Thomas Beversdorf BIO

Thomas Beversdorf, 1924-1981.  Composer, conductor, performer.  Beversdorf received his Bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Texas at Austin, and his Masters’ and Doctoral degrees from Eastman School of Music.  He studied composition under Kent Kennan, Eric DeLemarter, Anthony Donato at UT; Bernard Rogers, Howard Hanson at Eastman; Aaron Copland and Arthur Honegger at Tanglewood; and Anis Fuleihan at Indiana University.  Beversdorf was a member of the Pittsburgh and Houston symphonies, both as player and guest-conductor, and later taught at Indiana University from 1949-1980, heading both Composition and Brass Departments at the [now named] Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana.  His works tend to break boundaries and assumptions about the kind of music typical of each instrument, offering, for example robust and martial flute music and lyrical music for the tuba.  Beversdorf’s music is regularly performed worldwide, and some pieces have become standard repertoire for their instruments.

[Permission is granted to use the above material and the listed works below in program notes, etc.]

A complete listing of his compositions is below:

Works

Dramatic: Threnody: The Funeral of Youth. Ballet (Bloomington, IN, March 6, 1963). Also known as Variations for orchestra.
The Hooligan. Opera (1964-1969)
Metamorphosis (Kafka). Opera (1968)
Vision of Christ. Mystery Play (Lewisburg, PA, May 1, 1971)

Choral:
The Rock, an Oratorio for Solo Bass, Chorus (SSAATTTTBBBB), Organ, Brass, and Strings (© 1959)
3 Fold Amen; 4 Fold Amen for Unison Chorus and Organ (1969?)
Mini-Motet from Micah for SATB, Coloratura Soprano, and Baritone with Organ [or Harpsichord and Double Bass] (© 1972)

Orchestral:
Essay on Mass Production (1946)
Symphony No. 1 (1946)
Reflections (1947)
Mexican Portrait (1948, rev. 1952)
Concerto Grosso for Oboe and Chamber Orchestra (1948; Pittsburgh, April 28, 1950)
Symphony No. 2 (1950)
Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra (1951; Bloomington, IN, March 17, 1967)
New Frontiers (Houston, March 31, 1953)
Symphony No. 3 for Winds and Percussion (Bloomington, IN, May 9, 1954; also for Full Orchestra, Bloomington, IN, October 10, 1958)
Serenade to My Wife (1956)
Symphony No. 4 (1958)
Violin Concerto: Danforth (1959)
Generation with the Torch: An Overture for Youth (1965)
Murals, Tapestries, and Icons for Symphonic Band, Electric Bass, and Electric Piano (1975)
Concerto for Tuba and Wind Orchestra (Bloomington, IN, Feb. 11, 1976)
Ode for Orchestra (Date Unknown)

Chamber:
Horn Sonata: Christmas (1945)
Suite for Clarinet, Violoncello, and Piano (1947)
2 String Quartets (1951, 1955)
3 Poems of E.E. Cummings for Soprano and Piano (1955)
Tuba Sonata (1956)
Theme and Variations, “A Pretty Maid,” for Piano (1959)
Trumpet Sonata (1962)
Violin Sonata (1964-65)
Flute Sonata (1965-66)
Cathedral Music for Brass Choir (© 1966)
Three Epitaphs for Brass Quartet (© 1966)
Cello Sonata (1967-1969)
Music for Flute (Piccolo), Oboe (English Horn), Doublebass, and Harpsichord (1968)
Divertimento da camera for Flute, Piccolo, Oboe, English Horn, Double Bass, and Harpsichord (© 1970)
Of Walruses, Cheesecake, and Morse Code for Tuba and Piano (1972)
La Petite Exposition for Violin or Clarinet and 11 Strings (Dallas, Feb. 28, 1976)
Sonata for Violin and Harp (1976-77)
Corelliana Variations for 2 Flutes and Cello (1980)

 

 

 

 

Thomas Beversdorf,
a Most Notable Composer,
Biographical Material*

Thomas Beversdorf’s daughter Anne provides the following information:

S. Thomas Beversdorf, Jr. was born August 8, 1924, in Yoakum, Texas, to Estelle Hamblen Beversdorf and Samuel Thomas Beversdorf Sr. His father (Sam) was a postal carrier and local band-director, and “Tommy” studied the trombone as a child. After a brief period in the army, he was discharged 4F because of his severe allergies. His freshman year at college was at Baylor University in Waco, TX, which is where he first met Norma Beeson, although they didn’t seriously connect at that time. Each independently decided to transfer to the University of Texas at Austin the next year, where Norma, a talented pianist, became his accompaniest. Tom Beversdorf married Norma Beeson in 1945. They had five children together: Anne (1949), Paula (1952), Sarah (1960-1962), STB III (Tom) 1963, and David Quintin (1965). Thomas Beversdorf taught music at Indiana University from 1949-1980, living in Bloomington, and died (asthma) in 1981.

