Charles (Louis) Seeger, Jr. (December 14, 1886, Mexico City - February 7, 1979, Bridgewater, Connecticut) was a musicologist, composer, and teacher.

Contents 1 Life 2 Family 3 Contributions 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Life

He graduated from Harvard University in 1908, then studied and conducted in Cologne before taking a position as Professor of Music at the University of California at Berkeley, where he taught from 1912 to 1916 before being dismissed for his public opposition to the US entry into World War I. His brother, Alan Seeger was killed in action on July 4, 1916 while serving as a member of the French Foreign Legion . He then took a position at Juilliard before teaching at the Institute of Musical Art in New York from 1921 to 1933 and the New School for Social Research from 1931 to 1935. In 1936, he was in Washington, DC, working as a technical advisor to the Music Unit of the Special Skills Division of the Resettlement Administration (later renamed the Farm Security Administration).^[1] From 1957 to 1961, he taught at the University of California Los Angeles. From 1961 to 1971 he was a research professor at the Institute of Ethnomusicology at UCLA. In 1949-50 he was Visiting Professor of the Theory of Music in the School of Music at Yale University. From 1935 to 1953 he held positions in the federal government's Resettlement Administration, Works Projects Administration (WPA), and Pan American Union, including serving as an administrator for the Works Projects Administration Federal Music Project, for which his wife also worked, from 1938 to 1940.

[edit] Family

His first wife was the violinist Constance Edson; they divorced in 1927. One of their sons is Pete Seeger, the folk singer. They had two other sons, Charles III (1912-2002), who was an astronomer,^[2] and John (born 1914), an educator.^[3] His second wife was the composer and musician Ruth Seeger (née Ruth Porter Crawford); by her, he had two children who also achieved musical renown, Peggy Seeger and Mike Seeger, and another two daughters, Barbara and Penny Seeger.^[2]

[edit] Contributions

He is best remembered for his formulation of dissonant counterpoint. According to ethnomusicologist Bruno Nettl, "Seeger played a unique and central role in tying musicology to other disciplines and domains of culture. This collection shows him to be truly a musical 'man for all seasons,' for what comes across most is the many-sidedness of the man."^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Charles Seeger

• Folk Scene: Charles Seeger obituary by Jim Capaldi, April 1979
• Ann M. Pescatello: "Charles (Louis) Seeger)," Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 12 Dec 2006), http://www.grovemusic.com.