History of the Department
Music in the Cleveland Museum of Art has a history nearly as long as the collection itself. In 1918, only two years after the Museum's dedication, the Board of Trustees decided to include music programs among Museum activities; this was possibly the first inclusion of a performing department, equal in status to the visual arts departments, in any of America's great museums. In 1921, the McMyler Endowment made possible the installation of a pipe organ, the purchase of a grand piano, and the payment of part of the salary for a Curator of Musical Arts. Thomas W. Surrette, the noted educator and author was the first to hold this position; he instituted classes in music literature and appreciation, and arranged lectures by such prominent musicians as Maurice Ravel, Béla Bartók, Ottorino Respighi, and Nadia Boulanger. Frequent organ recitals and occasional chamber music concerts were presented. Surrette was succeeded by composer
Douglas Moore (Pulitzer prize winning composer of
The Ballad of Baby Doe and other chamber operas and works) and Arthur Quimby.
By the time Walter Blodgett became curator in 1942, classroom work had been largely abandoned since music education was being taken over by other greater Cleveland institutions. Blodgett therefore switched the department's emphasis to performance, experimenting with programming during the ensuing years. He played regular organ recitals and brought in a wide range of musicians who performed in a 300-seat lecture hall. Some of these were "big-name" artists and others were new, young talents whose careers were furthered by appearing on an internationally-known concert series. All were encouraged to play new music whenever possible, to help stimulate the appreciation of contemporary composition among local music-lovers. This philosophy naturally grew into the May Festival of Contemporary Music (a parallel to the Museum's annual juried May Show of local artists), featuring performances of new music by local and outside soloists and ensembles from many area institutions. All of these concerts were presented free of charge.
Walter Blodgett retired in 1974 and was succeeded by Czech-born organist Karel Paukert, who greatly expanded upon his predecessor's responsibilities by playing some thirty organ recitals each season and serving as artistic director for a year-round series of some forty additional classical chamber music concerts featuring vocal soloists and choral ensembles; pianists, violinists, and other solo instrumentalists; and chamber music groups. The varied programs include Western music from medieval and Renaissance works to the very latest contemporary creations, and extend into non-Western and dance forms. Lectures and other educational programs often complement the performances. With the exception of eight Gala Music Series and six Musart Mondial Series concerts each season, for which the admission fee covers approximately half the cost of producing the series, all of the Department's events are free and open to the public. Concerts take place year-round in the Museum's 765-seat Gartner Auditorium, designed by Marcel Breuer and built in 1971, as well as in the Inner Garden Court. Many of the free concerts are supported by the generous annual contributions of members of The Musart Society.
The Department does not maintain a historical collection of musical instruments. It does, however, own a number of pianos (two Steinways and one Bösendorfer), organs (the 4014 pipe McMyler Memorial Organ and two positives), harpsichords (two French, one Italian, and one German double), fortepianos (original Broadwood and a fortepiano after Walter), and other keyboard instruments which are frequently used in performances.
The Department produces broadcasts of selections from Museum concerts which are heard each Monday evening on WCLV-FM, Cleveland's fine-arts radio station. It also produces the Aki Festival of New Music (1977-1985; 1999-2001), a month-long biennial festival that features a full range of contemporary music, from avant-garde performance art to composer retrospectives, to the latest in electro-acoustic music.