H. Joseph Butler

About

H. Joseph Butler, Emeritus Professor of Music and University Organist, began his work at TCU in 1996. Over a period of nearly 30 years he taught Organ, Harpsichord, Music History, and Sacred Music. He also directed the Collegium Music, a student ensemble that performs Baroque music on authentic instruments. From 2000-2020 he served as Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts; during this time the college's graduate enrollment doubled and the DMA program was instituted. In 2017 he received the TCU Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Achievement as a Creative Teacher and Scholar.

Dr. Butler holds a DMA and Performer's Certificate in organ from the Eastman School of Music, an MM in organ from the New England Conservatory, and a BA magna cum laude from Bowdoin College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

As organist and harpsichordist, Dr. Butler has performed widely in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, including conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Historical Keyboard Society of North America, and the UK cathedrals of Canterbury, Liverpool, Leeds, Ripon, and Chester. He has also performed recitals at Hong Kong Baptist University, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, the Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, and the Shenyang Conservatory Concert Hall.

A member of the American Guild of Organists for over forty years, Butler was winner of the New England Regional AGO Competition in 1975 and performed as a finalist in the National Organ Playing Competition in Boston the following year. He holds the Guild's Associate (AAGO) Certificate.

Also active as musicologist, his research has explored the French Baroque organ tradition, J. S. Bach, and early American keyboard music. He has published articles in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Organ Yearbook, The American Organist, The Diapason, Bach, and Early Keyboard Journal. His editions of early American keyboard music, published by Wayne Leupold Editions, include The Peter Pelham Manuscript of 1744: An Early American Keyboard Tutor, and The Keyboard Manuscript of Francis Hopkinson.

His CD recordings on the Pro Organo label have achieved critical acclaim; these include Julius Reubke: The Keyboard Works and Vive le Roi: The Music of André Raison.

Currently, Dr. Butler teaches high school students in the TCU Music Preparatory Division and serves as Organist at St. Peter and Paul Anglican Church in Arlington, TX.