Thrusday, January 07, 1999
Allen Sapp was CCM dean and composer
BY JANELLE GELFAND
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Allen Dwight Sapp Jr., professor emeritus and former dean of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, was a skilled composer.
But his greatest legacy, say family and friends, rests in his work as a teacher and an administrator, and ultimately in his vision for music and culture in the United States.
Mr. Sapp died at his Kenwood home on Monday. The cause was heart failure, said his son, Anthony Sapp. He was 76.
“He's always been a visionary arts promoter,” his son said. “He was driven by two basic forces: His composition and his sense of high purpose in promoting the arts, not only as a teacher but as an administrator.”
Mr. Sapp came to Cincinnati in 1978 to serve as dean of CCM (1978-80). He was professor of composition until his retirement in 1993.
“As an administrator and colleague he was warm and supportive of all of us,” said composer Jonathan Kramer, formerly on the CCM faculty and now at Columbia University. “Whenever any of us had a work performed, he'd send a long letter with detailed comments about it.”
Mr. Sapp was the first chairman of the board and an ardent supporter of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. When it experienced financial difficulty in the early '80s, he took out a personal loan to keep the orchestra solvent.
“It was a great personal sacrifice for him,” said his son.
In 1998, music director Keith Lockhart recorded an album of Mr. Sapp's music.
“The Chamber Orchestra was closest to his heart,” Mr. Lockhart said. “He had a major compositional career that will affect composers of future generations.”
Mr. Sapp's works have been performed by the New York Philharmonic, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the French Radio Orchestra, the Boston Fine Arts Chamber Orchestra, the CCO and by many musicians.
His wife, Norma Bertolami Sapp, who died in 1995, premiered many of his piano compositions.
As a Harvard student, Mr. Sapp studied composition with Walter Piston and privately with Aaron Copland and Nadia Boulanger. His musical work was interrupted by World War II when, at age 20, he joined the Army as a cryptanalyst.
He quickly rose in the intelligence ranks. In 1945 he set up the Munich office of the U.S. Army Civil Censorship Division, and wrote a three-volume training manual, Censorship Cryptanalysis. He ultimately became chief cryptanalyst for the division, which was later incorporated into the Central Intelligence Agency.
Mr. Sapp taught at Harvard University, Wellesley College and the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he was chairman of the music department.
In Buffalo, he founded, with composer Lukas Foss, the Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, an influential center for avant-garde music. He was on the board of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
“Wherever he went, there was this zeal to do something for music,” said composer Samuel Adler, who co-chaired the national artistic directorate of the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in Cincinnati with Mr. Sapp.
Mr. Sapp was provost of the Arts Division of Florida State University before being named CCM dean.
Widely consulted, he was director of Arts/Worth, a project funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, executive director of the American Council of the Arts in Education, and on the board of the National Arts Council.
He also served on the boards of the Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Xavier Piano Series and the Emery Center Corporation, the group promoting the renovation of Emery Theatre in Over-the-Rhine.
Mr. Sapp is survived by sons Christopher Dawson of Belmont, Calif. and Anthony Sapp of Montclair, N.J.; ; a sister, Nancy O'Reilly of Scottsdale, Ariz; and six grandchildren.
Memorials can be made to the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, 1406 Elm St., Cincinnati 45210 or to the American Classical Music Hall of Fame, 4 W. Fourth St., 45202. His remains were cremated.
A memorial service will take place 2 p.m. Saturday in Corbett Auditorium on the UC campus.
Wilmer Conrad, 86, was GE manager The Cincinnati Enquirer
Wilmer Conrad died Saturday of pancreatic cancer at the Westover Retirement Community. The Hamilton resident was 86.
Mr. Conrad was a traffic manager at the General Electric plant in Evendale for 25 years. He retired in 1975.
He was a member of Lindenwald United Methodist Church and was active in the Senior Olympics for several years.
Survivors include three sons, Michael Conrad of Fairfield, James Conrad of Chandler, Ariz. and Gerald Conrad of Muskegon, Mich.; a brother, Donald Conrad of Hamilton; two sisters, Geraldine Koebel of Claymont, Del. and Judy Buckley of Covington; and four grandchildren.
Services were held. Burial at Rose Hill Burial Park in Hamilton. Donations may be made to the Vitas Hospice, 1132 West Kemper Road, Cincinnati 45240.
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