Richard F. French, director of Juilliard’s Doctor of Musical Arts degree program from 1987 to 1993, and a member of the graduate faculty through the 1998-99 academic year, passed away on May 18. At the time of his death, he was teaching at the Yale School of Music and advising doctoral students there and at Juilliard.

Born in Randolph, Mass., in 1915, Mr. French attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, and went on to receive B.S. and M.A. degrees from Harvard University in 1937 and 1939, respectively. He served in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II, and then returned to Harvard as an assistant professor of music from 1947 to 1951. From 1951 to 1960 he was vice president and director of publications for Associated Music Publishers, Inc. While at Associated Music Publishers he met Noah Greenberg, the founder and conductor of the pioneering early music group New York Pro Musica. Greenberg enlisted his help with the ensemble’s business and fund-raising activities, and Mr. French served as its president from 1955 to 1970.

In 1963 he became Robert S. Tangeman Professor of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary, a position he held until 1973, when he joined the faculties of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and the Yale School of Music. Mr. French wrote numerous articles and reviews for such publications as Musical Quarterly and Notes: The Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association. He also edited Music and Criticism: A Symposium (1948) and translated A Book About Stravinsky by Boris Asaf'ev (1982).

The Yale School of Music bestowed its two highest honors on Mr. French: the Samuel Simons Sanford Medal in 1991 and the Gustave Jacob Stoeckel Award in 1999. That year he also received the Music Library Association’s Citation for his outstanding support of music libraries, and an honorary doctorate from Concordia College.

Mr. French had a vast knowledge of music and music literature, and over the course of his career taught courses in Renaissance and Baroque music, music of the 18th century, Haydn string quartets, Mozart operas, and the music of Liszt. In his Juilliard doctoral seminars he challenged students to broaden their musical understanding through careful analytical study. He continually questioned what appeared to be obvious in a musical work, and invited students to make their own discoveries. He was passionate about teaching, and cared deeply about the success of his students.

Mr. French wrote of his decision to devote his career to teaching: “I began to teach myself through teaching others, no matter what or how. … On the way I had to acquire five modern foreign languages and two classical ones, raise money, and deal with composers, performers, librarians, foundation executives, and administrators… Coming across these words of John Cage (from I-VI, Harvard University Press, 1990, pp.39-40), I finally recognized what I had tried to become: ‘…someone who was able to ask questions that haven’t been asked this has to do with creativity that is to say bringing into existence the things that hadn’t been or hadn’t been noticed so that you could then pay attention differently to other things…’”

Those of us who were privileged to know and learn from Mr. French experienced firsthand his ability to “ask questions that haven’t been asked.” He helped us to see and hear differently, and broadened our perspectives and musical understanding.

A memorial tribute to Richard French will be held on November 6 at 5:00 p.m. in Paul Pall.

Jane Gottlieb is associate vice president for Library and Information Resources.