Willard Elliot


Willard Somers Elliot was an American bassoonist and composer. He was best known for his long tenure as principal bassoon of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1964-1997.

Life and career

Elliot was born in Fort Worth, Texas and attended the University of North Texas in Denton where he studied bassoon with Sanford Sharoff. He went on to pursue graduate studies with Vincent Pezzi at the Eastman School of Music. While at Eastman, he also studied composition with Bernard Rogers. Elliot was a bassoonist with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, principal bassoonist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and principal bassoonist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Elliot composed and twice performed his Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under conductors Seiji Ozawa and Jean Martinon.
During his 32 uninterrupted years as principal bassoon of the Chicago Symphony, Elliot performed as a soloist under Sir Georg Solti, Seiji Ozawa, Jean Martinon, Antonio Janigro, Carlo Maria Giulini, Morton Gould, Lawrence Foster, and Claudio Abbado. He recorded the Mozart Bassoon Concerto for Deutsche Grammophon conducted by Claudio Abbado.
Elliot was also a member of the Chicago Symphony Chamber Wind Players, Chicago Symphony Winds and the Chicago Pro Musica, which won a Grammy Award in 1986 for the Best New Classical Artist. Elliot performed on Heckel bassoon #7416 for the majority of his career, occasionally playing other 9000 series Heckel bassoons such as #9890.

Selected compositions

  • Symphony No. 2
  • Elegy for Bassoon and Orchestra, premiered December 7, 1959, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Paul Kletzki conductor
  • Quetzalcoatl, a tone poem
  • Night Piece for Small Orchestra
  • Concerto for Two Bassoons and Orchestra
  • Concerto for bassoon and orchestra
  • 3 Duets for flute and bassoon
  • Six 15th-Century French Songs for oboe, bassoon, and piano
  • Poem for bassoon and string quartet
  • Quintet for bassoon and strings
  • Two Metamorphoses for solo bassoon, string quartet, and wind quartet
  • Six Portuguese Songs for bassoon and piano
  • Six Portuguese Folk Songs for bassoon solo and orchestra
  • Elegy for Orchestra
  • Snake Charmer, for alto flute and orchestra
  • Five Impressions for Wind Octet
  • Fantasy, for piccolo and piano
  • Five short pieces for oboe and piano
  • Four lyric pieces for wind octet, Edvard Grieg, arranged by Willard Elliot
  • Ma mere l'Oye cinq pieces enfantines, Maurice Ravel, arranged for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, violoncello, and bass by Willard Elliot
  • March from Turandot, Carl Maria von Weber, arranged for wind octet by Willard Elliot
  • Peter Schmoll ouverture, Carl Maria von Weber, arranged for wind octet by Willard Elliot
  • Quartet in B-flat, for bassoon, violin, viola, and violoncello, Mozart, adapted by Willard Elliot
  • Quejas o la maja y el ruisenor '''', from Goyescas, for wind octet: 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns, 2 bassoons Granados, arranged Willard Elliot
  • Scriabiniana, suite of selected piano works, Alexander Scriabin, arranged for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, violoncello, and bass by Willard Elliot
  • Septet, for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, and tuba, Willard Elliot
  • Septet, for oboe, bassoon, horn, two violins, violoncello, and bass, Glinka, new revision by Willard Elliot
  • Seven preludes for clarinet and piano, Alexander Scriabin, arranged by Willard Elliot
  • Silhouettes, for soprano, bassoon, and piano, by Willard Elliot
  • Six Portuguese folk songs, for bassoon and piano, Willard Elliot
  • Tears, Idle Tears, for soprano, bassoon, and piano, by Willard Elliot
  • Two sketches, for woodwind quintet
  • Valse, Opus 38, for flute, clarinet, bassoon, and piano Alexander Scriabin, arranged by Willard Elliot
  • Evolutions, for two contra bassoons
Most of the above compositions were published by Bruyere Music Publishers, a firm that Willard and his wife, Patricia Bills, founded in 1986 to publish and popularize his compositions and arrangements.

Other positions

Awards

Selected discography

  • Chicago Pro Musica, The Medinah Sessions
  1. Kurt Weill, Suite from The Three-Penny Opera
  2. Sir William Walton, Facade Suite
  3. Richard Strauss, Hasenöhrl, Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks
  4. Igor Stravinsky, The Soldier's Tale - Suite
  5. Paul Bowles, Music for a Farce
  6. Bohuslav Martinů, La Revue de Cuisine
  7. Alexander Scriabin, Willard Elliot, Waltz in A-flat major, Opus 38
  8. Carl Nielsen, Serenata in vano
  9. Edgard Varèse, Octandre
  10. Rimsky-Korsakov, Easily Blackwood, ''Capriccio Espagnol''