Mitchell, William J(ohn)
Mitchell, William J(ohn)
Mitchell, William J(ohn), American musicologist; b. N.Y., Nov. 21, 1906; d. Binghamton, N.Y., Aug. 17, 1971. He studied at the Inst. of Musical Art in N.Y. (1925–29), then at Columbia Univ. (B.A., 1930) and in Vienna (1930–32). Upon his return to N.Y., he was on the staff at Columbia Univ., where he received his M.A. there in 1938; became a full prof, in 1952, then served as chairman of the music dept. from 1962 to 1967. He concurrently taught at the Mannes Coll. of Music in N.Y. (1957–68), and subsequently joined the faculty of the State Univ. of N.Y. in Binghamton. He was president of the American Musicological Soc. (1965–66). He publ. Elementary Harmony (N.Y., 1939; 3rd ed., rev, 1965) and ed. and tr. Herriot’s La Vie de Beethoven (1935) and C.P.E. Bach’s Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen (1949). He was co-ed, of the first 3 vols, of Music Forum (1967–73).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire