill. In 1954 he became organist at Dartmouth College, where he began what turned out to be a lifelong professional friendship with the distinguished organ builder Charles Fisk. In 1963, he made his final academic move, joining the music department as a musicologist at what was then the State University of New York at Buffalo (now simply the "University at Buffalo"), from which he retired in 1998, remaining in Buffalo with his spouse, Alan Gerstman. During his tenure at the university he also served as the music department's Executive Officer (1965–1967) and Director of Graduate Studies (1967–1969, 1971–1973). Perhaps his greatest achievement in Buffalo was overseeing the design, purchase, and installation of a landmark American concert organ incorporating elements of the Cavaillé-Coll tradition, built by C.B. Fisk, Inc. (op. 95, 1989–1990). He transcended the bureaucracy at The University of Michigan when he became the principal advisor for my PhD dissertation, which established a collaboration for the rest of his life.
During his long musicological career Fuller penned more than 200 publications: monographs, editions of music, articles, essays for recordings, and reviews. He contributed a great many entries for the first edition of The New Grove Dictionary (1980, most revised by me for the 2001 edition and Grove Music Online); and to The New Harvard Dictionary (1986). An article in Music & Letters won its prestigious Westrup Prize (1997).
David Fuller's sharp wit was as quick in person as it was well crafted in writing. He set high standards for himself as well as his students, for which we are forever in his debt.
- Bruce Gustafson, posted by the American Musicological Society on Thursday, August 25, 2022
Contributed by Starfishin [#48860385]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the University at Buffalo staged a concert in 1997 to honor eminent musicologist David Fuller upon his retirement from the faculty, the centerpiece was the famous Fisk Opus 95 Organ in Slee Concert Hall.
Although Mr. Fuller didn't perform on the renowned instrument that afternoon, he was its master from its uppermost rank of pipes to its deepest bass note. An acquaintance of influential organ builder Charles B. Fisk since his early days as a professor, he spent more than 20 years collaborating on its design and oversaw its installation in 1989-1990.
Its innovations were the model for all of the concert hall organs Fisk subsequently built. Buffalo News reviewer Lynna Sedlak took the measure of the Fisk and Mr. Fuller in concert in 1992:
David Fuller, curator of the Fisk Organ, presented a program that demonstrated all of virtues of the organ. His performance was every bit as sensitive and responsive as the instrument."
Mr. Fuller, emeritus professor of music, organist and director of the UB Organ Performance Program, died June 19. He was 95.
Born in Newton, Mass., David Randall Fuller was the descendant of two 17th century colonial families. His father's ancestors came to Newton in 1636. He began piano lessons when he was 8, studied organ and at 15 was substitute organist in one of Newton's leading churches. He entered Harvard University to study music history in 1944 and enlisted in the Navy at the end of World War II. Trained at a radar school in California, he was discharged after serving for a short time at a research laboratory in Alexandria, Va.
He returned to Harvard, completing bachelor's and master's degrees, studying composition with Walter Piston and Paul Hindemith, and taking private lessons with leading concert organist E. Power Biggs.
He taught music history and was organist at Robert College, an American school in Istanbul, Turkey, from 1950 to 1953, taught for a year at Bradford Junior College in Haverhill, Mass., and was an assistant professor of music and organist from 1954 to 1957 at Dartmouth College, where he began his long friendship with Fisk.
Returning to Harvard, he joined a group of musicians and scholars who pioneered the modern study of Renaissance and Baroque music and brought it out of obscurity. He created and hosted a TV lecture and recital series, "The Harpsichord," for WGBH in Boston, Mass., in 1958.
While he was completing his doctorate in music at Harvard, he spent a year in France on a fellowship and studied with legendary organist André Marchal. His doctoral dissertation, which cataloged 17th century French harpsichord music, was later expanded to include 18th century entries. Titled simply "French Harpsichord Music," it has become a standard reference book and is still in print.
Fuller came to UB in 1963 as a musicologist, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in Baroque music. Several of his students have become prominent music scholars. He was honored as a teacher of the year by the UB Student Association."In his teaching, you had to be completely versed in music theory and the historic context of the music," his spouse and partner of 40 years, Alan P. Gerstman, noted. "And then in performance you play within this universe of rules from the period, but you have to have freedom in the performance."
In 1996, he inaugurated Eastman Organists' Day at UB, a n annual concert featuring outstanding students from the Eastman School of Music performing on the Fisk organ. He became a professor emeritus in 1998, but continued to give lessons and mentor graduate students.
Beginning in the 1950s, Mr. Fuller performed around the world. He gave regular harpsichord recitals and collaborated with UB's avant-garde Creative Associates in several programs.
