Emil C. Danenberg Presidential Papers

Emil Charles Danenberg was born in Hong Kong on July 30, 1917, to pianist Emil F. X. Danenberg and Elsie (Gardner) Danenberg.  As a child, Danenberg studied piano with his father, a graduate of the prestigious Leipzig Conservatory.  He made his piano debut at age five.  In 1926, the family emigrated to the United States and settled in Los Angeles.  After graduating from Los Angeles High School in 1936, Danenberg enrolled at the University of California at Los Angeles.  He changed his major from economics to music after a gymnastic accident during his sophomore year permanently injured his cervical vertebrae.  He studied theory with composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) at UCLA and piano with Abby De Avirett in Los Angeles and Edward Steuermann (1892-1964) in New York.  He received the B.A. degree with honors in 1942 and the AM in 1944, both from UCLA In 1980, he was awarded the honorary Mus.D. degree by Marietta College in Ohio and the honorary Litt. D. by Franklin College in Indiana.  Danenberg was a member of the music honor societies Phi Mu Alpha and Pi Kappa Lambda (Theta Chapter).

Danenberg enjoyed a successful career as a concert pianist, playing both solo piano and chamber music recitals.  From 1947 to 1967, he toured with basso Jerome Hines (b. 1921) of the Metropolitan Opera.  He made his New York debut in 1950 and performed at New York University's Town Hall in 1953, returning there in 1967 as part of the Oberlin in New York recital series.  He made his European recital debut at the Darmstadt International Festival of New Music in 1957 and appeared as soloist with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra under the baton of Herman Scherchen (1891-1966).  He also gave recitals at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, at Vienna, and at Graz, Austria, as well as throughout the United States and Canada.  At Oberlin, Danenberg performed frequently in faculty recitals with his colleagues, violinist Andor Toth, Sr. (b. 1925) and vocalist Richard Miller (b. 1926).  He held semester leaves in 1953-54, 1960-61, and 1967-68 to study piano and chamber music in New York, Vienna, Rome, and Dartington, England.

In July 1944, Danenberg joined the Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College as Instructor in Pianoforte, rising to the rank of Assistant Professor in 1949, Associate Professor in 1955, and Professor of Pianoforte in 1960.  From 1955 to 1965 he taught the Piano Literature course for the Piano Department.  He served as Acting Dean of the Conservatory of Music from July 1, 1970 to July 1, 1971, when he was named Dean of this main division.

Danenberg's able leadership of the Conservatory coincided with college-wide curricular innovation, stimulated in part by the youthful energy of the new president, Robert Fuller.  The Conservatory initiated two new degree programs in 1972/73, leading to the Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) and the post-graduate Performance Diploma.  Danenberg's wide musical tastes led to the development of several new majors and programs, including the program in Early Music (1973), the summer Baroque Performance Institute (1973), and the program in Ethnomusicology.  Danenberg added courses in African-American music and even encouraged the formation of performing ensembles such as the Oberlin Black Ensemble (1971) and the Jazz Ensemble.  Contemporary music received his enthusiastic support with the addition of a faculty position in percussion and expansion of the New Directions Recital Series and the Technology in Music and Related Arts program, founded in 1971.  He promoted the performance and teaching of chamber music by bringing the New Hungarian Quartet to residence at Oberlin in 1972.  The Conservatory added to its musical instrument inventory with the purchase of early Renaissance and Baroque instruments, a Flentrop organ for Warner Concert Hall, and several Steinway concert grand pianos.

As Dean of the Conservatory, Danenberg served on the Education Commission under President Fuller (1971-73), the Governance Commission (1972-74); the Committee to Review Faculty Service (1973-74); and the Committee to Review Minority Programs (1974) of the General Faculty.  He was a member of the Conservatory Faculty Council (1950-53, 1957-58, 1963-66, 1968-70) and the General Faculty Council (1963-68), the main governing bodies of the Conservatory and the College as a whole, and served on three Search Committees for Conservatory deans and three for Oberlin presidents.  His abilities as a listener rather than a vocal participant distinguished his committee service.

On April 7, 1975, Emil Danenberg was elected to a five-year term as the eleventh President of Oberlin College, replacing Acting President Ellsworth C. Carlson.  He was reappointed President in April 1979 and held the post until September 1981, when he went on a leave of absence for health reasons.  Danenberg's tenure followed the tumultuous Fuller years, in which faculty power had been seriously challenged by the President.  During the Danenberg administration, the strength of the faculty was reaffirmed and comity restored between faculty and the office of the President.  Danenberg succeeded in winning back faculty trust not only because he understood faculty concerns, having shared them for thirty years, but also because of his record as a capable, even extraordinary, administrator, praised for his pragmatism, diplomatic skills, and tireless devotion to Oberlin College.

During the six years of the Danenberg presidency, the college was able to stabilize its financial position, achieve a balanced budget, and eliminate previous budget deficits.  The Development Office reported the highest level of alumni giving in the college's history.  In May 1979, Oberlin launched what was then the largest fundraising campaign in its history, a drive to raise nineteen million by 1983.  Nine million was earmarked for professorships, faculty salaries, scholarships, and academic programs, all areas named by Danenberg as requiring increased funding, both to enhance faculty morale and to burnish Oberlin's outside reputation.  The McCandless Curriculum Enrichment Funds, made available from the four million dollar McCandless Estate, were designated as restricted gift funds, allowing the president greater freedom to direct curricular development.  Among the academic programs instituted were the Inter-Arts program and the Upward Bound program (1979) for educationally disadvantaged students.  Danenberg was instrumental in funding a Black Arts/Theater position and in supporting the growth of a women's studies curriculum.  Particularly sensitive to the special needs of handicapped students, Danenberg promoted Special Services to Disadvantaged Students and the Office of Developmental Services.

In September 1981, President Danenberg was diagnosed with cancer of the liver and began receiving chemotherapy treatment. His health rallied for a brief time but declined suddenly in December 1981.  He died in Oberlin's Allen Memorial Hospital on January 16, 1982.  James L. Powell (b. 1935), Danenberg's Vice President and Provost, served as Acting President from September 1981 until the summer of 1983.  Although Powell was a candidate for the presidency, he withdrew his name from consideration to accept the position of President of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

On June 23, 1951, Emil Danenberg married pianist Mary Ann Brezsny (b. 1927), a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (BM 1948; MM 1951). They had no children.

Sources Consulted

Staff files of Emil C. Danenberg (RG 28)