Nanney, Herbert, 1918-

Biography / Administrative History

Herbert Boswell Nanney, university organist and professor of music at Stanford University, was born in Whittier, California in 1918. He began piano lessons at the age of five, and studied organ under UCLA's Alexander Schreiner while a high school student. Nanney received his A.B. in Music from Whittier College in 1940, an Artist's Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 1947, and his M.A. from Stanford in 1951.

Nanney first came to Stanford shortly after receiving his A.B., serving as assistant to university organist William D. Allen. He left Stanford to attend the Curtis Institute of Music in 1941. In August 1942 he was inducted into the Army. While stationed in Paris from 1944-1945, Nanney studied organ with Marcel Dupre at the Paris Conservatory of Music and was organist at the American Cathedral.

After his return from Europe, Nanney served as organist and choir director for churches in southern California and Philadelphia before returning to Stanford in 1947 as university organist and a member of the music faculty. In the years that followed he traveled regularly to lecture and perform, and was instrumental in the planning and construction of the Fisk-Nanney organ in Memorial Church, which was dedicated in 1984.

Nanney's 1985 retirement was celebrated with a series of concerts on campus, at which 30 of his former students played the works of Bach. He remained in the Bay Area until his death in 1996.