Longyear
Members of the University community, as well as music academics worldwide, were stunned last week by the news that former UK musicology professor Rey M. Longyear died suddenly Monday following heart surgery at Central Baptist Hospital.
Longyear
Longyear, 64, retired from the School of Music after last semester, closing a distinguished 30-year tenure of teaching, research and publication.
"The impact of the loss of Dr. Longyear cannot be measured," School of Music chairman Harry Clarke said.
Associate musicology professor Lance Brunner said Longyear's death "is a terrible shock and a great loss to the University community and the field of musicology."
Musicology professor Ron Pen emphasized the impact of Longyear's guidance upon "at least two generations of music scholars throughout the country and the world."
"His encyclopedic ability to recall details and play musical excerpts from the literature was just amazing," Pen said.
Considered a major authority on 19th-century European art music, Longyear wrote "Nineteenth-Century Romanticism in Music," considered that genre's definitive text; along with other books, entries for music reference works and eight music-related articles for the World Book Encyclopedia.
Longyear also wrote numerous articles for scholarly journals and presented lectures at conferences in Australia, Austria, France and Germany and at musical events throughout the United States.
"He established a distinguished international reputation early on in his career through his books and articles," Brunner said.
"But he was also a very generous and kind person whose love of teaching music touched the lives of hundreds of students."
"This loss will have an enormous impact," said music theory professor Kate Covington, who collaborated with Longyear on several articles and lectures.
"He was always looking out for the students," often by presenting insider's-view seminars on writing resumˇs and fellowship proposals and applying for jobs, she said.
"What I will always remember about Dr. Longyear is his dedication to students," said Pamela Ivezik, who says she and many other students came to UK specifically to study with him.
"Dr. Longyear was always proud of his students," she said. "At conferences, he would introduce them to colleagues and friends; or in their absence he would proudly discuss their work. At home, he would always make himself available - even at the last minute."
Brunner said an on-campus memorial service is being planned for the end of March. Students and faculty members are creating also a scholarship fund in Longyear's name.
Services will be at 1 p.m. today at Kerr Brothers Funeral Home. Burial will follow at Camp Nelson National Cemetery.
A 2 p.m. reception at the Hilary J. Boone Faculty Club also is planned.
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