Charles Diven Campbell appointed founding head of Department of Music
Charles Campbell, an Anderson, Indiana, native, received a doctorate in philology from the University of Strassburg in 1905, spent a year at Harvard upon his return, and in 1906 was appointed instructor of German at Indiana University. Campbell was promoted to assistant professor in 1908, but his true passion was music. In 1907, Campbell arranged for a recital of the Schellschmidt Quartet of Indianapolis, the proceeds of which established a music fund, “to lead ultimately to the equipment of a school of music in the university.” In 1909, he offered a series of noncredit lectures on the history of music. He conducted The Mikado at Bloomington’s Harris Grand Theater in 1909, and the operetta Robin Hood in 1910. Early course offerings included Orchestra, Chorus, and the History and Development of Music, and early enrollment jumped from 214 the first year of operation to 281 the second year.

Campbell composes “Pageant of Bloomington and Indiana University,” a musical centennial celebration of the state of Indiana

Mitchell Hall remodeled
 

Charles Campbell dies March 29

William D. Howe named interim head

Barzille Winifred Merrill appointed professor of music and head of the Department of Music at IU August 1
Dean Merrill was a professional violinist, conductor, and composer. When he accepted the position as head of IU's Department of Music in 1919, Merrill also accepted the challenge of creating a sophisticated music school in rural Indiana. He came into it with a vision: He viewed the school not only as a 'solace for the soul' and place of learning, but as a business that required advertising. After some extremely successful ad campaigns, overcrowding became a problem. Merrill campaigned for a new music building, which was dedicated in 1937, and renamed Merrill Hall in 1989.

Department of Music becomes School of Music

Annex to Mitchell Hall constructed

First degree programs in music established

Gertrude V. Schaupp becomes first graduate in music

Merrill establishes the Music Series, which over the years brings Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), violinist Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962), and soprano Rosa Ponselle (1897-1981) to campus

Outreach programs for high school students launched

European summer school established

Music Building (now Merrill Hall) dedicated
Though Dean Merrill oversaw the remodeling of the school's resident music building, Mitchell Hall, enough problems remained (noise carried from performance rooms to classrooms, the building was too hot in the summer, and noise from barking dogs outside the building was unbearable) that a new building became a necessity. Merrill secured a grant and convinced the university to help with the remainder of the cost. The New Music Building (which comprised three levels and a full basement) was constructed using local limestone, decorated with the names of great composers, and had elaborate soundproofing. The top floor was partitioned into 48 practice rooms. Other floors contained studios, classrooms, a large rehearsal room, the Music Library, a "radio and recording room," a music museum, and Recital Hall, where the first concert was given on Jan. 15, 1937.

Robert L. Sanders appointed Dean
At 32 years old, Robert Sanders remains the school's youngest-ever dean. The charismatic organist, conductor, and composer had no previous administrative experience prior to his appointment at IU, but his proven performance abilities and people skills gave him an edge over the other candidates. First on his agenda after becoming dean was expanding the faculty; next was a review and appraisal of the school's condition and position. Through his efforts, the school gained membership in the National Association of Schools of Music and built the Hall of Music (now known as the Indiana University Auditorium).

School admitted to full membership in National Association of Schools of Music

Indiana University Auditorium dedicated
With the opening of the University Auditorium, IU made a statement that arts and culture were important; the collective self-esteem of the university, students, and surrounding community was elevated by its presence on campus. That year, the Auditorium series offered 15 events including appearances by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and the San Carlo Opera Company.

School stages first full opera, Cavalleria Rusticana

Metropolitan Opera Company visits IU for the first time, performs Aida
Once the Auditorium was completed, Comptroller Ward Biddle began campaigning for the Met to perform at IU during their spring tour. Biddle and Lee Norvelle, head of speech and drama in the English department, arranged for the Met to perform Aida. The performance drew spectators from as far away as Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Louisville. After the performance, Edward Johnson, general manager of the Met, said “The Metropolitan likes Indiana University, and Bloomington. So we are not saying ‘goodbye’ but only au revoir … When we again leave New York, Indiana University need only beckon.”

Met returns—and again for the next 15 years, presenting two operas each visit

Composer Bernhard Heiden and musicologist Paul Nettl appointed

Wilfred C. Bain appointed Dean
Wilfred Bain came to IU with impressive credentials; as head of the music department at North Texas, he had expanded faculty, increased enrollment, and added three choirs, a symphony orchestra, concert band, string sinfonietta, and a harp ensemble. When he arrived at IU, Bain dove in with the same energy and drive he had exhibited at North Texas and Houghton (where he was also head of the music department). From the start, the charismatic leader had a clear vision—and the power to make others see it and believe it. One of his goals was to ensure that music students received a comprehensive, well-rounded education that included a broad base of knowledge of traditional liberal studies (arts, sciences, humanities) and trained students to think critically. He also shifted focus to orchestral performance and production of opera.