He and William Christie, a native Buffalonian and renowned Baroque music conductor he had mentored at Harvard in the 1960s, recorded the previously neglected harpsichord music of 18th century French composer Armand-Louis Couperin, and gave several concerts in Paris on historical instruments.
He loved 19th century organ music," Gerstman said, "particularly monumental pieces by Reger and Widor, and transcriptions of Wagner works. In his late years, he would play the six Bach Trio Sonatas, in daily rotation, from memory as an exercise in memory retention."
He published more than 100 articles, essays and reviews, primarily on 17th and 18th century French music, and was noted for the depth of his scholarship and his witty style.
A classic car enthusiast, his first vehicle as a student was a Pierce-Arrow, followed by a pair of Duesenbergs. His prize was a tan 12-cylinder 1936 Pierce-Arrow convertible with red fenders.
Also a preservationist, he spent years restoring his Victorian-era home in the Elmwood Village.
A graveside service was held June 25 in Forest Lawn. A memorial concert in Slee Hall will be arranged.
Extracted from "David R. Fuller, musicologist brought the Fisk Organ to UB"
By Dale Anderson published in the Buffalo Daily News on July 1, 2022
Contributed by Starfishin [#48860385]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is with great emotion that William Christie and Les Arts Florissants have learned of the death of the great American musicologist David Fuller on Sunday, June 19 at the age of 95.
David Fuller died on Sunday, June 19 at the age of 95. An organist, harpsichordist and a great musicologist specializing in 17th and 18th century music, he was a mentor of William Christie and a close friend of his. Among other things, he discovered the works of Armand Louis Couperin. He taught with passion many generations of musicians and was a faithful participant in the Festival Dans les Jardins de William Christie since its creation. Les Arts Florissants pays him a moving and grateful tribute.
Born in Newton, Massachusetts, USA, on May 1, 1927, David Fuller studied at Harvard University (BA 1949, AM 1950) before receiving a John Knowles Paine Fellowship (1960-61) and defending his doctoral dissertation on 18th-century harpsichord music in 1965. He also trained as an organist with Biggs, William Self and André Marchal, and as a harpsichordist with Albert Fuller. He taught at Robert College (Istanbul), Bradford Junior College, Dartmouth College, and from 1963-97 at SUNY Buffalo. In 1963, while completing his doctorate at Harvard, he met the young William Christie, then in his first undergraduate year.
David Fuller's research and teaching interests include seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French music and performance practices, and automatic musical instruments. His publications include editions of the keyboard works of Armand-Louis Couperin (1975) and of two Handel ornamented organ concertos (Op. 4 Nos. 2 and 5) as performed on an early barrel organ (1980). He was co-editor of the book A Catalogue of French Harpsichord Music, 1699-1780 (1990) and has written articles for a number of specialized journals. With William Christie, he has recorded Couperin's Simphonie de clavecins and the Second Quartet for two harpsichords. Fuller's erudite, careful and witty writing has made him an exemplary musicologist as well as a sensitive performer on both harpsichord and organ.
Posted by Les Arts Florissants on June 29 2022
Contributed by Starfishin [#48860385]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FULLER, David Randall PhD
June 19, 2022, age 95. Beloved husband of Alan P. Gerstman; son of the late Joseph and Ruth (nee Brodhead) Fuller; dear brother of the late Lois, Garret and Jay Fuller; uncle of Christine and Wendy. A Graveside Service will be held 11:00 AM on Saturday at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo. All are asked to assemble at Delaware & Delevan entrance. Memorial Service to be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in David's name to the American Friends of Les Arts Florissant or the Buffalo Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Arrangements by AMIGONE FUNERAL HOME, INC. (716) 836-6500.
Suggested edit: David was a descendant for John Fuller of Newton, MA.
https://johnfullerofnewton.com/
Contributor: (47180288)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David Randall Fuller, Professor emeritus at the University at Buffalo, died on June 19, 2022 at the age of 95. A longtime member of the AMS, he will be remembered for his writings about seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French harpsichord music and as a splendid organist and harpsichordist.
Fuller was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts, where he traced his ancestry to the earliest colonists in Newton and where his musical training began: piano with Wilhelmina Wilde, 1935–1944; harmony with Harry Seaver, 1942; and in Paris, organ with Clendenning Smith, 1942–1943. After graduating from Newton High School and a stint in the Navy, he earned a bachelor's degree in music at Harvard College (1949) and then a master's (1950). Fuller returned to Harvard to earn a PhD in 1965, with a dissertation entitled "Eighteenth-Century French Harpsichord Music," which much later was completely rewritten and expanded with Bruce Gustafson as A Catalogue of French Harpsichord Music, 1699–1780 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990).
Fuller first met William Christie in 1962, then a first-year student at Harvard. They remained friends and collaborators for the rest of Fuller's life, including recording Armand-Louis Couperin's harpsichord duets played on historic harpsichords with knee levers to effect crescendos and decrescendos (1980).
