Harold Boatrite, classical composer and music educator, dies at 89

Harold Boatrite, 89, a classical composer and teacher of musical theory and composition, died Monday, April 26, of lung cancer in his Center City apartment.

Loved and respected, Mr. Boatrite tutored students privately and taught them in classes at Haverford College, where he lectured in the music department from 1967 to 1980.

Although he was largely self-taught, Mr. Boatrite attracted many students of music, even some from prestigious music schools who came to him for tutoring. Perhaps the most well-known of his pupils was vocalist Nina Simone, who described Mr. Boatrite as one of her most prominent influences.

Mr. Boatrite was esteemed as a creator of music as well. A significant part of his career included a long association with the Concerto Soloists, now the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, as its New Composition Consultant. The orchestra performed many of his compositions, including his Suite for Harpsichord and the Serenade for Oboe and Strings.

“He sought to express beauty and perfection to the best of his ability in his compositions,” said his longtime friend and student Timothy Yurek. “He did this using the existing language of his audience. In an era when many composers sought fame by pursuing the latest fashion or artificial academic construct, some holding their audience in contempt, Harold used the forms and harmonic techniques that were handed to him by the greats who came before.”

Mr. Boatrite was born and raised in Philadelphia, one of two children of Alexander and Else Walker Dahl Boatrite. He graduated from Germantown High School and later received an honorary doctorate of music from Combs College of Music.

Mr. Boatrite studied under highly accomplished musicians, including composer Stanley Hollingsworth. He was awarded a fellowship to the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts, where he studied composition with Lukas Foss and attended Aaron Copland’s orchestration seminars. He later became a composer-in-residence at the prominent Marlboro Music Festival at the invitation of esteemed pianist Rudolf Serkin.

In addition, Mr. Boatrite served on the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. In 1982, in honor of his 50th birthday, the Pennsylvania Alliance for American Music presented a series of concerts devoted to his music.

Mr. Boatrite’s manner as a teacher was that of a gentle grandfather, said Yurek.

“He was a very loving teacher,” he said.

When his Haverford students were going through personal distress, he would find a way to reach them, Yurek said. And he continued to teach his private students even up to the final days of his life.

As a composer, he was just as generous to his audiences, he said.

“Harold wrote fugues and sonatas and employed themes,” Yurek said. His harmonic technique was chromatic and extremely challenging, but always coherent. He didn’t seek to baffle and impress his audience; he sought to hand them a beautiful experience using the common language of the culture.

“Like the greats that came before him, Harold Boatrite belongs to the ages, but his music belongs to those wise enough to embrace the great inheritance,” he added. “His music belongs to us.”

Mr. Boatrite is survived by a nephew. His sister and parents died earlier.

A Funeral Mass for Mr. Boatrite will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, June 14, at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, 1723 Race St., Philadelphia, Pa., 19103.

Donations is his honor may be made to the Thomas Jefferson University Choir, c/o Robert T. Sataloff, 219 N. Broad St., 10th Fl., Philadelphia, Pa., 19107.