Additional facts were provided from a short bio in the Cook Music Library web pages and the University of Pittsburgh web pages. Livingston regards Anne’s material as more primary if there are differences. Thomas Beversdorf was born at Yoakum, Texas on August 8, 1924 and died February 15, 1981.  He began studying music at age six, and at seven studied baritone horn with his father, a band director in Yoakum. He started playing trombone in high school, also under the guidance of his father. Between age 6 and 16 he also studied horn, saxophone, cello, and clarinet which provided a large sampling of orchestral instruments for his tutelege.Beversdorf graduated high school at sixteen. In 1941, Beversdorf went to Baylor University on a full scholarship and transferred in 1942 to the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied composition with Kent Kennan, Eric DeLemarter, and Anthony Donato. He finished his undergraduate degree (cum laude) in Music Theory and Composition in August 1945. Beversdorf went to the Eastman School of Music that fall, studying composition with Bernard Rogers and Howard Hanson, and trombone with Emory Remington. He received his MM in theory and composition in Spring 1946 and completed his doctorate from Eastman in 1952.

In the summer of 1947, Beversdorf studied composition with Aaron Copland and Arthur Honegger at Tanglewood, and privately with Anis Fuleihan.  Beversdorf played trombone with the Rochester Philharmonic from 1945 to 1946 and the Houston Symphony from 1946 to 1948, and bass trombone in the Pittsburgh Symphony from 1948 to 1949. He was an instructor at the University of Houston from 1946 to 1948.  Thomas Beversdorf moved to Indiana University in August, 1949 as an assistant professor of trombone and compositon in the School of Music [now the Jacobs School of Music], according to his wife, Norma Beversdorf.  Among other things, he wrote Three Epitaphs for Brass Quartet, which appears larger than life painted on the west outside wall of Smith-Holden Music Store at 222 W. Kirkwood Avenue, in downtown Bloomington, Indiana. The mural was created in 1976.  The store has since closed and the building has changed hands, but the Bloomington Arts Council has ensured that the mural will always be there.

Website manager Julian Livingston’s experience with Beversdorf was primarily as a student of orchestration, calligraphy, and with one semester spent in composition studies. Fortunately, Livingston, who wrote the orchestration for the songs and ballets of the winning Jordan River Review in 1954, had the opportunity to have Beversdorf’s extensive advice and teaching in those matters. As for orchestration, Beversdorf’s contacts in the WFIU radio station and the early Television Station at IU made it possible for his classes to write music for those outlets as well, an unusual facet in those early days of television, but an all important advantage for the student.

Livingston notes that Beversdorf wrote a piece Serenade to My Wife in 1956; however, as Anne Beversdorf’s submission above shows, this did not coincide with their marriage date. This devotion is strongly reminiscent of Wagner’s work “Siegried’s Rhine Journey” abstracted from his Ring Music, dedicated and performed outside their apartment. Other notable connections to the lives of famous composers may be found such as Beversdorf’s premature death at 56 years [6 months before his 57th birthday. (ab)] resonating with Beethoven’s early loss.

According to a review by Daniel K. Schneider,’57 Beversdorf had a major work, his Symphony No. 3 for Winds and Percussion played November 18, 1955 in the Kresge Auditorium by the MIT Concert Band which is quoted in part. “Due to their improved status, they tackled the Symphony for Winds and Percussion, an extremely difficult work because of the intense personal concentration which it requires of the performers. This was the hardest piece which the band has ever tried, and therefore required more preparation than it was given. As a result,- the performance was not wholly convincing. Mr. Beversdorf’s work is a very fine composition which is masterfully constructed, and which displays the wind sound as well as, if not better than, any other number in the repertory. The piece reminds one of a Mahler symphony, where the instruments are treated individually rather than in choirs. This reviewer sincerely hopes that the MIT audience will soon hear another, more secure, presentation of the symphony.” This may have well been the premier as it was completed at Bloomington, IN, May 9, 1954. Beversdorf apparently decided to broaden the work’s outlet by presenting it for full orchestra in Bloomington, IN, October 10, 1958.

