William Presser Original Music Scores

William Henry Presser was born in Saginaw, Michigan on April 16, 1916 to his parents Charles Hubbard Presser and Alta Virginia Griffith. He focused his musical talents around the violin and started his music career at Saginaw Freshman College. He then finished his Bachelor of Arts in music at Alma College, Michigan in 1938. From there, he continued his studies at the University of Michigan where he studied composition, conducting, and violin performance. Some conductors he studied under were Thor Johnson, Herman Genhart, Guy Fraser Harrison, and Pierre Monteux. Along with those conductors, he studied composition with Percival Price. He began composing his own works here in 1939. He graduated in 1940 with a Master of Arts of music in violin. In the same year, on October 16, he registered for the draft.

He then taught at Buena Vista College in Iowa, and then entered Eastman School of Music the summer of 1942. Presser was then drafted into the Army on March 54, 1943. He served in the military police until he was discharged. He returned to Eastman where he played second violin and viola in the Rochester Philharmonic for two years. In 1947, Presser graduated from Rochester with a PhD in music theory. He continued to teach at Florida State College of Women. There he taught violin and conducted in the orchestra. While he was there, he met Vera Geraldine Farnsworth. He then moved to teach at Florence state Teacher’s College, now known as North Alabama University. On December 25, 1950, he and Vera were married.

He then became the Head of the Music Department of West Texas University until he moved to San Francisco where he taught at a small school and worked as a freelance violinist. In 1953, he entered Mississippi Southern College, now known as the University of Southern Mississippi, to teach music theory and orchestration. Along with teaching, Presser conducted in the music ensembles for his seven years tenure. He stayed there until his retirement in 1981.

Along with his teachings, Presser was the resident composer at Appalachian State University, as well as a guest composer at schools such as Winona State University, Tufts University, and Indiana University. He also taught at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan. He was the founder of Tenuto-Tritone Publications in 1961. He also received eleven 1st place awards from unrestricted national contests for composition, and annual awards since 1966 from ASCAP for his contributions. On August 20, 2004, William Henry Presser died in Lafayette, Louisiana.