关于藏品

I, Chester 戴维斯, was born in Long Beach, California, June 22, 1929.

家里总是有音乐.  Two maiden aunts who visited regularly, encouraged their nephew to sing songs.  他的耳朵很好，唱得很准.  The wind-up "Victrola" was regularly heard playing Stephen Foster and Victor Herbert. 

我在凤凰城上的小学和高中, 亚利桑那州, with my first significant musical experience as a member of the children's choir at the Episcopal Cathedral.  The excellent choir director also gave me private lessons, 这也激发了他早期对歌剧的兴趣.  At age twelve I was being prepared to become the choir's soprano soloist when my voice suddenly changed.  那结束了我的声乐生涯.  在那段时间里，我还上了钢琴课.

In high school I played tuba in the band and string bass in the orchestra.  This was the period of swing bands and popular music, and I also played string bass in the high school's 12-piece swing band.  On weekends I played piano in small combos for dances in the Phoenix area. Some of my colleagues were very promising musicians.  One of them, a tall boy, Mickey McMann, eventually became first trumpet for Lawrence Welk.

大学时，我改吹长号, and by my senior year I had progressed sufficiently to play bass trombone in the Phoenix symphony under Robert Lawrence, 著名的音乐评论家, 作者, 和劳伦斯·蒂贝特的钢琴伴奏.  Lawrence was a specialist in Berlioz at a time when that composer was seldom heard.  他也是歌剧方面的专家.  我和他谈了很多关于歌剧的事, and he was an important influence in my musical development.

I received a Bachelor of Music from 亚利桑那州 State College, 坦佩, in 1950, and Master of Music from the University of 亚利桑那州 in 1951. In Tucson my college roommates actually provided more of an intellectual stimulus than my academic courses.

With the arrival of the Korean War I found myself in the Air Force.  After a dismal winter in a mediocre base band in Amarillo, 德州, I had a fortunate transfer to a double-sized 75-piece band stationed in the San Francisco Bay area.  Many of the members were hand-picked, former students of first chair players in major symphonies.

Many visits to San Francisco made it possible to attend symphony and opera performances including programs conducted by Leopold Stokowski, 布鲁诺•沃尔特, 和其他人.  During these years I also listened to and participated in many jazz units.

After discharge I accepted a position as a high school music teacher in a very isolated small community, Springerville, 在亚利桑那州东北部.  高中乐队非常弱, but by the end of the second year we had progressed to the point where we attained a superior rating at the Northern 亚利桑那州 Music Festival.  In addition to my musical responsibilities I was also asked to handle the high school library.  Some summer school courses awakened an interest in library science.  经过两年的教学, I went to University of Denver and completed a Masters Degree in Library Science.

随后, I became a member of the library staff at 新墨西哥 Highlands University in historic Las Vegas, 新墨西哥, and later moved on to 新墨西哥 State University in Las Cruces.  There I was asked by the library director to work with the Chair of the Music Department to strengthen the library music holdings.  我们添加了许多大而昂贵的分数集.  In Las Cruses I also performed piano accompaniments for many high school and college performers. 我还为一个大学歌剧工作坊伴奏, which performed scenes from operas by Mozart and Verdi and the opera "La Serva Padrona, 由Pergolesi.

In the 1970's I was employed with the library on the new campus of University of Las Vegas. 在这里，我也和音乐系一起工作, starting from scratch to build a comprehensive collection, and over a fifteen year period we accomplished much of this.

From age 12 I had been musically curious and an avid record collector. This led to an ever larger collection of LP disks and later CD's, resulting eventually in the comprehensive collection which now belongs to the ag娱乐官网.

I retired in 1989 and moved to Marianna, Florida, in 1995. 玛丽安娜有一个地区交响乐团, and so I took my trombone out of the case for two years until the orchestra disbanded.

My other great interest was in my cats, of which there were about fifteen over the years. Many of these were interesting characters and deserve an essay about themselves.

I am pleased that my lifetime accumulation will have a secure home at the ag娱乐官网.

  

由以下人士提供的资料:

切斯特K. 戴维斯

西班牙古道6248号

格兰德里奇，佛罗里达州32442

 

2014年11月10日