Volume CXXXIII, Number 17 February 22, 2002 f

Evening honors Schwartz's service
ALLISON ROBBINS
CONTRIBUTOR

Few Bowdoin professors feel comfortable in the student dining halls. Most teach classes and open their doors for office hours but when faced with eating amongst students, they are more than happy to dine in private. There are, of course, exceptions. Bill Watterson and Dennis Corish frequent Moulton at noon, and language professors often join the language tables for dinner at Thorne. Add to the list of exceptions Professor Elliott Schwartz, last seen at a Thorne brunch this past Saturday.

Schwartz was on campus last weekend to attend a concert celebrating…well, him. After 38 years of teaching and dining at Bowdoin, Schwartz is approaching retirement, and rather than let him clean out his office and slip quietly out of the Gibson Hall basement, the Music Department opted for an all-Schwartz concert in Kresge Auditorium.

Schwartz grew up in New York City and studied composition at Columbia University before coming to Bowdoin in 1964. Symphonies and chamber groups have performed his works across the globe, and he also has a reputation as a writer on twentieth century music. This past December, Harvard held a concert celebrating Schwartz's music, and last Saturday, it was Bowdoin's turn.

The evening of Elliott Schwartz began with a performance of Elevator Music, a theatrical composition staged in Coles Tower. Schwartz composed the piece for the Bowdoin College Senior Center in 1969, placing musicians on twelve floors and asking the audience to ride up and down in the elevator during the performance. The premiere of the piece incorporated strobe lights, balloons, and costumes, but Schwartz notes, "Of course, that was the hippie psychedelic era." Last Saturday's version of Elevator Music included twenty-one musicians playing everything from a harmonica to an accordion, as well as plenty of face paint and a life-size Princess Leia.

The concert featured Bowdoin professors, alumni, and students playing Schwartz's music. Alumni musicians returned to Brunswick from as far as the West Coast to perform, many playing pieces Schwartz had originally composed for them. The concert also included music composed by Schwartz's past composition students.

Although the focus of the evening was Schwartz's music, many of the speeches at the concert and conversations afterwards concentrated on Schwartz himself. Robby Greenlee, Associate Professor of Music, noted Schwartz is always "good humored," something that Schwartz demonstrated several times during the concert. He jokingly referred to himself as "ever the pedantic professor." When discussing his own music, he observed that many of his pieces end quietly, which seems to be a characteristic of his musical style. He hesitated briefly. "Or a flaw," he added.

Schwartz's wife and children all attended the concert. Nina Schwartz, his daughter, is a graduate of Bowdoin, and she remembers eating with her father in the dining hall during her student years. When told her father still ate on a tray every once in awhile, she laughed and replied, "I'm glad he still has someone to sit with." Nina does not have to worry. Her father will always be welcome in Bowdoin's dining halls.