Sigma Alpha Iota

carter's lost years CARTER continued from on page 15 came over to the corner and when he heard us talking, told us that this old "something" had been in the basement of the building and was going to be thrown out but was saved and put in the music library. No one knew where it came from and what it was used for. I told him about my research and said that this was the 13-string sonometer used by Elliott Carter 70 years ago in his music laboratory classes. I took a number of photos of the sonometer. In the meantime through my research I had found out the name of Elliott Carter's personal assistant and had written him a number of emails about my research. He indicated that while Elliott Carter, at age 103, would not be able to talk to me personally, he would relay some questions I had about those "lost years." He indicated that no one had written about that period of Carter's life. In one of my emails I attached a couple of photos of the sonometer. I received an email back stating that he had shown Carter the photos Carter's four-part arrangement of "St. John's Forever." and Carter had a "good laugh." He said that he had had his students build the sonometers. music classes. By reading through the St. John's Now that I had a photo of Carter sitting College Collegian issues for 1940-1942, a weekly at his desk, five laboratory manuals, a letter, publication, I found I could reconstruct the and the sonometer I began to feel that I had weekly calendar of his music classes, ensembles, hard evidence that Elliott Carter had been here activities, and events. It also had brief articles at St. John's College. However, I needed to find about the status of ensembles, critiques of more information to piece together his teaching performances, summaries of lectures, the listing schedule. of weekly readings in seminar, the recorded Through the cooperation of the Registrar's concerts offered, the field trips available, general Office, they searched their archives for anything college activities and events, etc… I was able to about Elliott Carter. They found some archival piece together his music schedule for the entire documents, old class ledgers, that made it 1940-1941 school year. possible for them to reconstruct his second year A column in one of the issues indicated that of teaching, 1941-1942, at St. John's College, Elliott Carter's Glee Club was going to perform when he was not music director but taught on the radio and in a concert and that he had Greek, mathematics and the seminar readings. arranged the school song, "St. John's Forever" for Wefound that he had a very busy schedule. four part men's chorus and piano. Since Glee Club and other musical activities I began to wonder if, like the sonometer, this were electives under both programs, the "old" and the "new, " in his first year of teaching, 1940- piece was around somewhere. I went to the St. John's College Music Library and asked the music 1941, there were no documents in the registrar's librarian if there was a piece called "St. John's office to confirm what classes he taught in Forever" in their library. He searched and found music. The 1940-1941 Yearbook, in the St. John's a few old copies of a piece with that title, but College library had a photo of him conducting he didn't know who wrote it. Since it was not a the Glee Club but not much else. It wasn't until published work and was in someone's manuscript I received permission from St. John's College writing I took a look at it. In light of my research head librarian to look at their special archival at the Library of Congress when I had looked collection at the Maryland State Archives, a few at some of Carter's scores and sketches during blocks away from St. John's College, that I found those years, I saw immediately that this piece an incredible amount of information about his had been written by him. His calligraphy was unmistakable: clear, accurate, and beautifully written. My wife and I often watch Antiques Roadshow and every once and a while someone has something like a mini-collection of let's say memorabilia from Mickey Mantle-all the items making some historical sense. In the same way, St. John's College had some incredible materials from the "lost years" of Elliott Carter: a photo, laboratory manuals, a Carter letter, the sonometer, and a four-part arrangement of "St. John's Forever." They all fit together into a beautiful mini-collection. Along with the two essays that Carter wrote about his experience at St. John's College in his collected writings, St. John's College had something that was definitely unique. Before he became the great American composer, Elliott Carter taught music at St. John's College during the 1940-1941 school year, and the Great Books program in his second year, 1941-1942. I spent some considerable time completing my research and then writing an extended article which I offered to St. John's College academic research journal, The St. John's Review. They accepted it for publication and the extensive article appeared in the Summer 2012 issue: stjohnscollege.edu/news/pubs/review. shtml. I also sent copies of the published article to Elliott Carter and his assistant whom I had been in contact with during my research. One never knows what treasures are hidden close by that just need to be unearthed. My musicological dig produced some incredible treasures and I was able to rediscover the "lost years" of Elliott Carter. Hollis Thoms, composer and researcher, has had a number of articles published in PAN PIPES. He has written over 100 musical works for a variety of ensembles and has over 30 published articles in educational journals. In addition to a graduate degree in educational administration and years as a teacher and school administrator, he has a Master's degree in composition from Northwestern University and finished the course work for the PhD in composition from the Eastman School of Music. He has been the recipient of a number of fellowships, including the Joseph Kingenstein Fellowship to Columbia University, the Alden 16 PAN PIPES WINTER 2013 sai-national.org winter 13 PP.indd 16 2/12/2013 2:15:13 PM

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