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Born: June 15, 1936 - Norwich, Connecticut, USA
Died: March 24, 2020 - Rheinfelden, Baden-Württemberg, Germany |
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Edward H(ankins) Tarr was a distinguished American trumpet player, teacher and musicologist. He studied the trumpet in Boston with Roger Voisin, principal trumpet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1953); and in Chicago with in 1958-1959 with Adolph Herseth, principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1958-1959). The he studied musicology in Basel with Leo Schrade (1959-1964) for which he was awarded a degree in 1985.
After his studies, Edward H. Tarr was active both as a trumpet virtuoso and a musicologist. In 1967, he organized the Edward Tarr Brass Ensemble was formed, the only one of its kind – with four trumpets and four trombones. Modern, as well as antique instruments, were used to perform Renaissance and Baroque music as well as modern works. He was a pioneer in the revival of Baroque and Romantic era trumpet performance practice. His performance repertory includes Baroque, Classical era and modern works; Mauricio Kagel dedicated works to him in 1971, including Morceau de concours, for trumpeter and electronic tape.
Edward H. Tarr taught trumpet at the Rheinische Musikschule in Cologne from 1968 to 1970. In 1972 he was appointed to the faculty of of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis as a teacher of cornett and natural (Baroque) trumpet; also taught modern trumpet at the Basel Conservatory from 1974, teaching at both institutes (under the umbrella of Basel Music Academy in Basel, Switzerland) until 2001. He was director (conservator) of the Trumpet Museum in Bad Säckingen, Germany from 1985 to 2004. He also taught Baroque trumpet in the superior conservatories (Musikhochschulen) of Karlsruhe, Frankfurt, and Lucerne.
Edward H. Tarr owned one of the largest collections of original trumpet literature, which was acquired by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's Archives & Collections in 2014. He was also editor of many performance editions (including the complete edition of the trumpet works of the Bolognese Baroque Italian composer Giuseppe Torelli) as well as an authority on the history of the trumpet. He contrbuted numerous articles on trumpet playing to various publications. His book Die Trompete was first published in 1977 in Bern in German. In 1988 it was translated into English by S.E. Plank and Edward Tarr as The Trumpet. When Tarr celebrated his 70th birthday in 2006, Schott published a new edition of the German version, Die Trompete. The English version was updated and republished in 2008. He was an extensive researcher in trumpet music and published many first editions of music, along with a new German edition of the Elector's mandate on trumpet players in Saxony, 1736.
Edward H. Tarr's recording career began around 1960 when he became trumpet player in Karl Richter's Münchener Bach-Orchester. He has recorded over 100 works for many labels including Ariola Records, BIS Records, Capriccio, Christophorus, Columbia Records, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI, Erato Records, HCC (Haas-Classic Cologne), Hungaroton, Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm, Naxos Records, Nonesuch Records, Oryx, Tudor, and Vox Records.
Edward H. Tarr's wife was the concert organist and best-selling author Irmtraud Tarr. Amongst his students were Reinhold Friedrich and Håkan Hardenberger. He died on March 24, 2020, in a hospital near Rheinfelden, the town where lived in southwestern Germany. The cause was complications of heart surgery. |
