Jump to content

Dwight Gustafson: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
GreenC bot (talk | contribs)
Bots
2,318,675 edits
m Rescued 1 archive link; reformat 1 link. Wayback Medic 2.1
m WP:INFONAT cleanup - omit nationality/citizenship if same as birth country (via WP:JWB)
 
(16 intermediate revisions by 11 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{short description|American classical composer}}

{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Dwight Gustafson
| name = Dwight Gustafson
| image = DwightGustafson.jpg
| image = DwightGustafson.jpg
| caption = Dwight Gustafson, October 1993
| image_size =
| caption = Dwight Gustafson, October 1993
| birth_name = Dwight Leonard Gustafson
⚫
| birth_date = {{birth date|1930|4|20|mf=y}}
| birth_name = Dwight Leonard Gustafson
⚫
| birth_place = [[Seattle, Washington]], US
⚫
| birth_date = {{birth date|1930|4|20|mf=y}}
⚫
| death_date = {{death date and age|2014|1|28|1930|4|20|mf=y}}
⚫
| birth_place = [[Seattle, Washington]]
⚫
| death_place = [[Greenville, South Carolina]], US
⚫
| death_date = {{death date and age|2014|1|28|1930|4|20|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Greenville, South Carolina]]
| resting_place = Graceland Cemetery, Greenville, South Carolina
⚫
| resting_place_coordinates =
| death_cause = [[liver disease]]
⚫
| other_names =
⚫
| resting_place = Graceland Cemetery, Greenville, South Carolina
⚫
| known_for =
⚫
| resting_place_coordinates =
⚫
| education = [[Bob Jones University]], [[Florida State University]]
| residence =
| employer = Bob Jones University
| nationality = [[United States|American]]
⚫
| occupation = musician
⚫
| other_names =
| title = Dean of the School of Fine Arts
⚫
| known_for =
| term = 1954–1997
⚫
| education = [[Bob Jones University]], [[Florida State University]]
| employer = Bob Jones University
| predecessor = Karl Keefer
⚫
| successor = Darren Lawson
⚫
| occupation = musician
| title = Dean of the School of Fine Arts
| party =
| term = 1954-94
| boards =
| spouse = Gwendolyn Adams Gustafson
| predecessor = Karl Keefer
⚫
| children = four, including [[David Gustafson]]
⚫
| successor = Darren Lawson
| party =
| parents =
| boards =
| relatives =
| religion = [[Baptist]]
| signature =
| spouse = Gwendolyn Adams Gustafson
| website =
⚫
| footnotes =
⚫
| children = four, including [[David Gustafson]]
| parents =
| relatives =
| signature =
| website =
⚫
| footnotes =
}}
}}


Line 40: Line 37:
Gustafson was born in [[Seattle, Washington]] to Leonard Gustafson, a meat dealer and lay preacher, and Rachel Gustafson, a pianist, harpist, and artist. His childhood home was on [[Lake Sammamish]], and he graduated in 1948 from [[Queen Anne High School (Seattle, Washington)|Queen Anne High School.]]<ref>Obituary, ''Greenville News'', January 31, 2014.</ref>
Gustafson was born in [[Seattle, Washington]] to Leonard Gustafson, a meat dealer and lay preacher, and Rachel Gustafson, a pianist, harpist, and artist. His childhood home was on [[Lake Sammamish]], and he graduated in 1948 from [[Queen Anne High School (Seattle, Washington)|Queen Anne High School.]]<ref>Obituary, ''Greenville News'', January 31, 2014.</ref>


Despite early violin training, Gustafson was attracted to a career in art and design. As a sophomore at Bob Jones University, he was asked to make sketches for a production of ''[[Cyrano de Bergerac (play)|Cyrano de Bergerac]]'' and ended by designing the sets. In 1954, shortly before graduating from BJU with an M.A. in music, he was flabbergasted to be asked by the then-president, [[Bob Jones, Jr.]], to become dean of the School of Fine Arts. Gustafson was 24.<ref>Gustafson recalled, "Some of that was not too smart, but the university had its needs, and we all pitched in." [http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061213/CITYPEOPLE/612130306/1062 Greenville News, December 13, 2006.]</ref> Eventually he also earned a D. Mus. in composition from [[Florida State University]], and in 1960, he was selected as one of ten young conductors to study at the [[Aspen School of Music]].
Despite early violin training, Gustafson was attracted to a career in art and design. As a sophomore at Bob Jones University, he was asked to make sketches for a production of ''[[Cyrano de Bergerac (play)|Cyrano de Bergerac]]'' and ended by designing the sets. In 1954, shortly before graduating from BJU with an M.A. in music, he was flabbergasted to be asked by the then-president, [[Bob Jones Jr.]], to become dean of the School of Fine Arts. Gustafson was 24.<ref>Gustafson recalled, "Some of that was not too smart, but the university had its needs, and we all pitched in." [http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061213/CITYPEOPLE/612130306/1062 Greenville News, December 13, 2006.]{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>
Eventually he also earned a D. Mus. in composition from [[Florida State University]], and in 1960, he was selected as one of ten young conductors to study at the [[Aspen School of Music]].


