William J. Peterson

Scholarly Work

In his scholarly projects he has focused on two areas: 1) French music from the 1860s to World War I; and 2.) Czech music in relation to political life between 1848 and 1922. He has worked extensively on French organ music of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He is co-editor with Lawrence Archbold of French Organ Music from the Revolution to Franck and Widor (University of Rochester Press, 1995). His article, “Storm Fantasies for the Nineteenth-Century Organ in France,” appeared in Keyboard Perspectives, volume II (2009). A translation of this article was published in 2010 in the Belgian periodical, Orgelkunst. His article, “Saint-Saëns's Improvisations on the Organ (1862),” appeared in a book published in 2012 by Princeton University Press, Camille Saint-Saëns and His World, edited by Jann Pasler. With James Peterson (Valdosta State University), he has given ten papers on Czech music and politics. In 2018 they published an article, “Remembering the Czech Legion and the 1917 Battle of Zborov in the Poetry of Rudolf Medek Set to Music,” in Kosmas (“New Series No. 1,” March 2018). In 2023 James W. Peterson and William J. Peterson published a book, Political Dreams and Musical Themes in the 1848-1922 Formation of Czechoslovakia: Interaction of National and Global Forces (Lexington Books).

Selected Recordings

"Suite No. 30, Dominica V Post Pentecosten" (Digital on Location, 1994)

Performance

As College Organist, he presented the Inaugural Concert on the Hill Memorial Organ built by C.B. Fisk, Op. 117, for Bridges Hall of Music at Pomona College on October 12, 2002. As a performer, he has played concerts in recent years in many parts of the United States. He has performed all-Bach recitals at various locations, including complete performances of Bach’s Dritter Teil der Clavier-Übung. He presented a Lecture-Recital – “A Tribute to Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (1811-1899) – in 2011 in Bridges Hall of Music: the presentation included commentary on the late style of Cavaillé-Coll and a recital of music by Alexandre Guilmant and Eugène Gigout. He presented a concert in Bridges Hall of Music in 2013 that was designed to serve as a celebration of the organ traditions at Pomona College and in Claremont. It included works composed by members of the College faculty between the 1920s and 2013, by a former student, and by members of the Claremont community (the program included works by Blanchard, Clokey, Kohn, Flaherty, Cage, Held, and Ochse). In 2024 he presented a concert of organ music from the WWI era on the Hill Memorial Organ in Bridges Hall of Music. The program included several compositions that were originally published in an anthology, Les Voix de la douleur chrétienne (“The Voices of Christian Sorrow” [published in Brussels between 1921 and 1924]). The concert program included music composed between 1914 and 1924 by Louis Vierne, Camille Saint-Saëns, Joseph Jongen, Jacques Ibert and others. In 2018 Loft Recordings released his Recital at Bridges Hall, Pomona College (Loft Recordings [LRCD 1140]), which was made possible by a Sontag Fellowship from Pomona College. Works recorded by Peterson have been heard on programs broadcast by “Pipedreams” (American Public Media) in 2019 and in 2022.