Eric Vaughn, a well-known musicologist, actor, director and critic, died March 4, 1990, of cancer in a Salt Lake nursing home. He was 65.
Memorial services will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 11, at the Broadway Stage, 272 S. Main.Mr. Vaughn was born in Newburyport, Mass. He attended South High School and the University of Utah, studied music and theater at the University of California and received a bachelor's degree in speech and a master's in music from Pittsburg State University in Kansas.
He was probably best known for his musical editions of Bach's last known compositions, "The Art of Fugue" and "The Musical Offering," which he completed in the mid-1950s. In commemoration of Bach's 300th birthday in 1985 Mr. Vaughn arranged for performances of the former composition at the Bach Tricentennial Series in Salt Lake City. "The Art of Fugue" was broadcast on National Public Radio in 1985.
In 1980 he returned to Salt Lake City, where he performed in stage productions and during the 1980s reviewed music and theater for KUER-FM at the U. of U. He founded the Tricentennial Bach Committee of Utah, was president of the Maude May Babcock Reading Arts Society and taught music history at Wasatch Academy of Music. He prepared his own performing edition of several plays by Shakespeare, Wedekind, Corneille and other playwrights.