Obituary in Soundboard magazine Vol.XXIV n.2, Fall 1997
Andrew Charlton
On May 27 of this year the guitar lost a steadfast ally and true friend. Andrew Charlton did not play the guitar, but he greatly appreciated its value and constantly supported efforts to bring the guitar into to the mainstream of the musical community.
Charlton was a “Renaissance Man” in the fullest sense of that description. He played many instruments, including almost all the wind instruments; he was an original composer and an unusually skilled arranger; he was a walking encyclopedia on all things musical. His interests ranged from early music to jazz, from astronomy to gastronomy, from Shakespeare to Wodehouse, from philosophy to humor.
He was a noted virtuoso of all the members of the recorder family, as well as sackbut, krummhorn and other early instruments, and a large number of his compositions and arrangements are scored for recorder ensemble. Those works are treasured by the recorder community worldwide. For “The Plumbers Union”, a prominent recorder ensemble, he produced a series of arrangements, and the titles are typically Charlton: “Commodious Rag”, “Pipe Dreams”. and “Royal Flush”.
Having heard the great Segovia, Andrew came to appreciate and value the classical guitar, and supported its inclusion in the university curriculum. He initiated the guitar program at Cal State Fullerton and was instrumental in my own hiring there. Over the years he remained an ardent advocate of the guitar, and his voice convinced enough of the other faculty to allow us to develop a comprehensive program of guitar studies.
After hearing a Guy Horn performance of the Schubert/Matiegka “Quartet”, he decided to compose for guitar. His first contribution in this area was “Sonata for Guitar and String Trio” (1964). Subsequently he turned out numerous compositions for guitar, both solo and in ensemble, writing in a very personal style that freely incorporated whatever techniques he found most useful and appealing from the compositional practices of several centuries. He always insisted that he was not really a composer, but rather an arranger. Even so, such original compositions as “A Medieval Tapestry” and “Partita Concerto” are important contributions to the guitar repertoire.
A facile and skilled arranger, he produced voluminous collections of excellent arrangements for guitar ensemble, the earliest group of which the students fondly called “Andy's Dandys”. To be published posthumously is “A Festival of Eighteenth Century Music”, a large and varied anthology of four-guitar arrangements of music from non-keyboard sources.
In “retirement” from his professorship in the Music Department at Cal State Fullerton, Andrew was more active and productive than ever, working at the computer in his loft generating a steady stream of compositions and arrangements. He took constant delight in developing the raw material of a bare melody into a fully-fleshed and satisfying work of art.
To me Andrew Charlton was a cherished friend and a constant personal inspiration, as he was to so many others.
His loss leaves an unfillable void mitigated only by the indelible memories.
David Grimes