Searching the Internet reveals that there is material stored at the University of Pittsburgh Archives under Collection No.: AIS64:24 Title: Papers of Jennie Bradley Roessing with limited access. Material relating to that file is currently found at: http://www.library.pitt.edu/guides/archives/finding-aids/ais6424.htm . They state that Thomas and Norma Beversdorf, Thomas’s wife, were close friends of Mrs. Jennie Bradley Roessing. Jennie Bradley Roessing was an active participant in the women’s suffrage movement and various Pittsburgh-area organizations, principally for the period, 1904-1920’s. The archives note that Thomas gained recognition as a composer and member of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. His work was performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony on several occasions. The material relating to Thomas and Norma Beversdorf includes correspondence, photographs, and music sheets. All of the correspondence in folder 9 was written by Norma Beversdorf.

Beversdorf continued at IU in the capacity of tenured Professor of Music with special areas of composition, orchestration, and trombone until 1980. In 1977, he lectured at the University of Guadalajara. The Thomas Beversdorf Memorial Scholarship has been established, and is awarded annually to a worthy student studying in the School of Music. Bob Burnham reports that although a highly intellectual person, “Dr. B.” encouraged you to keep it simple, not sabotaging the musical goal by focusing on the physical means of producing it. During performance, “Analysis IS paralysis” was his claim according to Burnham. He died in the Bloomington Hospital in February of 1981 [death was approximately 2 am on February 15th. An unmailed letter to his mother was found after his death, where he wrote her “I just hope I don’t die on Dad’s birthday (Feb 14)] and his obituary in the Herald-Times was dated 17 February 1981.]

Works

Dramatic: Threnody: The Funeral of Youth. Ballet (Bloomington, IN, March 6, 1963). Also known as Variations for orchestra.
The Hooligan. Opera (1964-1969)
Metamorphosis (Kafka). Opera (1968)
Vision of Christ. Mystery Play (Lewisburg, PA, May 1, 1971)

Choral:
The Rock, an Oratorio for Solo Bass, Chorus (SSAATTTTBBBB), Organ, Brass, and Strings (© 1959)
3 Fold Amen; 4 Fold Amen for Unison Chorus and Organ (1969?)
Mini-Motet from Micah for SATB, Coloratura Soprano, and Baritone with Organ [or Harpsichord and Double Bass] (© 1972)

Orchestral:
Essay on Mass Production (1946)
Symphony No. 1 (1946)
Reflections (1947)
Mexican Portrait (1948, rev. 1952)
Concerto Grosso for Oboe and Chamber Orchestra (1948; Pittsburgh, April 28, 1950)
Symphony No. 2 (1950)
Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra (1951; Bloomington, IN, March 17, 1967)
New Frontiers (Houston, March 31, 1953)
Symphony No. 3 for Winds and Percussion (Bloomington, IN, May 9, 1954; also for Full Orchestra, Bloomington, IN, October 10, 1958)
Serenade to My Wife (1956)
Symphony No. 4 (1958)
Violin Concerto: Danforth (1959)
Generation with the Torch: An Overture for Youth (1965)
Murals, Tapestries, and Icons for Symphonic Band, Electric Bass, and Electric Piano (1975)
Concerto for Tuba and Wind Orchestra (Bloomington, IN, Feb. 11, 1976)
Ode for Orchestra (Date Unknown)

Chamber:
Horn Sonata: Christmas (1945)
Suite for Clarinet, Violoncello, and Piano (1947)
2 String Quartets (1951, 1955)
3 Poems of E.E. Cummings for Soprano and Piano (1955)
Tuba Sonata (1956)
Theme and Variations, “A Pretty Maid,” for Piano (1959)
Trumpet Sonata (1962)
Violin Sonata (1964-65)
Flute Sonata (1965-66)
Cathedral Music for Brass Choir (© 1966)
Three Epitaphs for Brass Quartet (© 1966)
Cello Sonata (1967-1969)
Music for Flute (Piccolo), Oboe (English Horn), Doublebass, and Harpsichord (1968)
Divertimento da camera for Flute, Piccolo, Oboe, English Horn, Double Bass, and Harpsichord (© 1970)
Of Walruses, Cheesecake, and Morse Code for Tuba and Piano (1972)
La Petite Exposition for Violin or Clarinet and 11 Strings (Dallas, Feb. 28, 1976)
Sonata for Violin and Harp (1976-77)
Corelliana Variations for 2 Flutes and Cello (1980)

*Note: This material was gleaned from many sources, especially Anne Beversdorf, his daughter, but also the Cook Music Library web page and the University of Pittsburgh, with quotations from recollections of Julian Livingston and conversations with Sarah Clevenger and Norma Beversdorf.