William J. Bullock Papers

Collection

Identifier: MC 450

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

These papers include administrative files of various organizations to which he belongs, his employment records, many music scores (including performance scores with orchestral and vocal parts, publications, programs, logistical information on the tours he led, information on the copyright process of several of his published works, and correspondence. There are also recordings of many of the performances he led, including reel-to-reel tapes, cassettes, CDs, and video records. Many of the recordings have been digitized onto thumb drives. Numerous photographs are also included.

Besides Dr. Bullock’s career papers, he donated the performance materials and files of Cantus Columbus which were processed as a separate collection (MC 449).

This collection is divided into 8 series.

Dates

Creation: 1960s-2020s

Biographical / Historical

Dr. Bullock was born in 1943 in Crawfordsville, Indiana. He is a retired professor of music, choral conductor, and arts administrator. He graduated from The Florida State University with a BME, MA, and PhD. He taught music and conducted choruses at Tarrant County Junior College in Texas (1968-1977), the University of Southern Mississippi (1977-1982) and Columbus College/Columbus State University (GA) Schwob School of Music (1982-2001). While in Columbus he conducted the Columbus Civic Chorale and several other local choral groups. During his career, Dr. Bullock designed concerts around many different themes, conducted small- and large-scale choral works and theater productions, served as adjudicator and guest conductor in seven south and southwestern states, led concert tours of Mexico and Eastern and Western Europe, and facilitated study tours of Scandinavia, Australia, Vienna, and Vancouver. He also served as a state president of the American Choral Directors Association, executive director of Georgia’s Southeastern Music Center, and choirmaster for Methodists and Episcopal churches.

In 2000 Dr. Bullock founded the professional chorus Cantus Columbus. Throughout the chorus’ twenty-year existence he created and conducted its imaginative programs, which included many of his own arrangements. Most of the chorus’s concerts were either patterned after famed conductor Robert Shaw’s Christmas concerts or devoted to arrangements (many with string quartet) of songs by the five founders of the Great American Songbooks. In 2003 Dr. Bullock joined the staff of Columbus, Georgia’s newly established RiverCenter for the Performing Arts, ultimately serving as the center’s third executive director (2009-2015).

An authority on choral literature, Dr. Bullock is known for his many prosodic English translations which retain the original’s syllable count, stress patterns, and if present, rhyme scheme. He has published journal articles, music editions and arrangements, a book on the cantatas of J. S. Bach and the only bilingual edition of the Brahms Requiem, which includes his modern, prosodic translation.

Extent

20 Cubic Feet (48 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

This collection is divided into 8 series:

Series 1 – Bound Printed Programs These programs are from performances conducted by Dr. Bullock Series 2 – Conductor Scores These scores are from performances conducted by Dr. Bullock and include his performance and editorial markings. The scores of the Cantus Columbus performances are in MC 449 – Cantus Columbus. Series 3 – Professional Folders These folders contain career-related documents including: Resume and List of Major Works Conducted, including thank-you notes and Accolades, and photographs Florida-Student years (up to 1968) Career Employment Texas Years 1968-1977 Mississippi Years (1977-1982) Columbus Years (1982-2020). These cover: Columbus State University and Southeastern Music Center; Columbus Civic Chorale; Saint Thomas Episcopal Church; Lafayette Chorus and Opera; Springer Opera House; and the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts (except for Cantus Columbus) Career Adjunct Activities including tours, guest conducing, and grants written (excluding those written for the RiverCenter) Research files for Bullock’s published book Bach Cantatas Requiring Limited Resources and his abandoned book for Indiana Press Choral Works with Small Instrumental Ensemble.

Series 4 – Recordings These include cassettes, CDs, and records of performances conducted by Dr. Bullock, nearly all from his Columbus years. Many include thumb drives.

Series 5 – Brahms Requiem Materials These materials including CDs of PDF files of the 2nd edition of the Requiem; copyright document (1st edition); copies of the printed program for the inaugural performance of the edition; research materials including other editions; praise of the edition; some sales records; recommendations for CSU research award for the edition; lecture about the 3rd edition for the 1998 Southern Division of the American Choral Directors Association; material concerning the performance and lecture about the edition for the 50th anniversary of Chorus Austin 2015, etc.

Series 6 – Published Editions

Series 7 – Unpublished works by D. Bullock

Series 8 – Objects