Robertson, Leroy J.

Leroy J. Robertson was born in Fountain Green, Utah, on 21 December 1896, the son of Utah-born Mormon parents. His first musical experiences were simple and personal--he fashioned tunes on a homemade fiddle and played by ear on the parlor organ in his home. In grammar school, after a few rudimentary music lessons, he organized a small orchestra of young friends and taught them to play music of his own devising. He graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music in boston under George Whitefield Chadwick in 1923. His later studies were under Ernest Bloch in San Francisco and in Roveredo Capriasca, Switzerland; Hugo Leichtentritt in Berlin; and Arnold Schoenberg in Los Angeles. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Brigham Young University (BYU) and Ph.D. degree from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He was professor and chairman of the music department at BYU; lecturer of composition at the University of California, Los Angeles; and professor and chairman of the music department at the University of Utah from 1948 until his retirement in 1964. Upon retirement, Robertson received the first Distinguished Research Professorship at that institution. Robertson was an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa; a fellow of the Utah Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Letters; a member of the Executive Music Committee of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishrs (ASCAP). Robertson's compositions include works for chamber music and orchestra; concertos for violin, cello, and piano; solos, vocal, and instrumental; choral compositions and an Oratorio from the Book of Mormon for chorus, soloists, organ, and orchestra. While the Reichhold prize for his Trilogy was by far the most impressive, Robertson has a long list of other awards to hs credit. In 1923, he won the Endicott prize for his Overture in E Minor ; his Quintet in A Minor for Piano and Strings won first place in a contest conducted by the Society for Publicaiton of American Music in 1936; his String Quartet was chosen by the Critics Circle in New York in 1944; and his Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra was given an award by the Utah Institute of Fine Arts in 1945. He received the National Federation of Music Clubs Award of Merit in 1959. Robertson died on 25 July 1971 in Salt Lake City.

From the guide to the Leroy J. Robertson papers, 1890s-1990s, (J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah)

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