Lowell Marsden Durham, 75, a well-known composer and former chairman of the University of Utah music department, died Nov. 10, 1992, in a Salt Lake nursing home of pneumonia and complications from bipolar manic depression.
Dr. Durham's musical career spanned more than 41 years at the U., where he also was dean of the College of Fine Arts.A writer and critic and recipient of the Utah Academy's Distinguished Service Award, his musical compositions and arrangements were performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Utah Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
His "Mormon Folkscape," Op. 19, was commissioned by the Beloit (Wisconsin) Sym
phony in 1967 and repeated by the Utah Symphony on tour. He was honored at a Utah Symphony concert in 1983. His arrangements of "This is My Country" and "Battle Cry of Freedom" were performed by the Tabernacle Choir at inaugural concerts of Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.
A recipient of bachelor's and master's degrees in music from the U. and a doctorate from the University of Iowa, Dr. Durham's name is familiar to Utah Symphony patrons for program notes he wrote from 1946 to 1987. He is the author of the book, "Abravanel," a publication on the life of former Utah Symphony Maestro Maurice Abra-van-el, and was a music critic for the Salt Lake Tribune.
He served an LDS mission to England, served on the Sunday School General Board of the LDS Church, was a member of the East Mill Creek 15th Ward bishopric, a High Priests group instructor and was a stake and ward choir director.
Funeral will be at noon Friday in the East Mill Creek Stake Center, 3103 E. 3600 South (Craig Drive). Friends may call from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Wasatch Lawn Mortuary, 3401 Highland Drive, and from 11 to 11:45 a.m. Friday at the church. Burial will be in Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park.