Hugh Merryman Brown

1927 - 2021

Hugh Merryman Brown
July 12, 1927 - April 18, 2021
Westwood Hills, Kansas - Hugh Merryman Brown, age 93, passed away peacefully at home on Sunday, April 18. He was born in Los Angeles, California, to Hugh Cowen Brown and (Mary) Marie (Magdalen) Merryman Brown.
Brought to Kansas City a year later, Hugh began violin studies there at age 5 with Wort S. Morse. By age 9, he was a WDAF radio artist playing the likes of the Mendelssohn violin concerto and Sarasate's "Zigeunerweisen." Around this time, Hugh and his mother moved to New York, settling in New York City when Hugh was 10 years old. He attended high school at the De La Salle Institute., where he excelled academically. Graduating in 1944, he planned to pursue studies in chemical engineering.
Hugh continued with his musical studies as well. His path touted as "a brilliant sequel to the meteoric rise of Menuhin and Ricci," he named among his teachers Sherman Pitluck at the National Institute of Music in New York and Joseph Gingold. He later attended the Juilliard School, where he studied violin with Frank Kneisel. Other musical activities during these formative years included playing under conductor Dean Dixon and in the New York City Symphony under a youthful Leonard Bernstein. In both 1944 and 1946, Hugh was a finalist in the prestigious Naumburg Foundation competition.
But high expectations for musical greatness became an intolerable burden. Hugh dropped out of Juilliard and turned to other occupations, even working for a while in the decorative-fabrics trade. The Latin rhythms that were finding their way into popular music of the time provided the spark Hugh needed to return to music, which he did via the dance bands of Tex Beneke (formerly the Glenn Miller band), Ted Straeter, and, for a short stint, Raymond Scott.
In 1951, Hugh auditioned for a tour with then little-known Robert Shaw and his chorale. Despite reservations about Hugh's dance band experience, Shaw hired him as concertmaster. After the tour, his stand partner, Dorothy McConnell, became his wife, when they married on April 14, 1951, at Riverside Church in New York City. They were three weeks shy of their 70th wedding anniversary when Dorothy passed away in March.
Later that year, the couple came to Kansas City to play in the Kansas City Philharmonic, where Hugh took the position of assistant concertmaster. Hugh would later move to principal second violin, a post he continued to hold when the orchestra reorganized as the Kansas City Symphony. He also performed with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and was concertmaster of the Starlight Theater orchestra for two decades. He enjoyed commercial-music opportunities as well, ranging from gigs at local venues to orchestras for pop and rock stars.
In the mid-1960s, Hugh was named to the faculty of the Conservatory of Music at UMKC, teaching viola, violin, and string techniques. He was already the violist along with other faculty members in the Klausner Quartet, which became known as the Volker Quartet. He retired from the Conservatory in 1989, and from the Symphony in 1999.
After his retirement, he continued to play music with the Medical Arts Symphony, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and for Handel's "Messiah" at the RLDS temple in Independence. For years, a favorite activity was the Tuesday morning get-togethers with a group of friends dubbed "the Coffee Boys" by the wife of one of the members.
Hugh was preceded in death by his parents and his wife, Dorothy. He is survived by his children, Carole and Chuck (Eve); two granddaughters, Tara (Max) Hapner and Lauren Brown; and two great-grandchildren, Isaac Oblinger and Evelyn Hapner.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be sent to Wayside Waifs or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The family wishes to extend its gratitude to Brookdale Hospice for the invaluable aid of its wonderful caregivers, and to the numerous neighbors who have been so helpful in this time of loss.
A full obituary can be found at www.johnsoncountychapel.com. A celebration of life will be held at a later date.