A Day for Dancing: The Life and Music of Lloyd Pfautsch

Kenneth Hart

Monday, June 20, 8 AM
Grand Ballroom A

An examination of the life and music of Lloyd Pfautsch (1921-2003), prominent U.S. composer, performer and choral conductor. Assisting with live performances of several of Pfautsch’s anthems will be a chamber choir organized and conducted by Kevin Riehle, a former student of Pfautsch, and a member of the Houston AGO Chapter.

Emphases in this presentation will include, Pfautsch’s influence upon the church music and choral conducting scenes in 20^th Century America (c.1950 to the present,) his organ compositions and use of organ for anthem accompaniment, his relationship to and fear of the keyboard (!) and his nearly 300 published works, including about 250 anthems. Glimpses of his life will be interwoven with discussion of his music and musical style in a chronological presentation. Although his impact was, and is, national in scope (to some extent international) much of it was most immediately felt here in Texas where he spent his final 44 years teaching in Dallas, but conducting festivals and workshops in nearly all of the 50 states. A discussion of some of his choral techniques, including his famous use of humor in rehearsals help complete the picture of this famous musician and his contributions to music in United States.

Kenneth Hart holds three degrees in music: Doctor of Musical Arts (University of Cincinnati), Master of Sacred Music (Union Theological Seminary – NYC) and the Bachelor of Arts (Grinnell College – Iowa.) He holds the AGO’s Choirmaster Certification. Hart taught at Berea College (KY), Hastings College and the University of Nebraska (as adjunct,) Emporia State University (KS) and Southern Methodist University (TX). He is Professor Emeritus of Sacred Music from SMU, where he was Lloyd Pfautsch’s colleague. Hart has been active in the AGO for 60 years. His recent book A Day for Dancing: the life and music of Lloyd Pfautsch is available at Amazon.com.