Pianist Walter Robert and tenor Myron Taylor appointed

Madrigal Dinners inaugurated

Number of music majors reaches 296

Berkshire Quartet becomes resident quartet

Spring Festival inaugurates Auditorium organ and includes first fully staged opera of the Bain era, Tales of Hoffman, with Hans Busch as stage director

School supplies chorus for Chicago performances of Verdi’s Requiem

East Hall opened

First performance of Wagner’s Parsifal (repeated annually through 1969)

New Republic review of Parsifal brings production to national attention

Singing Hoosiers formed

Musicologist Willi Apel appointed

Marguerite de Anguera first appointee in ballet

Percussionist Richard Johnson becomes the university’s first African American appointee

Belles of Indiana formed
 
Pianist Sidney Foster appointed

Opera Theater presents U.S. stage premiere of Britten’s Billy Budd

Number of music majors 483

Beaux Arts Trio founded
 
The Beaux Arts Trio, founded by pianist Menahem Pressler, violinist Daniel Guilet, and cellist Bernard Greenhouse, debuted at the prestigious 1955 Berkshire Music Festival, today known as the Tanglewood Festival. The trio has evolved since its early roots: Guilet was replaced by Isidore Cohen in 1969, who in turn was replaced by Ida Kavafian in 1992. Greenhouse was replaced by Peter Wiley in 1987. The current trio is composed of Pressler, violinist Daniel Hope, and cellist Antonio Meneses. The group of highly acclaimed musicians—seen as one of chamber music’s most powerful collaborations—has played a major and ongoing role in programs of significant cultural and educational centers throughout North America, with annual concert series at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Celebrity Series of Boston, and the Library of Congress. The trio’s recordings on Philips Records have won several awards, including the Prix Mondial Du Disque, three Grand Prix du Disques, the Union de la Presse Musicale Belge Caecilia Award, and the Gramophone Record and Stereo Record of the Year awards.

Pianist Menahem Pressler appointed

Composer Walter Kauffmann appointed as lecturer in music literature

Cellist Janos Starker appointed

Horn player Philip Farkas, percussionist George Gaber, violinist Josef Gingold appointed

Music Addition opened (dedicated in 1962)

Mezzo-soprano Margaret Harshaw, pianist Gyorgy Sebok appointed

Classical saxophonist Eugene Rousseau appointed

Tubist Harvey Phillips, singer Eileen Farrell, violinist Franco Gulli appointed

Enrollment during Bain tenure peaks at 1,701

Musical Arts Center dedicated
 
After East Hall burned down in 1968 (much to the delight of Dean Bain, who had been campaigning for a new performance space), the Musical Arts Center (MAC) was completed in 1972 at a cost of $11.2 million. Key gifts came from Mr. and Mrs. Krannert and Elsie Sweeney; Hoagy Carmichael underwrote the building's foyer, which bears his name; and Herman B Wells and the Bains each donated $25,000 or more. The first performance in the space (known among students as "Fort Bain" or "Salle de Bain") was a January 29, 1972, staging of Don Giovanni, but the building wasn't dedicated until April, providing time for Bain to contact music critics from across the country. A Dedication Week Festival (April 15-21) included the opera Hercules; two performances of the Philharmonic Orchestra; two carillon recitals; and two pieces by faculty members. After the performances, John Ardoin of the Dallas Morning News wrote "a small town tucked away in a corner of Indiana now boasts one of the major performing arts facilities to be found in the United States."

Charles Webb appointed Dean
In 1964, Charles Webb—an accomplished pianist, organist, and choral director—was appointed Assistant Dean. Prior to that appointment, Webb was Assistant to the Dean of Music at Southern Methodist University, and had spent two years in the Air Force as a Personnel Services Officer. When Webb took over control of the School of Music in 1973, he made changes in Bain’s opera policies: first, Webb changed Bain’s policy of casting faculty members in key opera roles in favor of only casting student performers; next was a move away from staging all of the operas in English. Through his stature as a performer, Webb won the respect of the performance faculty, from whom he frequently sought opinions. He was also known as a great listener; Webb understood the need for faculty to express themselves and be excited about their jobs and personal performance opportunities. In addition, Webb sought to turn the School of Music into an internationally known program.

Andrew Porter first visits school to review Busoni’s Doktor Faust. In 1980 he declares the Opera Theater “just about the most serious and consistently satisfying of all American opera companies”

Change survey ranks School of Music first in the nation

Opera Theater stages first non-English production (Rigoletto) and presents The World on the Moon at Kennedy Center’s Haydnfest

School of Music Council created

PBS televises Opera Theater’s production of Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Night Before Christmas

Chronicle of Higher Education survey ranks the school’s faculty the nation’s best

Music Practice Building opened

Early Music Institute formed
In 1979, Webb recruited Thomas Binkley—a major figure in early music who was teaching at Stanford at the time—as professor of music. Binkley, a lutenist, had studied in Munich, where he founded the Studio der frühen Musik, a quartet that made many successful recordings and had several world tours over the next 18 years. Within a year of his arrival at IU, Binkley became founding director of the Early Music Institute.

