SCHUTZ, Professor Jacob [1918]
SCHUTZ, KOOTER
Posted By: Gordon Felland (email)
Date: 6/13/2010 at 21:16:46
Professor Jacob Schutz, director of the conservatory of the Cedar Valley Junior College at Osage, Iowa, was born in the city of Christiania, Norway, April 6, 1876, a son of the Rev. J. J. and Johanna (Kooter) Schutz. His paternal grandfather was court chaplain to King Oscar II.
The father was pastor of a church in Norway, near Christiania, and his son, Professor Jacob Schutz, was instructed by private tutors, among whom was Dr. Wiers Jensen, who later became the dramatic director of the National theatre of Christiania. He subsequently attended the Cathedral school of Christiania, from which he was graduated, and later entered the Conservatory of Music in that city. He was already very much advanced on account of having received instruction in music from his mother from the age of six years. He graduated five years later from that institution, on the completion of his work in the academic department, and was awarded the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Philosophy. Among his instructors were such men as Edward Grieg, Professor Groendahl, Professor William Kloed, and Madame Erika Nissen and Madame Sally Holtan. During all this time Professor Schutz was a member of the famous "University Glee Club" of Christiania.
Following his graduation he came to America in 1903 and soon afterward accepted a position as director of music in a Missouri college, where he remained for three years. He was later director for two years in the conservatory at Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and afterward became dean of the music department of the State Normal School at Ellendale, North Dakota, while at the present time he is director of the conservatory of music and instructor in piano and voice at the Cedar Valley Junior College of Osage. While he was dean of the music department of the State Normal School at Ellendale, North Dakota, he was appointed by Governor Hanna as a delegate from the state to go with the Governor's party to Christiania, Norway, to represent the state at the unveiling of the statue of Abraham Lincoln, which was presented to Norway by the citizens of North Dakota on the occasion of Norway's centennial celebration of its independence—a well deserved honor and one which Professor Schutz greatly appreciated. It was he who organized the music work of the different educational institutions of the state of North Dakota on a par with other branches taught in the colleges of that state.
Professor Schutz belongs to the Masonic fraternity and is a loyal exemplar of the craft. He is a man of pleasant address who easily meets people and is very popular. He is by no means a man of development along a single line; in fact, his reading and study have been very broad and comprehensive and he is a gentleman of most liberal, culture and superior education. Association with him means expansion and elevation and his efforts have been most effective in developing musical taste and talent throughout the west since he came to America about fifteen years ago. He is deeply interested in all those things which have cultural value and which work for the uplift of the individual, and having come under the instruction of some of the most eminent musical artists of the old world, he is splendidly qualified to advance and shape musical interests in the new.
Source: History of Mitchell and Worth Counties, Iowa, 1918, Vol. II, pages 254 & 257.
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