Conference on a Conductor's 'Crosscurrents'

The name Nadia Boulanger may not ring a bell for many of us; in fact, many people may not know that she was one of the most influential forces in classical music during the 20th century, instructing famous composers such as Aaron Copland, Elliot Carter, and Philip Glass. This weekend, an exhibit will open in her honor at the Edna Kuhn Loeb Music Library. Its opening coincides with the “Crosscurrents” conference, which takes place from Thursday, Oct. 30 to Saturday, Nov. 1. “Crosscurrents” will explore the musical interactions between America and Europe during the 20th century.

The “Crosscurrents” conference will be the first of a two-part series, with the second installment taking place in Munich, Germany, this May.

“Because of the theme of the conference, we wanted it to actually be international,” says Anne Shreffler, the Chair of the Harvard Music Department and one of the conference’s four organizers. “We hope that this approach will start new research to look into the cross-cultural transfer of musical ideas in the 20th century.”

This weekend, the conference features 16 speakers—each internationally renowned for their teaching and music research—from six different countries, as well as a commissioned work titled “Teletalks” by French composer Betsy Jolas to be performed on Thursday night. There will also be a world premiere of an arrangement of Edgard Varèse’s “Amériques” for two pianos and eight hands on Thursday, as well as the first on-campus performance of the Blodgett Artists-in-Residence, the Chiara String Quartet, on Friday.

Saturday night’s performance will feature Bruce Brubaker, head of the piano department at the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC), as well as two students who are members of the joint program between NEC and Harvard. The concerts, which will take place in Paine Hall, are open to the public.

The speakers will discuss a wide range of topics throughout the weekend, concentrating on the first half of the 20th century, and will present new research about the international collaborations that took place during that time.

“The theme of the conference is transatlantic connections in the 20th century,” says Professor Carol Oja, the William Powell Mason Professor of Music at Harvard and member of the Oversight Committee for the conference. “The fact that a lot of composers and musicians were moving back and forth from Europe and America during the course of the 20th century is often not highlighted through research, so it is what we plan to do with this conference.”

Among the topics discussed will be Nadia Boulanger and her role as an example of the musical communication that occurred between America and Europe.

As a member of the Radcliffe faculty for Music Composition and Theory in 1938, Boulanger was the first professor to instruct both Harvard and Radcliffe students together, and as a composition teacher, she instructed hundreds of American and European students.

The exhibit devoted to her was coordinated by research assistant Elizabeth Craft and Loeb staff members Virginia Danielson and Sarah Adams. It shows scores left to Harvard by the Boulanger estate and includes a composition by Harvard’s own Robert Levin that he completed at age 12. The exhibit concentrates on Boulanger’s effect on America and especially the impact she made in Cambridge and Boston.

“Nadia Boulanger’s influence reached across America,” Craft says. “As composer Virgil Thompson said, ‘Every small town in America has two things in common: a five and dime, and a student of Nadia Boulanger.’”

The exhibit also includes correspondences between Boulanger and some of her students. Most of the pieces in the exhibit are from Harvard’s own collection or Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library; some are on loan from the Longy School of Music.

“Boulanger’s legacy is still present today,” said Sarah Adams. “In addition to teaching hundreds of students from summers spent in France and at a convent in Wisconsin, and teaching both in Europe and America from the 1920s to the 1970s, her students have gone on to teach her style to another generation of composers.”

Although her love of teaching is apparent, it is little known that Nadia Boulanger was the first woman to conduct both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic in the 1930s.

“[Conducting these orchestras] is an impressive feat,” Craft says. “Considering the small amount of female conductors even now, it is remarkable that she was able to conduct such prestigious orchestras, especially during that time.”

Boulanger’s influence is just one example of the transatlantic musical connections that were taking place throughout the last century. “Crosscurrents” hopes to highlight this cross-pollination through a combination of research and performances.