David S. Boe Papers

David Boe (1936-2020) was Professor of Organ and Harpsichord at the Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College. Joining the faculty of the Conservatory in 1962, he was appointed Associate Dean in 1974 and became Dean of the Conservatory in 1976, a position he held until mid-1990. Throughout the period of his Deanship he continued to perform and teach. He served also as Organist and Director of Music at First Lutheran Church, Lorain, Ohio, from 1962 until Pentecost Sunday 2002.

He received the BA degree magna cum laude from St. Olaf College and was a University Fellow at Syracuse University where he received the Mus. M. degree. On a Fulbright grant in 1960-1961, he went on to study with Helmut Walcha at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt, Germany. He returned to Europe in 1968 to study with the Dutch harpsichordist and organist, Gustav Leonhardt (b. 1928). On subsequent trips to Europe, he has appeared in concerts and on the radio, and has done research on North European instruments and early keyboard temperaments. He appears frequently in recitals in this country and has recorded on the Gasparo and Veritas labels.  For several years he appeared on the nationally televised program “The Wind at One’s Fingertips.”

He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and served a four-year term as National President of Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music honor society. From 1981 until 1987 he served as elected Secretary of the National Association of Schools of Music and has continued to serve that organization as a consultant. He has chaired music accreditation teams or served as a consultant to the music programs at over 35 institutions. He has served as Vice President of the American Organ Academy and is presently on the Board of Trustees of the Westfield Center. He chairs the scholarship committee of the Presser Foundation. On leave from the Oberlin Conservatory during the 1990-1991 school year, he served in the spring semester as Visiting Professor at Florida State University in Tallahassee. For the fall semester of the 1991-1992 academic year, he was a visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame.

David Boe retired in 2008 as the Conservatory’s longest-serving faculty member. In 2011 the Oberlin Conservatory established the first endowed professorship named after a current or emeritus professor–the David Boe Chair in Organ Studies.

David Boe married Sigrid North (b. 1938) on July 23, 1961. They had two sons, Stephen (b. 1964) and Eric (b. 1967). The Boes resided in Oberlin, Ohio until moving to Chicago in 2012. David Boe died in 2020 due to complications from COVID-19.

Sources Consulted

Biographical information provided by David S. Boe.

“Oberlin Recognizes Retiring Faculty and Staff Members,” Oberlin OnCampus, May 21, 2008.

David S. Boe, Longtime Organ Professor and Dean of the Conservatory, Dies at 84, Oberlin College News, April 30, 2020.