From 1950 to 1953, Fuller began his teaching career in Istanbul, Turkey, at what was then known as Robert College (now Bogaziçi Üniversitesı). He spent the following academic year back in Massachusetts at Bradford Junior College in Haverhill. In 1954 he became organist at Dartmouth College, where he began what turned out to be a lifelong professional friendship with the distinguished organ builder Charles Fisk. In 1963, he made his final academic move, joining the music department as a musicologist at what was then the State University of New York at Buffalo (now simply the "University at Buffalo"), from which he retired in 1998, remaining in Buffalo with his spouse, Alan Gerstman. During his tenure at the university he also served as the music department's Executive Officer (1965–1967) and Director of Graduate Studies (1967–1969, 1971–1973). Perhaps his greatest achievement in Buffalo was overseeing the design, purchase, and installation of a landmark American concert organ incorporating elements of the Cavaillé-Coll tradition, built by C.B. Fisk, Inc. (op. 95, 1989–1990). He transcended the bureaucracy at The University of Michigan when he became the principal advisor for my PhD dissertation, which established a collaboration for the rest of his life.
During his long musicological career Fuller penned more than 200 publications: monographs, editions of music, articles, essays for recordings, and reviews. He contributed a great many entries for the first edition of The New Grove Dictionary (1980, most revised by me for the 2001 edition and Grove Music Online); and to The New Harvard Dictionary (1986). An article in Music & Letters won its prestigious Westrup Prize (1997).
David Fuller's sharp wit was as quick in person as it was well crafted in writing. He set high standards for himself as well as his students, for which we are forever in his debt.
- Bruce Gustafson, posted by the American Musicological Society on Thursday, August 25, 2022
Contributed by Starfishin [#48860385]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the University at Buffalo staged a concert in 1997 to honor eminent musicologist David Fuller upon his retirement from the faculty, the centerpiece was the famous Fisk Opus 95 Organ in Slee Concert Hall.
Although Mr. Fuller didn't perform on the renowned instrument that afternoon, he was its master from its uppermost rank of pipes to its deepest bass note. An acquaintance of influential organ builder Charles B. Fisk since his early days as a professor, he spent more than 20 years collaborating on its design and oversaw its installation in 1989-1990.
Its innovations were the model for all of the concert hall organs Fisk subsequently built. Buffalo News reviewer Lynna Sedlak took the measure of the Fisk and Mr. Fuller in concert in 1992:
David Fuller, curator of the Fisk Organ, presented a program that demonstrated all of virtues of the organ. His performance was every bit as sensitive and responsive as the instrument."
Mr. Fuller, emeritus professor of music, organist and director of the UB Organ Performance Program, died June 19. He was 95.
Born in Newton, Mass., David Randall Fuller was the descendant of two 17th century colonial families. His father's ancestors came to Newton in 1636. He began piano lessons when he was 8, studied organ and at 15 was substitute organist in one of Newton's leading churches. He entered Harvard University to study music history in 1944 and enlisted in the Navy at the end of World War II. Trained at a radar school in California, he was discharged after serving for a short time at a research laboratory in Alexandria, Va.
He returned to Harvard, completing bachelor's and master's degrees, studying composition with Walter Piston and Paul Hindemith, and taking private lessons with leading concert organist E. Power Biggs.
He taught music history and was organist at Robert College, an American school in Istanbul, Turkey, from 1950 to 1953, taught for a year at Bradford Junior College in Haverhill, Mass., and was an assistant professor of music and organist from 1954 to 1957 at Dartmouth College, where he began his long friendship with Fisk.
Returning to Harvard, he joined a group of musicians and scholars who pioneered the modern study of Renaissance and Baroque music and brought it out of obscurity. He created and hosted a TV lecture and recital series, "The Harpsichord," for WGBH in Boston, Mass., in 1958.
While he was completing his doctorate in music at Harvard, he spent a year in France on a fellowship and studied with legendary organist André Marchal. His doctoral dissertation, which cataloged 17th century French harpsichord music, was later expanded to include 18th century entries. Titled simply "French Harpsichord Music," it has become a standard reference book and is still in print.
Fuller came to UB in 1963 as a musicologist, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in Baroque music. Several of his students have become prominent music scholars. He was honored as a teacher of the year by the UB Student Association."In his teaching, you had to be completely versed in music theory and the historic context of the music," his spouse and partner of 40 years, Alan P. Gerstman, noted. "And then in performance you play within this universe of rules from the period, but you have to have freedom in the performance."
In 1996, he inaugurated Eastman Organists' Day at UB, a n annual concert featuring outstanding students from the Eastman School of Music performing on the Fisk organ. He became a professor emeritus in 1998, but continued to give lessons and mentor graduate students.
