In Memoriam: Fenno Heath, Inspired Song in Many as Yale Glee Club Director

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 28, for Fenno F. Heath Jr., who began a lifetime of music as a student at the University and later served as director of the Yale Glee Club from 1953 to 1992.

Heath died on Dec. 5 at his home in Hamden following a long illness. He was 81 years old.

The memorial service will take place at 3 p.m. at Battell Chapel, corner of College and Elm streets. University organist Thomas Murray will start the prelude 20 minutes before the service begins. The service will feature performances by the Yale Glee Club, the Yale Alumni Chorus, The Whiffenpoofs of 2009, The SLOTs and the University Glee Club of New Haven.

Widely respected as a composer, teacher and choral conductor, Heath was a mentor to generations of young singers as Yale Glee Club director, a longtime conductor of the Litchfield County Choral Union and the University Glee Club of New Haven.

Raised in Hampton, Virginia, he graduated from Newport News High School and attended the Loomis School before entering Yale. His college career was interrupted by service in the U.S. Army during World War II. Heath graduated from Yale with the Class of 1950. During his days as a student, he conducted the Apollo Glee Cub and sang with the Yale Glee Club, the Spizzwinks and the Whiffenpoofs.

Heath then went on to the Yale School of Music, where he earned his Mus.B. in 1951 and his Mus.M. in 1952 as a student of Quincy Porter and Paul Hindemith. He remained at Yale to work with student musicians, eventually becoming the first Marshall Bartholomew Professor of Choral Conducting. Heath brought international recognition to the Yale Glee Club through the many tours he led nationally and worldwide. Yale’s Alumni Chorus is an outgrowth of Heath’s success in creating a life-long love of song in his former singers.

Heath’s honors included the Yale Medal, the Sanford Medal, the Yale Glee Club Medal, the University Glee Club of New York City Medal, the Mory’s Cup and the Vernon Prize for composition. His compositions included major works for the inaugurations of four Yale presidents: Kingman Brewster, A. Bartlett Giamatti, Benno Schmidt and Richard C. Levin.

Heath is survived by his wife, Carol Quimby Heath of Hamden; his children and extended family: Sarah Heath and Franz Douskey of Hamden; Lucy (Heath) and Robert McLellan of Lebanon, New Hampshire; Marguerite Heath Ogilvy and Daniel Hertzler of Windsor, Vermont; and Fenno F. and Paris Heath III of Woodbridge; and six grandchildren.

Contributions in Heath’s memory can be sent to the North Congregational Church, P.O. Box 307, New Hartford, CT 06057.