Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- Library Sigla and Abbreviations
- Guide to Harvard University and Oberlin College Collections Referenced by Box Number
- Preface: Gateway to a Career
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter I Family History and Formative Years
- Chapter II Undergraduate Study at Harvard College (1916-20)
- Chapter III Lessons with Ernest Bloch and Graduate Study at Harvard University (1920-22)
- Chapter IV Damrosch Fellowship Years at the American Academy in Rome (1922-25)
- Chapter V Courtship and Marriage (1925-27)
- Chapter VI New York City—Wellesley College—A Guggenheim Fellowship (1927-31)
- Chapter VII Guest Conducting, Reception of Symphony no. 2, and College Music: An Investigation (1931-35)
- Chapter VIII Life after College Music: An Investigation (1935-37)
- Chapter IX The University of California at Berkeley (1937-39)
- Chapter X Curtis Institute of Music: The Hiring Process (Spring and Summer 1939)
- Chapter XI Curtis Institute (Fall 1939-Spring 1941)
- Chapter XII The University of Virginia (Fall 1941-Spring 1945)
- Chapter XIII Princeton University (Fall 1945-Spring 1948)
- Chapter XIV Return of a Favored Son: Harvard University (Fall 1948-Spring (1957)
- Chapter XV Harvard University (Summer 1957 to July 1, 1965)
- Chapter XVI The Early Retirement Years (1965-75)
- Chapter XVII The Final Years (1975-84)
- Chapter XVIII Recapitulation and Coda
- Bibliography of Works Cited by Abbreviations
- Index
Chapter XIII - Princeton University (Fall 1945-Spring 1948)
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- Library Sigla and Abbreviations
- Guide to Harvard University and Oberlin College Collections Referenced by Box Number
- Preface: Gateway to a Career
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter I Family History and Formative Years
- Chapter II Undergraduate Study at Harvard College (1916-20)
- Chapter III Lessons with Ernest Bloch and Graduate Study at Harvard University (1920-22)
- Chapter IV Damrosch Fellowship Years at the American Academy in Rome (1922-25)
- Chapter V Courtship and Marriage (1925-27)
- Chapter VI New York City—Wellesley College—A Guggenheim Fellowship (1927-31)
- Chapter VII Guest Conducting, Reception of Symphony no. 2, and College Music: An Investigation (1931-35)
- Chapter VIII Life after College Music: An Investigation (1935-37)
- Chapter IX The University of California at Berkeley (1937-39)
- Chapter X Curtis Institute of Music: The Hiring Process (Spring and Summer 1939)
- Chapter XI Curtis Institute (Fall 1939-Spring 1941)
- Chapter XII The University of Virginia (Fall 1941-Spring 1945)
- Chapter XIII Princeton University (Fall 1945-Spring 1948)
- Chapter XIV Return of a Favored Son: Harvard University (Fall 1948-Spring (1957)
- Chapter XV Harvard University (Summer 1957 to July 1, 1965)
- Chapter XVI The Early Retirement Years (1965-75)
- Chapter XVII The Final Years (1975-84)
- Chapter XVIII Recapitulation and Coda
- Bibliography of Works Cited by Abbreviations
- Index
Summary
He is an excellent lecturer and, though not
an historical scholar, competently
informed and authoritative.
(Roy Welch)
THE HIRING PROCESS
Having weathered an exceedingly busy 1945 spring term, Thompson was surprised to receive a letter from Professor Roy Welch of Princeton University discussing an upcoming vacancy on the faculty. As he explained to Bronson:
The point is, that Welch writes that Sessions is going to Berkeley and asks whether I am susceptible to an inducement to succeed him. I have replied that we’d be glad to have him (Welch) visit us this week-end; and he arrives tomorrow night.
O, how I wish you were nearby to talk to. I’d so love to know what your feeling would be about our moving to Princeton. I have put out such roots here and have, in a studied way, trained myself to think of myself as belonging here, staying here for the long pull, insusceptible of any offers to go elsewhere. The whole community is mine and I am its! I have pictured myself as staying here till I retired from teaching.
Margaret felt otherwise, as you know, and there is no doubt that being here has robbed us of one of the children after another. And the center of their activities will not grow nearer to Ch’ville with the years… .
Much depends on what the details of Welch's offer stack up to. But I foresee that it is going to be hard to say no… .
If they’d assigned us a house on the Lawn, instead of giving it to Sna¬vely, wd that have made us feel more permanent, more loathe to go? And if so, would buying a house now make us feel like staying? What sort of house might one hope to get in Princeton, after all? O, for a sign, a sign!
Sessions, who had been teaching there since 1936, had accepted a faculty appointment in the Department of Music at the University of California, Berkeley beginning fall 1945. Years later, interviewed by his biographer Andrea Olmstead, he explained his reasons for leaving Princeton.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Road Not TakenA Documented Biography of Randall Thompson, 1899–1984, pp. 545 - 572Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2018