Charles Hiroshi Garrett, General Editor of Grove Dictionary of American Music, has Died
As the editor of the second edition, Garrett helped create the primary reference source in American music
The Society for American Music (SAM) has announced the passing of Charles Hiroshi Garrett, who was the general editor of The Grove Dictionary of American Music, second edition — published by Oxford University Press in 2013.
According to Grove Music Online, the second edition “is the largest, most comprehensive reference publication on American music.” The tome comprises eight volumes covering a wide range of topics in music.
“My favorite thing about working on the dictionary involved building so many professional and personal relationships with members of the editorial team,” Garrett said in an interview. “They know how much went into the dictionary, and I hope they are equally proud of our accomplishments. After living with the dictionary for years, I am quite excited about having it become available to everyone else.”
From 2004, Garrett was on the faculty of the University of Michigan, where he was the recipient of numerous honors, including a 2014 Faculty Recognition Award and the 2023 John H. D’Arms Faculty Award for Distinguished Graduate Mentoring in the Humanities.
He also served many roles in the SAM, including Board Member at Large from 2008 to 2011, President from 2015 to 2017, and the ACLS Delegate between 2019 and 2022.
His book Struggling to Define a Nation: American Music and the Twentieth Century published in 2008 was awarded SAM’s Irving Lowens Memorial Book Award; he also wrote articles, including “Shooting the Keys: Musical Horseplay and High Culture” in The Oxford Handbook to the New Cultural History of Music.
“We are shocked and saddened to share that Professor of Musicology Charles Hiroshi Garrett passed away on July 18th,” the SMTD wrote on Facebook. “Professor Garrett’s contributions to the field of musicology and SMTD were boundless. We express our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.”
“With great sadness, the Society for American Music shares the news that Past President Charles Hiroshi Garrett has died,” wrote SAM’s president Douglas Bomberger in a Facebook post. “An eminent scholar, his books on music in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have shaped thinking in our field for a generation … He will be remembered as a strong advocate for diversity of all kinds and as a tireless defender of graduate students and early career professionals.”
Our condolences to Mr. Garrett’s family, friends, and colleagues.
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