Gustafson quickly proved himself a competent administrator who brought to his position a working knowledge of art, music, and drama. He also regularly conducted campus choirs and the Bob Jones Symphony Orchestra, especially in its annual opera productions. As a composer Gustafson was best known for his sacred choral compositions and arrangements, although his more than 160 works included five film scores, a string quartet, ''Encounters'' (a violin concerto), and numerous extended compositions for chorus and orchestra, including ''Three Psalms for Chorus and Orchestra'' (1989) and ''Words of Passion and Resurrection'' (2002). "Fantasia for a Celebration" was commissioned by the Williamsburg (VA) Symphonia as part of the city's 300-year celebration in 1999.<ref>In 2002, BJU presented a retrospective concert of Gustafson's works including ''Fanfare and Celebration'', earlier composed for the Greenville (SC) Symphony (and also played by symphonies in Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky), "Fantasia for a Celebration," selections from feature-length films with live music, several shorter choral works, a movement from his violin concerto, ''Encounters'', and a piece commissioned for the concert, ''Words of Passion and Resurrection'', for chorus and orchestra with narrator. [http://www.runet.edu/~scl-web/musicnow/archives/902.htm Music Now], the newsletter of the Southern Composers League.
Gustafson quickly proved himself a competent administrator who brought to his position a working knowledge of art, music, and drama. He also regularly conducted campus choirs and the Bob Jones Symphony Orchestra, especially in its annual opera productions. As a composer Gustafson was best known for his sacred choral compositions and arrangements, although his more than 160 works included five film scores,<ref>Gustafson described writing for the BJU film ''Red Runs the River'' in "Composing for a Celluloid Taskmaster," ''Music Journal'', 21:8 (November 1963), 56-57, 71.</ref> a string quartet, ''Encounters'' (a violin concerto), and numerous extended compositions for chorus and orchestra, including ''Three Psalms for Chorus and Orchestra'' (1989) and ''Words of Passion and Resurrection'' (2002). "Fantasia for a Celebration" was commissioned by the Williamsburg (VA) Symphonia as part of the city's 300-year celebration in 1999.<ref>In 2002, BJU presented a retrospective concert of Gustafson's works including ''Fanfare and Celebration'', earlier composed for the Greenville (SC) Symphony (and also played by symphonies in Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky), "Fantasia for a Celebration," selections from feature-length films with live music, several shorter choral works, a movement from his violin concerto, ''Encounters'', and a piece commissioned for the concert, ''Words of Passion and Resurrection'', for chorus and orchestra with narrator. [http://www.runet.edu/~scl-web/musicnow/archives/902.htm Music Now], the newsletter of the Southern Composers League.</ref>
</ref> In December 2006, Gustafson premiered a one-act opera, ''Simeon'', about the blessing given by [[Simeon (Gospel of Luke)|Simeon the Righteous]] to the Christ child (Luke 2: 25-35).<ref>Gary Hyndman, "Operatic veteran and novice collaborate to produce 'Simeon,'" ''Greenville Journal'' (December 1, 2006), 65, 67.</ref>
In December 2006, Gustafson premiered a one-act opera, ''Simeon'', about the blessing given by [[Simeon (Gospel of Luke)|Simeon the Righteous]] to the Christ child (Luke 2: 25-35).<ref>Gary Hyndman, "Operatic veteran and novice collaborate to produce 'Simeon,'" ''Greenville Journal'' (December 1, 2006), 65, 67.</ref>


