Leonard B. Meyer

Leonard B. Meyer, composer, author, philosopher and esteemed and honored humanities professor, died on Dec. 30, 2007. He was 89. He contributed major works in the fields of aesthetic theory in music, and compositional analysis and was one of the first to explore the relationship between Game Theory and musical composition. His books include Emotion and Meaning in Music, The Rhythmic Structure of Music (with Grosvenor Cooper), and Some Remarks on Value and Greatness in Music, Style and Music: Theory History and Ideology (General Editor), The Spheres of Music : A Gathering of Essays as well as numerous articles and other scholarly works. His writings address such diverse subjects as musical emotion, the psychology of music, musical analysis and theory, aesthetics, information theory, the anthropology of art, and art and neuroscience. Meyer studied at Bard College, Columbia University (B.A. in Philosophy, M.A. in Music) and the University of Chicago (PhD in History of Culture). As a composer, he studied under Stefan Wolpe and Aaron Copland. He taught at the University of Chicago for 29 years. He was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies at Wesleyan University, a Guggensheim Fellow and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1975, he was named Benjamin Franklin Professor of Music and Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania. He was beloved by generations of music and humanities students. Born in New York City, Professor Meyer lived a full life devoted to his family, his students, colleagues, and the humanities. During World War II, he fought with the front line infantry at the Ardennes and the Battle of the Bulge. A great wit, Meyer regaled friends and family with recitations from Gilbert & Sullivan, Shakespeare and frequent puns. He asked that his tombstone be engraved with the musical pun in Hamlet's dying words: "The rest is silence". He will be deeply missed by his loving daughters, Muffie (Ronald Blumer), Carlin (Peter Bienstock) and Erica (Potter Palmer); granddaughters, Emma and Molly; his first wife and mother of his children, Lee Meyer, of Chicago; his sister-in-law Karen Levy; and his caregivers, Pauline Whitehill, Sandra Jones and Brigid Nicholson. He was predeceased by his second wife, Janet Levy, his brother, Daniel Meyer, and sister, Carolyn Meyer. There will be a memorial service at Riverside Memorial, 76th and Amsterdam, on Jan. 13 at 2 p.m. Donations in lieu of flowers: NY Gilbert & Sullivan Players or American Musicological Society.