Schuller, Gunther (Alexander)
- Norbert Carnovale
- , revised by Richard Dyer
Extract
(Alexander)
(b New York, Nov 22, 1925; d Boston, June 21, 2015). American composer, conductor, educator, writer, publisher, and record producer. He was born into a musical family that had immigrated to America from Germany; his father played in the violin section of the New York PO for 42 years. In 1937 Schuller enrolled in the St. Thomas Church Choir School in New York where his general musical education was supervised by T. Tertius Noble. By the time he finished high school, he was already a horn player of professional caliber. At the age of 16 he performed in the American premiere broadcast of Shostakovich’s Symphony no.7, the “Leningrad,” conducted by Toscanini; his first book, Horn Technique (London and New York, 1962, 2/1992) has remained a standard reference.
After a season touring in the American Ballet Theatre orchestra under the direction of Antal Dorati, Schuller was appointed to the position of principal horn in the Cincinnati SO (from ...