Beginning in the 1950s, Mr. Fuller performed around the world. He gave regular harpsichord recitals and collaborated with UB's avant-garde Creative Associates in several programs.
He and William Christie, a native Buffalonian and renowned Baroque music conductor he had mentored at Harvard in the 1960s, recorded the previously neglected harpsichord music of 18th century French composer Armand-Louis Couperin, and gave several concerts in Paris on historical instruments.
He loved 19th century organ music," Gerstman said, "particularly monumental pieces by Reger and Widor, and transcriptions of Wagner works. In his late years, he would play the six Bach Trio Sonatas, in daily rotation, from memory as an exercise in memory retention."
He published more than 100 articles, essays and reviews, primarily on 17th and 18th century French music, and was noted for the depth of his scholarship and his witty style.
A classic car enthusiast, his first vehicle as a student was a Pierce-Arrow, followed by a pair of Duesenbergs. His prize was a tan 12-cylinder 1936 Pierce-Arrow convertible with red fenders.
Also a preservationist, he spent years restoring his Victorian-era home in the Elmwood Village.
A graveside service was held June 25 in Forest Lawn. A memorial concert in Slee Hall will be arranged.
Extracted from "David R. Fuller, musicologist brought the Fisk Organ to UB"
By Dale Anderson published in the Buffalo Daily News on July 1, 2022
Contributed by Starfishin [#48860385]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is with great emotion that William Christie and Les Arts Florissants have learned of the death of the great American musicologist David Fuller on Sunday, June 19 at the age of 95.
David Fuller died on Sunday, June 19 at the age of 95. An organist, harpsichordist and a great musicologist specializing in 17th and 18th century music, he was a mentor of William Christie and a close friend of his. Among other things, he discovered the works of Armand Louis Couperin. He taught with passion many generations of musicians and was a faithful participant in the Festival Dans les Jardins de William Christie since its creation. Les Arts Florissants pays him a moving and grateful tribute.
Born in Newton, Massachusetts, USA, on May 1, 1927, David Fuller studied at Harvard University (BA 1949, AM 1950) before receiving a John Knowles Paine Fellowship (1960-61) and defending his doctoral dissertation on 18th-century harpsichord music in 1965. He also trained as an organist with Biggs, William Self and André Marchal, and as a harpsichordist with Albert Fuller. He taught at Robert College (Istanbul), Bradford Junior College, Dartmouth College, and from 1963-97 at SUNY Buffalo. In 1963, while completing his doctorate at Harvard, he met the young William Christie, then in his first undergraduate year.
David Fuller's research and teaching interests include seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French music and performance practices, and automatic musical instruments. His publications include editions of the keyboard works of Armand-Louis Couperin (1975) and of two Handel ornamented organ concertos (Op. 4 Nos. 2 and 5) as performed on an early barrel organ (1980). He was co-editor of the book A Catalogue of French Harpsichord Music, 1699-1780 (1990) and has written articles for a number of specialized journals. With William Christie, he has recorded Couperin's Simphonie de clavecins and the Second Quartet for two harpsichords. Fuller's erudite, careful and witty writing has made him an exemplary musicologist as well as a sensitive performer on both harpsichord and organ.
Posted by Les Arts Florissants on June 29 2022
Contributed by Starfishin [#48860385]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FULLER, David Randall PhD
June 19, 2022, age 95. Beloved husband of Alan P. Gerstman; son of the late Joseph and Ruth (nee Brodhead) Fuller; dear brother of the late Lois, Garret and Jay Fuller; uncle of Christine and Wendy. A Graveside Service will be held 11:00 AM on Saturday at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo. All are asked to assemble at Delaware & Delevan entrance. Memorial Service to be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in David's name to the American Friends of Les Arts Florissant or the Buffalo Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Arrangements by AMIGONE FUNERAL HOME, INC. (716) 836-6500.
Suggested edit: David was a descendant for John Fuller of Newton, MA.
https://johnfullerofnewton.com/
Contributor: (47180288)
David Randall Fuller, an internationally recognized musicologist was emeritus professor of music, organist and director of the University of Buffalo Organ Performance Program
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David Randall Fuller, Professor emeritus at the University at Buffalo, died on June 19, 2022 at the age of 95. A longtime member of the AMS, he will be remembered for his writings about seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French harpsichord music and as a splendid organist and harpsichordist.
Fuller was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts, where he traced his ancestry to the earliest colonists in Newton and where his musical training began: piano with Wilhelmina Wilde, 1935–1944; harmony with Harry Seaver, 1942; and in Paris, organ with Clendenning Smith, 1942–1943. After graduating from Newton High School and a stint in the Navy, he earned a bachelor's degree in music at Harvard College (1949) and then a master's (1950). Fuller returned to Harvard to earn a PhD in 1965, with a dissertation entitled "Eighteenth-Century French Harpsichord Music," which much later was completely rewritten and expanded with Bruce Gustafson as A Catalogue of French Harpsichord Music, 1699–1780 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990).