Nicola Rossi-Lemeni and his wife, soprano Virginia Zeani, are appointed, eventually becoming the school’s first married couple to both attain the rank of Distinguished Professor

School’s New York City performance series inaugurated with five events, including full-scale opera production in the Metropolitan Opera House
In November 1978, Webb began working toward the establishment of a performance series in New York, at the suggestion of several people at a meeting of the National Endowment for the Arts. The IU Foundation offered guidance on fund-raising and agreed to underwrite expenses not covered by ticket sales and donations. The elements finally came together in 1981, and the school kicked off the performance series with Bohuslav Martinü’s The Greek Passion at the Metropolitan Opera House; an orchestral concert at Avery Fisher Hall; chamber music at Carnegie Recital Hall; and concerts by the Chamber Choir and New Music Ensemble at the Abraham Goodman House. The performances were met with acclaim from New York reviewers. “Several times during the three (events) … I had to remind myself that these were student forces, not professional groups,” wrote Nicholas Kenyon of The New Yorker. “Whatever could be done for The Greek Passion the Opera Theater did with assured professional skill and respect for the material … The orchestra played impressively … The large cast performed with ease and security,” wrote Peter G. Davis in The New York Times.

Harpist Susann McDonald appointed

Leonard Bernstein spends six weeks at the school to work on his final opera, A Quiet Place
“I am working well here; we have accomplished a lot. It’s extraordinary to have so many talented people in one place. I’m honored that such beautifully prepared students have taken time from their studies … to prepare my opera,” Bernstein said. Privately, he told Dean Webb, “I hope you know what you have in your school.”

Early Music Institute performs the Greater Passion Play from Carmina Burana at the Cloisters in New York

“Music from Indiana” achieves national syndication on American Public Radio
In 1980, the School of Music launched a weekly radio chamber music series produced by WFIU. In its first year, the series featured faculty and student performers and was broadcast on six Indiana stations. By 1982 (and through 1984), “Music from Indiana” had achieved national syndication on American Public Radio, and in 1983, the number of stations carrying the program had jumped to 54.

National Association of Music Executives of State Universities survey ranks school’s performance program the nation’s best

Two school orchestras are in residence at summer music festivals in France, while another orchestra presents Leonard Bernstein’s Mass at Tanglewood, as part of Boston Symphony’s celebration of his seventieth birthday

Thomas Mathiesen, the nation’s foremost authority on ancient Greek and Medieval Latin music theory texts, appointed

Philharmonic Orchestra participates in opening festivities of the Bastille Opera House

Ballerina Patricia McBride appointed

Opera Theater presents John Eaton’s The Cry of Clytaemnestra at Moscow State Conservatory

School presents Mass in C Minor and other works in Lincoln Center Mozart bicentennial project

Bass Giorgio Tozzi appointed

School revives Bernstein’s 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue at the Kennedy Center

Soprano Martina Arroyo appointed

U.S. News & World Report survey ranks school’s Master of Music program first in nation (with Eastman and Juilliard)

Bess Meshulam Simon Music Library and Recital Center opened

Charles Webb retires

Henry Upper serves as Interim Dean until David Woods becomes Dean in September 1997

Baritone Timothy Noble appointed

Woods resigns as Dean

Gwyn Richards appointed Interim Dean

Violinist and IU School of Music graduate Joshua Bell presented with Indiana Living Legend Award

Gwyn Richards appointed Dean
School of Music Dean Gwyn Richards came to IU having already gained experience at four major universities: Richards was director of choral music at Montana State University from 1974-1976; director of choral music at McGill University from 1979-1980; assistant dean at Rice University’s School of Music from 1980-1986; and assistant dean at the University of Southern California from 1986-1992. He became interim dean at Indiana University’s School of Music after serving as IU’s associate dean of admissions and financial aid, and director of admissions. July 1, 2001, Richards was appointed dean of the School of Music. Soon after his appointment, Richards began to develop an infrastructure focusing on development, admissions, and financial aid.

WTIU films “Sugarplum Dreams—Staging the Nutcracker Ballet” program, which airs over PBS affiliates nationwide

Four students are Metropolitan Opera National Council winners

Pianist Menahem Pressler receives Gold Medal of Merit from the National Society of Arts and Letters

IU Music publication debuts through combined effort of Friends of Music and Alumni Association

Alumnus Joshua Bell receives Indiana Governor’s Arts Award

Steinway company says IU Bloomington has the single greatest gathering of Steinway pianos in the world

Pianist André Watts appointed

Uriel Segal named principal guest conductor for 2004-05 season

Charles Webb named Living Legend of Indiana

Charles Webb appointed by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to new Department of State Advisory Committee on Cultural Affairs

On July 15, the Beaux-Arts Trio turns 50 and will return to Tanglewood to play on same site as original concert