After Gustafson retired as dean following forty years of service, Bob Jones University named the Gustafson Fine Arts Center in his honor.<ref>[http://www.bju.edu/welcome/visit/map/gfac/ BJU website]. At his death, Gustafson was the longest-serving dean in the history of Bob Jones University. Obituary, ''Greenville News'', January 31, 2014.</ref> In 1999, he was awarded the [[Order of the Palmetto]] by then-Governor [[Jim Hodges]]. Gustafson continued to conduct occasional programs at BJU until 2010,<ref>Ann Hicks, "Verdi's opera ‘Rigoletto’ returns to BJU", [http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070311/ENT/70309015/1005/LIFE ''Greenville News''], March 11, 2007. In 2007, Gustafson conducted a fifth series of performances of [[Rigoletto]]. "Gustafson recalls that his first 'Rigoletto' at BJU...starred [[Sherrill Milnes]], later to become one of the preeminent American Verdi baritones of the late 20th century. 'I was 30 years old and Milnes was 26,' Gustafson says with a laugh. 'Many years have gone by since then.'" Following the curtain calls at the end of a performance of ''[[Samson et Dalila]]'' on March 13, 2010, the [[supertitle]] announced that this would be Gustafson's final performance conducting opera on the BJU stage. (The performance won second place in the National Opera Association's 2009-2010 video competition. [http://www.noa.org/competitions/opera-production/2009-2010-winners.html NOA website].) On May 7, 2010, during the BJU Commencement Concert, Gustafson conducted the premiere of his three "Songs of Deliverance" for chorus and orchestra in memory of three late friends, [[Walter Fremont]], Joan Mulfinger, and Gunter Salter.</ref> as well as remaining active as a conductor of high school all-state choirs and orchestras and conducting church choir clinics.<ref>Abe Hardesty, "Gustafson is known for musical arrangements: BJU's 'Doctor Gus' is still tuned in to an active lifestyle", [http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061213/CITYPEOPLE/612130306 ''Greenville News''], December 13, 2006.</ref> In 2012 he published brief devotional memoirs as ''A Brighter Witness: Conversations on the Christian and the Arts''. Gustafson died of complications from liver disease on January 28, 2014.<ref>Obituary, ''Greenville News'', January 31, 2014. He was survived by four children, sixteen grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.</ref>
After Gustafson retired as dean following forty years of service, Bob Jones University named the Gustafson Fine Arts Center in his honor.<ref>[http://www.bju.edu/welcome/visit/map/gfac/ BJU website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090511113426/http://www.bju.edu/welcome/visit/map/gfac/ |date=2009-05-11}}. At his death, Gustafson was the longest-serving dean in the history of Bob Jones University. Obituary, ''Greenville News'', January 31, 2014.</ref>
In 1999, he was awarded the [[Order of the Palmetto]] by then-Governor [[Jim Hodges]]. Gustafson continued to conduct occasional programs at BJU until 2010,<ref>Ann Hicks, "Verdi's opera 'Rigoletto' returns to BJU", [http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070311/ENT/70309015/1005/LIFE ''Greenville News'']{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}, March 11, 2007. In 2007, Gustafson conducted a fifth series of performances of [[Rigoletto]]. "Gustafson recalls that his first 'Rigoletto' at BJU...starred [[Sherrill Milnes]], later to become one of the preeminent American Verdi baritones of the late 20th century. 'I was 30 years old and Milnes was 26,' Gustafson says with a laugh. 'Many years have gone by since then.'" Following the curtain calls at the end of a performance of ''[[Samson et Dalila]]'' on March 13, 2010, the [[supertitle]] announced that this would be Gustafson's final performance conducting opera on the BJU stage. (The performance won second place in the National Opera Association's 2009-2010 video competition. [http://www.noa.org/competitions/opera-production/2009-2010-winners.html NOA website].) On May 7, 2010, during the BJU Commencement Concert, Gustafson conducted the premiere of his three "Songs of Deliverance" for chorus and orchestra in memory of three late friends, [[Walter Fremont]], Joan Mulfinger, and Gunter Salter.</ref>
as well as remaining active as a conductor of high school all-state choirs and orchestras and conducting church choir clinics.<ref>Abe Hardesty, "Gustafson is known for musical arrangements: BJU's 'Doctor Gus' is still tuned in to an active lifestyle", [http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061213/CITYPEOPLE/612130306 ''Greenville News'']{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}, December 13, 2006.</ref>
In 2012 he published brief devotional memoirs as ''A Brighter Witness: Conversations on the Christian and the Arts''. Gustafson died of complications from liver disease on January 28, 2014.<ref>Obituary, ''Greenville News'', January 31, 2014. He was survived by four children, sixteen grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.</ref>


