Tribute to teacher, life of music

Yale School of Music Oboe Professor Ronald Roseman (1933-2000) was a consummate musician. "He was a giant in the woodwind musical world," Professor Joan Panetti, a colleague and friend, said. "He was the most passionately beautiful oboe performer."

Roseman died of stomach cancer on Thurs., Feb. 10, at his home in Manhattan. On Fri., Apr. 28, at 3 p.m. in Battell Chapel, Roseman's family, students, and friends will gather to commemorate his life with a memorial service and recital.

COURTESY OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS Student musicians will honor the life and legacy of Professor Ronald Roseman with a memorial recital.

Allan Kozinn, in an obituary in The New York Times, called Roseman "a sensitive player who had a warm tone and an impeccable sense of style." Testimonials to his musicianship poured in to The Double Reed, a magazine for oboe and bassoon players. Roseman's death was the cover story of the most recent issue, and inside its pages, former students and colleagues expressed their great admiration for Ronald Roseman's career in music. Rebecca Schalk Nagel, associate professor at the University of South Carolina School of Music, one of many who find it difficult to speak of Roseman in the past tense, wrote, "No one moves from one note to another quite like Ronny Roseman, with total commit-ment and beauty."

Ronald Roseman's illustrious career included a year as the New York Philharmonic's acting principal oboist in the '70s. Student Keri McCarthy, MM '00, said that Roseman was offered a permanent position with the orchestra, but he decided to focus more on chamber music. He was a founding member of the New York woodwind quintet and played regularly at Yale's Norfolk Summer Chamber Music Festival, which Panetti directs.

Roseman was also an accomplished composer. At the memorial service, a brass and Woodwind Double Quintet, conducted by Yale Philharmonia conductor Lawrence Leighton Smith, will play the third movement of Roseman's Double Quintet. The movement is a theme and variations on the Johannes Sebastian Bach chorale, Jesu meine Freude. The performance will then be followed by a singing of the chorale by the congregation.

This choice is particularly appropriate because Roseman particularly loved the music of Bach. Roseman was a devout Christian, and, according to McCarthy, "he became religious because Bach created this beautiful music, and if he did that, then Bach must be on to something." McCarthy guessed that when Roseman died, "Probably the first thing he did in heaven was go talk to Bach."

Alongside his remarkable career as a performer and composer, Roseman was a devoted educator, teaching at various times at Yale and in New York at Queens College, the Mannes School of Music, and Juilliard. His students remember him above all else as a gifted, patient, honest, and warm teacher. "He understands more about musical ideas and phrasing than anybody whom I ever met," McCarthy, who studied with Roseman for a year and a half, said. "And he was also very helpful with technical issues. It's rare to have both."

Aaron Jakes, TC '03, who studied with Roseman for one semester, appreciated most of all his warm candor. "He had a way of encouraging honestly and focusing on good things that were really there without being dishonest and saccharin," Jakes said. "That's something pretty unique among teachers." Roseman also tailored his teaching to the needs of his students. Former student Kevin Vigneau wrote in Double Reed, "Each of his students has a unique musical personality, based not only on Ronny's teaching but his nurturing of the student's own talents."

Service

Memorial Service for Professor Ronald Roseman Fri., Apr. 28, 3 p.m. Battell Chapel Performances by members of the Yale Glee Club and students of the School of Music

"He went at it as, `What can I improve in you?'" McCarthy said. "It was very individualized teaching—not, `How can I make you sound like the principal oboist with the New York Philharmonic?' but `How can I make you a more complete musician?'"

Roseman will also be deeply missed as a friend. Panetti, whose family became close to Roseman's while during summers they spent together at the Norfolk Festival, said, "Our children are as affected by his loss as I am. That doesn't often happen with children and parents. They feel that same sense of overwhelming loss." McCarthy said that, through his teaching and his dealings with fellow musicians, "He really taught me a lot about being patient with other people." She added, "I really felt like when he died, the world lost a wonderful person. Not just the musical world, but the whole world."

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