Last week the music world was saddened to learn that Don V Moses, a renowned scholar of Joseph Haydn’s music and Director emeritus of the University of Illinois’ School of Music, had died. Moses was born December 21, 1936 in Garden City, Kansas. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in music education from Fort Hays State University in 1959, and a Master of Music in 1962 and a Doctorate of Music in 1968 from Indiana University. He held faculty positions at the University of Indiana and University of Iowa before coming to the University of Illinois as its Director of Choral Activities in 1986 and two years later became the Director of the School of Music.  Moses was also the founding director of the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria, a position he held from 1976 to 2000. The city of Eisenstadt and the state of Burgenland both recognized his work in promoting the city and its connection to Haydn, and it has become one of the longest-running music festivals in Europe.

Alongside the Classical Musical Festival in Eisenstadt, Moses was best known for his lifelong work on the masses of Haydn. In 2008 he published, along with Robert W. Demaree, The Masses of Joseph Haydn, based on his extensive research and performance experience.

For those interested in learning more about Moses and his conducting, research, and work at the University of Illinois, the Sousa Archives and Center for American music holds the Don V. Moses Music and Papers (1960-2000). The images shown above are part of this collection, sharing some of his notes on Haydn’s Mass No. 13, popularly known as the “Creation Mass.”