Gustafson's successor as dean of the School of Fine Arts, Darren Lawson, noted that because Gustafson was 6' 5", people looked up to him both "figuratively and literally....He acted, designed sets, sang, composed, conducted. He did it all. He really was a Renaissance man." And Lawson noted that while Gustafson advocated excellence and high standards in music, he also had a strong sense of humor.<ref>[https://archive.is/20140129081152/http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20140129/NEWS/301290019/Dwight-Gustafson-former-BJU-fine-arts-dean-remembered-Renaissance-man?nclick_check=1 Greenville News, January 29, 2014, 1B.]</ref>
Gustafson's successor as dean of the School of Fine Arts, Darren Lawson, noted that because Gustafson was {{height|ft=6|in=5}}, people looked up to him both "figuratively and literally... He acted, designed sets, sang, composed, conducted. He did it all. He really was a Renaissance man." And Lawson noted that while Gustafson advocated excellence and high standards in music, he also had a strong sense of humor.<ref>[https://archive.today/20140129081152/http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20140129/NEWS/301290019/Dwight-Gustafson-former-BJU-fine-arts-dean-remembered-Renaissance-man?nclick_check=1 Greenville News, January 29, 2014, 1B.]</ref>


==Notes==
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


==References==
==References==
* {{cite book | last = Turner | first = Daniel | title = Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University | origyear = 1997 |date=October 2001 | publisher = Bob Jones University Press | location = [[Greenville, SC]] | isbn = 978-1-57924-710-2 }}
*{{cite book| title = Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University
| last = Turner | first = Daniel
* {{cite book | last = Gustafson | first = Dwight | title = A Brighter Witness: Conversations on the Christian and the Arts |date=November 2012 | publisher = Bob Jones University Press | location = [[Greenville, SC]] | isbn = 978-1-60682-051-3 }}
| orig-year = First published 1997
| publisher = Bob Jones University Press | location = Greenville, SC
| date = October 2001
| isbn = 978-1-57924-710-2
}}
*{{cite book| title = A Brighter Witness: Conversations on the Christian and the Arts
| last = Gustafson | first = Dwight
| publisher = Bob Jones University Press | location = Greenville, SC
| date = November 2012
| isbn = 978-1-60682-051-3
}}


==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.bju.edu/stories/dwight-gustafson.php "Soli Deo Gloria: The Legacy of Dwight Gustafson (1930-2014)"].
* [http://www.bju.edu/stories/dwight-gustafson.php "Soli Deo Gloria: The Legacy of Dwight Gustafson (1930-2014)"].
*{{IMDb name|0348969}}
* {{IMDb name|0348969}}

{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Gustafson, Dwight}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gustafson, Dwight}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:2014 deaths]]
[[Category:2014 deaths]]
[[Category:American male classical composers]]
[[Category:20th-century American composers]]
⚫
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century classical composers]]
[[Category:American classical composers]]
[[Category:American classical composers]]
[[Category:American male classical composers]]
[[Category:Aspen Music Festival and School alumni]]
[[Category:Aspen Music Festival and School alumni]]
⚫
[[Category:20th-century classical composers]]

⚫
[[Category:People from Seattle]]
[[Category:Musicians from Greenville, South Carolina]]
[[Category:Bob Jones University alumni]]
[[Category:Bob Jones University alumni]]
[[Category:Bob Jones University faculty]]
[[Category:Bob Jones University faculty]]
[[Category:Florida State University alumni]]
[[Category:Florida State University alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American musicians]]
[[Category:Musicians from Greenville, South Carolina]]
⚫
[[Category:Musicians from Seattle]]

Latest revision as of 07:42, 18 June 2024

Dwight Gustafson
Dwight Gustafson, October 1993
Born
Dwight Leonard Gustafson

(1930-04-20)April 20, 1930
Seattle, Washington, US
DiedJanuary 28, 2014(2014-01-28) (aged 83)
Greenville, South Carolina, US
Resting placeGraceland Cemetery, Greenville, South Carolina
BildungBob Jones University, Florida State University
Occupationmusician
EmployerBob Jones University
TitelDean of the School of Fine Arts
Term1954–1997
PredecessorKarl Keefer
SuccessorDarren Lawson
SpouseGwendolyn Adams Gustafson
Childrenfour, including David Gustafson

Dwight Leonard Gustafson (April 20, 1930 – January 28, 2014) was an American composer, conductor, and dean of the School of Fine Arts at Bob Jones University.

Biography

[edit]

Gustafson was born in Seattle, Washington to Leonard Gustafson, a meat dealer and lay preacher, and Rachel Gustafson, a pianist, harpist, and artist. His childhood home was on Lake Sammamish, and he graduated in 1948 from Queen Anne High School.[1]

Despite early violin training, Gustafson was attracted to a career in art and design. As a sophomore at Bob Jones University, he was asked to make sketches for a production of Cyrano de Bergerac and ended by designing the sets. In 1954, shortly before graduating from BJU with an M.A. in music, he was flabbergasted to be asked by the then-president, Bob Jones Jr., to become dean of the School of Fine Arts. Gustafson was 24.[2] Eventually he also earned a D. Mus. in composition from Florida State University, and in 1960, he was selected as one of ten young conductors to study at the Aspen School of Music.