Fuller first met William Christie in 1962, then a first-year student at Harvard. They remained friends and collaborators for the rest of Fuller's life, including recording Armand-Louis Couperin's harpsichord duets played on historic harpsichords with knee levers to effect crescendos and decrescendos (1980).
From 1950 to 1953, Fuller began his teaching career in Istanbul, Turkey, at what was then known as Robert College (now Bogaziçi Üniversitesı). He spent the following academic year back in Massachusetts at Bradford Junior College in Haverhill. In 1954 he became organist at Dartmouth College, where he began what turned out to be a lifelong professional friendship with the distinguished organ builder Charles Fisk. In 1963, he made his final academic move, joining the music department as a musicologist at what was then the State University of New York at Buffalo (now simply the "University at Buffalo"), from which he retired in 1998, remaining in Buffalo with his spouse, Alan Gerstman. During his tenure at the university he also served as the music department's Executive Officer (1965–1967) and Director of Graduate Studies (1967–1969, 1971–1973). Perhaps his greatest achievement in Buffalo was overseeing the design, purchase, and installation of a landmark American concert organ incorporating elements of the Cavaillé-Coll tradition, built by C.B. Fisk, Inc. (op. 95, 1989–1990). He transcended the bureaucracy at The University of Michigan when he became the principal advisor for my PhD dissertation, which established a collaboration for the rest of his life.
During his long musicological career Fuller penned more than 200 publications: monographs, editions of music, articles, essays for recordings, and reviews. He contributed a great many entries for the first edition of The New Grove Dictionary (1980, most revised by me for the 2001 edition and Grove Music Online); and to The New Harvard Dictionary (1986). An article in Music & Letters won its prestigious Westrup Prize (1997).
David Fuller's sharp wit was as quick in person as it was well crafted in writing. He set high standards for himself as well as his students, for which we are forever in his debt.
- Bruce Gustafson, posted by the American Musicological Society on Thursday, August 25, 2022
Contributed by Starfishin [#48860385]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the University at Buffalo staged a concert in 1997 to honor eminent musicologist David Fuller upon his retirement from the faculty, the centerpiece was the famous Fisk Opus 95 Organ in Slee Concert Hall.
Although Mr. Fuller didn't perform on the renowned instrument that afternoon, he was its master from its uppermost rank of pipes to its deepest bass note. An acquaintance of influential organ builder Charles B. Fisk since his early days as a professor, he spent more than 20 years collaborating on its design and oversaw its installation in 1989-1990.
Its innovations were the model for all of the concert hall organs Fisk subsequently built. Buffalo News reviewer Lynna Sedlak took the measure of the Fisk and Mr. Fuller in concert in 1992:
David Fuller, curator of the Fisk Organ, presented a program that demonstrated all of virtues of the organ. His performance was every bit as sensitive and responsive as the instrument."
Mr. Fuller, emeritus professor of music, organist and director of the UB Organ Performance Program, died June 19. He was 95.
Born in Newton, Mass., David Randall Fuller was the descendant of two 17th century colonial families. His father's ancestors came to Newton in 1636. He began piano lessons when he was 8, studied organ and at 15 was substitute organist in one of Newton's leading churches. He entered Harvard University to study music history in 1944 and enlisted in the Navy at the end of World War II. Trained at a radar school in California, he was discharged after serving for a short time at a research laboratory in Alexandria, Va.
He returned to Harvard, completing bachelor's and master's degrees, studying composition with Walter Piston and Paul Hindemith, and taking private lessons with leading concert organist E. Power Biggs.
He taught music history and was organist at Robert College, an American school in Istanbul, Turkey, from 1950 to 1953, taught for a year at Bradford Junior College in Haverhill, Mass., and was an assistant professor of music and organist from 1954 to 1957 at Dartmouth College, where he began his long friendship with Fisk.
Returning to Harvard, he joined a group of musicians and scholars who pioneered the modern study of Renaissance and Baroque music and brought it out of obscurity. He created and hosted a TV lecture and recital series, "The Harpsichord," for WGBH in Boston, Mass., in 1958.
While he was completing his doctorate in music at Harvard, he spent a year in France on a fellowship and studied with legendary organist André Marchal. His doctoral dissertation, which cataloged 17th century French harpsichord music, was later expanded to include 18th century entries. Titled simply "French Harpsichord Music," it has become a standard reference book and is still in print.
