Alfred Bartles

Alfred Howell Bartles (November 10, 1930 – December 28, 2006)^[1] was an American composer and musician. He played the cello and piano^[2] and he is best known for "Music for Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble",^[3] a work that has been described as pioneering of the crossover between jazz and classical music.^[4]

Bartles grew up in Nashville, Tennessee^[1] and studied piano under Lennie Tristano. He enrolled at Vanderbilt University in 1949 with the intention of studying music,^[1] but left at the start of the Korean War, to act as an arranger and pianist for the US Army.^[4] He obtained a master's degree in composition from Ohio University, under the direction of Karl Ahrendt, and began studying the cello. He joined the St Louis Symphony Orchestra, and played in the pit orchestra on Broadway musicals.^[4] His compositions began to be published in the 1960s, including "Music for Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble".^[4] In 1973, he accepted a position at Tennessee Technological University^[1] before moving to the Eurythmeum in Stuttgart, Germany in 1978.^[1][5] He moved back to Nashville in 1997, where he spent the remainder of his career.^[4]

Early life

Alfred Howell Bartles was born to Paul and Martha Howell Bartles on November 10, 1930, where he was raised in Nashville. When Alfred was five years old his father died from the aftereffects of poison gas in World War I. So he and his mother lived with his mother's younger sister, Isabel Howell, who was his father type figure growing up. His parents were very musical just like Alfred as well as his grandparents too. He showed talent at a young age with music, especially with piano. He would help the family with the income, doing low wage band jobs before being able to be apart of a musician union.^[6]

Composing career

After spending summer of 1949 studying with Lennie Tristano, Bartles went to Vanderbilt University in the fall of 1949 wanting to get a premedical curriculum at first. However, he later transferred to Peabody College, to get studies on composition. During the Korean war, there was an Army Reserve Band in which Bartles later played for and was called out of for active duty. It later led to him transferring to University of Mississippi after army.^[7]

At University of Mississippi, he started to become interested in the cello as an instrument for him despite not knowing much about it. But despite that, because of his musical past and devotion towards it, made for making the learning curve easier. Also while there he met Claus Adam a cellist for a quartet which did eventually play some of Bartles compositions. He later met a piano student named Martha Jean Smith who was a year older than him and was going to Ohio University for graduate school. Bartles then took on multiple classes, and passed exams and took additional credits to join her. They moved to Ohio in 1953 to Athens, Ohio and married on January 31, 1954. Getting into Ohio University he studied for composition again and graduated summer 1954.^[8]

Alfred and Martha moved to New York City later that year where Bartles studied music theory at Mannes School of Music. He was accepted by Claus Adam as cello student and studied works of cello pedagogues. He started to study of ceelist Luigi Silva where he used this technique for books and pieces. After being in New York three-month residence, he joined the musicians union and started playing as a jazz pianist around the city. He also still maintained playing the cello work being in orchestras for Broadway shows in places such as Radio City Music Hall in Little orchestra Society, Mantonvani's orchestra Springfield symphony, and St Louis symphony. During this time, his daughters Isabel and Julia were born.

In 1969, Bartles got grant for private foundation to study music teaching in Waldorf schools in Germany. Here he taught music history and theory and was a conductor. In 1973, they moved back to get positions at Tennessee Technological University with Alfred at the cello and teaching music theory and Martha continue with the piano. Here is when Alfred played with the Nashville symphony. In 1978, both Alfred and Martha got positions at the Eurythmeum in Stuttgart. Martha played and Alfred taught music theory to students also teaching some cello as well. After 4 years, Alfred concentrated on only teaching cello and while his wife Martha started going from school to school in Germany when she finally accepted a position at Padagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg. They stayed at the positions until he retired mandatory in 1996.^[6]

He returned to Nashville and took on teaching positions at Murray State University and then at Tennessee Technological university again. He still continued as a freelance cellist and had some teaching practices for it as well. He died in Nashville on December 28, 2006 of colon cancer.

Music and style

Bartles genre was varied in style as he grew up. He was considered in classical and jazz spheres for earlier compositions. Later works he showed strengths in jazz more in writing and ensembles works for bands and orchestras and different works for cellos as well. In the United States, he had several pieces for tuba that he had through influence of others there. In Germany he composed music for various eurythmy performances recorded. Bartles has also been involved in arrangements and adaptions such as in 1985 he had an orchestration for chamber orchestra that was premiered by Alban Berg Foundation in Berg festival in Vienna, and later recorded by the Koechlin Ensmeble. In 1988,he adapted the orchestration of Bartok to conform to Bartok's cello transcription of work^[9]

In 1994, he made two cello volumes and later adapted another of Barotok's for brass quintet, and wrote duo for cello and bassoon entitled "Three for Two". Later in 2002, he continued with his pedagogical parts with jazz ensembles. He was working on saxophone piece at time of death. All his works and composition was donated to Vanderbilt University in 2008.

Death

On December 28, 2006, he died in Nashville, Tennessee from Colon Cancer.

References