Langstaff, John 1920–2005

(John Meredith Langstaff)

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born December 24, 1920, in New York, NY; died from a stroke, December 13, 2005, in Basel, Switzerland. Singer, musician, educator, stage producer, and author. Best known for organizing the annual Christmas Revels that is performed nationwide in America, Langstaff was also a music educator and author of children's books. His life had an unusual beginning that seemed to predestine him for his future work. His parents loved Christmas and held caroling parties annually. His mother resolved to have her baby born on Christmas Eve, and she deliberately did strenuous work that night to induce labor. Langstaff further became influenced by the spirit of Christmas as a choir boy at his local Episcopal church, where he became enamored by Christian traditions for the holidays. He went on to study music at the Curtis Institute of Music, but had to postpone his education when America entered World War II. Enlisting in the U.S. Army, he saw action in the Pacific theater and was severely wounded in Okinawa. Despite the harsh realities of war, Langstaff still managed to celebrate music by organizing his comrades into a choir whose favorite performance piece was a seventeenth-century round by William Boyce called "Alleluia Round." After recovering from his wounds, Langstaff attended the Juilliard School of Music for three years without completing a degree. He found work as director of the music department at Potomac School in Washington, DC, where he taught until 1968; he then moved on to Shady Hill School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was also music director, until 1972. Langstaff organized his first Christmas Revels in 1957 in New York City. A celebratory combination of music and dance from Christmas traditions throughout the world and history, this debut did not do well; however, it was followed by a Washington, DC, performance that sold out. The early productions did not do as well as Langstaff had hoped, so he abandoned the project for several years until 1971, when he revived it at his daughter's request. Since then, it has become an enormously popular show that has had productions in many of America's major cities. Meanwhile, Langstaff recorded music and performed with such groups as the New York Philharmonic, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony. He also continued his teaching career as an instructor at Simmons College from 1970 to 1986, and at Wheelock College, Boston College, and the University of Connecticut during the late 1970s. He focused his teaching efforts at Lesley College from 1978 until his 1999 retirement. An interesting sideline to Langstaff's music career was his second vocation as a children's author. He penned over a dozen juvenile titles and was a compiler of several more. Among his books are Frog Went A-Courtin' (1955), which earned a Caldecott Medal, Saint George and the Dragon: A Mummer's Play (1972), Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go! (1974), The Christmas Revels Songbook (1985), and Climbing Jacob's Ladder: Heroes of the Bible in African-American Spirituals (1991). These literary accomplishments earned Langstaff a Hope S. Dean Memorial Award in 1991 from the Foundation for Children's Books. His more recent titles include the coauthored works Celebrate the Spring (1998), Celebrate the Winter (2001), and Making Music (2003). Langstaff, who believed that music helped bind people together socially and personally, also shared his love of music through videos, making educational recordings such as Making Music in the Classroom (1995), Let's Sing!, Let's Keep on Singing! (1997), and Making Music with Children (1999).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Boston Herald, December 14, 2005, p. 44.

Los Angeles Times, December 16, 2005, p. B13.

New York Times, December 15, 2005, p. D8.