Fuller came to UB in 1963 as a musicologist, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in Baroque music. Several of his students have become prominent music scholars. He was honored as a teacher of the year by the UB Student Association."In his teaching, you had to be completely versed in music theory and the historic context of the music," his spouse and partner of 40 years, Alan P. Gerstman, noted. "And then in performance you play within this universe of rules from the period, but you have to have freedom in the performance."
In 1996, he inaugurated Eastman Organists' Day at UB, a n annual concert featuring outstanding students from the Eastman School of Music performing on the Fisk organ. He became a professor emeritus in 1998, but continued to give lessons and mentor graduate students.
Beginning in the 1950s, Mr. Fuller performed around the world. He gave regular harpsichord recitals and collaborated with UB's avant-garde Creative Associates in several programs.
He and William Christie, a native Buffalonian and renowned Baroque music conductor he had mentored at Harvard in the 1960s, recorded the previously neglected harpsichord music of 18th century French composer Armand-Louis Couperin, and gave several concerts in Paris on historical instruments.
He loved 19th century organ music," Gerstman said, "particularly monumental pieces by Reger and Widor, and transcriptions of Wagner works. In his late years, he would play the six Bach Trio Sonatas, in daily rotation, from memory as an exercise in memory retention."
He published more than 100 articles, essays and reviews, primarily on 17th and 18th century French music, and was noted for the depth of his scholarship and his witty style.
A classic car enthusiast, his first vehicle as a student was a Pierce-Arrow, followed by a pair of Duesenbergs. His prize was a tan 12-cylinder 1936 Pierce-Arrow convertible with red fenders.
Also a preservationist, he spent years restoring his Victorian-era home in the Elmwood Village.
A graveside service was held June 25 in Forest Lawn. A memorial concert in Slee Hall will be arranged.
Extracted from "David R. Fuller, musicologist brought the Fisk Organ to UB"
By Dale Anderson published in the Buffalo Daily News on July 1, 2022
Contributed by Starfishin [#48860385]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is with great emotion that William Christie and Les Arts Florissants have learned of the death of the great American musicologist David Fuller on Sunday, June 19 at the age of 95.
David Fuller died on Sunday, June 19 at the age of 95. An organist, harpsichordist and a great musicologist specializing in 17th and 18th century music, he was a mentor of William Christie and a close friend of his. Among other things, he discovered the works of Armand Louis Couperin. He taught with passion many generations of musicians and was a faithful participant in the Festival Dans les Jardins de William Christie since its creation. Les Arts Florissants pays him a moving and grateful tribute.
Born in Newton, Massachusetts, USA, on May 1, 1927, David Fuller studied at Harvard University (BA 1949, AM 1950) before receiving a John Knowles Paine Fellowship (1960-61) and defending his doctoral dissertation on 18th-century harpsichord music in 1965. He also trained as an organist with Biggs, William Self and André Marchal, and as a harpsichordist with Albert Fuller. He taught at Robert College (Istanbul), Bradford Junior College, Dartmouth College, and from 1963-97 at SUNY Buffalo. In 1963, while completing his doctorate at Harvard, he met the young William Christie, then in his first undergraduate year.
David Fuller's research and teaching interests include seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French music and performance practices, and automatic musical instruments. His publications include editions of the keyboard works of Armand-Louis Couperin (1975) and of two Handel ornamented organ concertos (Op. 4 Nos. 2 and 5) as performed on an early barrel organ (1980). He was co-editor of the book A Catalogue of French Harpsichord Music, 1699-1780 (1990) and has written articles for a number of specialized journals. With William Christie, he has recorded Couperin's Simphonie de clavecins and the Second Quartet for two harpsichords. Fuller's erudite, careful and witty writing has made him an exemplary musicologist as well as a sensitive performer on both harpsichord and organ.
Posted by Les Arts Florissants on June 29 2022
Contributed by Starfishin [#48860385]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FULLER, David Randall PhD
June 19, 2022, age 95. Beloved husband of Alan P. Gerstman; son of the late Joseph and Ruth (nee Brodhead) Fuller; dear brother of the late Lois, Garret and Jay Fuller; uncle of Christine and Wendy. A Graveside Service will be held 11:00 AM on Saturday at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo. All are asked to assemble at Delaware & Delevan entrance. Memorial Service to be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in David's name to the American Friends of Les Arts Florissant or the Buffalo Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Arrangements by AMIGONE FUNERAL HOME, INC. (716) 836-6500.
Suggested edit: David was a descendant for John Fuller of Newton, MA.
https://johnfullerofnewton.com/
Contributor: (47180288)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David Randall Fuller, Professor emeritus at the University at Buffalo, died on June 19, 2022 at the age of 95. A longtime member of the AMS, he will be remembered for his writings about seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French harpsichord music and as a splendid organist and harpsichordist.
