Tarr, Edward H(ankins)
Tarr, Edward H(ankins)
Tarr, Edward H(ankins), distinguished American trumpeter, teacher, and musicologist; b. Norwich, Conn., June 15, 1936. He studied the trumpet in Boston with Voisin (1953) and in Chicago with Herseth (1958-59); then studied musicology with Schrade in Basel (1959-64). He subsequently was active both as a trumpet virtuoso and a musicologist; in 1967 he organized the Edward H. Tarr Brass Ensemble, with which he performed Renaissance and Baroque music on original instruments and on modern replicas. From 1968 to 1970 he taught at the Rheinische Musikschule in Cologne; in 1972 he was appointed to the faculty of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel as a teacher of cornett and natural trumpet; also taught trumpet at the Basel Cons, (from 1974) and served as conservator of the Trumpet Museum in Bad Sackingen (from 1985). He contributed numerous articles on trumpet playing to various publications, and publ. the book Die Trompete (Bern, 1977; 2nd ed., 1978; Eng. tr., 1988). He also ed. a number of trumpet works, including a complete edition of the trumpet music of Torelli.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire