Blodgett, Walter (1908-1975)

Dates

• Existence: 1908 - 1975

Biography

Walter Blodgett was curator of Musical Arts at the CMA from 1941 to his retirement in 1974. He was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and attended Oberlin College and Conservatory. At the end of his third year there he went to Chicago for positions with the Chicago Orchestra, the Rockefeller Chapel of the University of Chicago, First Unitarian Church and Meadville Seminary. After two years he returned to Oberlin for Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees attained in 1931. While a student at Oberlin, Blodgett was the organist at Epworth-Euclid Church in Cleveland.

Following his Oberlin degrees, Blodgett studied at the College of St. Nicholas in England and traveled in France and Germany for research in libraries and study in organ design and construction. On his return to Cleveland, he served as organist at St. James Church and First Unitarian Church. In 1941 he began his long career as curator at the CMA while still serving as organist at two churches. In the early 1940s he was a music critic for the Cleveland Press and wrote reviews of new publications for The Diapason. He resigned from the two church positions in 1950 to become director of music and organist at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights. He was appointed lecturer at Case Institute of Technology for its first course in music in 1945, followed by an associate professorship of music at Western Reserve University in 1957, which he resigned after four years.

With the McMyler Music Fund received soon after its opening, the CMA established the Department of Musical Arts, the oldest branch of such museum activity in the US. Upon Blodgett’s hire, he was required to raise additional funds for the musical performance program. To make the most of his budget, he looked for opportunities to book promising ensembles and solo artists early in their careers, before their fees became out of reach. Many of his concerts featured impressive local talent, such as ensembles from Oberlin College and Conservatory, the Cleveland Institute of Music, The Cleveland Orchestra and faculty from other area music departments. During Blodgett’s tenure at the CMA, he curated the entire program without oversight from a committee, giving him freedom to bring musical fare of great variety of periods and styles, including contemporary music. He initiated the annual May Festival of Contemporary Music, as the musical counterpoint to the museum’s competitive May Show of the visual arts. At the 1960 May Festival John Cage and David Tudor performed a program of Cage’s music.

At the CMA Blodgett played nearly 1,200 organ recitals and helped design the museum's Gartner Auditorium (1971), where he rebuilt the P. J. McMyler Memorial Organ. He was a trustee of the Cleveland Music School Settlement, a member of the Musical Arts Association and the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, a faculty member of the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a board member of the Cleveland Philharmonic and the Cleveland Women’s Orchestras.

Walter Blodgett retired from the CMA and was named dean of faculty at the Cleveland Music Settlement in 1974. He died after undergoing heart surgery in 1975.

Sources:

Ingalls Library clipping file.

List of Cleveland Museum of Art performances, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.

-Biography by Anne Cuyler Salsich, April 2025

Occupations

• Organist
• Cleveland Museum of Art Staff Member

Found in 6 Collections and/or Records: