Bob Handelman Photo
William Purvis
William Purvis has been appointed director of Yale University’s Collection of Musical Instruments, a position he has held, on an interim basis, since 2008.
“Perhaps the greatest importance of the collection,” Purvis said, “is the extent to which it places Western music in perspective … in the most profound sense.”
Purvis, a French horn player, has been on the Yale School of Music faculty since 1999 and also teaches at The Juilliard School in New York.
In a press release, Yale School of Music Dean Robert Blocker was quoted as saying, “In the transitional period that Bill Purvis has served as Interim Director, the Collection has enhanced its artistic offerings, taken measures to preserve and sustain its holdings, and engaged the Yale and professional communities in its activities.”
Purvis succeeds Richard Rephann, who retired in 2006, as director of the collection.
The “transitional period” to which Blocker referred has included the collection becoming part of the Yale School of Music in 2008 and the expansion, that year, of the school’s early music offerings, which included the addition of violinist and early music expert Robert Mealy to the faculty.
Photo courtesy Yale School of Music
According to the press release, Yale’s Collection of Musical Instruments “includes nearly one thousand musical instruments from antiquity to the present, from Western and non-Western traditions.”
Purvis’ responsibility involves striking a balance between preserving those instruments and allowing many of them be played.
“In a certain sense,” Purvis said, “the development of Western instruments … essentially came to an end about 100 years ago.”
Because of that, he said, “the collection is becoming ever-more important.”
“All of this helps us to understand what the meaning of music” has been to people at different points in history, he said.
Purvis also cited the importance of the collection having a facility, at the Yale School of Music, in which to preserve and exhibit the instruments and present concerts and master classes.