Gustafson quickly proved himself a competent administrator who brought to his position a working knowledge of art, music, and drama. He also regularly conducted campus choirs and the Bob Jones Symphony Orchestra, especially in its annual opera productions. As a composer Gustafson was best known for his sacred choral compositions and arrangements, although his more than 160 works included five film scores,[3] a string quartet, Encounters (a violin concerto), and numerous extended compositions for chorus and orchestra, including Three Psalms for Chorus and Orchestra (1989) and Words of Passion and Resurrection (2002). "Fantasia for a Celebration" was commissioned by the Williamsburg (VA) Symphonia as part of the city's 300-year celebration in 1999.[4] In December 2006, Gustafson premiered a one-act opera, Simeon, about the blessing given by Simeon the Righteous to the Christ child (Luke 2: 25-35).[5]

After Gustafson retired as dean following forty years of service, Bob Jones University named the Gustafson Fine Arts Center in his honor.[6] In 1999, he was awarded the Order of the Palmetto by then-Governor Jim Hodges. Gustafson continued to conduct occasional programs at BJU until 2010,[7] as well as remaining active as a conductor of high school all-state choirs and orchestras and conducting church choir clinics.[8] In 2012 he published brief devotional memoirs as A Brighter Witness: Conversations on the Christian and the Arts. Gustafson died of complications from liver disease on January 28, 2014.[9]

Gustafson's successor as dean of the School of Fine Arts, Darren Lawson, noted that because Gustafson was 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m), people looked up to him both "figuratively and literally... He acted, designed sets, sang, composed, conducted. He did it all. He really was a Renaissance man." And Lawson noted that while Gustafson advocated excellence and high standards in music, he also had a strong sense of humor.[10]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Obituary, Greenville News, January 31, 2014.
  2. ^ Gustafson recalled, "Some of that was not too smart, but the university had its needs, and we all pitched in." Greenville News, December 13, 2006.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ Gustafson described writing for the BJU film Red Runs the River in "Composing for a Celluloid Taskmaster," Music Journal, 21:8 (November 1963), 56-57, 71.
  4. ^ In 2002, BJU presented a retrospective concert of Gustafson's works including Fanfare and Celebration, earlier composed for the Greenville (SC) Symphony (and also played by symphonies in Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky), "Fantasia for a Celebration," selections from feature-length films with live music, several shorter choral works, a movement from his violin concerto, Encounters, and a piece commissioned for the concert, Words of Passion and Resurrection, for chorus and orchestra with narrator. Music Now, the newsletter of the Southern Composers League.
  5. ^ Gary Hyndman, "Operatic veteran and novice collaborate to produce 'Simeon,'" Greenville Journal (December 1, 2006), 65, 67.
  6. ^ BJU website Archived 2009-05-11 at the Wayback Machine. At his death, Gustafson was the longest-serving dean in the history of Bob Jones University. Obituary, Greenville News, January 31, 2014.
  7. ^ Ann Hicks, "Verdi's opera 'Rigoletto' returns to BJU", Greenville News[permanent dead link], March 11, 2007. In 2007, Gustafson conducted a fifth series of performances of Rigoletto. "Gustafson recalls that his first 'Rigoletto' at BJU...starred Sherrill Milnes, later to become one of the preeminent American Verdi baritones of the late 20th century. 'I was 30 years old and Milnes was 26,' Gustafson says with a laugh. 'Many years have gone by since then.'" Following the curtain calls at the end of a performance of Samson et Dalila on March 13, 2010, the supertitle announced that this would be Gustafson's final performance conducting opera on the BJU stage. (The performance won second place in the National Opera Association's 2009-2010 video competition. NOA website.) On May 7, 2010, during the BJU Commencement Concert, Gustafson conducted the premiere of his three "Songs of Deliverance" for chorus and orchestra in memory of three late friends, Walter Fremont, Joan Mulfinger, and Gunter Salter.
  8. ^ Abe Hardesty, "Gustafson is known for musical arrangements: BJU's 'Doctor Gus' is still tuned in to an active lifestyle", Greenville News[permanent dead link], December 13, 2006.
  9. ^ Obituary, Greenville News, January 31, 2014. He was survived by four children, sixteen grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
  10. ^ Greenville News, January 29, 2014, 1B.

References

[edit]
  • Turner, Daniel (October 2001) [First published 1997]. Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University. Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University Press. ISBN 978-1-57924-710-2.
  • Gustafson, Dwight (November 2012). A Brighter Witness: Conversations on the Christian and the Arts. Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University Press. ISBN 978-1-60682-051-3.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dwight_Gustafson&oldid=1229702347"