Fuller was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts, where he traced his ancestry to the earliest colonists in Newton and where his musical training began: piano with Wilhelmina Wilde, 1935–1944; harmony with Harry Seaver, 1942; and in Paris, organ with Clendenning Smith, 1942–1943. After graduating from Newton High School and a stint in the Navy, he earned a bachelor's degree in music at Harvard College (1949) and then a master's (1950). Fuller returned to Harvard to earn a PhD in 1965, with a dissertation entitled "Eighteenth-Century French Harpsichord Music," which much later was completely rewritten and expanded with Bruce Gustafson as A Catalogue of French Harpsichord Music, 1699–1780 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990).
Fuller first met William Christie in 1962, then a first-year student at Harvard. They remained friends and collaborators for the rest of Fuller's life, including recording Armand-Louis Couperin's harpsichord duets played on historic harpsichords with knee levers to effect crescendos and decrescendos (1980).
From 1950 to 1953, Fuller began his teaching career in Istanbul, Turkey, at what was then known as Robert College (now Bogaziçi Üniversitesı). He spent the following academic year back in Massachusetts at Bradford Junior College in Haverhill. In 1954 he became organist at Dartmouth College, where he began what turned out to be a lifelong professional friendship with the distinguished organ builder Charles Fisk. In 1963, he made his final academic move, joining the music department as a musicologist at what was then the State University of New York at Buffalo (now simply the "University at Buffalo"), from which he retired in 1998, remaining in Buffalo with his spouse, Alan Gerstman. During his tenure at the university he also served as the music department's Executive Officer (1965–1967) and Director of Graduate Studies (1967–1969, 1971–1973). Perhaps his greatest achievement in Buffalo was overseeing the design, purchase, and installation of a landmark American concert organ incorporating elements of the Cavaillé-Coll tradition, built by C.B. Fisk, Inc. (op. 95, 1989–1990). He transcended the bureaucracy at The University of Michigan when he became the principal advisor for my PhD dissertation, which established a collaboration for the rest of his life.
During his long musicological career Fuller penned more than 200 publications: monographs, editions of music, articles, essays for recordings, and reviews. He contributed a great many entries for the first edition of The New Grove Dictionary (1980, most revised by me for the 2001 edition and Grove Music Online); and to The New Harvard Dictionary (1986). An article in Music & Letters won its prestigious Westrup Prize (1997).
David Fuller's sharp wit was as quick in person as it was well crafted in writing. He set high standards for himself as well as his students, for which we are forever in his debt.
- Bruce Gustafson, posted by the American Musicological Society on Thursday, August 25, 2022
Contributed by Starfishin [#48860385]
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When the University at Buffalo staged a concert in 1997 to honor eminent musicologist David Fuller upon his retirement from the faculty, the centerpiece was the famous Fisk Opus 95 Organ in Slee Concert Hall.
Although Mr. Fuller didn't perform on the renowned instrument that afternoon, he was its master from its uppermost rank of pipes to its deepest bass note. An acquaintance of influential organ builder Charles B. Fisk since his early days as a professor, he spent more than 20 years collaborating on its design and oversaw its installation in 1989-1990.
Its innovations were the model for all of the concert hall organs Fisk subsequently built. Buffalo News reviewer Lynna Sedlak took the measure of the Fisk and Mr. Fuller in concert in 1992:
David Fuller, curator of the Fisk Organ, presented a program that demonstrated all of virtues of the organ. His performance was every bit as sensitive and responsive as the instrument."
Mr. Fuller, emeritus professor of music, organist and director of the UB Organ Performance Program, died June 19. He was 95.
Born in Newton, Mass., David Randall Fuller was the descendant of two 17th century colonial families. His father's ancestors came to Newton in 1636. He began piano lessons when he was 8, studied organ and at 15 was substitute organist in one of Newton's leading churches. He entered Harvard University to study music history in 1944 and enlisted in the Navy at the end of World War II. Trained at a radar school in California, he was discharged after serving for a short time at a research laboratory in Alexandria, Va.
He returned to Harvard, completing bachelor's and master's degrees, studying composition with Walter Piston and Paul Hindemith, and taking private lessons with leading concert organist E. Power Biggs.
He taught music history and was organist at Robert College, an American school in Istanbul, Turkey, from 1950 to 1953, taught for a year at Bradford Junior College in Haverhill, Mass., and was an assistant professor of music and organist from 1954 to 1957 at Dartmouth College, where he began his long friendship with Fisk.
Returning to Harvard, he joined a group of musicians and scholars who pioneered the modern study of Renaissance and Baroque music and brought it out of obscurity. He created and hosted a TV lecture and recital series, "The Harpsichord," for WGBH in Boston, Mass., in 1958.
