Wallace Wesley LaViolette (4 Jan 1894 Saint James, Minnesota - 29 Jul 1978 Escondido, California) was an American musician who composed, conducted, lectured, and wrote about music. He was also a poet and music theorist. As an educator, he mentored Shorty Rogers, Jimmy Giuffre, John Graas, George Perle, Florence Price,^[1] Bob Carter,^[2] Bob Florence and Robert Erickson and writer William Irwin Thompson. Laviolette was an important figure on the West coast jazz scene of the 1950s.

Career

LaViolette received his undergraduate degree in music from Northwestern University in 1917. He earned three graduate degrees. From 1923 to 1933, LaViolette was dean of the Chicago Musical College. He served as director for DePaul University School of Music from 1933 until 1938.^[3] In 1930 he received the David Bispham Medal Award for his opera Falstaff^[4] (or possibly Shylock.^[5]^[3]^[6])

In the 1950s LaViolette was the teacher for many writers and players associated with the West Coast jazz scene. LaViolette supported their work, calling them "America's musical contribution to tomorrow ... I don't always LIKE what they do - but I respect it."^[7]

Selected compositions

Largo Lyrico, string quartet (1941)
Prelude and Aria, symphonic work (1941); premiered by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra November 14 and 15, 1941^[8]
Autumn, from Songs of love, a song cycle based on Chopin compositions, for high voice, piano, and orchestra; music: Alexander Laszlo, words: Wesley LaViolette (1954)
Irridescence, from Songs of love, a song cycle based on Chopin compositions, for high voice, piano, and orchestra; music: Alexander Laszlo, words: Wesley LaViolette (1954)
Lilac time, from Songs of love, a song cycle based on Chopin compositions, for high voice, piano, and orchestra; music: Alexander Laszlo, words: Wesley LaViolette (1954)
Love laughed, from Songs of love, a song cycle based on Chopin compositions, for high voice, piano, and orchestra; music: Alexander Laszlo, words: Wesley LaViolette (1954)
The Wayfarer: An Interpretation of the Dhammapada, published by DeVores & Co. (1956)
Charade, for four flutes (1946)
Sonata, for flute and piano (1946)

Collections

The LaViolette Collection — which included his own recordings, books, scores, photographs and personal papers — is archived at The Los Angeles Jazz Institute, California State University, Long Beach.^[9]
The original manuscript of LaViolette's First Symphony (1935) is housed at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.^[10]

Career positions

Professor of Music Composition, DePaul University, Chicago
Professor of Music Composition, American Conservatory of Music, Chicago
Professor of Music Composition, Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California, Los Angeles

References

General references

The ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, Third edition. New York: American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, 1966
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Sixth edition. Revised by Nicolas Slonimsky. London: Collier Macmillan Publishers
Biographical Dictionary of American Music, by Charles Eugene Claghorn. West Nyack, NY: Parker Publishing Co., 1973
Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 1: January 1946 to July 1949, New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1949
Contemporary American Composers, A biographical dictionary, First edition. Compiled by E. Ruth Anderson. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1976
Who Was Who among English and European Authors, 1931-1949, based on entries which first appeared in The Author's and Writer's Who's Who and Reference Guide, originally compiled by Edward Martell and L.G. Pine, and in Who's Who among Living Authors of Older Nations, originally compiled by Alberta Lawrence. Three volumes. Detroit: Gale Research, 1978
Who's Who in America, 38th edition, 1974-1975. Wilmette, IL: Marquis Who's Who, 1974
Who's Who in America, 39th edition, 1976-1977. Wilmette, IL: Marquis Who's Who, 1976
Who's Who in America, 40th edition, 1978-1979. Wilmette, IL: Marquis Who's Who, 1978
Who's Who in Music and Musicians' International Directory, Sixth edition. New York: Hafner Publishing Co., 1972. Later editions published as International Who's Who in Music and Musicians' Directory
Who's Who in the West, 15th edition, 1976-1977. Wilmette, IL: Marquis Who's Who, 1976
The Blue Book, Leaders of the English-speaking world, 1976 edition. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1976

Inline citations

^ Julie Anne Sadie, Rhian Samuel, The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers, pg. 374, MacMillan Press (1995)
^ Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler, The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz pg. 114 (Bob Carter), Oxford University Press (1999)
^ ^a ^b Anonymous (6 Dec 1947). "Forum Unit Will Hear Analysis Of Art". Newspapers.com. p. 3. Retrieved 23 Feb 2018.
^ Kosovsky, Bob (5 Oct 2000). "Re: David Bispham Memorial Medal". OPERA-L Archives. Retrieved 23 Feb 2018.
^ Hipsher, Edward Ellsworth (1934). "American Opera and Its Composers". The Internet Archive. p. 296. Retrieved 23 Feb 2018.
^ Membership Handbook for the American Opera Society of Chicago, "David Bispham Medal Awardees." The archives of the American Opera Society of Chicago, Inc. are on file in the Newberry Library, Chicago, as part of their permanent records.
^ Savoy, Maggie (15 April 1959). "Bach And Jazz Are Much Alike". Newspapers.com. p. 18. Retrieved 23 Feb 2018.
^ New LaViolette Works, The Dallas Morning News, Nov. 2, 1941
^ The Los Angeles Jazz Institute official website
^ Report of the Librarian of Congress, Library of Congress, pg. 134 (1936)

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