William A. Little

William A. Little, 90, died on Tuesday, November 26, 2019, at his home in Charlottesville, Va. Born and raised in Boston and Somerville, Mass., he graduated from Tufts College, received an MA from Harvard, and after two years in the army in Germany (1953-1955), received his Ph.D. in German from the University of Michigan. He first taught at Williams College (1957- 1963) then at Tufts University (1963-1966), where he served as Associate Professor and Chair of the German Department. In 1966 he relocated to Charlottesville, where he became Professor of German and Chair of the newly established German Department at the University of Virginia. He remained at UVA for the remainder of his career, retiring in 1996 as Professor of German and Music Emeritus. From 1967 to 1987 he was organist and choirmaster of St. Paul's Church, Ivy. His area of research in German focused on 18th & 19th century Austrian literature; from 1970-1978 he was editor of The German Quarterly, wrote Gottfried August Burger, Poet and Citizen (1974) and served on several national committees, including the National Executive Council of the American Association of Teachers of German. His musicological research centered on the life and works of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. In 1986 he discovered Mendelssohn's lost organ works in Krakow, Poland, subsequently edited and published the composer's Complete Organ Works (London: Novello, 1987-1990 , 5 vols.) and its companion volume, Mendelssohn and the Organ (New York: Oxford, 2010). He published extensively on matters pertaining to the organ and participated at numerous musicological conferences in the U.S., U.K. and Germany. He was one of the founding members of the Charlottesville/Albemarle chapter of the American Guild of Organists and served as dean for three terms, as well as serving on the national Committee for Continuing Education. Mr. Little leaves behind many good friends in Charlottesville, as well as across the United States, the UK, and in Germany. Especially close were his beloved former wife, Mary S. Cash of Murfreesboro, Tenn.; James Alouf of Ivy; Betty Cauthen, Betty Lou and Leigh Middleditch of Charlottesville; Delbert Disselhorst, University of Iowa; Craig Phillips, All Saints Church, Beverly Hills, Calif.; David Higgs and Stephen Kennedy, the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, N.Y.; and Douglas E. Lasky of Denver, Colo. The funeral service will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday, December 10, 2019, at St. Paul's Church, Ivy. Interment will follow immediately in the churchyard. Afterwards, friends and colleagues are invited to a reception in the Parish Hall. Condolences may be left at www.hillandwood.com.