Stuart Campbell

Musicologist and Glasgow University organist

Born: December 13, 1949; Died: January 27, 2018

STUART Campbell, who has died 68, was a musicologist, Russian scholar, educator, organist, and choir director. He was also a lecturer in music at Glasgow University and for many years its organist, playing for the daily services and graduations and giving solo recitals.

He was born James Stuart Campbell in Lasswade, in the house built by his father George, a foreman in the Ministry of Works. He attended Lasswade Secondary School where he showed an aptitude for music and languages, including Russian which was taught by a Polish émigré. He made the first of many visits to Russia at the age of 16, and would graduate MA Honours in Russian with French and additional music and economics from Edinburgh University. A Carnegie Scholarship funded further study towards an Honours Bachelor of Music, completed in 1974.

He exhibited musical talent from an early age, taking lessons on piano and violin. His first piano lessons were with a local teacher in Lasswade and later in Edinburgh with Margaret Portch, a pupil of the celebrated pianist and teacher Tobias Matthay. Stuart passed quickly through grade exams, achieving Associate of the Royal College of Music in Piano Teaching at age 18.

While still at school, he as organist at Liberton Parish Church. In Edinburgh he studied organ with William Minay and Herrick Bunney, and in Glasgow with Alexander Anderson. He was appointed organist to Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh in 1971 and achieved Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists in 1973.

As an accomplished organist with academic leanings, Stuart had a choice of career. In 1975, he took up the post of University Organist and part-time lecturer in the Music Department at the University of Glasgow, and it was in Glasgow that he was to spend the rest of his life. Here, in his various capacities, he was to touch the lives of many people.

At Glasgow University Mr Campbell was able to pursue his different areas of interest. As university organist, he was required to play for the daily services, and graduations but also gave solo recitals – one memorable series took place in 1986 when he performed the entire oeuvre of Bach’s organ works over 14 weeks. Over the years, he taught organ to many students who have gone on to become professional organists.

A member of the Glasgow Society of Organists, Stuart was its president for a year and had recently been made an honorary member. He acted as a deputy organist in various Glasgow churches, and for a short time was interim director of music at Glasgow Cathedral. In 2001, he was appointed deputy organist at St Bride’s Episcopal Church, Hyndland. There he devoted time to the church’s organ restoration project, giving a series of recitals to raise money for it, the last being given in October 2017.

As university organist, Mr Campbell was responsible for music in the chapel and for the university chapel choir. Many of its members have fond memories of chapel choir, of the music, of tours to many European destinations, and of strong and lasting friendships made.

As a teacher, Mr Campbell encompassed a wide range of topics, which demonstrated his breadth and depth of knowledge. If you ever saw him in the university library marking essays, he could be seen scurrying into the stack, rather like Alice’s white rabbit, to check facts and to catch plagiarists. When work was returned, it always thoroughly marked, contained helpful comments, and suggestions for further reading.

During his first 10 years in post, while working full-time, Mr Campbell worked concurrently on his PHD. His thesis, VF Odoyevsky and the Formation of Russian Musical Taste in the 19th Century, completed in 1986, made full use of his in-depth knowledge of Russian language, music and culture. It was subsequently published by Garland in their series Outstanding Dissertations in Music from British Universities.

Mr Campbell continued to be an active researcher. He had articles published in journals and reference works such as Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians and its German equivalent, Musik in Geschichte und Gegewart on mainly Russian topics. He presented papers at many conferences in the UK and abroad.

His greatest contribution to research is his two volumes of Russians on Russian Music, containing Russian criticism of Russian music, selected and translated by Mr Campbell. These skills were also put to work when he acted as book reviewer and music critic. At various times, Stuart was music critic for the Daily Telegraph, Scotsman and The Herald.

In 2000, at the age of 50, Mr Campbell retired from his permanent posts at the University of Glasgow to focus on his research interests. His association with the university continued as honorary senior research fellow in both Central and Eastern European Studies and the Music Department. As Subject Specialist in Music and lecturer in Adult and Continuing Education, he delivered courses on various aspects of Russian music, and also the popular Opera Afternoons held in conjunction with Scottish Opera. He performed a similar lecturing role in the Extramural Department at Edinburgh University. In 2007 he was appointed to a part-time post in the Academic Studies Department of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Always a private person, Stuart gave away little of his personal life, and so it was to be some nine months after the event that news of a Mrs Campbell began to filter round the West End of Glasgow. It was revealed Stuart and the Russian musicologist Svetlana Zvereva had married on Hogmanay 1999. They were to go on to collaborate on research into the Russian musical diaspora.

In 2009, Stuart and Svetlana founded the choir Russkaya Cappella with the aim of bringing both Russian choral music and their research to the attention of a wider audience. The choir has performed in many venues in Scotland and for services of the Russian Orthodox Church in Glasgow. For his contribution to cultural ties between this country and Russia, Stuart received the Russian Ambassador’s Letter of Recognition in 2016.

An outstanding musician and researcher of the highest order, Stuart Campbell was highly regarded both in this country and abroad, especially in Russia. He passed on his knowledge and expertise to countless students, singers and instrumentalists.

He is survived by his wife Svetlana, his step-sons, Georgy and Gleb, and his nephew Colin Stuart Buchanan.