While he was completing his doctorate in music at Harvard, he spent a year in France on a fellowship and studied with legendary organist André Marchal. His doctoral dissertation, which cataloged 17th century French harpsichord music, was later expanded to include 18th century entries. Titled simply "French Harpsichord Music," it has become a standard reference book and is still in print.
Fuller came to UB in 1963 as a musicologist, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in Baroque music. Several of his students have become prominent music scholars. He was honored as a teacher of the year by the UB Student Association."In his teaching, you had to be completely versed in music theory and the historic context of the music," his spouse and partner of 40 years, Alan P. Gerstman, noted. "And then in performance you play within this universe of rules from the period, but you have to have freedom in the performance."
In 1996, he inaugurated Eastman Organists' Day at UB, a n annual concert featuring outstanding students from the Eastman School of Music performing on the Fisk organ. He became a professor emeritus in 1998, but continued to give lessons and mentor graduate students.
Beginning in the 1950s, Mr. Fuller performed around the world. He gave regular harpsichord recitals and collaborated with UB's avant-garde Creative Associates in several programs.
He and William Christie, a native Buffalonian and renowned Baroque music conductor he had mentored at Harvard in the 1960s, recorded the previously neglected harpsichord music of 18th century French composer Armand-Louis Couperin, and gave several concerts in Paris on historical instruments.
He loved 19th century organ music," Gerstman said, "particularly monumental pieces by Reger and Widor, and transcriptions of Wagner works. In his late years, he would play the six Bach Trio Sonatas, in daily rotation, from memory as an exercise in memory retention."
He published more than 100 articles, essays and reviews, primarily on 17th and 18th century French music, and was noted for the depth of his scholarship and his witty style.
A classic car enthusiast, his first vehicle as a student was a Pierce-Arrow, followed by a pair of Duesenbergs. His prize was a tan 12-cylinder 1936 Pierce-Arrow convertible with red fenders.
Also a preservationist, he spent years restoring his Victorian-era home in the Elmwood Village.
A graveside service was held June 25 in Forest Lawn. A memorial concert in Slee Hall will be arranged.
Extracted from "David R. Fuller, musicologist brought the Fisk Organ to UB"
By Dale Anderson published in the Buffalo Daily News on July 1, 2022
Contributed by Starfishin [#48860385]
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It is with great emotion that William Christie and Les Arts Florissants have learned of the death of the great American musicologist David Fuller on Sunday, June 19 at the age of 95.
David Fuller died on Sunday, June 19 at the age of 95. An organist, harpsichordist and a great musicologist specializing in 17th and 18th century music, he was a mentor of William Christie and a close friend of his. Among other things, he discovered the works of Armand Louis Couperin. He taught with passion many generations of musicians and was a faithful participant in the Festival Dans les Jardins de William Christie since its creation. Les Arts Florissants pays him a moving and grateful tribute.
Born in Newton, Massachusetts, USA, on May 1, 1927, David Fuller studied at Harvard University (BA 1949, AM 1950) before receiving a John Knowles Paine Fellowship (1960-61) and defending his doctoral dissertation on 18th-century harpsichord music in 1965. He also trained as an organist with Biggs, William Self and André Marchal, and as a harpsichordist with Albert Fuller. He taught at Robert College (Istanbul), Bradford Junior College, Dartmouth College, and from 1963-97 at SUNY Buffalo. In 1963, while completing his doctorate at Harvard, he met the young William Christie, then in his first undergraduate year.
David Fuller's research and teaching interests include seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French music and performance practices, and automatic musical instruments. His publications include editions of the keyboard works of Armand-Louis Couperin (1975) and of two Handel ornamented organ concertos (Op. 4 Nos. 2 and 5) as performed on an early barrel organ (1980). He was co-editor of the book A Catalogue of French Harpsichord Music, 1699-1780 (1990) and has written articles for a number of specialized journals. With William Christie, he has recorded Couperin's Simphonie de clavecins and the Second Quartet for two harpsichords. Fuller's erudite, careful and witty writing has made him an exemplary musicologist as well as a sensitive performer on both harpsichord and organ.
Posted by Les Arts Florissants on June 29 2022
Contributed by Starfishin [#48860385]
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FULLER, David Randall PhD
June 19, 2022, age 95. Beloved husband of Alan P. Gerstman; son of the late Joseph and Ruth (nee Brodhead) Fuller; dear brother of the late Lois, Garret and Jay Fuller; uncle of Christine and Wendy. A Graveside Service will be held 11:00 AM on Saturday at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo. All are asked to assemble at Delaware & Delevan entrance. Memorial Service to be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in David's name to the American Friends of Les Arts Florissant or the Buffalo Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Arrangements by AMIGONE FUNERAL HOME, INC. (716) 836-6500.
Suggested edit: David was a descendant for John Fuller of Newton, MA.
https://johnfullerofnewton.com/
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