In memoriam Gerhard Samuel

Gerhard Samuel, former professor at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music for 21 years, died on March 25 of cardiac arrest at his home on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle.

He will be remembered for his international career as conductor, a founder of festivals, a tireless promoter of new music, a prolific composer, and a professor of music and conducting.

Mr. Samuel was director of orchestral studies at CCM for 21 years before he retired in 1997. At the time, he told the Enquirer, "I consider this the most important period of my life. It's hard to put into words what it means, but the contact I'd had with so many people and knowing that they go out into the world carrying on some of the things I was able to transmit to them, is gratifying."

During Mr. Samuel's tenure as director of orchestral studies, he built the Philharmonia Orchestra from a struggling ensemble that couldn't afford to rent music to an institution of international reputation. In 1987, he took the orchestra to Carnegie Hall and in 1989, to the International Mahler Festival in Paris, the only invitation extended to an American orchestra.

From his years studying with composer Paul Hindemith and renowned conductor Serge Koussevitsky, he brought a love of modern repertoire that resulted in countless world premiere performances and recordings, NPR broadcasts and invitations to perform around the globe.

Mr. Samuel championed the music of composers such as Hans Rott, Alexander von Zemlinsky and John Corigliano. In 1994, he won the prestigious Ditson Conductor's Award for the advancement of American music.

Some of his CCM recordings hailed in the national media include the world premiere of Schubert's Symphony in E, 1825 and Schubert's opera, "Der Graf von Gleichen," as well as Charles Ives' unfinished "Universe Symphony."

Mr. Samuel was adamant that orchestral programming should include modern music, and hated the new "dumbing down" trend of radio stations and symphony orchestras.

"Music shouldn't be treated differently from other art forms. We don't read War and Peace every year, like we listen to Beethoven symphonies over and over," he said. "Before the 20th century, all music - even Beethoven - was contemporary."

Mr. Samuel was also a prolific composer of major works, such as a Requiem Mass, concertos, string quartets and orchestral pieces. At the time of his death, he was working on an opera, "Blood of the Walsungs," based upon a novella by Thomas Mann, with a libretto by Roger Brunyate, a former UC faculty member.

Mr. Samuel was born in Bonn, Germany, on April 20th, 1924, and moved to America with his immediate family in 1939 to escape Nazi persecution.

He studied at Eastman School of Music, and at Yale University under Hindemith. At Tanglewood he was a protégé of Serge Koussevitsky.

He worked on Broadway, promoted American music in post-war Paris, and was an Associate Conductor of the Minneapolis symphony. In 1959 he became Music Director of the Oakland Symphony and San Francisco Ballet. He founded the Oakland Chamber Orchestra and was first conductor of the Cabrillo Festival.

In 1971 he became Associate Conductor of Los Angeles Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and a professor at California Institute of the Arts. He joined CCM in 1976.

He retired to Seattle in 1996 and loved to spend time at his cabin in the Cascade Mountains. He is survived by his partner Achim Nicklis, sister Erica Wilhelm, nephews Cris and Marc Wilhelm and their families, and his cousins and friends.