John Donald Robb

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John Donald Robb (b. Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1892; d. Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1989) was an American composer, ethnomusicologist, arts administrator, and attorney from New Mexico. He was a professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and served as Dean of the university's College of Fine Arts from 1942 to 1957. In addition, he was responsible for establishing the University of New Mexico Symphony.

Robb studied composition with Horatio Parker, Darius Milhaud, Roy Harris, Paul Hindemith, and Nadia Boulanger. He composed a large body of music, including two operas, symphonic and chamber music, and electronic music. His orchestral works have been conducted by Maurice Abravanel and Leonard Slatkin.

Among his notable composition students is Halim El-Dabh.

While at the University of New Mexico, he collected approximately 3,000 field recordings of traditional music from the American Southwest, Nepal, and South America, which formed the core of the John Donald Robb Archive of Southwestern Music at the University of New Mexico.[1][2]

Robb received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the University of New Mexico.

[edit] Books

Robb, John Donald (1954). Hispanic Folk Songs of New Mexico. (1954)
Robb, John Donald (1980). Hispanic Folk Music of New Mexico and the Southwest: A Self Portrait of the People.